Q: What is a comprehensive assessment?
A: Mathnasium's diagnostic assessments are a no-stress test given to all students upon their first visit to determine where the student's math understanding level is.
Q: What things do you learn about a student when they take a comprehensive assessment?
A: A student completing our diagnostic assessment allows us to determine a reference point as to where that student's mathematical prowess resides. We are then able to build a customized learning plan based upon the topics that they did not show mastery of.
Q: What is a customized learning plan?
A: Every student has a customized learning plan tailored specifically to their needs. This learning plan is created exclusively through the problems and topics they had not shown mastery of on the original assessment. For example, many students struggle with their multiplication and division facts, especially when posed with a multiplication fact outside of one they have memorized. Our Multiplication Fact Learning Plan is designed to give students explicit strategies for solving these problems, not to just be focused on the answer to a multiplication problem. This sentiment of strategies versus memorizing is prevalent throughout all Mathnasium curriculum!
Q: How do you gauge progress?
A: We gauge progress by administering a post-assessment, similar to the original, diagnostic pre-assessment that we had given to the student upon their first visit. Students who meet or exceed a specific score threshold on this post-assessment shows mastery of the material present on the assessment. This allows us to administer more challenging material by assessing the student on a new, more appropriate assessment!
