Standardized Testing
We regularly assess students in a variety of ways, including
standardized testing to measure progress and provide a benchmark for
our curriculum. In grades 2-7, the school administers the Educational
Record Bureau’s Comprehensive Testing Program. The CTP, a rigorous
test, assesses the student’s overall verbal, reading, writing and
mathematical skills.
Our goals in administering the
Comprehensive Testing Program IV are to provide information about each
child’s verbal and quantitative skill development, to inform
instruction, and to give our students ample opportunity throughout
their elementary school years to practice taking standardized tests.
The
skills tested on the CTP IV are verbal and math skills that we want all
of our students to hone and master. Therefore, this is not a test that
involves “teaching to the test.” The results of the CTP test inform
instruction but the test itself does not drive our curriculum. Finally,
the CTP IV is an achievement test, not an ability test. This means
that the information we receive about a student only tells us how a
particular student’s verbal and quantitative skills are developing, not
how innately bright that student is, which is what an IQ or ability
test would determine.
In grades 7 and 8, students can take the
Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT), which competitive secondary
schools use as a part of their admission process. The performance of
Buckley students on these tests has been outstanding.
