Acadience
Acadience Reading is a universal screening and progress monitoring assessment that measures the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through fifth grade. Acadience Reading is comprised of six brief measures that function as indicators of the essential skills that every child must master to become a proficient reader. These measures are used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy skills in order to provide timely instructional support and prevent the occurrence of later reading difficulties.
STARThe Star Math test is designed for students in grades 1 through 5 (also for students in kindergarten who have basic reading and math skills). In general, the student should have beginning reading skills and some math skills. Star Math’s audio support can be used with students whose math ability outpaces their reading ability. If the student can work through the practice questions unassisted, that student should be able to be tested using Star Math software. If the student has a lot of trouble getting through the practice, the student probably does not have the basic skills necessary to be measured by Star Math. Star Math is not normed for Kindergarten students (due to a lack of data in the last norming study), however, the test can be used for Kindergarteners who have transitioned to the Star Reading assessment in order to measure the student’s numeracy ability until 1st grade.
CogAT
The CogAT is administered to all 3rd grade students.
The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) Forms 7 and 8 measure students’ verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal figural reasoning abilities and assists educators in determining instructional strategies.
Authored by Dr. David F. Lohman of the University of Iowa and Dr. Joni Lakin of Auburn University, CogAT:
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Measures three separate cognitive domains to provide a more comprehensive perspective on a student’s reasoning abilities,
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Offers superior technical quality,
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Links teachers to instructional strategies through unique Ability Profiles™,
Delivers predictive data in conjunction with the Iowa Assessments™ to highlight significant discrepancies between expected and actual academic achievement.
ML/EL Access Testing
From the Montana Office of Public Instruction: The WIDA screeners are used to provide an objective measure to help districts determine when a student who has another language spoken in the home should be identified as an English Learner (EL).
Once a student is identified as an EL, the appropriate ACCESS for ELLs test (Kindergarten ACCESS for ELLs, Online ACCESS for ELLs, or Alternate ACCESS for ELLs) is used to help monitor EL progress in Grades K-12 toward English language proficiency according to Montana's proficiency criteria on an annual basis. Student participation is important for both federal and state compliance (ARM 10.56.101). This assessment is aligned with Montana’s ELP standards, is equitable for all students, provides a comprehensive system of assessments to support instructional practice, and yields usable scores to describe what ELs can know and can do to meet the standards.
DESSA
The DESSA is a nationally standardized, strength-based behavior rating scale that assesses students’ social and emotional competence with editions that support students K-12. It has been used by districts and out-of-school time programs across the country to support social and emotional learning, and has been used or evaluated in 130+ peer reviewed studies. The DESSA is administered to all students twice a year - once in the fall and again in the spring.
Montana Science Assessment (MSA)
The MSA is administered to students in grade 5 only (and Alternate MSA for grades 5). This is the new science assessment that replaced the CRT suite of assessments.
Curriculum Based Assessments
The repeated, direct assessment of targeted skills in basic areas, such as math, reading, writing, and spelling, using materials taken directly from the teaching curriculum to measure how well a student has learned the material from the curriculum.
BSD7 Examples
