Testing
EOC testing begins Monday, April 17th, and will continue through Friday, April 28th. Make-up testing will be offered throughout the testing period. Please contact Monica West at [email protected] to schedule a makeup example. These tests will be given to students enrolled in English 1, English 2, Integrated Math 1, Integrated Math 2, Integrated Math 3, US History, or Biology. EOC testing will be completed online this year.
Attendance is especially important on these days. Please help us by making sure that your student is at school on time and does not check out early during testing. If your student does have a necessary appointment and needs to be checked out, please make sure he or she is checked out before a testing session begins. We will not interrupt a testing session once it has begun.
Please encourage your student to get plenty of rest, to eat a good breakfast, and to study prior to testing. Thank you for your ongoing involvement and support. We appreciate all that you do for our students and our school.
TCAP Family Portal Data Release
Each year, TCAP tests are designed to assess what our students know and what we can do to help them succeed in the future. They provide feedback about students' academic progress and how it aligns with grade-level expectations. Now families can find detailed, personalized, information about their child’s progress on the TCAP Family Portal.
Here are some ways to use the TCAP Family Portal:
- Identify student strengths and next steps for areas to improve in the future.
- Use information presented in the portal to engage in conversations with educators about your student’s academic progress.
- Track progress over time with a “Test History” feature.
- Find helpful links to department TCAP resources.
Families can register here with their student’s USID number. Data from the spring 2021 testing went live in the portal on Friday, July 30 for TCAP and will be available on Friday, August 20 for TCAP-Alternate.
Use your student’s the seven-digit state ID (lunch number) and add two zeroes in front of that number. The resulting nine-digit number will enable you to create an account for your student. For example, a state ID (lunch number) 1234567 would become 001234567.
For more detail, view the Family Portal FAQ available here.
Assessment Descriptions and Details
All dates listed below are subject to change.
ACCESS for ELLs
Purpose: To monitor students' progress in acquiring academic English.
Grade Level/Class: K-12
Description: ACCESS for ELLs (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners) is a secure large-scale English language proficiency assessment given annually to Kindergarten through 12th graders who have been identified as English language learners (ELLs).
Use of Data: Results serve as one criterion to aid in determining when ELLs have attained the language proficiency needed to participate meaningfully in content area classrooms without program support and on state academic content tests without accommodations. Data provide schools with information that will aid in evaluating the effectiveness of their ESL/bilingual programs and identifies the ELP levels of students with respect to the WIDA ELP Standards' levels 1-6.
Testing Times: 100-120 minutes; additional 35 minutes for Grade 1 Tier A, 60 minutes for Grade 2-12 Tier A or 65 minutes for Tier B/C.
Parental/Student Notification: Parent notification letter in their native language within the federal guidelines.
Grades: No grades are given on this assessment.
ACT®
Purpose: To assess students' academic readiness for college.
Grade Level/Class: 11-12
Description: The ACT (No Writing) consists of four multiple-choice tests: English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science.
Use of Data: Eligibility for Graduation with Honors, Tennessee Hope Scholarship, dual credit enrollment requirement; course placement in fourth year Math.
Testing Times: 175 minutes
Parental/Student Notification: Available to students and parents through their online ACT account within three to eight weeks.
Grades: No grades are given on this assessment.
Case Assessments
Purpose: TE21's CASE Benchmark Assessments provides grade level assessments for grades 3-High school that are aligned to state standards. They assess how schools are progressing towards meeting their academic goals.
Grade Level/Class: Grades 3-high school for Math and ELA/English only.
Description: Taken online or by paper/pencil. The Case Assessment is a multiple choice/multiple select assessment designed to show if students are meeting grade level expectations.
Use of Data: The results are provided to teachers and school administrators to help them address the instructional needs of their students. They may be used as one measure of student achievement during the current school year.
Testing Times: 45-75 minutes
Parental/Student Notification: Results will be available within 1 week after testing.
Grades: No grades are given on this assessment.
MSAA (formally Alt-PA)
Purpose: To provide an alternate assessment aligned to the Tennessee state Standards for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
Grade Level/Class: 3-8, 11
Description: The Multi-State Alternate Assessment (MSAA) is a comprehensive assessment system designed to promote increasing higher academic outcomes for students with significant cognitive disabilities in preparation for a broader array of post-secondary outcomes. The MSAA is designed to assess students with significant cognitive disability and measures academic content that is aligned to and derived from your state’s content standards. This test contains many built-in supports that allow students to take the test using materials they are most familiar with and communicate what they know and can do as independently as possible. The MSAA will be administered in the areas of ELA and Mathematics in grades 3-8 and 11.
