Testing & Assessment for PK-5 Students

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Assessing preschool and lower school children can be challenging because these students have limited or no exposure to academics. Often assessment of these youngest students entails assessing both school readiness and achievement. The participants in the PK-5 grade assessment roundtable shared that there are multiple sources of assessments available, but agreed that what works best is dependent on fit with each institution's mission and philosophy. In addition, the majority of participants agreed that the most successful tests are those that assess both quantitative and qualitative measures. The biggest challenge is finding an assessment that bridges this wide age/grade span that can provide consistent data. 

Be Sure the Assessment You Choose Works for You: 

  • Benchmark current students to establish interpretive context
  • Understand and acknowledge if the test is predictive
  • Utilize outside consultants to “objectively” administer tests (Pro: skilled and adept at behavioral assessment; Con: provide less individual attention and don’t know the school)
  • Have clear policies about under what conditions you will retest a child (i.e. separation issues, to determine test validity, at the recommendation of the psychologist)
  • Use kid-friendly language to help parents prepare their child for the test (i.e. working with a teacher, pointing and talking). Do not refer to it as playing games.
  • Use group observation; use table work; incorporate individual teacher interaction
  • Be sure that testing is only one part of the elementary admission process
  • Utilize regional collaborative arrangements with psychologists to lessen testing redundancy for families
  • Assessments for this age group can be expensive; establish policies and criteria for providing test fee waivers (such as, front page of family’s 1040)
  • Think critically if testing is even necessary (predictive) at the younger grades; perhaps for your school group observation and individual teacher interaction is all that is necessary
  • Accept results from tests administered by and sent from the “sending” teacher; teacher feedback is key
  • Be aware of test prepping 

Suggested Practices for Child Interactions & Interviews: 

  • Call it “evaluation” rather than “observation,” as this helps parents understand better what is taking place
  • Observe the child in their current school setting
  • Have current student call a visiting student the night before (scripted)
  • Child interviews are not part of everyone’s process, but note that longer visits allow the child to relax and be more comfortable 

Suggested Practices for Parent/Family Interactions & Interviews: 

  • The in-house tester should not be the first person to greet the families
  • Give 45-minute tours to interact with and learn more about the parents
  • Show DVD of current students doing classroom activities and testing to parents during child observation
  • Clarify a child’s language history and preschool/daycare history
  • Give parents a questionnaire during testing; this makes it possible to ask awkward questions that you don’t want to put on an application
  • Ask parent about the child’s personality to help determine your outreach level/style to the child
  • Keep parents busy during the testing process; parent ambassadors can help with this
  • Establish the classroom job of “greeter” and make sure tour group is greeted by student
  • Take a family photo to help remember child/family better; can use it later to market the school to the family
  • Have either the Head or the consultant deliver face-to-face results to parents
  • Have Admission Director or Head call all connected families (siblings, legacies, major donors) if the result is a deny

RELATED RESOURCES

Prepared for and distributed at EPPA sessions held during previous Annual Meetings of the Secondary School Admission Test Board (SSATB), these charts provide information about a variety of published test and readiness assessments that could be considered for use along with the interview, observation, class visit, samples of work, and sending school recommendations in the admission process to enter the pre-primary and elementary grades. LINK TO PDF.

This information from Virginia Tech offers a solid overview of the concept, strategies, and tools involved in “student assessment.”    

Comprehensive List of Childhood Developmental Tools (February 5, 2010)

Brenna, Susan. “The Littlest Test Takers.” The New York Times, November 9, 2003. This article offers a big-picture perspective on the challenges of assessing sub-kindergarteners. 

A Well-Trained Admission Committee Identifies the ‘Right’ Students . To the Point (Vol. 6, No. 6). Independent School Management, October 2000. This brief offers some guidance for working with admission committees. 

The Admission Process: What Can We Ask, What Should We Do?  Prepared for NAIS by Stephanie Gold, Patricia Ambrose, and Sarah Fleisch of Hogan Lovells US LLP (NAIS 2010). This article discusses certain federal legal issues pertinent to an independent school’s admissions process, particularly with respect to disability, race and ethnicity, and gender matters.  

Anderson, Claude and Muradi, Victoria. “Lower School Assessment: Sharing of Best Practices.” Presentation at SSATB Admission Training Institute, Boston, MA. September 29, 2010. 

Some private schools in NYC are allowing students (usually ones with a connection to the school already) to undergo another round of testing if they do not score well on the ERB.  

Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Assessment of Children and Adolescents by Kenneth W. Merrell is a dry text, but it is important to know the theory and jargon behind assessment.

Demystify the process for families by creating a web resource that helps families feel more comfortable about the assessment process.