Assessment

Assessment in ACPS: What We Believe

  • Assessments support/reflect implementation of the Framework for Quality Learning and higher levels of achievement on criterion- and norm-referenced assessments including Virginia's SOL.
  • Pre-assessments tell us what students know and can do in advance of instruction, identifying gaps in background knowledge and conceptual understanding that may impact readiness to take learning to the next level, informing pacing guides, instructional planning, and interventions.
  • Common unit assessments designed, administered, and analyzed within the context of professional learning communities ensure all students have access to the taught curriculum, identifying student outcomes, mastery and content to be re-taught.
  • Common quarterly assessments (including semester exams) set expectations for student work throughout the year, ensuring access to the full curriculum, determining retention of taught content and identifying content to be included in spiral review during the next quarter.
  • A benchmark assessment is a measurement of performance against an established standard at defined points along the path toward achievement of that standard. A benchmark translates a standard into what students should know and be able to do at defined points throughout the year.
  • Assessments include a variety of assessment items, including open-ended items and associated scoring rubrics. Individual items are mapped to Virginia's SOL, local discipline-level curriculum frameworks, and Bloom's cognitive domain.
  • The electronic instructional management system should be used to develop, administer, and analyze common quarterly assessments.

Assessment Descriptions & Information

Assessment Practices & Purposes