Here at Fenton High School, we test students in a variety of ways in order to inform our decisions that impact our instruction. These tests will be used to compare on the national level, state level, and district level. These tests will assist with college entrance and readiness. In addition, we also have tests to compare grade level peers to each other.
On the National Level we test the students on the College Board Suites two times a year.
- PSAT/NMSQT is tested in the fall. To be eligible for scholarships, high school juniors must score among the top 1% of test-takers in their home state. The PSAT serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT), and measures critical reading ability, mathematics problem solving ability and writing ability, rather than existing knowledge.
- The PSAT 8/9 is completed in the Fall for our incoming 8th grade students. The PSAT 8/9 is the first in the College Board's “SAT Suite of Assessments” and is offered to eighth and ninth graders. The purpose of the PSAT 8/9 is to establish a starting point in terms of college and career readiness as students transition to high school. We will use this exact same test for longitudinal data in the Spring with the 9th graders to see their growth.
- The PSAT 10 is completed in the Spring. The PSAT 10 measures critical reading ability, mathematics problem solving ability and writing ability, rather than existing knowledge.
- The SAT is completed in the Spring. The SAT Suite of Assessments helps students navigate their path through high school toward college and career, and offers a range of unique benefits to students.
- The AP test gives students the chance to tackle college-level work while they're still in high school and earn college credit and placement.
On the local level we use the STAR testing. Your child may take a Star test for early literacy, math, reading, or other subjects of their teacher’s choice. Star Assessments are short tests that provide teachers with learning data. Star tests are computer adaptive, which means they adjust to each answer your child provides. This helps teachers get the best data to help your child in the shortest amount of testing time (about one-third of the time other tests take).
We also provide formative and summative assessments throughout the year in class and during final exams in the winter and spring.
- Formative assessment, including diagnostic testing, is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment.
- The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark. Summative assessments are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include: a midterm exam.
We value the time and efforts each student places on these tests. Teachers can provide individual learning plans to assist your child with the best placement into courses and programming within each course.
We are concerned that these tests do not always assess all of what it is that make each of your children special and unique. The people who create the standardized tests and score them do not know each of you-- the way your teachers do and certainly not the way your families do. They do not know that many of you speak two languages. They do not know that you can play a musical instrument or that you can dance or paint a picture. They do not know that your friends count on you to be there for them or that your laughter can brighten the dreariest day. They do not know that you write poetry or songs, play or participate in sports, wonder about the future, or that sometimes you take care of your little brother or sister after school. They do not know that you have traveled to a really neat place or that you know how to tell a great story or that you really love spending time with special family members and friends. They do not know that you can be trustworthy, kind or thoughtful, and that you try, every day, to be your very best... the scores you get will tell you something, but they will not tell you everything. There are many ways of being smart.
At Fenton High School we value the story and the narrative that makes each of you special and unique. It is important that the best efforts are put forth on all of your assessments so we know how to program for your child(ren).