Assessment and Standardized Testing
At Garage Academy, student progress is assessed using a wide variety of measures.
In the classroom, teachers evaluate assignments, projects, quizzes and tests, and overall class participation and engagement. Students also take standardized tests in grades 3, 4, 6, 8, and the PSAT in high school. Garaca views standardized testing as only part of a student’s profile; it gives teachers a snapshot of each child’s strengths and challenges. Standardized tests are designed to give a common measure of students’ performance and add to an overall profile of student achievement. Since standardized tests are given to large groups of students across the country, a common standard of measure is derived.
Lower and Upper Prep.
Twice during a child’s Lower-Preparatory years (in grades 3 and 4) and twice during a child’s Upper-Preparatory years (in grades 6 and 8) GA administers a standardized test, the ERB/eCTP test.
The Comprehensive Testing Program (CTP) is an achievement test, designed to measure what students have already learned in school. Garaca administers the electronic (online) eCTP version of the Electronic Records Bureau (ERB) test. Included are sub-tests in English language arts, mathematics, and verbal and quantitative reasoning.
The College
The Garage Academy provide a series of opportunities for students to practice taking and prepare for the standardized college entrance exams that many colleges and universities require as part of their application processes.
There are two national exams, the SAT, administered by the College Board, and the ACT, administered by the ACT organization. Colleges and universities will generally accept either of these assessments in their admissions process. How should a student make the choice if both are accepted? The answer is simple: Choose whichever gives the strongest results for the student based upon the results of optional practice tests that GA makes available to its students.
These tests, the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT, which is required of all Garaca students, and the optional, but encouraged practice ACT test, help GA’s college counselors determine the best test format for an individual student and recommend a standardized testing plan for that student’s college application process.
Scores from the PSAT and practice ACT tests are reported to counselors, parents, and students, but are not part of the credentials reported for college applications.