Grade 9: NWEA Testing Begins (taken in Math & English classes)

What

Grade 9: NWEA Testing Begins (taken in Math & English classes)

When

9/17/2023

To the Parent/Guardian of a Grade 9 Student,

Throughout the 2023-2024 school year, your child will participate in the NWEA tests for Math and English. In most cases, your child(ren) took a Spring administration of these tests when they sat for the Placement Exam at OLSH, given in January or February 2023. The first administration of the NWEA will be during the week of September 18, 2023. The tests will be taken in the students’ English and Math classes only, and they will not miss any of their other classes during these days. Unlike other achievement tests that are timed, the NWEA is not. Depending on a student’s response, they will move to either an easier or more challenging level of difficulty. This methodology is used to not only identify a student’s understanding of grade level content, but also to identify a student’s readiness to learn new grade level content. All students will have 2 days to complete each exam. If necessary, a student will be afforded additional time during a third day to complete the exams.

When selecting this assessment program, we did so for several reasons.

1. While NWEA is a K-12 national testing program, they have recently established themselves within the Catholic education communities across 40 of the 50 states, reporting back to the schools on over 400,000 students.

2. Using the NWEA as our Placement Exam, we are better able to glean a more exact picture of each child’s prior knowledge along with his/her strengths and weaknesses, while establishing a baseline for their learning.

3. Using the baseline, further administrations allow teachers and parents to monitor each student’s knowledge/achievement as compared to other students nationally, as well as a student’s “growth” or progress in a subject area during their 9th grade year.

4. The NWEA, along with the PSAT exams, provides each student and parent(s) information regarding their “readiness” for the SAT (and ACT) exams given in their junior and senior years.

The NWEA Test will also be administered in January and at the end of May.

As your child participates in these assessments during their 9th grade year, you will be able to monitor their testing performance as noted in their Math and Reading report. These reports will be shared with you following each administration. Using this assessment information, your child's teachers will work with them to identify and to teach or reteach specific content and skills.

For further explanation, please contact your child’s school counselor.