Is my child on track with his reading skills? It is natural that parents and teachers want to measure student literacy. You may have heard your student’s teacher use the term “dibels” before. DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills and is pronounced, ironically, “dibbles.” (I say “ironically” because it is a […]
Assessment
Why the CLT? Pt. III: Why We Adopted It
When Cedar Classical Academy’s founding team began planning the school in 2016, we did not expect to adopt a standardized test for the school. We knew enough of the respective messaging and approaches of The College Board and ACT to be skeptical about their compatibility with our mission and goals for our own graduates. By […]
Why the CLT? Part II: Who and How it Serves
Classic or not, what is the point of a standardized test and why should you (and your student) care? The Classic Learning Test (CLT) gives the school administration and teachers another look at our students’ academic abilities and achievements from outside of our own institution. From a curriculum planning perspective, the CLT offers another point […]
Why the CLT? Part 1: Why It Started
In the early 2010s, former public school teacher Jeremy Tate began to question why American education had grown so bland and utilitarian. He came to the conclusion that high-stakes testing was partially to blame. High-stakes testing drives K-12 curriculum. David Coleman, CEO of the College Board, has stated publicly that “teachers will teach towards the […]
In Defense of Mastery: Our Approach to Assessment Pt. 2
In our last installment in this series, we discussed the universality of assessment, the history of grading, and who grades are for, concluding that systems of assessment which serve institutional aims do not best achieve our aims for the student. Our aims for your students are self-government, self-control, virtue, mastery of the material, love of […]
In Defense of Mastery: Our Approach to Assessment
One of the primary goals outlined in our mission statement is to “offer a rigorous course of study in the Western liberal arts tradition, teaching students to discover goodness, truth, and beauty in every discipline as a reflection of God.” A great deal of preparation goes into the fulfillment of this statement. The governing board supports the school by upholding the […]