Ripon Unified School District New Benchmark Assessments

Your 1-8 grade students will be taking benchmark assessments four times during the school year.  Kindergarten students will take them three times.  The benchmark tests are aligned to the California Standards Test for each grade level and are designed to allow teachers to find out what students know and don’t know.  This will give teachers and administrators the necessary tools for adjusting instruction for continual student improvement and to make sure all of the students have an opportunity to learn the material for the end of year test.  The tests do not become part of the student’s grade, but are used to adjust instruction.

The first benchmark is done at the beginning of school and serves as a pretest of the grade level curriculum.  Students are not expected to know the material yet.  This first benchmark is a baseline for the teachers to see what students may already know.  If any of the benchmark assessments show that the class already understands a concept, the teacher may provide a brief review session and then, move on to the next concept or strategy.  A great deal of time has now been saved!  The data may also show that two or three students haven’t picked up the concept and they need a bit of small group attention.  We would expect that students will get better and better on each benchmark as the year progresses after they have been taught the grade level curriculum. 

Projected Benchmark Timelines

1.         August 23-25            (not kindergarteners)

2.         October 31-November 4

3.         February 13-17

4.         May 14-18

How can I help my child be ready for test taking?

1.    Make sure that your child is in school during the testing sessions and be on time. Do not plan any doctor or dental appointments on test dates.

2.    See that your child gets his/her regular amount of sleep before the tests and is well-rested.

3.    Make sure that your child eats his/her usual breakfast on the day of the test. Hunger can detract from a good test performance.

4.    Encourage your child to do his/her best.

5.    Let your child know that the benchmark is to help his or her teacher make sure that they learn what they need to learn in this grade.