Nothing says, “Welcome back from break!” like being faced with winter benchmark assessments. The recommended testing window is December 16 – February 6, so for many of you this task is in the near future.

Our blog is full of great information about winter assessments. This post, Make the Most of Winter Benchmark Assessment Data, describes how to analyze the student’s week-by-week growth in fluency using both fall and winter data. To get a more complete picture of the student’s progress, compare this data to the norms in the Average Weekly Improvement column of the Oral Reading Fluency Norms table.

This post, Setting Spring Targets, gives you detailed instructions on using fall and winter data to set appropriate fluency targets for spring assessments. Setting spring targets can help you monitor your students’ weekly growth more closely and ensure that they are on track to meet their goals.

But wait, there’s more! If you’re curious about the difference between assessment and Read Naturally placement, read this article. And if you’d like to learn more about our assessment tools: Benchmark Assessor Live, Quick Phonics Screener, and Reading Fluency Progress Monitor, click here.

We wish you the best as you assess your students this winter—and we hope you see the fluency gains you’ve been aiming for. Let us know if you have questions or concerns about the assessment process or how to interpret the data. We’re happy to help!