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Universal screening assessments are characterized by the administration of quick, low-cost, repeatable testing of age-appropriate skills typically administered to all students three times a year.

These assessments yield two important pieces of information.

1. They provide evidence to help assess how functional the core curriculum, environment, and instruction are in the school. At least 80% of all students in the school should be showing adequate progress in a particular curricular element or program. If more than 20% of the students are not making acceptable gains in an area, the school must focus on improving the core curriculum and/or instruction.
2. Universal screening identifies those students who may not be making expected progress and who may need additional diagnostic assessment and/or intervention, either in small groups or on an individual basis.

Characteristics of universal screening assessments

• Accessible to all students
• Assess critical skills and concepts
• Brief, easy to administer and score
• Given to all students (i.e. district, school, grade-level, course)
• Quick turn-around time (1-3 days) of aggregated and disaggregated data to classroom teachers
• Repeatable
• Reliable (Commercial assessments have undergone psychometric analyses to determine reliability. A “teacher-made” assessment cannot be referred to as reliable if it has not been analyzed by a psychometrician.)

Sharpe, Cortney. "ELEMENTARY ASSESSMENTS: Universal Screening, Diagnostic, & Progress Monitoring ."http://www.sde.ct.gov/. State Education Resource Center, n.d. Web. 1 July 2014. <http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/cali/elementary_assessments_4-9-12.pdf>.