Think back to your school years, anywhere between kindergarten and 12th grade. Try to remember some of your old classmates. You can probably recall at least one or two kids from any one of your classes who struggled to keep up with the rest of the students. Maybe that child was you. Regardless of who it was, you can reflect on those classes and empathize with those students who simply did not fit into the mold of one-size-fits-all education.

The fact is, every child is different. Each child learns differently. If you’ve read this blog over the past several months, you’re well aware of how often we stress that mantra. And it’s for good reason–what works for one student or even 10 students may not work for one or two.

So, is it fair for those kids, who want nothing more than to keep up and achieve the same academic success as their peers, to be forced into learning in a way that simply does not compute for them? Should they be stigmatized by teachers or even classmates as one of the “slow” kids when they might be even more brilliant than anyone else in the room? Should they be forced into working so much harder and longer when the results will remain the same, because the particular method of learning is not effective for these kids?

Absolutely not.

That’s why, at Bridgeway Academy, we believe strongly in our Performance Series Testing.

What is Performance Series Testing?

We think of this testing as the “getting to know you” stage of your child’s education with Bridgeway. To effectively educate, we need to know the individual we’re educating. Because then–and only then–can we create an educational experience that’s tailored to their strengths, needs, interests, and goals. Doing this sets your child up for academic success, which builds their confidence, which…well, the sky’s the limit at that point.

The first step of the personalized education experience at Bridgeway is the Learning and Personality assessment, which gives us valuable insight into how a child learns, what types of learning or activities motivate them, and how they best communicate.

Once that has been established, we seek to learn a student’s academic strengths and areas of opportunity. This is where the Performance Series Testing comes into play. It’s essentially an online placement test that allows students to move through one subject at a time. The early stages of the test are designed for student success, which is the first piece of the foundation on which their confidence is built. From there, as they’re feeling confident from the first levels of the test, they move on to concepts that will challenge them while also demonstrating their skills and prior knowledge.

By the end of the Performance Series Testing, we’ll be able to work with you to create an entire school year tailored just for your child’s individual needs. With that in place, you’ll quickly see the difference in confidence, academic achievement, and motivation. At Bridgeway, we seek more than to simply educate a child–we want to teach a lifelong love of learning that students take with them through the rest of their academic and professional careers.

Benefits of Performance Series Testing

Performance Series Testing is the first step toward an exciting and successful homeschool journey with Bridgeway Academy. This is why we find it so valuable.

  • Logic: Rather than simply place a child in their “appropriate” grade level based on age, we start advanced students where they belong academically. Why make them spend an entire school year slogging through curriculum that’s elementary to them when their minds are ready for so much more? This is how boredom and distaste for school begins. If we see a child is advanced in particular subjects, we will not hesitate to place them where they will be challenged yet still experience success. If that means a year or two ahead of where they “should” be, that’s what we’ll do.
  • Foundation: Kids need a foundation to succeed academically. With Performance Series Testing, students’ struggles are identified and help is provided so they can close the academic gaps that are standing in their way of their success. Once those gaps are filled, the foundation can start being built.
  • Insight: With Performance Series Testing, parents know right from the start where their children are academically. From there, parents can continue staying on top of their child’s education.
  • Achievement: Testing at the end of the school year allows parents to celebrate their child’s academic achievements and success.
  • Support: Performance Series Testing provides all the progress charts a parent needs to illustrate their child’s growth. This is helpful not only for your own student to see, but also to have on hand should your local school district request a progress report on your child’s school year.

How Accreditation Comes Into Play

If you’re familiar with homeschooling, you know just how important accreditation is. If you’re not familiar, here is why accreditation is so critical:

  • As what’s essentially an audit of a homeschool academy or program’s policies, procedures, and curriculum by an accrediting body, the accreditation process ensures your homeschool program is of the highest quality and standards. After all, if your child is enrolled in a homeschool academy or program, you want to know that it does not grow complacent and continues striving to be better each and every year by self-evaluating.
  • Additionally, accreditation is important when it comes time for college applications, as universities and colleges will want to see that any homeschool program is accredited so they know a prospective student has received a high-quality education. In fact, some schools may not even consider a student’s homeschool classes valid without accreditation.
  • Accreditation may also open the door to possible scholarships and NCAA funding that is reserved specifically for students who attended an accredited school.
  • Finally, an accredited homeschool does much of the heavy lifting for you, such as grade reporting, transcripts, record-keeping, and credit tracking.

So, now that you know why accreditation is important, here’s how assessments such as Performance Series Testing work with accreditation: these types of assessments are absolutely key to Bridgeway’s accreditation because our use of assessments is so critical to the true personalization of each student’s education with us. The fact that we use assessments such as Performance Series Testing demonstrates our passion and drive to provide an individualized education, and that in turn is viewed as a model of excellence by the organizations that grant our accreditation.

While it’s true that most students don’t necessarily enjoy taking tests, the Performance Series Testing that Bridgeway provides directly impacts our students’ education in the most positive ways. Through these tests, we’re able to do what we do best–create an education plan tailored specifically for your child so they learn to love learning, build their confidence, and succeed in the classroom and beyond.

For more information about our Performance Series Testing or about Bridgeway Academy in general, please call us at 1-800-863-1474.