Many of AVA 8th grade students will move to various high schools, however, a great majority of them will move on to Castle View High School or Douglas County High School. Whether that is this year, eight years from now or any number of years in between, it is important to make sure all are ready to be successful in high school. As such, AVA shares beliefs with the high schools emphasizing the importance of standardized assessments.
We are reaching out to you regarding an important matter as standardized testing season is approaching. We believe in offering your children amazing learning opportunities and a variety of ways for students to demonstrate growth and understanding. It is so important that our learning models are producing creative problem solvers, empathetic human beings, and students who will be competitive on the world stage, but it is also imperative that our students are able to meet the measures they are accountable for right now.
As you know, Colorado state law requires that schools administer standardized assessments to all students in grades 3 through 11. Regardless of the number of students who take these assessments, a school is evaluated based on student performance, and when all students do not take the assessment, the data is not an accurate reflection of a schools’ performance. Likewise, when limited numbers of students receive scores, schools can lack quality year-to-year growth data used to inform our systems to positively program for our students in the future.
AVA is asking that all students engage in the standardized testing process for the following reasons:
- As a school, we want all students to be ready for high school and work collaboratively to create a plan for your student as they move to high school and we believe that all data (including CMAS) will help us strengthen systems to challenge and support students.
- The high schools rely heavily on this data to build their master schedules, offer appropriate coursework, and meet the needs of all students, particularly as they transition from one school to another.
- Engaging in the testing process will help prepare students for future tests that have incredible power in determining a students’ pathway. We believe their best effort on assessments now will help them to be successful on the assessments down the road that are pivotal for their college career trajectories.
Please encourage your child to not only take the standardized assessment, but to show the world and feeder high schools what it means to be an AVA student.