Use of Data: The results are provided to teachers and school administrators to help them address the instructional needs of their students. They may be used as one measure of student achievement during the current school year.
Testing Times: Untimed. Test administrators may pause testing to take a break at any time. They have the entire window to complete testing.
Parental/Student Notification: A paper report concerning performance on specific objectives (criterion-referenced) and a description of student performance on academic skills based on the grade span standards (performance levels) is sent home six week after testing.
Grades: No grades are given on this assessment.
NAEP
Purpose: To compare student achievement in states and other jurisdictions and to track changes in achievement of fourth and eighth-graders over time in the areas of Mathematics, Reading, Science, Writing, the Arts, Civics, Economics, Geography, U.S. History, and beginning in 2014, in Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL).
Grade Level/Class: 4, 8,12
Description: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas.
Use of Data: The reports and data derived from the NAEP assessment are used for a variety of purposes by education leaders, policymakers, the press, curriculum specialists, teachers, researchers, and others.
Testing Times: 90 minutes
Parental/Student Notification: NAEP does not provide individual scores for the students or schools assessed. Instead, NAEP provides results about subject-matter achievement, instructional experiences, and school environment, and reports these results for populations of students (e.g., fourth-graders) and subgroups of specific populations. These results are reported approximately six months after testing.
Grades: No grades are given on this assessment.
RTI Screening
Purpose: To assess the performance and progress of all students on grade level skills and assist schools with identifying students who may need additional instructional support.
Grade Level/Class: K-8
Description: RTI Screener is the universal screening and progress monitoring tool Rutherford County will use for the 2020-2021 school year. It is a nationally-normed assessment and a requirement of Tennessee's RTI² (Response to Instruction and Intervention) framework.
Use of Data: Identify students who may be in need of targeted intervention in addition to their typical high-quality core instruction.
Testing Times: From 1-30 minutes depending on subtest taken. The number of subtests vary by grade level.
Parental/Student Notification: Parents will receive notification from their school if the results of the universal screener indicate their child meets the requirements for additional academic support and intervention(s). If a student qualifies for instructional intervention, his/her parents will be notified of their child’s progress every 4.5 weeks.
Grades: No grades are given on this assessment.
TNReady
Purpose: To measure skills in Reading, Language Arts, and Mathematics
Grade Level/Class: 3-8; ENG I, II; Integrated Math I, II, III
Description: It is a criterion-referenced test which measures a student's performance according to Tennessee state standards, rather than to the performance of other test takers. All EOCs and grades 3-8 will be administered paper & pencil tests.
Use of Data: The results are provided to teachers and school administrators to help them address the instructional needs of their students. They may be used as one measure of student achievement during the current school year.
Testing Times: ELA 180-200 minutes Grades 3-5; 230 minutes Grades 6-12; Math 115 minutes Grades 3-5, 125 minutes Grades 6-8, 145 minutes EOCs.
Parental/Student Notification: A paper report concerning performance on specific objectives (criterion-referenced) and a description of student performance on academic skills based on the grade span standards (performance levels) is typically sent home five to six weeks after testing. Initial results may be noted on the student’s report card if the quick scores can be obtained from the State in time.
Grades: The results of these assessments will be factored into the student’s final grade at 15% for students in grades 3-12.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Test
Purpose: To comply with Tennessee State law T.C.A 49-6-408A requiring all students to participate in the United States Citizenship and immigration test during a student's high school career.
Grade Level/Class: 12/Government and Civics and/or JROTC
Description: All students receiving a regular education diploma as part of their graduation requirements will take an at least 50 question Civics test created by Rutherford County Schools in accordance with Tennessee State law T.C.A 49-6-408A consisting of 29 questions on American government and at least 16 questions on American history and at least 7 questions on integrated civics. A passing grade is not required to meet graduation requirements; however, all schools in which seniors receiving a regular education diploma all earn a passing grade of 70% or higher on the Civics test will be recognized by the state department of education as a U.S. Civics All-Star School. Students may be required to take the test multiple times at the discretion of their individual high school in order to meet the U.S. Civics All-Star School requirement.
Use of Data: Data from the Civics test will be used to comply with Tennessee State law T.C.A 49-6-408A. In addition, data from the Civics test will be used by individual high schools to determine changes that need to be made to the daily teaching within the Government and Civics class along with JROTC.
Tentative Dates: Testing dates are determined by each individual high school.
Testing Times: 60 minutes
Parental/Student Notification: Parents and Students will be notified by the high school they attend of testing dates. Paper copies of the score is available upon request from the student's school.
Grades: The impact of the Civics test on a student’s classroom grade is at the discretion of each individual high school.