Harnessing the Power of Pathways Benchmarks

Benchmark assessments serve a unique purpose because they contain questions with varying levels of difficulty that showcase deficits for students at every ability level. For this reason, reviews from benchmark assessments give every student the potential to grow.

How Do You Harness this Power? 

1. Analyze the results. Pathways Benchmark reports give many valuable insights: how your students performed relative to other students (Mastery Zone), the most common misconceptions of your students (Item analysis), comprehensive insight across assessments (Student Results and Longitudinal Standards Summary), and individualized student results (Student level Mastery Zone, Performance Map, and Item Analysis). View this video (7:09 min) for Pathways Test Report information.
2. Create individualized reviews. This is the chance for a “More Knowledgeable Other” (teacher, peer tutor, interventionist, homeroom or elective teacher) to correct misconceptions on the easiest items that every student - irrespective of performance level - missed. View this video (5:19 min) for how to create individualized student reviews.
3. Design Next Step Instruction: Pathways teacher resources. In Pathways you will find the following:
   1. Next Step Resources: Standard-specific information and lesson planning resources for teachers.
   2. Power Checks: Ten question standard-specific questions at varying difficulty levels, offering guided instruction or independent assessment, depending on the needs of the student and teacher.
   3. ELA Stepping Stones: Short assessments that enhance comprehension and vocabulary skills by breaking down texts and questions into manageable and teachable sizes.
      View this video (3:11) for more information on Pathways teacher resources. 
4. Make Review a School Wide Effort: Student Tracker. With Custom Groups in Student Tracker, any teacher (interventionist, tutor, homeroom or elective) is able to view results and create reviews for any student. View this video (3:29) for more information on Student Tracker.

Individual Growth is Exponential. In the time leading up to the next assessment, make it a goal to grow every student’s test performance - irrespective of baseline proficiency level - by one to two questions. Intentional, individualized benchmark review makes this goal achievable.