General Assessment Information
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Cheltenham School District is proud of the achievement of our students, and we believe that a student’s learning can be seen from a variety of standpoints. One of those is assessment data, some of which occurs in the classroom through activities, discussion, and projects, and some of which occurs through tests at the school, state, and national level.
Regardless of where the assessment occurs, our teachers and administrators use the assessment data to review student learning to understand their strengths and needs, as well as the overall effectiveness of our instruction and programming.
Below, you will find information regarding resources for you to understand assessments and data in our district as well as information about some of the assessments administered.
LinkIt Parent Portal
- View your child(ren)’s state and national assessment data here. As your child goes into higher grades, more data will become available. For additional support on how to navigate LinkIt Parent Portal, please click here.
Assessments
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Acadience
Acadience Reading Diagnostic is a set of untimed measures that are administered individually to understand the reading skills of students in grades K-2. The precise information provided by these assessments helps educators make informed decisions and answer questions to better target instruction for struggling readers. The Acadience testing windows can be found on our assessment calendar linked above
For more information, please visit the Acadience website.
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Advanced Placement (AP)
Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board. AP offers undergraduate university-level curricula and examinations to high school students. Colleges and universities in the US and elsewhere may grant placement and course credit to students who obtain high scores on the examinations. The AP curriculum for each of the various subjects is created for the College Board by a panel of experts and college-level educators in that academic discipline. The AP testing windows can be found on our assessment calendar linked above.
For more information, please visit the Advanced Placement (AP) website.
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CDT
The Pennsylvania Classroom Diagnostic Tools (CDT) is a set of online assessments in literacy, math, and science administered to Cheltenham students in grades 3-10 three times per academic year (fall, winter, and spring) as benchmark exams. It provides diagnostic information to guide student interventions and enrichment. It assists our teachers and schools in identifying your child(ren)’s academic strengths and areas in need of improvement. It is an adaptive test, and depending upon how the student responds to the first few items, the next set of items will adjust to the student’s instructional level. Students receive approximately 48–60 items per test depending upon their response pattern. The CDT testing windows can be found on our assessment calendar linked above.
For more information, please visit the Classroom Diagnostic Tools (CDTs) website. -
IXL Learning
IXL is a digital platform for mathematics and reading that will help determine students’ needs, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. IXL’s Real-Time Diagnostic assessment will be administered three times per academic year (fall, winter, and spring) to all students in grades 1&2 as part of the district’s data and assessment plan. In addition to being a diagnostic assessment, IXL includes standards-aligned resources for instruction and intervention. The Real-Time Diagnostic data links directly to a Personalized Action Plan to deliver an individualized online lesson path for students. The IXL platform also provides resources for teachers – a digital library of curriculum-embedded and test prep skill plans, including Keystone Exams, PSAT, and SAT.
The results provide teachers with information to help them deliver appropriate content for each student and determine each student's academic growth over time. This data is often used to help students set goals and understand what they need to learn to achieve their goals.
For more information, please visit the IXL Learning website.
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Keystone Exams
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has created the PA Core and Academic Standards aligned Keystone Exams to serve as end-of-course assessments for Algebra, Literature, and Biology. All Cheltenham students in Algebra I, Biology, and/or English 10 will be required to take the corresponding Keystone Exams (Algebra I, Biology, Literature) at the end of the course. The Keystone Exam provides your child with the opportunity to demonstrate skills that your child has learned in the areas of Algebra I, Biology, and Literature.
These assessments are given throughout Pennsylvania annually and are aligned to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. The Keystone Exam Testing Window can be found on our assessment calendar linked above.
For more information, please visit the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) website.
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Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test
The NNAT (Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test) is a nonverbal test given to Cheltenham students in grades 2-4. The NNAT utilizes shapes and figures to evaluate the problem-solving and reasoning abilities of a child without relying on their language skills. In other words, the NNAT assesses how a student thinks instead of what a student knows.
For more information, please visit the Naglieri Tests website.
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Next Steps Guided Reading
The Next Steps Guided Reading assessment, known as Running Records, is a tool used to evaluate and track the reading progress of elementary-aged children. During this assessment, educators observe and record a child's reading behavior as they read aloud, providing insights into their reading accuracy, comprehension, and fluency. This valuable information helps teachers tailor instruction to meet each child's individual learning needs, supporting their development into confident, proficient readers.
For more information, please click here.
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Pennsylvania Alternative System of Assessment (PASA)
The Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) was created to meet the needs of students with cognitive disabilities who are not able to meaningfully participate in the PSSA or Keystone Exam assessments. As with the PSSA, PASA is aligned to the PA Core Standards for reading, writing, and mathematics but with an additional focus to reduce the complexity and extensiveness. The PASA testing windows can be found on our assessment calendar linked above
For more information, please visit the Pennsylvania Department of Education PASA website.
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Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA)
The Pennsylvania State Assessment System has aligned the PSSA to the PA Core Standards for reading, writing, and mathematics. Cheltenham students in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 will be required to take the Pennsylvania System of State Assessment (PSSA) toward the end of the year. The PSSA provides your child with the opportunity to demonstrate skills learned in the areas of English Language Arts (including both reading and writing), mathematics, and science. These assessments are given throughout Pennsylvania annually and are aligned to the Pennsylvania Academic Standards.
The PSSA Testing Window can be found on our assessment calendar linked above.
For more information, please visit the Pennsylvania Department of Education PSSA website. -
Preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSGT)
The Preliminary SAT, also known as the PSAT/NMSQT® (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test), is a practice version of the SAT exam. You can only take the PSAT once per year, and many students take the test in both 10th and 11th grade. The PSAT testing windows can be found on our assessment calendar linked above.
If you earn a high score on the PSAT your junior year, you could qualify to receive a National Merit Scholarship, a national scholarship program—$180 million dollars in merit scholarships are awarded to students each year. The PSAT is 2 hours and 45 minutes long and tests skills in reading, writing, and math. Unlike the SAT, the highest score possible on the PSAT is 1520.
For more information, please visit the PSAT website.
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SAT
The purpose of the SAT is to measure a high school student's readiness for college and provide colleges with one common data point that can be used to compare all applicants. College admissions officers will review standardized test scores alongside a high school GPA, the courses taken in high school, letters of recommendation from teachers or mentors, extracurricular activities, admissions interviews, and personal essays. How important SAT scores are in the college application process varies from school to school.
For more information, please visit the SAT website. -
World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA)
WIDA ACCESS (Assessing Communication and Comprehension in English State to State) is the Pennsylvania requirement assessment used annually to measure a K-12 student's English language proficiency. ACCESS is standards-based and is designed to measure the students' use of the language instructionally and socially with attention given to the language used during Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. ACCESS accomplishes this by measuring listening, speaking, reading, and writing capabilities.
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WIDA Alternate ACCESS
WIDA Alternate ACCESS was created to comply with the Pennsylvania requirement to provide an assessment for students grades 1-12 who are not able to meaningfully participate in the ACCESS assessment.
For more information, please visit the WIDA ACCESS website.