Blog

TitleDateExcerpt
Inside the Pearson contract for New York state assessmentsFor parents across Sydney, Melbourne, and regional New South Wales, "standardised testing" usually brings one thing to mind: NAPLAN. Every May, more than a…
Planning a carpool to a Board of Regents meeting in AlbanyWhen a Board of Regents session lands on the calendar, the difference between silence and a packed public gallery often comes down to whether someone is…
When New York school tests collide with religious holidaysEvery spring, families across New York find their calendars pulled in two directions. School districts announce the dates for state English and math…
Helping Your Child Manage Test Anxiety in a High-Stakes School CultureA major assessment can make an otherwise confident child feel tense, forgetful, or physically unwell. Test anxiety may appear as headaches, stomach aches,…
Field test items versus scored items on standardised state examsWhen a child hands you a crumpled test booklet at the kitchen table after school, the numbers that come home in the report tell only part of the story. Buried…
How to Obtain a School District Data-Sharing AgreementA school district may use outside companies for learning platforms, assessment tools, attendance systems, transport software, or special education services.…
Why Art, Music and PE Are Losing Out to Test PrepAcross many classrooms, a familiar pattern has taken hold. Periods once dedicated to creative work and physical movement are being reshaped into drill sessions…
Building a district-specific opt-out guide for Australian familiesFamilies who want to refuse a school assessment often discover that the answer depends on the state, the testing program, and the school’s own enrolment…
What ESSA Means for New York Testing and Why Aussie Parents Should CareThe Every Student Succeeds Act reshaped American classrooms when it replaced No Child Left Behind in late 2015. While it sits across the Pacific from Sydney…
Making Sense of Ambiguous Percentile Bands on Your Child's Test ReportWhen the test results arrive, the numbers on a state report often feel deliberately opaque. Australian parents know this frustration intimately: the annual…
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