D.O.E. To Begin Territory-Wide Common Core-Based Standard Assessments On March 14

ST. THOMAS — The Virgin Islands Department of Education will administer the end-of-year Common Core-based Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments in English/Language Arts and mathematics to public school students in 3^rd – 6^th grades, and 11^th grade beginning Monday, March 14, 2016, D.O.E. has said. The testing window is open through June 17, 2016.

This is the second year D.O.E. will administer the online tests, which are aligned to the Virgin Islands new academic standards that were adopted in 2010.

The tests were administered to students for the first time at the end of school year 2014-15, and showed dismal results, with only 17 percent of students from all grades meeting or exceeding the English and Language Arts standard in DOE’s new system; while only 7 percent excelled in math.

“These results usher in a new era for Virgin Islands public education and is a first glance into where Virgin Islands’ students are with meeting more rigorous academic standards that focus on critical thinking, problem solving and analytical writing,” said Commissioner Sharon McCollum in December, 2015. “The Virgin Islands’ new standards and tests raise the bar for both teachers and students.  As we expected, students need to make more progress. We are committed to supporting students, teachers and schools to ensure their success.”

The following are the 2015-16 schedules for Smarter Balanced testing:

St. Croix District

Schools will not conduct testing by grade level. Rather, schools will set their own schedules and are communicating directly with parents about test dates.               

St. Thomas-St. John District (by grade level)

1) Elementary School schedule (2 school weeks for each elementary grade):

              6^th March 14-April 1

              5^th April 4-April 15

              4^th April 18-May 6

              3^rd May 9-May 20

3) BCB Middle School schedule:

              6^th March 14-April 1 (2 school weeks)

              7^th April 4-May 6 (4 school weeks)

              8^th May 9-June 3 (4 school weeks)

4) Addelita Cancryn Junior High School schedule:

              7^th April 4-May 6 (4 school weeks)

              8^th May 9-June 3 (4 school weeks)

5) Sprauve Middle School schedule:

              7^th and 8^th grades – May 23-June 10 (3 school weeks)

6) Charlotte Amalie and Ivanna Eudora Kean High School schedule:

              11^th grade April 11-June 17