Qualitative Evaluation & Assessment
We provide a qualitative evaluation of a student’s progress that takes into consideration the whole individual, including engagement, strengths and areas for growth, as well as social, physical, and creative achievements; the education your child receives at The Post Oak School extends far beyond basic skills in math, science, and language. We assess progress according to developmentally appropriate standards.
Information about student progress is communicated in various ways based on the developmental level of the student. Each student is assessed based on their individual progress and growth. At every level, students are assessed based on developmentally appropriate standards for the purpose of supporting their individual progress. Assessments are shared with families and useful feedback is provided to students based on their developmental level:
- YCC
- Children receive feedback through their exploration and controls of error that are built into the materials.
- Families receive progress reports in parent-teacher conferences in the fall and spring semester.
- Primary
- Children receive feedback through their exploration and controls of error that are built into the materials.
- Teachers tailor lessons based on observations of each individual child’s interest and needs and progress.
- Families receive progress reports in parent-teacher conferences in the fall and spring semester.
- Elementary
- Children receive feedback through their exploration and controls of error that are built into the materials, individual meetings with teachers, and tracking their own progress through a work journal.
- Teachers tailor lessons based on observations of each individual child’s interest and needs and progress.
- Families receive progress reports in parent-teacher conferences in the fall and spring semester.
- Beginning in third grade, students take the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Test.
- Middle School
- Middle School students receive feedback through regular assessment that is shared through our Learning Management System (LMS).
- Teachers tailor lessons based on observations of student’s interests, needs, and progress.
- Families receive progress updates in student-led conferences in the fall and spring semester and a written progress report in the fall and spring semester.
- Middle School students take the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Test three times per school year.
- High School
- High School students receive feedback through regular assessment that is shared through our Learning Management System (LMS).
- Teachers tailor lessons based on observation of student’s interests, needs, and progress.
- Families receive progress updates directly from their students in student-led conferences in the fall and spring semester and from teachers in written progress reports at the end of the fall and spring semesters.
- High School students take the PSAT in their freshman through junior years, the SAT and/or ACT in the senior year, and the IB Exams in May of the senior year.
The Middle School and High School use a system to evaluate student progress that helps to ensure that the school can communicate clearly with colleges and universities about student work.
Conference Reports
At the Bissonnet Campus, you will receive three written reports each year. Two of these reports will be reviewed with you at conferences with your child’s teacher/advisor in the fall and spring. Families will be notified when conference sign-ups are available on the school website. At the end of each school year, you will receive a third written report in the mail or through My BackPack, which will reflect your child’s social, emotional, physical, artistic, and academic work completed during the course of the school year.
For Museum District Campus students (Middle School and High School), conference reports represent self-evaluation. This process of self-evaluation is extremely valuable, and provides young people with a life-long tool for measuring their own performance against their own standards. In the fall and spring of the year, students write a self-evaluation and lead a short conference to review their work to date and lay out plans for upcoming work. The student’s advisor and parents attend the conference. In the High School student’s first year, conferences include all teachers. In subsequent years, the advisor represents the faculty.
Throughout the year, if you have questions about your child’s progress, please call the teacher or advisor for a discussion.
Outside Assessment and Guidance
A Montessori classroom can accommodate the needs of a wide range of students. Some children are able to receive special attention within a Post Oak classroom.
The school and its staff are committed to open and ongoing dialogue with parents regarding concerns about their child’s progress. The classroom teacher, in conjunction with the Student Support Team, division directors and the head, may, at times, request outside assessment and guidance for working with individual children. The reasons for such a request will vary greatly: often the teacher may need more information about a student’s strengths and areas of growth in order to work with them more effectively.
In these cases, the school expects to receive a complete copy of all evaluation results and recommendations. Evaluation results must be uploaded to the Educational Testing and Assessments tab in Magnus. For HIPAA purposes, confidential evaluations must not be sent to classroom teachers or anyone else via email or by hand. Afterwards, the classroom teacher, Student Support Team, and others will meet with the parents to discuss the recommendations. The school commits to implement all recommendations consistent with its mission and within its resources; the school expects parents to follow through on recommendations for tutoring, therapy, or other treatment.
There are times when this assessment of needs will result in a discussion about whether or not Post Oak is the right learning environment for a student.