Assessments

While instruction in English language arts grades 6-12 includes all of the literacy strands, Fauquier County will focus on writing and reading to measure student progress in 2022-2023. Assessments of students’ literacy skills will help teachers monitor and personalize learning.

For each grade level grades 6-12, Renaissance STAR Reading has helped us outline grade-specific Virginia standards called Focus Skills to target essentials in instruction. Locally, we have articulated a Skills Progression focus for grammar and language usage skills instruction. In addition, the division will continue to use our grade-level Stepping Stone Writing tasks (PBAs) to chart progress in writing grades 6-12.

Starting in the Fall 2022, students in grades 6-8 will take state-required Through-Growth Reading assessments at the beginning of the year and mid-year to measure student progress until students take the final SOL test.

OffICIAL DISTRICT assessment windows:

STAR Reading Assessments will track student progress on Reading Focus Skills, grades 6 - 8. Choose one day within the following windows:

Fall *: September 12 - September 30

Mid-year*: January 17 - February 3

Spring 1: March 11 - May 1 (optional for grade 8)

*Grades 6-8 will also be required to take the VDOE-created reading growth pre-test August 22 - September 9 (one day TBD) and November 28 - December 15 (one day TBD).

Stepping Stone Writing Tasks will help us monitor student progress in Writing Skills K-12 for specific genres. See below for grade-level sample unit plans incorporating the tasks. Grade level teams should consider the benefit of at least one common writing assignment that is holistically scored according to Understand Scoring (Keyword = Virginia) and the state Instruction Writing Checklist for middle school or high school writing. The instructional supervisor will collect sample papers for inclusion in a division-level portfolio representative of exemplary writing at each grade level.

Fall: October - December (suggested grades 10-12 and required for grade 9)

Spring: March - April (suggested)

SOL Windows

Fall Writing (High Schools): October 17 - November 4 & Fall Reading: November 28 - December 15

Spring Writing (High Schools & Grade 8): March 6 - 31 & Reading: April 24 - May 19

star reading directions

Giving the STAR Reading Test

Comprehensive directions: Click here. [If you cannot access the Google Class, please see your department chair for an invitation to join.]

Using STAR Reading Test Results

For information about interpreting test results: Click here. [If you cannot access the Google Class, please see your department chair for an invitation to join.]

Interpreting STAR Reading data from Fall 2020 Webinar: Click here.

Sharing STAR Reading Test Results with Students and Parents FAQ

For FAQ: Click here.

State administered growth Assessment information

The Standard of Learning (SOL) a test item measures should be reviewed in conjunction with the item descriptors in the SDBQ. Teachers, please note the potential ties across and within reporting category content throughout grade levels in each course. These ties can be thought of as course connections, where students’ understanding/comprehension may be enhanced by exploring connections from one grade to the next for related content and prerequisite skills.

More information on the new fall growth assessments is available on the Growth Assessments web page on the VDOE website.

The following YouTube video also answers many commonly asked questions: Information for Teachers: Grades 3-8 Reading and Mathematics Growth Assessments,

Writing checklist & Noredink diagnostic

Using the Writing Checklists

Checklists for each grade level are available: Click here.

Note that highlighted skills are taught to mastery. By the end of the semester (or year for middle school), please note those students who are still working towards mastery on those skills and pass the form on to your department chair.

Giving the NoRedInk Grammar/Usage Diagnostic & Growth Assessments

New!!! List of topics covered by the NRI diagnostic/growth benchmarks: Click here.

For Diagnostic Assessment directions: TBD

For Growth Assessment directions: Click here. [Use the links designated for "Diagnostic."]

Note that the diagnostic will be given at the beginning of the semester (or year) and again at the end, as a Growth Assessment. Please remind students at the beginning of the year that they may not have encountered all concepts or mastered them yet.

For enabling speech-to-text (Read Aloud accommodation): Click here.

Remember to look under the PD Videos Tab for webinars on NoRedInk and administering the diagnostic and growth assessments.

Updates: New NoRedInk tools and best practices

"Two’s company, three’s a crowd."

We listened to customer feedback and adjusted Practice so students only need to get two questions correct in a row after an incorrect answer. Teachers are already noticing improved assignment completion, and students give the update two thumbs up!

Performance Tasks in Writing

Stepping Stone Genres for Grades 6-12 Writing: Click here.

Click here.

Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) Testing 2020-2021

New test blueprints are available online for the Grades 3 through 8 and EOC Reading tests to support the implementation of the 2017 English Standards of Learning. Please keep in mind, however, that students who are testing in the Fall 2020 administration window will actually be tested on 2010 standards in reading and writing. Take heart. Instruction with the 2017 standards in the fall will adequately prepare students to do well on the 2010 test.

Practice test questions are available online for each reading test (grades 3 through 8 and EOC). These practice questions provide students an opportunity to become familiar with the types of test questions that will be administered as part of the new tests.

Guided practice suggestions accompany these practice test items to provide specific guidance for teachers or other adults to lead students through the questions. This guidance may also be found on the TestNav 8 Practice Items web page.

NEW!!! The VDOE has released Assessment Supports for Reading Grades 6-8 and EOC (Grade 11). These include a webinar recording, the PPT slides, and annotated, grade-level reading passages with suggestions for how to use questioning techniques to scaffold reading on grade level.

Understand Scoring

In preparation for the 2020-2021 school year, the Understand Scoring application has been reset. All user accounts and scores on practice sets and verification sets have been removed. To practice scoring, teachers must use the keyword “Virginia” to create a new user account. Depending on the web browser used to access Understand Scoring, it may be necessary to enable pop-up windows or disable a pop-up blocker.

For those not familiar with Understand Scoring, the application provides educators with information about Virginia’s writing assessments, including the rubrics and anchor papers that illustrate each score point on the Composing/Written Expression and Usage/Mechanics domains used to score the short-paper component of the Grade 8 and End-of-Course SOL writing test and the Local Performance Assessment to Verify Credits in Writing.

Users will be able to score papers in multiple practice sets and verification sets and view scoring based on Virginia's two-domain scoring rubric. Teachers will gain a better understanding of the Virginia writing assessments, understand the use of the rubrics in scoring student writing, and develop consistency in scoring papers written by Virginia students.

Teachers may also use Understand Scoring with students to facilitate their understanding of the expectations in each of the domains. Guest user functionality is available in the application and was designed specifically to allow students to access the system without having to create an account or save information.

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