Growth Goals

Divine Mercy Catholic Academy believes that every child is a gift from God and must be provided with the opportunities to reach their potential.

DMCA is the only educational institution in the region to establish formal instructional goals in literacy and mathematics for each student. Our "growth goals" are established with input from both the classroom teacher and parents, and measured throughout the year with a variety of tools. Parents receive updates on progress and are a part of adjustments to each student's growth goals.

The Dibels and STAR assessments are foundational sources of data used to measure student progress. Both of these diagnostic tools are nationally normed assessments that allow teachers to precisely identify areas of strength and need. The STAR assessment is structured to give continuous feedback on student progress from early childhood through high school graduation. Our data-driven approach is purposefully  designed to allow parents to participate as partners in their child's education.

Parents are asked to participate in scheduled growth goal  conferences during the academic year. Growth goal conferences are opportunities for parents to receive updates on and offer input related to student progress.

All of the data-gathering tools used to measure student progress are integrated into our academic reporting system. This integration allows us to minimize the time required to administer assessments while maximizing the instructional impact on individual students. We believe that this approach allows Divine Mercy Catholic Academy  to be a place where every child is truly some one special!