We are fortunate to have a wide range of tools available to learn more about where our students are in their reading abilities, and how to help them continue to develop their skills.  It can be confusing to sort through all the different assessments, codes and levels you might hear mentioned by your child or your child's teacher.  Here's a quick rundown of some of our most frequently used tests and the acronyms you might hear from your students or teachers. 

• The SRI and Lexile levels The Scholastic Reading Inventory measures your child's Lexile level. Every middle school student takes this assessment. This will help you (and us) know how to pick books that are closest to your child's reading level. It's important to note that if your child is above level, you may want to carefully screen books to be sure their content is appropriate for your child and family.

• 4Sights These are practice tests given 3 or 4 times a year at Saucon Valley to help us predict how your child might score on the spring PSSAs. We administer these tests in reading and math in 5th through 8th grades. 

• AMP We use this research-based curriculum to support readers in our AMP language arts classes.

• Reading Street Saucon Valley students in kindergarten through 5th grade use this research-based reading program.

Common Core Standards Pennsylvania is one of many states that has agreed to recognize national standards for curriculum. This means that each participating state will teach the same content and concepts at the same grade level. We will begin teaching a new curriculum during the 2013-2014 school year that is based upon the Common Core standards.