Q: What is a comprehensive assessment?
A: Our free comprehensive assessment is our first step to begin working with a student and will go over all topics that a student should exhibit mastery of, according to the Common Core State Standards. We will then build a customized learning plan based on the results, targeting their unique learning gaps to build a strong mathematical foundation.
Q: What things do you learn about a student when they take a comprehensive assessment?
A: Our assessments reveal a student's learning gaps, which allows us to focus their learning plan so they can get the most out of their hour visits. They also function as a way to let us know when a concept has been mastered and the student is ready to move onto new topics.
Q: What is a customized learning plan?
A: Each of our students work through a customized learning plan based on the initial comprehensive assessment, which targets only the concepts and skills they need reminders or more practice with, so they don't waste their time with topics they already know well. For example, if a student struggles with division and after going over the assessment, we notice that they have forgotten the finer points of subtraction with borrowing, we will scaffold their learning plan to address subtraction first before moving onto practice with division.
Q: How do you gauge progress?
A: Students at our center work through 3 topics from their learning plan concurrently. The final page of each concept is called a 'Mastery Check' that we use to gauge their progress through the topic. Every time a student completes 3 mastery checks, we will send a note home to keep their families up-to-date with their progress. After every 9 topics that a student masters, we will reassess them by re-asking every question they missed on their original comprehensive assessment. This ensures that their customized learning plan stays up-to-date and we are not focusing on topics that they have mastered, as well as, reintroducing topics they may have previously mastered but not retained.
