Benchmark assessments are designed to provide information on standards of mastery for the purpose of guiding instruction. The utility of benchmarks is affected not only by the extent to which they are useful in guiding instruction, but also by the extent to which they can effectively forecast standards mastery on statewide tests. At Dodge City Middle School benchmark formative assessments are used to indicate those standards that have been mastered and those standards that have not been mastered following instruction. The use of benchmark formative assessment results are used to plan and implement interventions aimed at promoting mastery of selected standards as outlined by the instructional calendar.
At Dodge City Middle School we recognize that the effective forecasting adds utility or purpose to benchmark assessments because it increases the information available to guide instruction toward standards mastery on statewide assessments. We also recognize that if benchmarks are to be used in forecasting, it is important that these instruments be reliable and valid. That adequate levels of reliability are essential to obtaining adequate validity. Validity is supported to the extent that benchmark formative assessments are related to other measures of student achievement. An unreliable test is not adequately related even to itself. In order for our school to use benchmarks formative assessments effectively to forecast standards mastery, the formative benchmarks assessments will need to be designed to correlate significantly with statewide assessments. It will be our goal in the near future to establish true validity and reliability of alignment between benchmark assessments and state wide assessments.
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