Rensselaer City School District

April 2025

Dear Parents and Families,

     As a reminder, we will be administering the New York State Grades 3-5 Assessment tests and the Grade 5 Science Assessment later this month and in early May.  Please remember that these assessments provide us with data that we use to improve education for our students. In addition, this information is used to help us identify areas where we may need to provide additional resources and/or consider changing our instructional approaches to teaching specific concepts. Most importantly, this represents an opportunity for all students to practice the process of facing challenges.  This will be a necessary life skill to master.  Additionally, we make facing challenges together fun by celebrating theme days!

Testing Dates:

• April 30th - Grades 3-5 New York State ELA Assessment

Dress Your Best for Test Day! Wear your best outfit to show you’re celebrating your ELA skills in style!

• May 1st - Grade 5 New York State Science Assessment 

Neon/Tie Dye Day! Wear your brightest neon or tie dyed clothing to show you are highlighting all of your text evidence and using your skills to show just how “bright” you are!

• May 7th -  Grades 3-5  New York State Math Assessment

No Sweat, Bring on the Test Day! Wear your coziest sweats to school to show you are ready to workout your brain and show your strong math skills!

• May 8th -  Grades 3-5  New York State Math Assessment

Can’t Hide our Ram Pride Day! Wear all your favorite Ram Gear to show how proud you are of your determination and perseverance to do your very best with the challenges you faced with the NYS tests!

• May 14th -  Grade 5 New York State Science Assessment 

    As it is every day, during the assessments it is important that students:

• Get proper rest the night before.
• Eat a healthy breakfast.
• Arrive to school on time (8 a.m.).
• Are in school for each day of the assessments.

We encourage you to contact our VRES office at 436-4618 if you have any questions or concerns about the assessments. As always, thank you for your continued support.

Best regards,

Jeffrey M. Palmer, Principal

Joseph Kardash, Superintendent