Testing at ACEL Fresno

by Carlos Perez

The Academy for Civic and Entrepreneurial Leadership, one of the Central Valley’s newest charter high schools, requires students to take mandatory state tests, such as the California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program and the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). While ACEL students take the mandated state tests, they will not be offered benchmark testing, as most other schools have now adopted.

Project-Based Approach

ACEL Fresno takes an unorthodox approach to traditional test preparation for students. Some public schools might spend their time “teaching the test” to students, rather than offering a learning experience. ACEL Fresno believes that students’ understanding of the material is far more important than regurgitating information.

The teachers and administrators of ACEL Fresno believe in project-based learning, which better develops students’ technology skills and incorporates technology with subject material.

No ‘Benchmarking’

ACEL Fresno has taken benchmark testing out of its curriculum. Benchmark tests are used by most public schools as “progress reports” on how well a student is “learning” throughout the year. ACEL Fresno sees things differently: benchmark tests are not able to measure the most crucial aspect of the students’ experience at a school: what will the student take away into the real world?

A Hopeful Success

ACEL finds it in students’ best interest to completely remove benchmark tests and instead use a project-based preparation system to better engage students. Project-based learning is successful in allowing students to gain a better understanding of course material.