What’s Up in the Upper School
May 2010
The ERBs return in May!
Every Spring St. Edmund’s Academy students anguish over the ERBs - more accurately, the Educational Records Bureau Comprehensive Testing Program 4 (ERB CTP4) - but why? Most likely because the ERBs disrupt their normal routine for three days in May. Students spend about two hours each day reading and filling in bubbles on an answer sheet- pure torture for students who are accustomed to reading, analyzing, discussing, creating, debating, pondering, and writing. It is, however, necessary for our school to engage in annual comprehensive achievement testing, such as the CTP4.
The ERB CTP4 is a battery of tests designed to provide instructionally useful information about student performance in key areas of the school curriculum. Questions are organized into content areas, and the number of questions in each area varies. The tests assess student achievement in reading, vocabulary, writing, and mathematics, as well as their verbal and quantitative reasoning skills.
St. Edmund’s Academy receives the results of the test during the summer, and we mail each child’s results to his/her parents with a comprehensive report provided by ERB. The ERB CTP4 provides comparisons to national, suburban, public, and independent school norms. Results have lead to modifications in curricula, additional testing, or recommendations for enrichment and/or remediation for individual students.
Please help us by helping your child prepare for the CTP4. While students cannot study for these tests, they should be encouraged to do their very best on each and every test. We recommend an early bedtime, good breakfast, and timely arrival to school. Homework will be light the three days of testing, with no additional classroom tests given.
Elizabeth Harbist
Head of Upper School
To find out What's Up in your child's grade level, click on the links below.
Upper School Grade Level What's Up: |
|
 |
Fifth Grade |
| |
Sixth Grade |
| |
Seventh Grade |
| |
Eighth Grade |
|
Additional Upper School Announcements |
|
Upper School Monthly Test Schedule |