Assessments

The purpose of assessments in schools is multifaceted and serves various important functions. Here are some key purposes of assessments:

Measuring Learning Outcomes: Assessments help measure the extent to which students have achieved the learning objectives and outcomes set by the curriculum. They provide a way to gauge students' knowledge, skills, and understanding in specific subject areas.
Informing Instructional Practices: Assessments provide valuable insights into students' strengths and areas for improvement. Teachers can use assessment results to tailor their instruction, identify gaps in learning, and implement targeted interventions to support student progress.
Monitoring Progress: Assessments help track students' progress over time. By comparing current performance to previous assessments, educators can determine if students are making adequate growth and whether adjustments to teaching strategies or additional support are needed.
Identifying Learning Needs: Assessments can help identify individual student needs, such as specific learning disabilities or areas requiring additional support. This information helps educators develop personalized learning plans and interventions to address these needs effectively.
Providing Feedback: Assessments offer valuable feedback to both students and teachers. Students receive feedback on their performance, highlighting areas of strength and areas for improvement. Educators use assessment results to provide targeted feedback and guidance to students, promoting their growth and development.
Evaluating Teaching and Curriculum Effectiveness: Assessments assist in evaluating the effectiveness of teaching methods, curriculum materials, and instructional strategies. By analyzing assessment data, schools can make informed decisions about curriculum development, instructional improvements, and professional development initiatives.
Meeting Accountability Requirements: Assessments play a crucial role in fulfilling accountability requirements at various levels, including local, state, and national levels. They provide data to assess school and district performance, compare educational outcomes across institutions, and inform policy decisions.

In addition to classroom assessments, your child may also participate in the following:

The ACAP Summative Assessment is an online assessment designed to provide students, parents, teachers, administrators, and Alabama residents with information regarding student progress toward mastery of the Alabama Course of Study Standards. Students in grades 2-8 are tested in the areas of math and English language arts. Students in grades 4, 6, and 8 will also take the science assessment.

The ACAP Assessment is administered in the spring.

ACAP Alternate

The ACAP Alternate Assessment is a performance task assessment administered as an alternate to the general education state assessment. This assessment is administered to students with significant cognitive disabilities working on the Alabama Extended Standards. The ACAP Alternate is a paper-based, multiple choice assessment administered in the areas of English language arts and mathematics in Grades 2-8, 10 and 11 and science in Grades 4, 6, 8, 10, and 11.

The ACAP Assessment is administered in the spring.

Pre-ACT (10th Grade)

The PreACT will be given to all tenth grade students in Alabama. This assessment simulates the ACT testing experience within a shorter test window on all four ACT test subjects: English, math, reading and science. Test results predict future success on the ACT test, and provide both current achievement and projected future ACT test scores on the familiar 1-36 ACT score scale.

ACT with Writing (11th Grade)

The ACT will be given to all eleventh grade students in Alabama.

The ACT (American College Testing) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. It assesses high school students' readiness for college-level coursework and provides colleges and universities with a standardized measure of academic achievement.

Here are some key points about the ACT:

The ACT assesses knowledge and skills in core academic areas, including English, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning. It provides a comprehensive evaluation of academic readiness across multiple subjects.
The ACT is designed to measure the skills and knowledge necessary for success in college-level coursework. The results can help students identify areas of strength and areas that may require further improvement before entering higher education.
Many colleges and universities, as well as external organizations, offer scholarships based on ACT scores. Students may become eligible for merit-based scholarships, which can help offset the cost of tuition and other educational expenses.

Find out more about the assessment, and review practice questions here.

WorkKeys (12th Grade)

ACT WorkKeys is a job skills assessment system that helps employers select, hire, train, develop, and retain a high-performance workforce. This series of tests measures foundational and soft skills and offers specialized assessments to target institutional needs. As part of ACT's Work Readiness System, ACT WorkKeys has helped millions of people in high schools, colleges, professional associations, businesses, and government agencies build their skills to increase global competitiveness and develop successful career pathways.
Successful completion of ACT WorkKeys assessments in Applied Mathematics, Graphic Literacy, and Workplace Documents can lead to earning ACT's National Career Readiness Certificate (ACT NCRC), a portable credential earned by more than 2.3 million people across the United States. and an Alabama CCR Indicator.

Alabama Civics Exam (12th Grade)

The Code of Alabama (Title 16. Education § 16-40-10) requires that each Alabama high school student complete a civics test, composed of 100 questions, as a graduation requirement. These test questions are derived from those that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services use for their civics test as part of the naturalization process. Blount County administers this assessment to 12th grade students.

ACCESS for ELLs

ACCESS for ELLs (English Language Learners) measures the level of English language proficiency for LEP (Limited English Proficiency) / ELL students. This assessment reports information about a student's level of social and academic English language proficiency. Social language is used to communicate for everyday purposes. Academic language is used to communicate the content of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.

ACCESS is administered in early Spring. Performance is reported in the following proficiency levels:

Entering - Knows and uses minimal social language and minimal academic language with visual support.
Beginning - Knows and uses some English and general academic language with visual support.
Developing - Knows and uses social English and some specific academic language with visual support.
Expanding - Knows and uses social English and some technical academic language.
Bridging - Knows and uses social and academic language working with modified grade level material.
Reaching - Knows and uses social and academic language at the highest level measured by this test.

iReady Progress Monitoring

aimswebPlus Progress Monitoring

aimswebPlus offers nationally-normed, skills-based benchmark assessments and progress monitoring integrated into one application across reading and math domains with additional add-on measures across dyslexia and behavior/social-emotional skills. aimswebPlus informs daily instruction and provides growth results to caregivers and district/state audiences in reading and math achievement using curriculum-based assessment and standards-aligned content for students.

NAEP

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—a congressionally mandated large-scale assessment administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)—consists of print and digital assessments in various subject areas. Three of these subjects—mathematics, reading, and science—are assessed most frequently and reported at the state and select district level, usually for grades 4 and 8. The Nation’s Report Card provides results on student performance based on gender, race/ethnicity, public or nonpublic school, teacher experience, and hundreds of other factors.

The NAEP uses a representative sample of students rather than the entire student population, and is not given every year, so not all students will participate in this assessment.

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