March 12 2017

Week of 03.13.17

This week we begin the PARCC and CMAS testing at Westlake!  I had a student this week e-mail me with a question as to why we take PARCC in addition to the MAPS testing that is done through out the year in Math and Language Arts.  I thought this was a great question and I imagine this is a question many people have.  PARCC testing (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) is used in Colorado as well as 10 other partners including six states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense, and the Bureau of Indian Education.  PARCC is an annual end of year assessment in Language Arts and Math based on the rigorous standards adopted by many states (Common Core) back in 2010.  CMAS (Colorado Measures of Academic Success) is also a year-end assessment  given to students in grades 5, 8, and 11 in Science and to grades 4 and 7 on a sampling basis to one-third of the schools across the state for Social Studies.   CMAS is also based on the standards adopted by the state of Colorado in Science and Social Studies.  Data from this year-end assessment are usually available by the Fall of the following school year from when the test is given.

MAPS (Measures of Academic Progress) is an assessment given to our students in Adams 12 as well as other districts across the nation to measure the progress and growth of individual students in Math and Language Arts.  MAPS is given at minimum twice a year and the data is returned within 24 hours in order for students and teachers to gauge progress towards grade level mastery and growth from year to year and within the current year.

Having both PARCC/CMAS and MAPS allows us at Westlake to get a full picture on progress, growth, and mastery of content.  Teachers rely on the data they receive from all of these assessments to make instructional decisions and, as a school, to set our goals for improvement.  This week we begin our PARCC/CMAS assessments.  Please see the following information for testing dates and if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us at the school:

Parents, this is a reminder of our upcoming window for state testing. Colorado’s PARCC and CMAS testing are an important way for our school to get information about how our students are performing in comparison to students around the district and state. We use this information for individual student placement and evaluation of our programs and teaching methods. It is important for all students to participate and do their best. Students will be taking the math and language arts test on the following dates:

8th grade 

March 14th, 16th and 17th

6th grade 

March 20th, 21st and 23rd

7th grade 

April 5th, 6th, 7th and 10th

8th grade will also have CMAS Science testing on April 13th and 14th

Please make sure that students get a good night’s sleep on the nights before testing and encourage them to do their best.  Thank you for your partnership in supporting our students!

 

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Posted March 12, 2017 by wlmsad12 in category Weekly Blog Posts