The Somerville Public Schools has a comprehensive system of assessing student progress that includes teacher developed classroom assessments, quarterly grade reports, local common assessments, and statewide standardized tests including MCAS and ACCESS. Assessment data is used to individualize instruction in the classroom, make decisions about student needs, and improve instructions across grades and department.

MCAS: The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education also regularly assesses student proficiency in Reading, English Language Arts, Math and Science/Technology using the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). The MCAS tests students in all public and charter schools across the Commonwealth to ensure that schools are meeting the standards set by the Massachusetts Department of Education. The elementary MCAS tests are intended to help schools and teachers know if students have mastered the content required to succeed in high school. This is important because high school students and adult learners in the ADP program must pass currently achieve a grade of Proficient or higher on three MCAS tests (English Language Arts, Math, Science) as one requirement of earning a diploma. Students may take these tests up to five times to achieve a passing score. MCAS tutoring, paid for with a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, is offered on Saturday mornings at Somerville High School to provide students at Somerville High School, Full Circle Alternative High School and SCALE provides high quality tutoring that has ensured a 99% MCAS proficiency rate in the Somerville Public Schools. The statewide test scheduleis available through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

ACCESS for ELLs: The Somerville Public Schools also tests English Language Learners on their oral and written English proficiency using the Commonwealth's ACCESS for ELLs (ACCESS). ACCESS test results are used by the District to determine if a student continues to need sheltered English Immersion Program or other academic support services to help them master English.

Providing teachers with "real time" data on how their students are progressing towards their grade level standards is the reason for the Somerville Public Schools' comprehensive, interim local assessment program called Measures of Academic Progress (MAP). This data, collected from students in Grades 2 - 9 three times per year (fall, winter and spring) in the areas of reading and mathematics allows teachers to better understand individual student's mastery of lessons and concepts so they adjust instruction accordingly.

Another benefit to having such detailed assessment data is in student goal setting. As part of this goal-setting process, assessment data is shared with students by their teacher. This often happens as part of a individual conference, and students are encouraged to work toward improvement goals that they establish for themselves.

Visual Displays of Student Growth Data: Student assessment data may be displayed in the classroom or in an adjacent hallway. Teachers make sure that students are not individually identified in these displays and that improvement, or growth, is highlighted. The use of assessment data for goal setting and for public display has a common research base, and its overall goal is to empower children, to make them active participants in their own learning and to be in control of their individual success.  Students should feel a sense of personal efficacy, learning to make a straight-line connection between hard work and success, providing a visual reinforcement for the belief that "smart is something you get" and celebrates the application of effort and reaching for higher levels of achievement.

Guidelines for visual displays of student growth data are as follows:

• Growth is Best : The data display's emphasis should be on growth instead of absolute performance. That is, change in the RIT score (in MAP, Measurement of Academic Progress, Somerville's formative assessment system for grades 2 - 9) should be emphasized, not the RIT score itself or a comparison to other students.
• Data Groupings : Individual student data is but one of a number of data groupings that are possible. Teachers have reported success with plotting growth on the whole class level. Other schools have tried grade level and school level groupings to chart growth. Whichever type of grouping is chosen, the objective is celebrating success, measuring student progress towards the teacher's learning goals.
• Teacher Choice : Since the use of student data sharing is an instructional strategy, our position has always been that teachers can choose how to implement the data sharing strategy. A data sharing strategy is required of all elementary teachers, but posting of individual student data is not required. Among the strategies that can be used successfully, alone or in combinations the teacher feels are appropriate, are goal-setting conferences, maintaining "growth folders" for individual students including graphical displays of growth, other visual displays. These strategies will vary depending on the grade level and the teacher's judgment about the best ways to motivate their students forward. The postings can be physically located in the classroom or an adjacent hallway.
• Opt Out: Parents/guardians can opt out if they prefer their child's individual data not be displayed publicly. Several circumstances involving opt out have already surfaced and have been addressed with sensitivity by teachers and administrators on site. Detailed administrative guidelines for the opt out option are still under development.