Assessment & Data
World's Best Workforce
The World’s Best Workforce bill was passed in 2013 to ensure every school district in the state is making strides to increase student performance.
Each district must develop a plan that addresses the following five goals:
- All children are ready for school
- All third-graders can read at grade level
- All racial and economic achievement gaps between students are closed
- All students are ready for career and college
- All students graduate from high school
For Minnesota to be competitive, we must have students who are college and career ready, students who are poised to lead the state’s workforce. This is important for a number of reasons:
- Our population is aging
- Seventy percent (70%) of jobs will require more than a high school diploma by 2018
- We don’t have qualified candidates to fill many good-paying jobs
- The fastest growing segment of our future workforce is students of color, and they currently have the state’s lowest graduation rate
- Minnesota has one of the worst black-white achievement gaps in the country
How will we measure progress? Each district will create their own plan to align curriculum and instruction so that students are college and career ready. The success of each plan will be measured by:
- Closing the gap by student group
- MCA scores
- High school graduation rates
- Career and college readiness
What school boards need to do:
- Involve the community during plan development
- Include members that reflect the diversity of the district and its schools
- Make recommendations to the school board on rigorous academic standards and student achievement goals and measures
- District leaders will post an annual report on their progress, hold annual public meetings, and are required to submit a summary report to the Minnesota Department of Education
World's Best Workforce Summary Report
World's Best Workforce Annual Presentation
District Assessment & Data
- About Assessment
- Assessment Calendar
- Testing Opt-Out
- Parent Test-Support Strategies
- Student Test-Taking Strategies
- Test Anxiety Tips
- Additional Resources
About Assessment
Watertown-Mayer Public Schools utilize a number of measures to assess and evaluate student progress toward local, state, and national standards and college and career readiness standards. This balanced assessment model is designed to screen, progress monitor, personalize instruction, evaluate programming, gauge effectiveness of instructional strategies, determine student program placement, determine state and federal accountability, and inform students and parents of student progress.
Assessment Calendar
Testing Opt-Out
Parent Test-Support Strategies
- Provide a quiet, comfortable place for studying at home.
- Encourage students to practice good study habits.
- Mark test dates on your home calendar and schedule appointments on non-testing days.
- Ensure students get a good night's sleep and eat a nutritious breakfast before school, especially on testing days.
- Communicate with your child’s teacher as often as needed to discuss his or her progress.
Student Test-Taking Strategies
- Be prepared and stay engaged in learning throughout the year.
- Seek available test preparation materials.
- Get a good night’s rest and eat a healthy breakfast before testing.
- Read directions carefully and pay attention to details.
- Read and respond to items one at a time rather than thinking about the whole test.
- Read through all answers to a question before answering.
- Use strategies such as reasoning and eliminating wrong answers when answering questions.
- Go back and check your work when finished.
Test Anxiety Tips
Test anxiety is a worry or fear caused by having to take tests. Text anxiety may cause:
- Mental Distraction (easily distracted by temperature, sound, or passerby)
- Physical Symptoms (quickened heart rate, “butterflies” in the stomach, nausea, sweating, headache)
- Mental Blocks
Tips to Beat Test Anxiety