DESE Grade-Level Assessments

The Missouri Assessment Program assesses students’ progress toward mastery of the Show-Me Standards which are the educational standards in Missouri. The Grade-Level Assessment is a yearly standards-based test that measures specific skills defined for each grade by the state of Missouri.  All students in grades 3-8 in Missouri will take the grade level assessment. English Language Arts and Mathematics are administered in all grades. Science is administered in grades 5 and 8. A few groups of students may be exempt from certain portions or all of the assessment. Those include:

• Students whose IEP teams have determined that the MAP-Alternate (MAP-A) is the appropriate assessment do not take the Grade-Level assessment.

• English Language Learners (ELL) who have been in the United States 12 cumulative months or fewer at the time of administration may be exempted from taking the English language arts portion. All other content areas must be assessed.

• Foreign exchange students are allowed, but are not required, to take the assessment. This is a district decision.

• Homeschooled students may take part in the assessment at the local district's discretion.

• Private school students are not required to take the Grade-Level assessment. Once again this year, the Grade-Level assessment will be an online assessment.
  
  

DESE’s testing vendor, Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), will administer, score, and report all Spring Grade- Level Assessments. The DTC (District Testing Coordinator), STCs (Site Testing Coordinators), and other district personnel involved in administering the assessments will manage testing through DRC's eDIRECT interface. Students will take the test using DRC's student interface, INSIGHT.

Grade-Level Content Standards
The Missouri Learning Standards define the knowledge and skills students need in each grade and content area for success in college, other post-secondary training, and careers. The Missouri Learning Standards give school administrators, teachers, parents, and students a roadmap for learning expectations in each grade and course.

Grade-Level Blueprints, Item and Timing Guidelines
A test blueprint is a map and or a table of specifications for an assessment program to identify the structure of the assessment which ensures that the Missouri Learning Standards Expectations are covered by the assessment program over a specified period of time. The Grade-Level Blueprints link the assessment to the content areas acting as a tool to align objectives to the appropriate weightage and questions across the strands.

Reporting and Grade-Level Guide to Interpreting Results
The Grade-Level Guide to Interpreting Results provides an overview for interpreting reports generated from  the Grade-Level assessment. It is intended to help educators apply data to the needs of individual students and the district as a whole. Additionally, it helps parents/guardians understand the information they see on the individual student report and includes an abbreviated list of achievement-level descriptors. These descriptors give a brief overview of what the student knows based on his/her achievement level. Student performance is reported in terms of four performance (or achievement) levels that describe a pathway to proficiency. Each achievement level represents standards of performance for each assessed content area; achievement levels describe what students can do in terms of the content and skills on the assessment. The state guide to interpreting results becomes available each summer after testing. Individual Student Repots (ISR) will be available 10 business days after the close of the grade and content testing window.

Practice/Training for Grade-Level Assessments
Districts will have options for training students on interacting with the INSIGHT testing platform and using the tools contained within INSIGHT.

• Online Tools Training (OTT) – OTTs give users the ability to use the tools available in the INSIGHT testing platform on a variety of item types. Using the OTTs will allow users to become comfortable with using the built in system tools prior to the summative assessment. There is no limit to the amount of times a user can access the OTTs.

• Online Tutorials – Online Tutorials give users the ability to watch recorded videos that demonstrate the features of INSIGHT and the tools that will be used for the operational assessments.

• Practice Items (for Science only) – Practice Items give users the ability to see the types of items that will be on the assessment, and for users to become comfortable with answering items within the INSIGHT testing platform. There is no limit to the amount of times a user can access the Practice Items.
  
  

DESE End-of-Course Assessments
The Missouri Assessment Program assesses students' progress toward the Missouri Learning Standards. End-of-Course Assessments are taken when a student has received instruction on the Missouri Learning Standards for an assessment, regardless of grade level. All EOC assessments are available only online. Missouri's suite of available End-of-Course assessments includes: English I, English II, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, American History, Government, Biology, Personal Finance, and Physical Science.  Districts must ensure that students completed EOC assessments in Algebra I, English II, Biology, and Government prior to high school graduation. For students who complete the Algebra I EOC assessment prior to high school, Algebra II is the required high school mathematics assessment for accountability purposes. All students, including Missouri Option students, are required to participate in EOC assessments designated as "required" for accountability purposes.

A few groups of students may be exempt from certain portions or all of the assessment. Those include:

• Students whose IEP teams have determined that the MAP-Alternate (MAP-A) is the appropriate assessment do not have to take the EOC assessments.

• English Language Learners (ELL) who have been in the United States 12 cumulative months or fewer at the time of administration may be exempted from taking the English II and/or English I assessments.

• Foreign exchange students are allowed, but are not required to take the assessment. This is a district decision.

• Homeschooled students may take part in the assessment at the local district's discretion.

• Private school students are not required to take the End-of-Course Assessments.
  
  

End-of-Course Content Standards
The Missouri Learning Standards define the knowledge and skills students need in each grade and content area for success in college, other post-secondary training, and careers. The Missouri Learning Standards give school administrators, teachers, parents, and students a roadmap for learning expectations in each grade and course.

End-of-Course Blueprints, Item and Timing Guidelines
Much like the blueprint for a building, a test blueprint serves as a guide for test construction. The End-of-Course Blueprints indicate the content areas to be addressed by the test and the number of items to be included by content area and for the test as a whole. Based on the blueprints the number of items on each assessment breaks down as show in the following chart. Additionally, with online testing, LEAs will have to keep several key things in mind when setting schedules, including maximizing instructional time and computer lab space/number of computers available.

End-of-Course Reporting and Guide to Interpreting Results
The End-of-Course Guide to Interpreting Results provides an overview for interpreting reports generated from the EOC assessments. It is intended to help educators apply data to the needs of individual students and the district as a whole. Additionally, it helps parents/guardians understand the information they see on the individual student report and includes an abbreviated list of achievement-level descriptors. These descriptors give a brief overview of what the student knows based on his/her achievement level.  Student performance is reported in terms of four performance (or achievement) levels that describe a pathway to proficiency. Each achievement level represents standards of performance for each assessed content area; achievement levels describe what students can do in terms of the content and skills on the assessment.