Dear Sequoia Community,

California standardized testing begins this week! Our “testing window”
starts today, April 21st, and ends Friday, May 16th. All students in Second
-Fifth Grades will take the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) assessments.
Third Grade students will take the California Achievement Test (CAT/6), and
Fifth Grade students will take a Science and Physical Fitness Test.

Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) provides information to individual schools,
districts, state department and federal government about students’ academic performance
in the areas of: reading, writing and mathematics. The federal government uses the
results of these tests to determine the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP); the state uses
these results to determine each school’s Academic Performance Index (API); and the district
uses this information to monitor individual schools. When individual schools fall
short of meeting state and federal government requirements, they are classified Program
Improvement (PI) schools. Although test scores assess student learning, it is important
to remember that they only provide a “snapshot” of student learning; standardized tests,
by no means, tell the whole academic story. To get the “full picture”, teachers rely on
teacher-made assessments, student observations and student projects.

To prepare students for STAR exams, Sequoia teachers plan classroom instruction based
on California’s content standards. For a detailed listing of the content standards, check
out the California Department of Education website, www.cde.ca.gov, and click the “Curriculum
and Instruction” button at the top of the page.

During testing, please support your child’s academic success by doing the following:
• See that your child is well-rested and eats breakfast EVERY morning.
• See that your child arrives at school on time and is relaxed.
• Encourage your child to do his/her very best work possible.
• Schedule doctor appointments and vacations either before or after testing
• Continue to instill in your child the power of positive thinking—if you think you can
achieve, you will!

Our students receive quality instruction on a daily basis. I am therefore confident all our
students will perform well. Again, the testing “window” starts today, April 21st
and ends May 16th.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Don’t miss my “Principal’s Shout-Outs” in the newsletter! I’m always available for conferences,
and I’m just a phone call or e-mail away!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Kyla R. Trammell
879-1510 / Kyla.Johnson@ousd.k12.ca.us