Can you imagine taking a test on the homily and readings each week after Mass? The idea of testing children on what they’ve learned in religion class may make catechists similarly uncomfortable; however, assessing what a child learns in faith formation classes is not a test of faith. Pflaum provides a suite of age-appropriate assessment tools to determine how a child is acquiring and retaining information related to the Catholic Church and its teachings:
- Weekly review templates are available in Spanish and English for Seeds, Promise, Good News, Venture, and Visions. You may choose to send these home regularly for parents and children to work on together or as a makeup exercise if a child is absent from class.
- Lesson assessments include five questions from each week’s lesson that are typically related to the Sunday Gospel theme, vocabulary word, and story. They are available for Good News, Venture, and Visions.
- Pretests and unit assessments provide a glimpse at what a child already knows about a subject area and helps determine mastery of the lessons for each of the eight-week units. They are available for Good News, Venture, and Visions.
In parishes and schools, these tools may be used to assess mastery of vocabulary words, as well as story and Gospel themes. They may be downloaded and printed, or you may choose to use the interactive PDF version. The assessment questions also can be used to create flashcards or a class “trivia” game—both low-stress options to reinforce concepts.
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