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ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
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Assessment Data
STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT
Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston (ARCHGH) take pride in preparing students for heaven, college, and career. Catholic schools administer an annual standardized assessment program that aligns with the requirements of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops Education Department (TCCB ED) and the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Schools (NSBECS).
Standardized assessments are used to measure student learning and evaluate academic programs. This leads to a continuous review of curriculum and the improvement of instructional practices. Standardized scores are only one measure of a school’s quality and strength. Schools obtain a comprehensive view of student progress and growth by using multiple types of data collected throughout the school year. Archdiocesan scores are published in an effort to reflect the scores of the Archdiocese as a whole. -
ACRE™
Assessment of Children/Youth Religious Education
The National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) partners with Catholic Faith Technologies to provide an online platform for the ACRE™ – Assessment of Children/Youth Religious Education. The assessment is designed to assist in the evaluation of religious education programs in Catholic schools. The ACRE™ is utilized by Catholic schools to assess the student’s knowledge related to religious beliefs, attitudes, practices, and perceptions. The ACRE™ presents questions associated with teachings of the Catholic Church related to Tasks/Domains of Catechesis which include knowledge of the faith, celebration of the mystery, life in Christ, prayer, and community life. Since 2016, Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese have administered the ACRE™ in fifth and eighth grades. ACRE™ was not administered in the 2019-2020 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Scores are reported in national percentiles allowing a comparison of Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Catholic school students to other Catholic school students in the same grade level nationally who also were assessed using the ACRE™ instrument. The numbers below represent the national percentile of pupil performance in each task/domain. Both fifth and eighth grade students continued to meet or exceed national averages. Religion teachers continue to work towards completion of the Catechist Certification and the renewal of their certificate.5th Grade Tasks/Domains of Catechesis Results
Task/Domain 2022-2023 National Average Knowledge of Faith 76.8% 67.0% Celebration of the Mystery 66.7% 54.0% Life in Christ 77.4% 66.0% Prayer 57.5% 47.0% Community Life 69.0% 56.0% 8th Grade Tasks/Domains of Catechesis ResultsTask/Domain 2022-2023 National Averages Knowledge of Faith 77.8% 66.0% Celebration of the Mystery 64.8% 55.0% Life in Christ 81.0% 70.0% Prayer 70.3% 57.0% Community Life 69.8% 58.0%
NWEA MAP GROWTH
Measures of Academic Progress
Students in grades 1-8 are administered the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) Growth™ assessments each fall, winter, and spring. MAP Growth™ is a computer adaptive assessment taken by over eleven million students nationwide, including students in many Catholic schools. It adjusts to each student’s learning level, providing a unique set of assessment questions based on their responses to previous questions. As a student responds to questions, the assessment responds to the student, adjusting up or down in difficulty. MAP Growth™ is used to measure a student’s performance level at different times of the school year and compute academic growth. Teachers observe progress of individual students and their class. They utilize results to plan, adjust, and deliver appropriate instruction and content for students. Data can support students to set goals and understand what they need to learn to achieve their goals.
In the ARCHGH, our focus is on student growth. Student growth is a student's progress between two or more points of time to demonstrate their progression toward goals or benchmarks. Why are we focused on student growth? Reality tells us that all students cannot attain the same levels of academic achievement. Not every child is a straight A student, not every student can achieve above average performance on classroom or standardized assessments, and not every student can cross the same finish line in an academic year. A focus on end-of-year achievement does not consider where a student begins and has goals that are “one-size fits all.” Further, it does not account for individual strengths and weaknesses. As Catholic schools fulfilling our mission to educate all, a focus on student growth supports our belief that every student can grow in their learning and academic success regardless of their academic abilities and past experiences.
Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston students outperform
private and Catholic schools across the nation!
Students from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston have not only excelled but outperformed their counterparts in private and Catholic schools nationwide in the 2022 NWEA MAP (Measures of Academic Progress)™ assessments in reading and mathematics at every grade level. The advantage over other private and Catholic schools in the nation grows throughout elementary school and especially by the end of middle school, affirming that the longer a student attends a Catholic school in our Archdiocese, the greater the likelihood for academic growth and success.
The following charts represent the results from May 2023 MAP Growth™ assessments for the ARCHGH. The numbers represent the RIT (Rasch Unit) score for students in reading, language usage, and math. The RIT represents a point on a continuous scale of learning from 100 to 300. The RIT scale is a stable, equal interval scale. For better understanding, think of the RIT score like marking height on a growth chart. You can tell how tall a child is at various points in time and how much they have grown between one stage and another. Scores can be compared over time to tell how much growth a student has made.READING
SPRING 2023
READING
SPRING 2023ARCHGH (Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston)Grade
LevelARCHGH National
Norms 20201 178.7 171.4 2 193.2 185.6 3 203.6 197.1 4 212.3 204.8 5 217.6 210.9 6 220.1 215.4 7 224.7 218.4 8 228.9 221.7
LANGUAGE USAGE
SPRING 2023
LANGUAGE USAGE
SPRING 2023ARCHGH (Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston)Grade
LevelARCHGH National
Norms 20201 Not Assessed Not Assessed 2 195.3 188.4 3 204.6 198.3 4 212.8 205.0 5 218.0 210.2 6 220.7 214.2 7 225.1 216.5 8 229.8 218.7
MATHEMATICS
SPRING 2023
MATHEMATICS
SPRING 2023ARCHGH (Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston)Grade
LevelARCHGH National
Norms 20201 183.3 176.4 2 194.5 189.4 3 204.9 201.1 4 214.6 210.5 5 221.3 218.8 6 225.7 222.9 7 232.1 226.7 8 239.3 230.3
MAP Growth™ also provides an achievement percentile that reflects scores for our students compared to the scores of students across the nation who took the same assessment during the same time frame. The national average is the 50th percentile. MAP Growth achievement percentiles for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston are well above the national average.
ACHIEVEMENT PERCENTILES
SPRING 2023
ACHIEVEMENT PERCENTILES
SPRING 2023ARCHGH (Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston)Grade
LevelReading Math 1 90 90 2 88 83 3 83 76 4 86 75 5 84 65 6 76 65 7 82 74 8 83 82
For more information on MAP Growth™, click on the following links.