Classroom Tests: What Parents Need to Know

Beyond the big standardized tests, your child takes dozens of classroom-based tests throughout the school year. These daily, weekly, and unit assessments are how teachers monitor learning, assign grades, and decide when to move on to new material. Understanding how they work — and what the grades really tell you — gives you a far clearer picture of your child’s academic progress than any single standardized test score.

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The Difference Between Classroom and Standardized Tests

Classroom tests are created and scored by your child’s teacher and are specific to what was taught in that class over a given period. Standardized tests, by contrast, are the same for all students in a district, state, or nation, and are scored against a fixed scale or norm group.

Both types matter, but they answer different questions. A classroom test tells you whether your child learned this week’s material. A standardized test tells you how your child’s skills compare to other students at the same grade level nationwide. See the Standardized Tests section for guides to those assessments.