Standardized Test Results

Our school administers the SAT (Stanford Achievement Test) every year. This test is used by millions of students in private and public schools across the United States and even in other parts of the civilized world. It provides a standard comparison of achievement and ability with a huge population of students nationally. This makes it an excellent tool for objectively evaluating our curriculum and instructional methodology. It also helps us to track our students and to compare their ability with their actual achievement. In other words, we have a good indicator for determining if students are working up to their ability level.

We began using the newest versions of the SAT in 1996. Since then, ECS achievement scores have consistently been well above the national average. There are two ways to consider achievement tests. One is the average for the whole school and the other is the
range for the school. School-wide average scores in all subjects have been in the upper fifteen to twenty-five percentile annually when compared to other students across the nation. Analysis of the range of test results reveals that our lowest scoring students are close to the national average and our highest fall into the upper 1-3 percentile. We are able to determine from these statistics that we are successfully educating children who fall into the span of average to highly gifted ability. Many times, students come to us who are achieving a little below average and we have seen them become more successful. We are also able to challenge more capable students.

One of the major academic objectives at ECS is to enable students to work up to their ability. Generally speaking, there are three levels of education: “boredom” and “frustration” at the extemes, and “instructional” , which is the goal. The ideal
educational environment is one where each student has the opportunity to learn at his or her “instructional” level. ECS students’ SAT scores show that they are achieving at or above their ability levels. Therefore, we can confidently conclude that we
are achieving our educational goals.

We are very pleased that our students are so successful. However, we do not want to make the mistake of over-emphasizing test scores. They are just one part of a big picture. When considered together with other methods of assessment, they are very useful. Continuous evaluation of our teaching methods and curricula helps us to maintain, and even improve, the level of instruction that we offer the students of Emporia Christian School.

If you would like to look more closely at these statistics, or have any input or questions regarding our educational programs, please don’t hesitate to call. Thank you.

“We are Building Christian Leaders” Our school is a member of the Association of Christian Schools, International