Balanced Assessment Program SY 26-27

DoWEA Balanced Assessment Program SY 26-27

DoWEA worked with the Balanced Assessment Working Group (BASWG) to understand the needs of educators and students, and how to better connect curriculum, instruction, and assessment as a continuous cycle of improvement. Assessments are a critical leverage point of the cycle to allow leaders at all levels to understand how curriculum, instruction, and assessment can lead to instructional shifts necessary to reach every child. DoWEA recognizes that assessments are only a snapshot of a day in the life of a student and do not reflect the whole story of student success.

DoWEA is positioned to receive summative data back in a timely manner that would allow educators and instructional leaders adequate time to interpret student assessment results, set instructional goals, and align the goals with necessary shifts for increased growth (improvement), proficiency (value-driven measurement), and achievement (objective measurement of ability at a given point in time) for the whole child.

Table 1: Summative, End-of-Year (EOY), and Semester Assessments

#	Assessment	Grade Band	2025–2026 Participants	Administration Window
1	K–5 Oral Reading Proficiency Tool (RPT)	Elementary	All students in grades Kindergarten (K)–5	1st Administration: Grades 1-5: First 6 six weeks of student's enrollment. Grade K: By January 31 from initial student enrollment. 2nd Administration: All Grades K-5: Last 6 weeks of student's enrollment.
2	WIDA Screener	Elementary, Middle, High	New students based on Home Language Survey	Students Enrolled at the Beginning of the School Year: Screened within 30 school days. Students Enrolled Later in the School Year: Screened within 10 school days.
3	Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) Screener for Advanced Academic Programs & Services (AAPS)	Elementary, Middle	Grade 2 students and Grade 6 students	10/1–30: Screener Window 10/19–12/18: Post-Screener Window 2/1–2/26: Make-up Screener 2/15–4/16: Make up Post-Screener
4	Career Technical Education (CTE)—NOCTI	High School	Yearlong Courses: Biotechnology Engineering, Career Practicum, Engineering Drawing/CAD, Education II, Education III, Green Technology Engineering, JROTC III/IV, Principles of Engineering, Video Communications II Semester Courses: Business & Personal Finance, Digital Publishing, Management Foundations, Marketing/Entrepreneurship, Spreadsheet/Database, Web Design	Yearlong Courses: Pretests: 8/31–9/11 Posttests: 5/3–5/14 Semester 1 Courses: Pretests: 8/31–9/11 Posttests: 11/2–12/11 Semester 2 Courses: Pretests: 1/18–1/29 Posttests: 5/3–5/14
5	CTE— Cisco Certified Support Technician (CCST)	High School	Computer Services Support, Cybersecurity, Networking	5/3–5/14
6	CTE—Culinary Certifications*	High School	Culinary Arts I, Culinary Arts II	8/17–5/14 (Examinations occur throughout the course at intervals determined by local teacher.)
7	CTE—Adobe Certified - Photoshop	High School	Digital Imaging	Semester 1 Courses: Pretests: 8/31–9/11 Posttests: 5/3–5/14 Semester 2 Courses: Pretests: 1/18–1/29 Posttests: 5/3–5/14
8	CTE—Adobe Certified – Premiere Pro	High School	Video Communications III	Yearlong Courses: Pretests: 8/31–9/11 Posttests: 5/3–5/14
9	CTE—Certified Nursing Aide	High School	Health Science II**	5/3–5/14
10	CTE-Personal Finance Literacy (PFL) Industry Credential	High School	Personal Finance Literacy	Semester 1 Courses: Pretests: 8/31–9/11 Posttests: 11/2–12/11 Semester 2 Courses: Pretests: 1/18–1/29 Posttests: 5/3–5/14
11	PSAT 8/9/10	Middle, High	All students in grades 8 and 9, and 10	3/17 – 4/14/2027 (Window includes Test & Makeup)
12	PSAT /NMSQT	High	All students in grades 11	10/6-10/28 (Window includes Test & Makeup)
13	ACCESS for ELLs and Alternate ACCESS for ELLs	Elementary, Middle, High	All ML students (Levels 1–5)	1/10-2/26/2027 (Materials must be shipped by 3/5/2027)
14	DoWEA Alternate Assessment Mathematics and Literacy	Elementary, Middle, High	Eligible students only (Grades 3–8, and 11)	TBD New Alternate Assessment for SY2027
15	Spring SAT School Day Test	High School	All students in grade 11	3/17-4/14/2027 (Window includes Test & Makeup)
16	Fall SAT School Day Test	High School	Optional for students in grade 12 without a grade 11 SAT School Day score	10/6-10/28/2027 (Window includes Test & Makeup)
17	CogAT Full Battery for AAPS	Elementary, Middle	Eligible students only	Sept.–June, as needed
18	College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) Summative Assessment Mathematics	Elementary, Middle	Grades 3–7	Online: March 23-May 15, 2026 Paper: March 23-April 17, 2026 (Window includes Test & Makeup)
19	CCRS Summative Assessment English Language Arts (ELA)/Literacy and Mathematics	Elementary, Middle	Grades 3–7	Online: 3/22-5/14/2027 Paper: 3/22-4/23/2027 (Window includes Test & Makeup)
20	Advanced Placement (AP) Exams (Digital & Paper)	High	All students enrolled in AP course(s)	May 4-May 15, 2026 Late AP Exam May 18-22, 2026 (Paper & Digital Test)
21	STAMP World Languages	Middle, High	World Language students in middle school and high school (Levels I, II, III and IV)	3/22-5/14/2027
22	Credit by Exam (CBE)	High	By request per 1367.01	August 2026 – April 2027

