The Test My Kid Blog
Practical, growth-minded guidance on math, reading, grade-level expectations, and the test scores schools use, written for parents who want to know where their child really stands.
Kindergarten through 2nd grade is where reading is built from the ground up, one sound at a time. Here is what on-track looks like at each grade, the milestones behind it, and how to check at home.
The early grades do not look like math, and that is the point. Here is what on-track counting, place value, and fact fluency look like in K, 1st, and 2nd grade, the numbers behind them, and how to check at home.
By middle school, reading stops being about speed and starts being about depth: evidence, argument, and stamina across long texts. Here is what on-track looks like in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, and how to check it at home.
Middle school is where math turns abstract and quietly bends toward algebra. Here is what on-track looks like in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, the numbers behind it, and how to check at home in ten minutes.
Third, fourth, and fifth grade are where math quietly shifts from facts you memorize to reasoning you have to explain. Here is what on-track looks like at each of those grades, the numbers behind it, and how to check at home.
Third, fourth, and fifth grade are where reading quietly shifts from sounding out words to using them to learn. Here is what on-track looks like at each of those grades, the numbers behind it, and how to check at home.
A plain-English, grade-by-grade map of the math kids should master in kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade, aligned to Common Core, and how to tell what actually stuck.
A plain-English, grade-by-grade map of the math kids should master in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, aligned to Common Core, and how to tell what actually stuck before algebra.
A plain-English, grade-by-grade map of the math kids should master in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, aligned to Common Core, and how to tell what actually stuck.