Student Learning

An important means of enhancing teaching and learning at Nishimachi is the effective use of information and communication technology. Technology continues to have an increasingly significant impact on all aspects of education, life at home, and in the workplace. Students at Nishimachi are encouraged to become twenty-first century learners through the use of information technology at school and at home. This is embedded throughout the curriculum to ensure the acquisition of necessary skills and knowledge across grade levels. Ultimately, this allows students to function productively in a modern global society. Technology is utilized in the classrooms through creating, publishing, searching, and researching.

Yes, we do.

We conduct MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing, which was developed by Northwest Evaluation Association in the U.S.A. Students in grades 2 to 9 take MAP tests in Mathematics, Reading and Language Usage. The tests are taken twice in the year, in September/October and in April. MAP is a measure of academic progress and is adaptive to student responses.

The Writing Assessment Program (WrAP) is used in grades 3-5 during Semester 1. WrAP assessment provides a direct measure of each student’s writing ability resulting from the production of a writing sample in response to a specific prompt. WrAP is scored holistically and analytically by two professional scorers, providing a direct measure, using a six-trait, six-point rubric, to provide data that can help target writing instruction for each student.

Standardized tests provide data from an independent source. This is used in conjunction with results from other assessments given by teachers to provide feedback to students, parents and teachers.