Our Assessment Process
We are committed to the individual success of each child; regular assessments are conducted throughout the school year. Using both formal and informal assessments, we are able to document learning progress over time and adapt our curriculum to the unique cognitive, social, and emotional needs of each child.
Superior Schools/Plato Academy Preschool formally evaluates students enrolled three times a year. Our comprehensive evaluation process is designed to assess students in all areas of development including physical, social, emotional, and academic domains through observation, formal assessments, and portfolio activities. The evaluations allow teachers to set individual goals and track the progress of each student over the course of the school year.
Throughout the school year, parents are provided with Progress Reports outlining their child’s abilities and highlighting the goals teachers are setting to improve and encourage VPK/Kindergarten Readiness skills based on their child’s individual needs. These reports are provided to families in November, February, and May.
As part of our curriculum, the teachers in our Early Learning programs monitor student progress throughout the school year. These assessments are designed to evaluate children in different learning domains such as math, literacy, and approaches to learning. Teachers evaluate children through regular observation as well as creating play-based activities to determine a child’s level of competency and proficiency with concepts such as letter and number recognition, identifying and creating patterns, naming shapes and colors, matching numbers to objects, creating number sets, and many other Kindergarten readiness skills.
All children enrolled in VPK are evaluated using the Renaissance Star Early Literacy® test. This test is replacing the assessment that was formerly in place for VPK students. The Star Early Literacy® test is the same test that has been used to evaluate children’s literacy and numeracy skills once they enter Kindergarten. While this is the first year that the Star® testing is required for VPK, a number of our locations did participate in a two-year pilot of the program overseen by the state prior to this year.
A unique evaluation tool, this is a computer-adaptive test that children take using a laptop or a tablet. Depending on how the children respond to the questions, they can become easier or increasingly more difficult as the test progresses. We do not believe that a child’s development can be measured entirely by a single test score; however, the information provided by the test is an incredibly valuable tool that teachers can use to lesson plan and set individual student and classroom goals.
Following the completion of the assessments, on-site Directors are able to generate a variety of reports that inform teachers about each child’s individual progress and which skills they should be focusing on with each student. This information allows teachers to plan for differentiated instruction within the classroom so that they are meeting each child where they are at academically. Additionally, we are able to share this data with Plato Academy administrators and Kindergarten teachers so that upon entering Kindergarten, they have a snapshot of where their individual skill level is beginning in August.