learning

Assessment and Student Support

Assessment

Assessment is ingrained in the curriculum at The Advent School. Documenting children’s learning to make it visible to parents, students and teachers is the key element of learning at Advent. Documentation can take the form of Writing samples, Math and Spelling quizzes, Reading inventories and photographs.

Teaching students to apply thinking skills and aim for standards of excellence is critical to an Advent School education. We use rubrics to assess learning, and we teach children to reflect on their work. Our goal is to both challenge and validate students at every step in their learning.

We administer a standardized test, the ERB (Educational Records Bureau) CTP IV each February in Grades Three, Four and Five. The ERB’s help us view each student in the context of a normed test, research patterns in student performance, and evaluate our Literacy and Math programs.

Faculty meet with parents at least twice a year during two regularly scheduled conference periods. In addition, teachers write detailed reports in December and June describing a student’s cognitive, social, and emotional development in all areas of the curriculum.

Student Support

At The Advent School, children with varied learning styles add richness and depth to our classrooms. Two teachers in each classroom and two learning specialists make small group learning part of every child’s experience.

Occasionally, students require some extra help to master their skills. For those who need this support, The Advent School offers one-to-one tutoring in Reading, Writing, Spelling, and Mathematics. There is a fee for individual tutorial services.

“What is absolutely unique [about the Advent School] is the judgment, creativity, and developmental attention with which its rich multi-cultural program has been constructed. If any school will underscore and illuminate the opportunity and challenge with which multi-cultural education can be considered, this fine, small, humane scholarly little school can do it for us all.”

— citation from the U.S. Department of Education