001Good evening. This is Mark Demo, chief officer of curriculum and leadership. I'd like to take a few minutes of your time to provide you with a brief review of our 2025 2026 assessment calendar. In fact, I have only one minor adjustment to highlight this year. Let's begin with our guiding principles. I begin with a simple reminder of the district's approach to assessment and our guiding principles. It is important to emphasize that teachers and administrators use assessment as a tool to drive instruction and support student growth. A few key points. One, assessment is an ongoing process that reflects the vision set forth in the district's strategic plan. Two, the assessment process is used to make decisions about instruction, summitive grade reporting, and eligibility for intervention and enrichment support. Three, assessment informs educators, parents, and students regarding
002overall academic progress. Beginning in the 2025 2026 school year, grades 6 through 8 science will formally utilize benchmark assessments at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. This practice was soft launched during the 2024-25 school year and based on overwhelmingly positive feedback from staff and administrators is now fully integrated into the district's assessment calendar. The addition of these benchmarks addresses a previously missing component of the science curriculum and strengthens the district's ability to monitor student progress across the year. It is important to note that eighth grade students will not participate in an end-of-ear benchmark as they already take the NGSS state assessment each spring. The next few slides will show sample assessment calendars for students in kindergarten, grade three, grade 5, grade 7, and our 9 through 12 students. The accompanying document includes charts
003for every grade level, which can also be found on the district's assessment website. Here is the kindergarten assessment calendar. Next up, our grade three assessment calendar. Here is the grade five assessment calendar. And transitioning to middle school, here's a look at a grade seven assessment calendar. And finally, here's the table of required assessments for high school students. I end this evening with a resource to bookmark for future use. The table shown here is also attached in the written report. Outlined is the contact information for each academic coordinator as well as additional central office and GHS staff members. Thank you for taking the time to listen and view this update. Thank you so much for your time.