Standardized Assessments

RENAISSANCE STAR

All students in grades K-8 will be taking the Renaissance STAR assessments four times throughout the year, approximately after every nine weeks of instruction. In regards to language arts, students in kindergarten and first grade will be taking the STAR Early Literacy Assessment, and students in grades two through eight will be taking STAR Reading. Students in grades one through eight will be taking STAR Math. All STAR assessments are computer-adaptive tests (CATs). Computer adaptive tests continually adjust the difficulty of each child’s test by choosing each test question based on the child’s previous response. If the child answers a question correctly, the difficulty level of the next item is increased. If the child misses a question, the difficulty level is decreased. CATs save testing time and spare your child the frustration of items that are too difficult and the boredom of items that are too easy.

The STAR assessments will be used to screen students for their reading and math proficiency levels. STAR Early Literacy assessments help teachers monitor students’ growing literacy skills and students’ progress toward becoming independent readers. STAR assessments can also be used to monitor student growth throughout the year, and to determine proficiency. In addition, STAR will help teachers determine appropriate instructional levels and skills that students are ready to learn. These results will not be reflected on your student’s report card. After each STAR assessment, you will receive a STAR Parent Report detailing the progress your child is making. For additional information and to access the Parents’ Guide to STAR Assessments, please go to:

http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R0054872491706A8.pdf

ITBS:

The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills measure the skills, academic growth, and achievement of students from Kindergarten through Grade 8. Developed at The University of Iowa, and backed by a tradition of more than 70 years of educational research and test development experience, the ITBS provides an in-depth assessment of students’ achievement of important educational objectives. Tests in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and information sources yield reliable and comprehensive information both about the development of students’ skills and about their ability to think critically. The Iowa Test of Basic Skills will be administered from September 25-October 6th in grades 3-8 only.

MDTP:

MDTP grade-level and course-level diagnostic assessments are designed to measure students’ mathematical preparation in foundational topics of the course students are entering, and/or to inform students’ preparation for their next-level course and are informed by the California State Standards for Mathematics.

The diagnostic results should be used formatively to understand students' strengths and areas of unfinished learning, inform instruction and potential interventions, evaluate course readiness, measure program growth, and identify appropriate professional learning. Students in grades 5-8 will take the assessment in the spring of 2024.

ACRE:

Since the late 1970’s NCEA has offered assessment instruments designed to strengthen catechetical/religious education programs. The ACRE (Assessment of Children/Youth Religious Education) helps schools, parishes and diocesan leaders evaluate the faith knowledge and attitudes of students in Catholic schools. As an integrated assessment tool, ACRE provides faith knowledge questions (cognitive domain) and questions related to religious beliefs, attitudes, practices, and perceptions (affective domain). The NCEA IFG: ACRE 2013 edition is based on the Catholic Church’s expectations for an organic, systematic, and comprehensive education in Christian discipleship. This tool provides national scores for comparison and processes for tracking religious education program data over time. Students in grades 5 and 8 will take the assessment in the spring of 2024.

Diocesan Religion Test:

Students in grades 1-8 will take the Faith and Life End of Year Assessment in May 2024.