With the school year already halfway done, it’s time for testing season and studying. The spring has testing in several subjects and in several forms. The Physical Fitness test, for instance, has already started for freshmen. The testing window for that will continue until be ending Friday, April 20.

MAP testing began February 5. MAP stands for Measure of Academic Progress. It’s a computerized adaptive test which helps teachers, parents, and administrators improve learning for all students. It records how students have increased or decreased in reading and math skills. The testing window closes on Friday, February 23. Another set of the same test will begin towards the end of the year. The window for that round of testing is from Monday, May 14 to Friday, June 1. Students in grades 9-11 are required to take the test.

“The English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) is the successor to the California English Language Development Test (CELDT),” according to https://www.elpac.org/about/. Those students who have been in English Language Development classes will be taking this test between Tuesday, February 13 and Friday March 23.

The Writing Assessment for freshmen and sophomores will be taking place in February or early March. It is a district-wide test and students will be evaluated on Illuminate based on their Springboard assignments.

Finally, the testing window for the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, better known as the CAASPP or the Smarter Balance Test, will open Monday, April 16 and run until Thursday, May 31. All juniors will be expected to take this state-wide test and it will be given on a schedule that takes them out of class for testing.

The purpose for most of these tests is to see growth in knowledge and how students have gained more and more information. They are an important measurement to see that students are keeping pace with others across the country, to make sure that the education that the students here is competitive and preparing students for the future. With that in mind, it is imperiative to take the testing seriously.