From Guesswork to Growth
How Park School Made Test Prep Personal for Every Student
“It was as if a magic wand came and waved over their scores, and they just magically went up.”
That’s how Lisa DiAdamo, Director of Secondary School Counseling at Park School, describes what happened the first time she piloted Test Innovators with a small group of students. Nearly a decade later, Test Innovators is now part of the fabric of how every 8th grader at Park School, an independent, co-ed school serving pre-K through 8th grade, prepares for the SSAT.
A Partnership Built on Results
The story starts with a phone call. As Lisa tells it, “About 10 years ago, Ben called me up, and I had never heard of Test Innovators, I had never heard of Ben. And he said, ‘Can I come show you this platform?’” Lisa was impressed right away, especially by the immediate feedback loop built into it: “You take the test, the kids hit submit, they immediately see which questions they got right, which questions they got wrong. If they were getting one wrong, there was not only an explanation of how to do it right, but then 10 similar questions that are just like it.”
She piloted it with a small group of about 5-10 students first, and the results spoke for themselves. Scores went up, and the kids actually enjoyed using the platform. “It was very user-friendly, it’s inviting,” she said.
From there, the program grew. Park School decided it was valuable enough to offer to every single student. After having success with the platform, the school decided to utilize Test Innovators’ one-on-one tutoring as well. When the school saw how much of a difference the tutors made, they extended that access to all of their every financial aid students so that they have the option to work with a tutor in addition to the platform. As Lisa put it, “the data just supports that the scores go up.”
Today, that structure looks like this: Park School introduces the platform to rising 8th graders each May, while they’re still in 7th grade, so families have the full summer to work at their own pace before the school year begins. Additionally, Park School encourages students to work with a Test Innovators tutor, giving them extra instructional support in the exact areas where they need it most.
A Whole-Child Foundation
Underlying all of this is Park School’s core philosophy. As Kara Fonseca, a Park School parent and teacher, explains, “We really focus on the whole child, and we have an amazing, wonderful group of kids that come to school every day wanting to learn, which I think is really key.”
For Lisa, the value of strong test scores isn’t just about admissions—it’s about building a lifelong skill. “We talk about creating opportunities and options for yourself as a life skill,” she said. “We want kids to make as many options for themselves as they can. And scores help. They don’t help everywhere, but they certainly can create options. And so we want the scores to be as strong as they can be.”
That mindset carries forward even after students leave Park School. “What we hear is that when Park kids arrive on their next school campuses, that they know how to be excellent self-advocates, and they know how to enjoy the rigor of academic work,” Lisa said.
What Changed at Home
For Kara’s son, the shift in approach came at just the right moment. “My son went here and is now a freshman in high school,” she said. “Why I’m such a fan of Test Innovators is because he did that first practice test here through school, and it didn’t go great. It was rough.”
That’s where Test Innovators came in. “It really met him where he was at, and then he saw so much progress so fast that he sort of looked forward to getting on in the morning, to sort of get that feedback that ‘I can do this, I’m getting better,’” Kara said. “That was key for our family, honestly.”
Part of what won him over, Kara explained, was simply how different it felt from traditional prep. “The buy-in was, it is not paper and a pencil and a book. It is open your iPad, get online, automatic feedback, tells you what you did really well. And then it also says, here’s some things you need to work on.” The result was a level of independence Kara hadn’t expected. “An hour every day, I never had a fight with him to do it. He’s like, ‘I’m just going to get up, I’m going to get online, and I’m going to make this happen.’”
What Changed for Students
Students themselves point to the same features that made the biggest difference, with visibility into their own progress being key.
Mila valued being able to track her own work. “I really appreciated the way Test Innovators was set up because you could see your checklist. You could see your to-do. You could see your completed. And that’s what really matters to me, being able to see my progress.” Mila also noted how different the tutoring experience felt compared to prior tutors she’d worked with. “The past tutors that I’ve had generally felt like a very one-sided relationship where you didn’t really know who your tutor was. With my tutors that I got from Test Innovators, I felt like I knew the kind of person that they were. It feels more human.”
Landon found value in being able to diagnose exactly where he needed to improve. “It was very cool to set out a timeline and see how I grew. A big part of how I grew was seeing which big idea did I miss. Was it the vocabulary in the reading comprehension? Was it the main idea question? Was it like geometry? I do think that Test Innovators did a great job in doing that.” He also pointed to how responsive the platform was to his mistakes: “If you can go into Test Innovators and do a couple problems, maybe get a couple wrong, Test Innovators will literally tell you what you need to improve.”
Isla described the workload as manageable without feeling easy. “It never feels like too much work, but it always feels like you know the concept,” she said. She also shared the moment she found out her scores had improved. “I remember when I got my scores back, and I opened up my text messages, and my dad had sent me a screenshot of the scores, and I was like so happy.”
The Payoff
For Lisa, the results have been consistent year after year. “I mean, the scores just went up. And that’s the best example I can give with Test Innovators,” she said. She also pushed back on a common misconception she hears from families. “People who walk into my office who say, ‘well, they’re just not a good test taker,’ I’m like, ‘Well, you haven’t been taught how to be.’ And the scores jump a lot. I’ve been very, very impressed with the growth.”
The Bigger Takeaway
What stands out about Park School’s approach isn’t just the right practice. It’s the belief driving all of it: that test-taking is a skill like any other, one that can be taught, practiced, and improved. When students get the right combination of personalized practice, responsive tutoring, and a clear view of their own progress, confidence follows. And so do the scores.
As Park School has seen for nearly ten years now, kids don’t need a magic wand. They just need to be taught how.
Watch the Full Story
We sat down with Park School staff and students to hear directly about their experience with Test Innovators. Watch the full story above.
Get in Touch
Want to see what a structured approach to test prep could look like at your school? Get in touch with the Test Innovators team.
Dale Parkinson
Dale Parkinson brings ten years of sales and marketing experience to his role at Test Innovators, where he focuses on connecting schools, tutoring companies, and organizations with the tools they need to deliver better student outcomes. A Fine Art graduate of Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England, he photographs local artists and bands around San Diego, writes music, and plays in bands himself.
