• Assessments Offered in Grand Island Public Schools - '22-'23

    Grand Island Public Schools uses a comprehensive assessment system to provide helpful data that may help to inform decisions at all levels of the organization. 

    This includes data for:

    • Driving classroom instructional decisions
    • Measuring student progress toward mastery of standards
    • Guiding the development of and evaluating the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction
    • Evaluating equity through monitoring academic achievement and other student outcome data
    • Measuring perceptions around teaching, learning, and school climate

    Parental Access to Educational Practices including information regarding opting students out of district testing are explained in Policy 9110 (linked below).

    If you have any questions, please reach out to your child(s) building Principal or contact the district office.

    Below is a list of the major assessments given at Grand Island Public Schools:  

    Assessment

    Who takes it

    When it is administered

    What it measures

    How the data is used

    ACT

    11th graders

    Spring

    The ACT is designed to measure college readiness skills.

    The test is made up of four subsections (English, Math, Reading, and Science) and the writing test. 

    • College entrance

    • Scholarships

    • State accountability

    • Measuring the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction

    PreACT 8/9 and PreACT

    9th and 10th graders

    9th - fall, spring

    10th - spring

    PreACT measures college readiness skills as a student progresses through high school. PreACT scores can be used to predict how a student is likely to perform when taking the ACT as an 11th grader.


    The test is made up of four subsections (English, Math, Reading, and Science).

    • Continuing to build students’ skills by identifying areas of strength and need

    • Understanding how students are performing in terms of progress toward work readiness and preparation for the ACT in 11th grade

    • Exploring careers and preparing for college

    • Comparing scores to planned course work 

    • Measuring the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction

    PSAT (Preliminary SAT) 

    11th graders,

    optional

    		  

    PSAT measures college readiness skills in Reading, Writing, Language Arts, and Math and can be used to predict how a student will perform on the SAT.

    • Prepares students for SAT, College and Careers

    • National Merit Scholarships Qualifying Test

    NSCAS Growth

    3rd-8th graders

    Fall*, winter, and spring


    Planned Fall start in 2023-24

    State assessment that measures growth and proficiency toward mastery of Nebraska state standards in ELA and math.

    • Continuing to build students’ skills by identifying areas of strength and need

    • Measuring student performance relative to grade-level expectations

    NSCAS Science

    5th and 8th graders

    Spring

    Proficiency on mastery of Nebraska state science standards.

    • Measuring student performance relative to grade-level expectations

    ELPA 21

    K-12

    Spring

    A state-wide assessment for English learners that measures progress toward English proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

    • Informing instruction

    • Providing data that supports students on their individual journeys toward language proficiency

    MAP Growth

    K-2, 12

    Fall*, winter, and spring


    Planned to continue to be available in 2022-23 

    Measures achievement and growth over time in reading and math.

    • Helping classroom teachers determine what a student is ready to learn next

    • Helping to determine if students need additional support or intervention

    • College placement

    mClass DIBELS 8th

    K-5

    Fall, winter, and spring

    The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment is a set of brief, standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy designed to predict the literacy growth of children from Kindergarten through eighth grade. 

    • Determining whether a student is on track for grade-level reading success. 

    • Pinpointing specific strengths and areas of focus for additional support.

    • Helping to drive teacher instructional decisions

    CogAT

    2nd and 6th graders

    2nd - spring

    6th - fall

    The CogAT is a universal screener that measures learned reasoning and problem-solving skills in three different areas: verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal.  

    Reasoning skills develop gradually throughout a person’s lifetime and at different rates for different individuals.  CogAT scores show how a child performed in comparison to other children throughout the nation who are the same age.  

    • Part of a body of evidence used to consider Gifted and Talented Identification

    Panorama

    3rd-12th

    Fall, spring

    Survey that measures perceptions around teaching, learning, school climate, and growth mindset

    • To drive improvements in school climate, academic rigor, and school safety

    End of unit assessment, including benchmark assessments

    K-12

    Ongoing

    Measure student progress toward mastery of the standards and essential learning covered in a unit of study.