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District Tests to Support Instruction
The District provides periodic tests in a variety of subject areas to monitor consistency of instruction and provide timely feedback to students on their achievement. The District encourages teachers at all grade levels to collaborate on common assessments and to use district-created assessments related to Curriculum Unit Plans.
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District-Wide Writing
District-wide Writing (DWW) is administered in grades K-12 at the beginning of each quarter (this is new for grades 9-12). DWW is a formative assessment that is used to guide writing instruction. DWW is an on-demand writing opportunity scored using a common rubric. Teachers are expected to calibrate, score, and then look for patterns and trends and plan for instructional next steps. Beginning 2015-16, DWW will be used for SLOs in grades K-12 for ELA.
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i-Ready
i-Ready assessments are given as a formative instrument in the fall, winter and spring. Like STAR assessments, i-Ready assessments are computer-adaptive tests (CATs). i-Ready results provide educators with the strengths and weaknesses of students in math in grades K-5.
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Performance Task Assessments
Project STAR is a performance task assessment that was developed as one of several options for the South Carolina Gifted and Talented Identification Program. SCDE requires that this assessment be offered to students who have demonstrated strong performance in certain areas as an additional opportunity to qualify for the program. The test has both verbal and nonverbal sections. Each section consists of a series of lessons followed by independent application of the concepts taught. The performance tasks are scored with rubrics. Lexington School District One offers the Project STAR assessment to qualified second, third and fourth grade students each spring.
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PSAT
PSAT, which is offered as an optional test, focuses on higher-order thinking and is conceptually linked to the SAT. Students whose achievement is average and above should be encouraged to take the PSAT at 10th and 11th grades for practice and prediction. Some students may choose to take the PSAT in earlier grades, as well. At the eleventh grade, PSAT serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
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Reading Records, Miscue Analysis, and Text Levels
Reading records of reading performance provide a classroom assessment method that aids in planning and improvement of instruction by providing a technique to assess the student’s use of reading strategies and skills. The student reads one or more passage(s) that have been pre-selected while the assessor takes a miscue record of the student's oral reading. This is followed by about 10 comprehension questions based on the passage content. This procedure gives an estimate of the student’s reading text level. The assessments are administered as structured interviews starting with readers in kindergarten and are repeated as needed.
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STAMP
Standards-based Measurement of Proficiency (STAMP) assesses foreign language proficiency using levels defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). The STAMP test consists of three sections – reading, writing and speaking. Items are based on real-world, every-day situations and written by native speakers.