Balanced Assessment Program SY 24-25

DoDEA Balanced Assessment Program SY 24-25

DoDEA 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. DoDEA 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.

DoDEA 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	GradeBand	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	9/16: Add names and schedules to the form: https://forms.office.com/r/SvcSiF2 tD7 10/1–31: Screener Window 10/15–12/12: Post-Screener Window 11/7: Student Profile Narrative Reports with Parent Letter. 1/19: Parent Notification Letters 2/2–2/27: Make-up Screener 2/11–4/10: Make up Post-Screener 3/6: Student Profile Narrative Reports with Parent Letter.
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: 8/1–9/30 Posttests: 4/15–6/15 Semester 1 Courses: Pretests: 8/1–9/30 Posttests: 12/1–1/31 Semester 2 Courses: Pretests: 1/1–2/28 Posttests: 4/15–6/15
5	CTE— CompTIA A+	High School	Computer Services Support	4/15–6/15
6	CTE—Culinary Certifications*	High School	Culinary Arts I, Culinary Arts II	8/1–6/15 (Examinations occur throughout the course at intervals determined by local teacher.)
7	CTE—Adobe Certified - Photoshop	High School	Digital Imaging	Semester 1 Courses: Pretests: 8/1–9/30 Posttests: 12/1–1/31 Semester 2 Courses: Pretests: 1/1–2/28 Posttests: 4/15–6/15
8	CTE—Adobe Certified – Premiere Pro	High School	Video Communications III	Yearlong Courses: Pretests: 8/1–9/30 Posttests: 4/15–6/15
9	CTE—Certified Nursing Aide	High School	Health Science II**	4/15–6/15
10	Digital PSAT 8/9	Middle, High	All students in grades 8 and 9	October 14-October 28 GMT October 15-October 29 EST (Window includes Test & Makeup)
11	Digital PSAT /NMSQT	High	All students in grades 10 and 11	October 14-October 28 GMT October 15-October 29 EST (Window includes Test & Makeup)
12	ACCESS for ELLs and Alternate ACCESS for ELLs	Elementary, Middle, High	All ML students (Levels 1–5)	January 20-March 8, 2026
13	DoDEA Alternate Assessment Mathematics and Literacy	Elementary, Middle, High	Eligible students only (Grades 3–8, and 11)	March 9, 2026-April 24, 2026
14	Spring Digital SAT School Day Test	High School	All students in grade 11	March 3 – March 17, 2026 GMT March 4-18 EST (Window includes Test & Makeup)
15	Fall Digital SAT School Day Test	High School	Optional for students in grade 12 without a grade 11 SAT School Day score	October 14-October 28 GMT October 15-October 29 EST (Window includes Test & Makeup)
16	CogAT Full Battery for AAPS	Elementary, Middle	Eligible students only	Sept.–June, as needed
17	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)
18	CCRS Summative Assessment English Language Arts (ELA)/Literacy	Elementary, Middle	Grades 3–7	Online: March 23-May 15, 2026 Paper: March 23-April 17, 2026 (Window includes Test & Makeup)
19	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)
20	Avant World Languages	Middle, High	World Language students in middle school and high school (Levels I, II, III and IV)	March 23-May 15, 2026
21	Credit by Exam (CBE)	High	By request per 1367.01	Window 1: August 2025 – October 2025 Window 2: December 2025 -January 2026 Window 3: March 2026 – May 2026
22	NAEP	Elementary, Middle	Grades 4 and 8 Math Grades 4 and 8 ELA	January 6 – March 20, 2026

Table 2: Required Common Paced Assessments

#	Assessment	Grade Band	2024-2025 Participants	Administration Window
23	Secondary ELA Writing Task	Middle, High	Grades 6-12	Q1: 8/28-10/1 Q2: 11/4-12/11 Q3: 1/15-312 Q4: 3/17-5/8
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	Beginning of the Year: All of Quarter 1 Middle of the Year: Last 4 weeks of Quarter 2 through the First 4 weeks of Quarter 3 End of the Year: All of Quarter 4
26	Elementary Literacy Benchmark Advance Interims	Elementary	Grades K-2	Interim 2: Nov-Dec (after Unit 3) Interim 3: Mar-Apr (after Unit 6) Interim 4: May-Jun (after week 6 of Q4)
27	Elementary Literacy Benchmark Advance Interims	Elementary	Grades 3-5	Interim 2: Nov-Dec (after Unit 3) Interim 3: Mar-Apr (after Unit 6)
28	Elementary Math Reveal Math Benchmark and Summative	Elementary	Grades K-2	Benchmark 1: Oct-Nov (after Unit 4) Benchmark 2: Dec-Jan (after Unit 7) Benchmark 3: Feb-Mar (after Unit 10) EOC Summative May-June (during the last 3 weeks of Q4)
29	Elementary Math Reveal Math Benchmark	Elementary	Grades 3-5	Benchmark 1: Sept-Oct (after Unit 4) Benchmark 2: Nov-Dec (after Unit 7) Benchmark 3: Feb-Mar (after Unit 10)
30	Elementary Science	Elementary	Grades 3-5	Life Science Posttest, Nov. 3–Dec. 19, 2025 Physical Science Posttest, Feb. 2–March 27, 2026 Earth & Space Science Posttest, April 13–June 5, 2026

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

Table 3: Optional Common Paced Elementary Science Assessments

Assessment #1	Grades 3, 4, and 5: Life Science, Nov. 1–Dec. 20, 2024
Assessment #2	Grades 3, 4, and 5: Physical Science, Feb. 3–March 21, 2025
Assessment #3	Grades 3, 4, and 5: Earth & Space Science, April 21–June 6, 2025

Table 4: 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.