A Reader Asks... Common Assessments - Campus vs. District

A LYS reader asks:

SC,

Our district is beginning to implement six week common assessments and my campus has been building three week common assessments. My question is, “What should the six week assessments cover and are they cumulative?”

SC Response

Each assessment should cover the time window it is written for. The three week campus assessments should cover just three weeks. The six week district assessments should cover six weeks of scheduled content.

Your campus assessments allow you adjust to adjust on the fly, based on the unique needs of your staff, students and campus. The district assessments provide validation that your adjustments are either working or not, and let you gauge progress relative to the other schools in the district.

In general, the assessments are not cumulative. However, at times either assessment (campus or district) may be used to review retention of key understandings. These understandings may be critical to mastering upcoming curricular concepts or required for state or national accountability purposes.

I hope this helps.

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