Assessment Hub

We’re making this change to give teachers faster, more useful information to support student learning. STAR and i-Ready align better with our curriculum, reduce testing time, and offer insights in both English and Spanish.

All students in Kindergarten through 8th grade will take:

• STAR Reading or STAR Early Literacy (for literacy)
• i-Ready Diagnostic (for math)

Just like with MAP, students will take these assessments three times a year:

• Fall (beginning of the year)
• Winter (mid-year)
• Spring (end of the year)

You’ll receive reports showing:

• How your child is performing compared to grade-level expectations
• Specific skills your child is strong in or needs more support with
• Growth from one assessment window to the next

The assessments are designed to measure what students are ready to learn—not to be “easy” or “hard.” Like MAP, they adjust to your child’s skill level while they take it, helping us understand their learning needs.

All three assessments are:

• Computer-adaptive, adjusting to your child’s skill level
• Given multiple times a year to measure growth
• Used to help teachers understand student strengths and areas for support
• Not used for grades or report cards

• Aligned to Standards: These assessments are more closely aligned to grade-level learning goals.
• Bilingual Support: i-Ready and STAR provide assessments in both languages and offer full Spanish support for bilingual students.
• Instructional Insights: Both tools provide teachers with more direct links to what students are ready to learn next and embedded instructional resources directly in the platform.

Here are the average test times for each assessment and grade band.

• STAR Early Literacy (K-2): about 10 to15 minutes
• STAR Reading (3-8): about 20 to 30 minutes
• i-Ready Math: 
  • K-1: about 25 to 35 minutes
  • 2-5: about 40 to 60 minutes (depending on the grade level)
  • 6-8: about 60 to 75 minutes; the vast majority complete in fewer than 90 minutes.
• In the spring of 2024, on the NWEA MAP assessment, D65 students took on average:
  • K-2: 35 minutes in math; (MAP Fluency does not provide test duration)
  • 3-5: 71 minutes in math; 84 minutes in reading
  • 6-8: 83 minutes in math; 104 minutes in reading

Teachers use the results to:

• Plan instruction based on student needs
• Group students for small-group lessons
• Track student growth throughout the year
   

No studying is needed! These assessments are meant to show what your child knows and is ready to learn. The best way to support your child is to make sure they’re well-rested and on time for testing days.

Yes! Families will receive an easy-to-read report after each testing window with key takeaways and suggestions. We will provide more information about the reports after the fall administration window.

This decision was made after two years of review and feedback from teachers, principals, special education and bilingual experts, and even students and families. We piloted the tools and selected the ones that best meet our students’ needs. The ultimate goal is to provide more actionable results, aligned to grade-level standards while increasing instructional time in the classroom.