Making Sense of Your Assessment Data: How ERB Supports Schools

ERB’s Evolution Over Nearly a Century

Founded in 1927, ERB is just a few years away from its 100th anniversary. While the ERB mission has always remained the same at its core, the organization has dramatically transformed since its founding as K-12 education has evolved.

Many educators have historically viewed ERB as an assessment provider, but today, we’re much more than that. The ERB mission has always been to provide data and resources to measure student learning and growth and help each student reach their full potential. Today, we’re advancing that mission.

“Assessments are only as useful as the information you get from them,” says Tom Rochon, President of ERB. “We are increasing the value of your assessments by providing tools that enable educators to make data-informed decisions that support student growth with a focus on the whole child.”

We know data are more valuable when the information is analyzed with context and strategy. That’s why, in addition to assessments and measures of student well-being and social-emotional skills, we offer a range of resources and services to help educators and families extract actionable insights from assessment data. These resources range from innovative professional development opportunities to reporting tools that analyze trends and present data in easy-to-understand formats.

How ERB Supports Schools in Analyzing and Interpreting Assessment Data

Professional Development Consultations

Each of our member schools has unique needs, missions, and priorities, and educators face competing demands. That’s why we created our new Educational Services function to better meet members’ needs and help them use ERB’s programs and data more effectively.

We offer customized professional development for ERB member schools, both on-site and via Zoom, which can be tailored to meet the needs of every educator and budget. Our most popular sessions include:

• Understanding Your Child’s Score Report: A Zoom-based workshop to help families understand how to read and interpret CTP and Milestones score reports and answer questions about the assessments
• Using Data to Inform Curriculum and Instruction: A three-hour, in-person workshop designed to support schools in using their assessment data to inform curriculum and instruction
• Introduction to 360 Access Reporting for Faculty Teams: A Zoom-based workshop designed to help schools navigate ERB 360 Access, our interactive data reporting platform
• Full-Day Customizable PD Session: A customizable, full-day professional development session tailored to meet your needs, with an end-of-training wrap-up with your entire team

All engagements include a pre-workshop planning session to design a professional development experience that best supports your school’s goals. Choose from remote delivery via videoconference or schedule an in-person training session. 

360 Access Data Interpretation

Although a single assessment may only offer a snapshot of a student’s learning and development, it can still generate a lot of data. The volume of data can increase significantly when schools use multiple assessments to create a more holistic view of student growth. 

The ERB 360 Access data reporting platform makes it easy to parse all of your assessment results in one location so you can identify trends, spot learning gaps, and plan targeted interventions. 

Use the dynamic platform to access and interact with data from the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) admission assessment, CTP and Milestones achievement assessments, SelfWise inventory of social-emotional skills, and the Check-In Survey on student well-being.

Reports in 360 Access: Achievement Assessments

Get a high-level overview of students’ progress or drill down for a more detailed perspective. Within ERB 360 Access, you’ll find:

• Dashboard: A high-level overview of your entire school’s performance.
• Performance Reports: View how groups of students perform against reference groups, including the independent school norm, and compare that performance to your school’s historical data. 
• Achievement Reports: Track student progress over time compared to norm-referenced groups and grade-level expectations set by subject matter experts. 
• Content Mastery Reports: Break down performance by content domain to identify specific areas where students have challenges.
• Individual Student Reports: Look at a student’s performance across subjects and disciplines to quickly identify strengths and areas for improvement.

Head of School Report

Many school leaders face a challenge in using assessment data to guide strategic planning and evaluation without getting bogged down in the details.

The new ERB Head of School Report, powered by 360 Access, provides an interpretive summary of your ERB assessment results from a whole-child perspective, drawing on data from ISEE, CTP, and Check-In Survey data. 

The report presents significant points and data visually, making it easy to identify the most important trends and takeaways. See where your school is excelling to further refine and communicate areas of distinction and identify potential areas of improvement early on so you can address them quickly. Evidence-based insights will help you with curricular planning and understanding where to focus your efforts on student belonging and well-being.

Plus, the Head of School Report can be exported to Microsoft PowerPoint to easily integrate graphical and written summarizations into presentations, communications with families and stakeholders, and more. 

Screenshot of Check-In Survey results by grade in the Head of School Report

Family Report

There’s no denying that communicating assessment results with families can be challenging for various reasons. Interpreting student data can be complex, and it may be hard for family members to understand the results within a broader context. Additionally, assessments often evoke strong emotions, making these conversations particularly difficult. Miscommunication can result in missed opportunities to provide better support for students, which is why educators should communicate effectively with families.

We created a new Family Report tool, powered by 360 Access, for our achievement assessments—CTP and Milestones—to help families understand their students’ strengths, areas for improvement, and progress over time. This customizable report makes it easier for educators to share appropriate assessment and measurement information and provide families with key insights related to students’ academic needs and strengths.

Customization in the Family Report Tool

With Family Report for CTP and Milestones, members can customize individual reports and add commentary. You can:

• Customize three templates—General Report, Detailed Report, and Progress Report—by selecting assessment events, scores, and norm types.
• Write your own cover letter or use an ERB template with starter text about the assessment and guidance for interpreting results. 
• Use the Teacher Comments feature to add personalized notes for the student and their family, including feedback on whether assessment results align with other progress indicators.
• Use the Next Steps feature to share resources and advice about activities students can do outside the classroom to enhance their learning. 

[RELATED: Tips to Communicate With Families About Assessment Results]

In-Person Events

ERB’s in-person events allow educators to engage with ERB staff, industry practitioners, other ERB members, and researchers while exploring best practices from the independent school community. ERB hosts national and regional events, including our ongoing ERB Connections Regional Conference Series.

These one-day events are held in cities around the country and explore relevant topics in education, including how to analyze, interpret, and apply data. Additionally, ERB will also host its next national conference in April 2025 in Austin, Texas. More details about the event will be shared soon!

Attending these events allows you to take advantage of hands-on workshops designed to help you effectively use ERB tools, learn about the latest products and services, and hear from ERB leadership about the trends we’re seeing in member schools’ assessment data.

Webinars

Are you looking for more frequent, bite-sized professional learning opportunities? ERB’s Educational Services function offers regular virtual webinars and office hours that are free to all member schools. 

Join us for recurring webinars offering introductory and advanced instruction on making the most of ERB’s tools and assessments. There’s always plenty of time for questions so we can walk you through specific scenarios in real time. 

Plus, you can access our entire library of recorded webinars anytime to get visual walkthroughs of tools or get new ideas about applying data insights.

Making the Most of Your Assessment Data

Ready to explore a new approach to assessment that pairs a whole-child approach with best-in-class analysis tools? Learn more about joining the ERB member school community.

Learn more about ERB membership, or request more information from ERB about the offerings and services highlighted above.