Assessments

District 39 Benchmark and Local Assessments

Assessment

Description/Purpose

Assessment Windows

NWEA Measures of Academic Progress

(2nd-8th grades)

Description

MAP is a computer adaptive assessment with questions aligned to the Illinois Learning  Standards for Reading and Math.

Purpose

NWEA MAP generates information about student achievement, learning readiness, and growth over time. Results from this assessment are utilized along with other benchmarking assessments and curriculum-based measures to support classroom based instructional decision-making, identification of students for differentiated needs (support or enrichment), and as an element in the accelerated placement process. NWEA MAP is used at a district level to evaluate curriculum effectiveness toward supporting growth for all students.

Fall

Winter

Spring

aimswebPlus

(K-3rd grades)

Description

aimswebPlus is a universal screening tool used to measure math (e.g. early numeracy, concepts and applications, number sense fluency) and reading (e.g. early literacy, oral and silent reading fluency, vocabulary, spelling, comprehension skills.

**Students in Kindergarten begin aimswebPlus screening in the winter (not fall) for math benchmarking.

Purpose

Similar to NWEA MAP, information from aimswebPlus is used to provide information for teachers on skill strengths and weaknesses, and may be used for instructional decision making. It is also used as a component in making decisions for reading support, and may be used as a tool to monitor progress as students receive support in classes. 

Fall

Winter

Spring

Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT)

(5th grade)

Description

CogAT is a group-administered standardized test that measures learned Verbal (verbal classification, sentence completion, verbal analogies, Quantitative (quantitative relations, number series, equation building), and Non-Verbal (figure classification, figure analogies, figure analysis) reasoning abilities.

Purpose

Abilities measured on the CogAT correlate with student potential to succeed in school-related tasks. As such, scores from the CogAT are used, along with other assessment measures, to guide decisions related to placement in math, and as an element of the accelerated placement process.

Winter

INSIGHTS SEL

(K-4th grades)

Description

The INSIGHTS assessment is a narrated strengths-based assessment of Social Emotional skills. K-3 students take the Early Elementary Version (EE) of Insights, and 4th grade student take the Late Elementary Version (LE). The EE assessment measures social-emotional competency development in four areas: emotion recognition, social perspective taking, social problem solving, and self control, and the LE assessment measures development in understanding others, social problem solving, self control, and self awareness. Results are divided into four performance levels: above average, average, below average, and well-below average.

Purpose

INSIGHTS provides information regarding instructional programming for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and areas to target for a classroom or grade level. It may also be used to give information about a students' individual strengths or needs, and offer staff opportunities, lessons and supports to target those needs.

Fall

Spring

PANORAMA Student Survey

(5th-8th)

Description

The Panorama Student Survey is a strengths-based survey of social-emotional competencies as well as supports and environmental components given to students in fifth through eighth grade. Areas targeted in the social-emotional competency part of the survey include supportive relationships, self-management, social awareness, emotion regulation, and in grades 6-8, social perspective taking. Areas targeted in the student supports and environment part of the survey include sense of belonging, school climate, teacher-student relationships and, valuing of school.

Purpose

Results from the survey provide insight into students' perception of their school environment as well as understanding their social-emotional development. These results allow teachers to target areas for instruction/lessons for a given class or grade level (such as sense of belonging), and provide opportunities to support individual needs in the classroom.

Fall

Spring




Illinois State Board of Education Mandated Assessments

Assessment

Description/Purpose

Assessment Windows

Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS)

(Kindergarten)

Description

KIDS is an observational assessment tool designed to help teachers, administrators, and families better understand the developmental readiness of children entering kindergarten.

Purpose

Data from KIDS supports the state of Illinois' alignment of early childhood and elementary school systems, documents the importance of birth-to-five programs in preparing children for elementary school, and enables the state to respond to district, school, teacher, and student needs over time.

Early Fall

ACCESS for English Language Learners

(K-8th grade)

Description

The ACCESS test is a standards-based, criterion-referenced assessment that is designed to measure English proficiency. It assesses social and instructional English as well as the language associated with language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies within the school context across four language domains (speaking, listening, reading, writing).

Purpose

Results from the ACCESS test are used to determine English proficiency and the subsequent need for English Learning (EL) supports and services at school. Students are tested annually until which point they have achieved a composite score of 4.8 and are considered to be English proficient.

Winter

Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR)

(3rd-8th grades)

Description

The Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) is a standardized test that is administered to students across Illinois to measure student achievement toward the Illinois Standards for Learning in the areas of English Language Arts (reading and writing) and Math.

Purpose

The results from IAR are used primarily for accountability across the State of Illinois. The data from these assessments are also used to evaluate and make adjustments to the district's core curriculum as it relates to the Illinois Standards for Learning and Common Core Standards.

Spring

Dynamic Learning Maps Alternate Assessment (DLM-AA)

(3rd-8th grades)

Description

The DLM-AA is an assessment that measures student achievment in Math, English Language Arts (reading and writing), and Science. It is geared toward students with disabilites who can not readily access general state assessments such as the Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) or the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA), even with accommodations. It is an individualized test given in short sections.

Purpose

Students are assessed as to their ability to show what they know and can do as compared to learning statements of knowledge and skills called Essential Elements. Results clarify how to support students in reading academic targets linked to grade-level expectations in ELA, Math, and Science.

Spring

Illinois Science Assessment (ISA)

(5th and 8th grades)

Description

The Illinois Science Assessment (ISA) is an online assessment aligned to Illinois Learning Standards for Science, incorporating the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which were adopted in 2014. Test items are aligned to concepts of physical science, life science, earth and space, and engineering.

Purpose

The Illinois Learning Standards in Science are designed to prepare students for post-secondary education and careers. Results from the ISA are used primarily for accountability across the State of Illinois with respect to meeting those standards.

Spring

Physical Fitness Assessment

(3rd-8th grades)

Description

The Physical Fitness Assessment is meant to gauge whether students achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness based on Illinois State Goal 20. Data collected measures students' aerobic capacity (grades 4-8), muscular strength, endurance, and flexibility.

Purpose

Data gathered from this assessment is used by the state and schools to better understand health trends within a region, and encourage enhancements in a school's physical education program.

Winter

Spring


GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Standards-Based  - a standards-based assessment evaluates student learning and skills against specific, pre-determined standards.

Standardized - a standardized assessment is a test that requires all test takers to answer the same questions or selection of questions from a common bank of questions, in the same way and that is scored in a "standard" or consistent manner, using the same scoring criteria. This type of assessment is used for comparison between peers or against a common set of standards.

Computer-Adaptive - a computer-adaptive assessment is a test that adjusts the difficulty level of questions and test items according to a students demonstrated ability level.

Benchmark - benchmark assessments are fixed assessments that evaluate students against specific grade level standards and learning goals periodically throughout the year.

Formative - a formative assessment is an assessment that may be formal or informal, and is conducted by teachers during the learning process to inform instruction and adjust based on student progress.

Criterion-referenced - a criterion-referenced assessment measures student performance against a fixed set of predetermined criteria or learning standards that students are expected to know and be able to to do at a specific stage of their education.