Does Prisma do any kind of testing?

We believe that learners are more than a test score and that many skills essential for future success cannot be reliably assessed via traditional assessments. We use our badge system at the lower & middle school level and credit system at the high school level to measure learner progress in all competencies, from academic skills, like Reading, Math, and Writing, to key life skills, like Goal Setting, Oral Presentation, and Media Literacy. We believe that measuring what learners can do when applied to a real-world project is much more meaningful than selecting the correct answer from a list of multiple choices.

That said, Prisma learners take the internationally-recognized NWEA MAP assessment three times per year to help us understand where each learner is in certain academic skills and to ensure that we’re meeting the goals of our families. Per this adaptive assessment, which measures an individual learner’s growth relative to expected growth, Prisma learners, on average, grow 204% in Math and 168% in Reading each year.

We also support Prisma high school learners in preparing for the SAT and/or ACT, though as a virtual school, we cannot proctor the exams ourselves. Prisma upperclassmen achieve an average SAT score in the 93rd percentile (28% above the US national average).