LP 1 Testing Tips

Each month, leading up to end-of-the-year testing, we will be providing different tips to support you and your family.

Testing is a life skill, and taking tests now will help prepare your child to persevere through different tests throughout their entire life. The assessments provided at PCA are low-stakes in the grand scheme of life, and can help support your child to learn test taking strategies and coping skills when things may become more difficult.

It is our job at PCA to prepare students for their college and career. While that may seem like a long way away for many of you, starting early will only help to ease your child into the more difficult tests that life will bring them.

Examples:

*College/University Placement Exam

*Career-related assessments to earn certificates and move up the ladder in their place of work

*Interviewing

*Typing exam

*Writing and speaking about their thoughts

The expectation this year is that we will be discussing assessment at each LP meeting in one way or another. Your HST will be providing resources on how to help prepare your student to do their best on each of the assessments they will do.

Parent Testing Resource Site

This year, your HST can sign you up to receive your child's STAR 360 results using the Home Connect Email option in Renaissance. This is a comparable report to the previously used Diagnostic Report, which tells you your child's achievement level compared to other California students at the same grade level. It also will show you the Lexile and Quantile Range to help find good-fit books and math activities using the Lexile/Quantile Hub.

Your HST will then discuss a more in-depth analysis regarding other reports that they can access in their Teacher Portal.

Our goal this year is for ALL students to show growth!

We want to thank you so much for supporting our testing participation goals last school year!

We surpassed our goal of reaching 95% students tested, and reached 99%!

This year, our goal is to help improve student growth and achievement.

Your child's Student Score Report should be in your Parent Portal by the second week of school, if it isn't there already. Please talk to your HST to help analyze your child's STAR 360 and CAASPP scores.

The Testing Department has heard the feedback that students may need more support in writing and typing to prepare for the state assessments. Please work with your HST now to come up with a plan to help your child practice typing and writing each day. Our suggestion is to start this practice in 2nd grade to slowly ease into the skills.

All PCA student devices have a typing program bookmarked. Typing Club is a free program to use. There are more typing programs suggested on the Parent Testing Resource Site.

If you have any questions, please reach out to your HST or the Testing Department.

testing@pacificcoastacademy.org