Academic Assessment

St. Croix Catholic School participates in a variety of standardized tests throughout the school year. We use these tests to help determine our school’s areas of strengths, as well as identifying academic areas that need improvement. At the same time, the individual child’s areas of strength and needed growth are measured.

In October 2005, our 3rd, 5th and 7^th Grade students participated in the MAT-8 test, which is widely used in the Archdiocese to test all subjects. The results show:

1. SCCS is consistently strong K-2 in the fields of Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Science, and Geography. SCCS could seek improvement in the fields of Consonant Sounds, Measurement, and Addition Facts.
2. SCCS is consistently strong 3-4 in the fields of Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Concepts and Problem Solving, Computation, Language, Spelling, Science, Research Skills, and Thinking Skills. SCCS could seek improvement in the fields of Patterns and Relationships.
3. SCCS is consistently strong 5-6 in the fields of Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Language, Spelling, Science, Research Skills, and Thinking Skills. SCCS could seek improvement in the fields of Patterns, Relationships and Algebra, Computation, and Geography.

In May 2006, our 8^th Grade students took the MCA-II test (replacing the former BST test). The MCA-II measures Math and Reading levels, and is used by District 834. Following this test, District 834 students move on to take the state-required tests, now referred to as the GRAD tests: 9^th Grade Writing, 10^th Grade Reading, and 11^th Grade Math.

Beginning in the 2006-2007 school year, SCCS will review our standardized testing materials. We are anticipating that changes will include testing in more grades, 2-8, rather than just grades 3,5,7, and 8, to better monitor student learning. We also anticipate using different tools (NWEA, MCA-II) to provide better assessment for learning rather than assessment to learn. The NWEA is a computer-based standardized test that is dynamic and responsive to the individual student. During testing, the test can change to better meet the needs and capability level of the learner. Plus, this new test can be given multiple times during a school year with immediate feedback. The MCA-II is a more traditional standardized test that will allow the overall school, grade level, class, and individual students, to monitor growth from year to year. District 834 currently uses the MCA-II and the NWEA. If you have questions about any of these anticipated testing changes, please contact Assistant Principal, Athena Novack, 651-439-5581 or anovack@stccs.com.