At a South Madison Community School Corporation Board of School Trustees meeting, a district staff member presented an overview of the district’s assessment tools and how the system is intended to guide instruction and measure readiness for state and college expectations.

“Our goal is not simply to test students when we give an assessment, but to use these assessments as tools for learning,” the staff member said, describing how assessments are used to identify student needs, monitor growth and ensure consistency across classrooms.

The presenter described three tiers of assessments used in the district: classroom-level formative checks (quizzes, projects, essays and unit tests); targeted screeners to identify specific needs; and summative state- and college-readiness tests. Screeners discussed included the WIDA English-language proficiency screener for students whose parents indicate a language other than English at home, the NWBA reading fluency dyslexia screener for early identification of possible dyslexia, and the CogAT for identifying high abilities.

Districtwide interim assessments include NWEA MAP, administered three times per year in kindergarten through second grade, and NWEA reading fluency in grades K–2. The presenter said the state requires ILEARN and IREAD-3 and that secondary students also take PSAT, SAT and AP exams in applicable content areas.

When trustees asked whether all juniors must take the SAT, the presenter responded, “All juniors are,” and explained the state’s accountability policy: a junior’s SAT score can satisfy one of the graduation pathway requirements if the student reaches the state cut score. When asked whether students must pay for the SAT or PSAT taken at school, the presenter replied, “No. Not with us.”

The district emphasized that assessment results are intended to flow from classroom checks to screeners to growth measures and finally to summative accountability tests, and that teachers will continue to be supported in using data to refine instruction.

Board members asked several clarifying procedural questions during the exchange, including the recent change that moved the district to administer the SAT to juniors as part of state accountability requirements.

Less urgent details not specified in the presentation include exact timelines for data sharing with families and specific cut scores the district uses to determine interventions.