Assessments Explained
As we move into the 2021-2022 school year, our Hamilton students will be experiencing some changes to the assessments that they take across the year. These same changes are happening at all MMSD middle schools.
Students are no longer taking the MAP assessment. In the past students took this assessment three times across the school year in the areas of Reading and Math. Depending on how fast a student worked, this untimed assessment could take anywhere from four class periods to many class periods across two weeks to complete for any given student. While not specifically designed to replace the MAP assessment, the following two assessments will be used across the year to measure progress in Reading and Math.
This year all students will be taking the Achieve 3000 LevelSet reading assessment three times. This assessment generally takes between 15 and 30 minutes for students to complete, but because it is untimed, some students will take longer. The Achieve 3000 LevelSet is a reading comprehension screener that uses multiple choice questions (30 to 40) to identify students’ independent lexile level, hence the name LevelSet. A Lexile level measure represents a person's reading ability on the Lexile scale which is a quantitative measure of a text’s complexity. The reader's score on the test is reported as a Lexile measure from a low of 0L to a high of 2000L. Results of the assessment can trigger accommodations and supports targeted to the individual needs of students.
Similarly, Hamilton students will be taking an assessment three times across the year in math called the iReady Diagnostic. This assessment takes the average student about 60 minutes to complete, but again, due to the untimed nature of the assessment, some students may take longer. The iReady Diagnostic is used to identify individual instructional needs of students relative to targeted learning standards. The iReady is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to student needs based on prior responses.
Student performance on both the LevelSet and iReady relate to the Achieve3000 and iReady online programs that can tailor access to online texts and individualized lessons based on student need. Students may access these programs as part of full class instruction, independent in-class assignments, and homework.
From a broader perspective, as a school we use the results at each grade level and across the entire school to reflect on the overall health of our core instructional program, and to make instructional adjustments as needed.
While the LevelSet and iReady are not the only assessments that will be used across the school year, they are two that are currently in use and that are important to meeting the ongoing instructional needs of our students. Lastly, please remember that the most important assessment going on in any classroom on any given day are the instructional interactions that take place between our teachers and your child. It is these nuanced and daily interactions that our teachers constantly use to adapt and adjust instruction to meet the needs of your child.
