Assessment and Testing

Reporting Procedures

In grades K-4, report cards are issued twice a year, in February and June. In grades 5-8, four times a year, (in November, February, April, and June) report cards are sent home to parents. At each mid-term, 5-8 teachers send home progress reports to parents. These may be positive reports or reports of work needed. Special education students will receive “Progress Reports” on specialized forms in January and June, which correspond to a student's individual educational plan.

Assessment Information

Tisbury students are assessed in a variety of ways, including informal reading inventories, teacher-made and standardized tests, student presentations and performances. Rubrics and grades are widely used. We rely on multiple assessments to determine a student's final progress in a program of study. Tisbury School students also participate in the statewide Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System.

MCAS State Testing

The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) is administered to students in grades 3 through 8 during the months of March, April and May. Students take the test to determine what they have learned from the curriculum they have been taught. Tests are given in Language Arts, Math, and Science. MCAS Results from the spring tests will not be available until the fall. The test results are reviewed to see the areas in which our students were successful and the areas where more work is needed for mastery. These assessments can be very useful as a snapshot of student performance. They are even more useful when tied to other assessments, over time, to see if patterns of strength and weakness emerge for the individual child or for the school. The school keeps records of our scores from year to year and attempts to determine areas of normal and abnormal variation in different subjects. These scores are used also to inform our teaching so that we can better educate our students.