ANet interim assessments help teachers understand what students know and are able to do with respect to the common core standards. ANet assessment questions align to the standards and format of state summative assessments (MCAS).  This helps teachers understand the standards students are mastering and the ones they aren’t. They go well beyond right and wrong—they provide information about which students are succeeding or struggling, with what, and why.  ANet reports provide timely, actionable, and student-specific data. These specific, targeted data are powerful tools teachers can use to help and empower each of their students. In other words, these are assessments for learning, not assessments of learning. Students in grades 2-8, enrolled at schools that have selected to use ANet interim assessments, are tested four times throughout the school year. 

Additional information regarding ANet may be found at http://www.achievementnetwork.org/.

DIBELS 8th Edition literacy assessment is a battery of short (one minute) fluency measures that can be used for universal screening, benchmark assessment, and progress monitoring in Kindergarten - 8th grade. The DIBELS 8 benchmark is assessed three times per year (BOY, MOY, EOY).

Additional information regarding DIBELS 8th Edition may be found at https://dibels.amplify.com/.

Education Reform Law of 1993.

• test all public school students in Massachusetts, including students with disabilities and English Language Learner students
• measure performance based on the Massachusetts Curriculum Framework learning standards
• report on the performance of individual students, schools, and districts

As required by the Education Reform Law, students must pass the grade 10 tests in English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics and one of the four high school Science and Technology Engineering tests as one condition of eligibility for a high school diploma (in addition to fulfilling local requirements).

Additional information regarding MCAS may be found at http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/.

Parents’ Guide to MCAS 

MCAS Parent Guide: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education MCAS Resources for Parents/Guardians

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) are computerized adaptive assessments that provide educators with information they can use to improve teaching and learning. MAP tests provide highly accurate results that can be used to: identify the skills and concepts individual students have learned; diagnose instructional needs; monitor academic growth over time; make data-driven decisions at the classroom, school and district levels; and place new students into appropriate instructional programs. In addition, the MAP tests are state-aligned and may be used as an indicator of preparedness for state assessments. MAP test results are timely; educators have the information they need when it's needed most, not months later. Individual student scores are reported in RITs (Rasch Unit) and are available immediately following a test. A student's RIT score is then assigned a performance level in one of three categories: Warning, Basic or Proficient. These scores provide teachers and school administrators with information about the mastery and instructional levels of each student. Students in grades K-10, which are enrolled at schools that use MAP as their diagnostic, may take MAP assessments in reading, math and or science in the fall, winter and spring of the school year.

Additional information regarding NWEA MAP may be found at https://www.nwea.org/.