Understanding the Benefits of End-of-Year Assessments for Students’ Growth

While some schools definitely over-test children (usually because of mandates from the local, state, or federal governments), I have always appreciated an end-of-year assessment. To me, it is important to see if kids are building their skills and to be able to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement.

The right assessments, followed up with meaningful and detailed results, can be extremely beneficial in developing individualized learning plans for students.

My regular online tutoring students sometimes send me their test results, whether the assessments are regular teacher-created chapter assessments or state-mandated cumulative standardized tests. I always love seeing their achievement! My students have always grown appropriately or at an accelerated rate in the subject upon which we work regularly.

In my next post or two, I would like to explore some specific assessments to point out their usefulness to parents, students, and teachers or tutors. Most of the time the results are sent home without providing parents with any idea of how to use the data to benefit their children. Perhaps I can provide some clarity.