• Mission 

     

    The mission of Benteen Elementary (B3) is to provide a comprehensive and rigorous curriculum that will prepare all students to be lifelong learners and globally-minded citizens, who are growing in academics, character, and leadership.    

     

    Vision

     

    The vision of B3 is to provide a world-class education that prepares students of today to be leaders of tomorrow.

     

    Philosophy

     

    B3 philosophy regarding assessments is that they are tools utilized by teachers to design instruction that will help all students progress to higher academic levels.  Instruction is data-driven.  By continuously collecting, analyzing, and reviewing our data, we are given the opportunity to make changes to our instruction so that we can reach each individual student.  Moreover, our assessments are geared to evaluating students on multiple levels, contents, and styles. Assessments will be given with fidelity.  Assessments are able to help students take a more active role in their learning through student-led and/or teacher/student conferences and goal setting.  

     

    •  What is assessed 

    Students are assessed in every content area multiple times throughout the year. Students enrolled in Dual Language Immersion classes may be assessed in English and Spanish to show mastery.  

    •  When  

    Students are assessed on a continuous basis. Benchmark assessments are given to students every quarter. Students are tested three times during the school year using the Renaissance STAR assessment. Students will also be assessed throughout the school year, and after every unit. 

     

    •  How 

     

    Formative assessments will be used to check for students' progress.

    Summative assessments are given to assess student mastery of standards.  When content allows, product-driven assessments will be used to give students additional opportunities to show what they know.  Various assessments will be used to continually assess students’ needs and to monitor if students are making progress.

    •  Who

    Every student will engage in some form of assessment.  Different subgroups will be required to take different assessments as needed.  These assessments are mandatory from the state of Georgia.  Additionally, some assessments will be school or district driven. Students enrolled in Dual Language Immersion classes will be assessed in both English and Spanish. (Dual Language Immersion) 

     

     

    •  Implementation 

     

    Assessments will be implemented as needed and monitored by staff.  It is not our aim to overly assess students, but to provide them multiple opportunities to show how they have mastered the content, and provide opportunities for students to reflect on their own learning.

     

    Types of General Assessments used throughout Grades and Content areas



    Open Ended Tasks 

    Rubrics 

    Checklists 

    Anecdotal Records

    Observation 

    Performance Assessments

    Unit Assessments 

    Exit Tickets 

    Actively Monitoring

    Accelerated Reader

    Portfolio 

    Online informal assessments 

    Data Folders 

    Conferencing

    Culminating Task

    Written response

     

    Assessment usage 

     

     Assessments are designed to gather data about students to help us identify their strengths both academically and socially.  This information will allow us to provide student feedback, identify students that will need extra support, interventions, or refer them to the RTI/SST process, as well as identify those students ready for more advanced work.  Additionally, data from assessments will help us better understand the needs of all students in order to provide a more equitable educational experience.  Our assessments are clear and concise,  aligned directly with the Georgia Standards of Excellence and reflect the information students have been taught.  

     

     

    • SLCs

     

     

    Student-led conferences puts more accountability on students and helps to encourage more parent involvement by inviting parents to attend conferences.  B3 will implement SLCs so that students can be more reflective and take more ownership over their school work.  This will be a new initiative that will merge IB, SEL, and student academic performance.

     

    • Exhibition 

     

                All 5th-grade students will prepare and present an exhibition during the last semester of the school year. The exhibition will allow the students to showcase what they have learned throughout their course of education at Benteen Elementary. Students that have not attended Benteen Elementary their entire school career will also be able to participate in the exhibition. 

     

     

    • Writing

     

     

                 Writing is a major component of both IB and Benteen Elementary.  Students in grades Kindergarten - 2 will be assessed on their writing ability quarterly.  Students will be given a writing assessment with their battery of pre-assessments in the beginning of the school year.  Students will then be assessed every 9 weeks throughout the school year.  Students in grades 3-5 will follow a similar format.  However, students' final writing assessment will take place on their Georgia Milestones Assessment.  The writing assessments will follow the design of the Georgia Milestones.  

     

    School-wide Assessments

     

    •  Formative 
      • District Benchmarks 
      • STAR Early Literacy Assessment
      • STAR Reading Assessment
      • STAR Math Assessment
      • WIDA Access Placement Test  *W-APT (Kindergarten)

     

    Formative assessments at Benteen Elementary are to measure how well students are progressing towards goals that have been set by the student, teacher, parents, and district.  These assessments gather important snapshots of a student's progress at various points throughout the year.  The formative assessments are indicators for teachers to determine how well students have learned new concepts and skills. Formative assessments help us pinpoint areas where we could improve our instruction.  

     

    •  Summative 
      • GKIDS (kindergarten) 
      • GA Milestones Assessment
      • STAR Assessment
      • ACCESS
      • Benchmark (K-2) 

     

    Summative assessments show us where students stand at the end of the school year.  This data helps us to generate a new road map for each student for the following school year.  Summative data provides a year to year view of a students’ growth and their growth potential.  It is important to remember that summative assessments do not make-up the entire child, but it does provide a snapshot of the child’s learning at that time. 

     

    Balanced Assessment

     

    Benteen Elementary will use a balanced assessment approach which will allow students to be tested on the same content in a variety of ways.  If a student is not successful using one method of assessment, the teacher has the autonomy to reassess the student using the same or a different method.  Assessments may include but are not limited to oral, written, “acting” out or product-driven assessment.    

     

    Students in Dual Language Immersion may be tested in English and/or Spanish by the classroom teacher.  However, they can only be tested in English if they are not enrolled in the Dual Language Immersion program.  Additionally, all standardized assessments will be in English as mandated by the state. 

     

    Reporting - Feedback

     

    Benteen Elementary provides students, parents, and the necessary stakeholders feedback based on the data.  Data is analyzed on Mondays during Data PLCs.   The data is shared with the administrative team on a continual basis and helps with the decision-making process for the school.

     

    Reports and feedback will be:

     

    • Timely 
    • Provided as needed or every 4 1/2 weeks
    • Used for academic and Social-Emotional needs
    • Provided to parents in a language that is easy to understand

     

    Staff Responsible 

     

    Every staff member is responsible for ensuring the validity, accuracy, and well-being of all assessments.  Each staff is to be aware of their responsibility and roles during any given testing period.  The school testing coordinator is Christian Padgett, Assistant Principal.  The secondary testing coordinators are the Signature Program Coach,Mr. Latimore and the RTI/SST coordinator, Dr. McFadden.



    Assessments Schedule 



    Fall 


    •   Universal Screeners
    •  Benchmark Assessments
    •  STAR Reading/Math
    •  Accelerated Reader
    •  Unit Assessments
    • GKIDS
    • Mock Writing Assessment 

    Winter 

    • STAR Reading/Math
    • STAR Early Literacy
    • Accelerated Reader 
    • Unit Assessments
    • Benchmark Assessments
    • Mock Writing Assessment
    • Access 

    Spring 

    • Universal Screeners
    • Benchmark Assessments
    • Star Reading/Math
    • GMAS
    • Unit Assessment
    • GKIDS
    • Mock Writing Assessment (1-2)

     

    Policy Review 

     

    This policy was created by the Benteen Pedagogical IB Leadership Team.  This policy received input from parents, the community, and staff.  Only this committee may change, revise, or alter this policy for Benteen Elementary.  This policy will be reviewed on an annual basis. 

     

    Frederick W. Benteen Elementary Assessment Policy Updated Spring 2020