LS Learning Coach Selected to Rewrite CTP/ERB Test

After only one year at Mount Vernon, Ann Marsh Rutledge – Grade 4 Learning Coach – has not only made an impact on the now fifth graders, but also on her Lower School team. So much so, that Nicole Martin, Lower School Head of Learning and Innovation, encouraged Ann Marsh to enlarge the Mount Vernon footprint by applying to join the national task force for re-writing the English/Language Arts section of the Comprehensive Testing Program (CTP), by Educational Records Bureau (ERB). She was one of 12 educators accepted, nationally.
The CTP is a standardized test utilized nationwide and by Mount Vernon for students in grades 2-8, which helps measure how our students are doing not only in comparison to our own standards – but to other students in the same grades across the country. A rigorous assessment of student achievement of essential standards and learning domains in English language arts and mathematics, the CTP includes verbal and quantitative reasoning sections for grades 3-4 and also furnishes the School with more individualized data about student performance and is critical to help guide learning, while it is only one of many important parts of our comprehensive assessment system for measuring student progress and evaluating curriculum.
This past summer, Ann Marsh traveled to New York City to begin her task force work. Over the course of two very long days, she and the others reviewed the standards that should be tested. Together, the group made adjustments and recommendations including: depth of knowledge levels, standards prioritization, relevance, and volume.
Reflecting on her experience and how it might impact Mount Vernon, Rutledge shares, “It’s great for us to have our name at the forefront with the other top-notch schools that are represented. We are having curiosity conversations regarding the ACT, SAT and AP Exams, which helps to refine the scope for our Middle School and Upper School. I am able to bring back valuable information, and more importantly affirmation, that what we are currently doing, as a school, will have great impact on our students, determining where they will go from this point and the expectations for them in the future. We are doing great things.”
While there is much work to be done, through further travel and many conference calls, our students will reap the benefits of the task force’s work in the spring of 2016.
During the summer of 2014, Ann Marsh Rutledge packed a moving truck to join the Mount Vernon Grade 4 team as a learning coach. After years of working with students in Grades 2 through 8, Ann Marsh most recently taught fifth grade at Southwest Elementary School in Durham, NC. With a B.A. from UNC Chapel Hill and an M.Ed. from the University of Richmond, Ann Marsh is trained as a reading specialist with diverse experience in gifted education, differentiated instruction, and teaching English as a second language.