Table 2: Required Common Paced Assessments

#	Assessment	Grade Band	2025-2026 Participants	Administration Window
23	Secondary ELA Writing Task	Middle, High	Grades 6-12	S1: 9/14/2026-12/11/2027 S2: 1/2/2027-5/14/2027
24	Secondary Math Carnegie Learning Performance Tasks	Middle, High	Grades 6-8 Math High School Courses: ALG1, ALG2, Geometry	2 - End of Topic Performance Task Assessments September-February #1 by end of quarter 1 #2 by end of quarter 2
25	Elementary Literacy Benchmark Phonics: Phonological Awareness Assessment	Elementary	Grades K-1	TBD
26	Elementary Literacy Benchmark Advance Interims	Elementary	Grades K-2	TBD
27	Elementary Literacy Benchmark Advance Interims	Elementary	Grades 3-5	TBD
28	Elementary Math Reveal Math Benchmark and Summative	Elementary	Grades K-2	TBD
29	Elementary Math Reveal Math Benchmark	Elementary	Grades 3-5	TBD
30	Elementary Science	Elementary	Grades 3-5	Earth & Space Science Posttest, Oct-Nov Physical Science Posttest, Feb Life Science Posttest, May

*Note: Testing window varies by school based on school calendar.

Table 3: Required Alternate Content Standards (ACS) Interim Assessments

ACS Interim Assessment Windows (Detailed Version)
Frequency	4x a year
Tested Grade Bands	Elementary (K–2) , Intermediate (3–5), Middle School (6–8), and High School
Testing window (Tested content) Note: Testing window varies by school based on school calendar.	Interim 1: November Checkpoint (Pre & Post Assessment)
	Interim 2: January Checkpoint (Pre & Post Assessment)
	Interim 3: March Checkpoint (Pre & Post Assessment)
	Interim 4: May Checkpoint (Pre & Post Assessment)

Note: Schools are not required to administer the check points for February and April. These are optional. For Level 1, this includes Combined Content, Reading and Mathematics. For Levels 2 and 3, this includes Reading, Word Recognition, Content Understanding, and Mathematics.

Balanced Assessment Program SY 26-27

DoWEA Balanced Assessment Program SY 26-27

Table 1: Summative, End-of-Year (EOY), and Semester Assessments

Table 2: Required Common Paced Assessments

Table 3: Required Alternate Content Standards (ACS) Interim Assessments

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