academic testing

Setting the Standard(ized Testing)

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

After a great first week back to school, our kids will jump right into iReady standardized tests to set their baselines for the year. From i‑Ready diagnostics to Amira reading fluency, spelling screeners and even gifted screeners, it feels like the expectations are already high.

However, schools emphasize that these tests aren’t about pressure or performance. They’re simply tools to understand where each child is starting and what support they may need to thrive throughout the year.

Early and frequent student testing isn’t unusual. American students are tested more than students in any other developed country. Recent comparisons show that the average U.S. student takes about 112 required standardized tests before graduating high school, far above international norms. In grades 3 through 8 alone, children often sit for 20 to 25 different standardized assessments each year, not including practice tests or test‑prep weeks. And unlike other countries, the U.S. layers federal, state, district, and benchmark tests, creating an unusually dense testing schedule.

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You’re On Your Own, Kid: Navigating the 3rd Grade Transition

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

The jump from 2nd to 3rd grade is considered the first big “Academic Transition”. The other two academic transitions are the jump from elementary to middle school, and the jump from middle to high school. These academic transitions are so aptly named because of the increased workload and subject matter difficulty, as well as the higher expectations of emotional maturity, personal responsibility, and independence.

Think about it. Kids aren’t doing circle time anymore to start their day. They aren’t reminded to use the bathroom or hold hands with their partners on a field trip. Kids are actually graded by the quality of work they submit, not just a check or check plus for completion.

My son is in third grade this year, and I can feel the pressure. Each week brings homework and a steady stream of graded material—whether it’s a practice sheet, a quiz, or a formal test. On top of that, he’ll be taking the Georgia Measurement Assessment System (GMAS) for the first time. It’s hard not to feel like everything rides on this one year.

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I Think We Need a Tutor

| Patti Webb

Every night, not unusually, Troy and I read to A&Z before bed. We had done a bit of a library purge and made sure that they had a variety of Early Reader and Beginner Chapter books, having already gone through all of our picture books. Now that the girls were older, I wanted to make sure the girls were being challenged by the material, instead of reading the same books over and over.

We switched to reading aloud together and let the girls alternate pages or passages. That’s when what used to be an understandable gap turned into one of our kids falling behind.

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The Gifted Parent

| Patti Webb

Last week, I did a Google and podcast search to see what resources or articles covered “gifted” parents. To be clear, this is about parents who were in the Gifted and Talented programs growing up in the 90s. Not parents of currently gifted children.

Both Mary and I grew up in gifted program in it’s various forms. In the spirit of Millennial Parenting, which has a sturdy base in self-reflection and re-parenting, we wanted to see how growing up as gifted students could have an impact on how we now raise our own kids.

My search ended up with not that many hits. Mary and I have five kids between us and for the most part, they are too young to be considered for gifted right now. So in this liminal time where our kids and their relationship with school is in development, how can we see what this academically-accelerated program has done for/to us when it comes to parenting?

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