est Jefferson Hills
WE ST J E FFE RS ON H IL L S S C HO OL D I ST RIC T NE WS
Try your best…
T
he first time I had to take a big standardized test was in
second grade and it was the IOWA Test of Basic Skills. The
night before the assessment, when I was feeling extra anxious,
my mother said to me, “try your best. Some questions may
seem easy and some may seem hard, but the only thing that
you can do is try your best.”
As a classroom teacher, I proctored a lot of assessments and
when I had a nervous student, I always gave them my mother’s
advice. Although students are the test takers, we are all able
to help students perform their best during the multi-day test
sessions. Teachers prepare their students with knowledge and
skills. Parents and the community can support students by
encouraging them on test day.
Looking back, one of the reasons students were so nervous
was because they were not sure how those test results would
be used. All of the students wanted to do their best and they
knew that the tests were important, but they were never certain
how their performance on those assessments would impact
their education.
Testing Details
In the West Jefferson Hills School District, we use the results
of standardized assessments in several different ways. We take
a group of students’ results and look at them by grade level
and subject area. When we do that, we look for areas in our
curriculum where the curriculum may need to be adjusted.
In addition, a group’s progress over time can be analyzed to
see if there needs to be course adjustments or additional
programming options. Also, a building’s test results, which
include the performance of all of the students for which
the school is accountable, will also be reported publicly and
included in the School Performance Profile.
In addition to using assessment results for curricular decisionmaking, each child’s test results make up an individual student’s
38 West Jefferson Hills
data profile. In our schools, data teams meet on a regular basis
and use the results of a myriad of assessments, including state
assessments, to assist in planning instruction for the individuals
as well as groups.
As the school year progresses, additional pieces of data are
examined, but the state assessment results are consulted at
the beginning of the school year. State assessment results may
also be an additional piece of information that is examined
when looking at course and programming placement
recommendations.
This spring, students in grades three through eight will be
taking the Pennsylvania System of Schools Assessment (PSSA)
in both reading and mathematics. Additionally, fourth and eight
grade students will take a science assessment and the fifth and
eighth graders will take a writing assessment. In previous years,
there were 11th grade assessments, but those PSSA tests have
been replaced by end-of-course exams in Algebra I, Biology,
and Literature. Students who are currently enrolled in Algebra
I, Biology and tenth grade English will take the state’s Keystone
Exams this spring. For students that are in the Class of 2017 or
beyond, they will need to pass those exams or a project-based
equivalent in order to graduate from high school.
Students will be able to perform their best if they have a
good night’s rest and if they are eating breakfast, giving their
bodies the energy they need to focus on the task at hand. As
my mother said, some questions may seem easy and some
questions may seem hard, but just try your best. On test day,
just like every day, trying our best is always the best advice!
Bonnie Lenor Dyer, M.Ed.
Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment