Fort Wayne Community Schools Assessment
Fort Wayne Community School district utilizes a balanced assessment system to evaluate student progress and to improve student learning. These assessments consist of summative and formative assessments and include assessments at the district, state, and national level. Designed as a critical component of a strong instructional program, the assessments are used to measure student achievement, curriculum strengths, and program effectiveness. Teachers use data from these assessments to identify instructional needs of students in order to differentiate instruction and administrators use data to identify areas of need for professional learning. Fort Wayne Community Schools is committed to continuously using student data to drive curricular, instructional and programming decisions.
Assessment Overview 2022-2023
ACT (American College Testing)
- The ACT is a standardized test used for college admissions in the United States and is currently administered by ACT, a nonprofit organization of the same name.
- The ACT test covers four academic skill areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning.
- Resources can be found at Area of Interest
CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test)
- This test measures students’ learned reasoning abilities in the three areas most linked to academic potential in school: Verbal, Quantitative, and Nonverbal. Data gained from this assessment will be used as a screener to indicate if further testing is needed to determine a high ability identification.
- Screened in grades K, 2, & 5 and to select 8th-grade students online.
- Full Battery administered to students who score in the 88th percentile or higher on local norms on the screener.
Dyslexia Screening
- All students in grades kindergarten through second grade are required to be screened for dyslexia IC 20-35.5, et seq., as created by Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 217 (2018) each school year.
- Early identification of students “at some risk” or “at-risk” for dyslexia is critical for the development of early and appropriate interventions to support the student before they begin to fall behind their peers.
- Universal screeners are used for the initial screening of students, and shall include the following, as determined to be developmentally appropriate, for each student:
- Phonological and phonemic awareness
- Sound symbol recognition
- Alphabet knowledge
- Decoding skills
- Rapid naming, and
- Encoding skills
*only a medical doctor can diagnose dyslexia; universal screeners check for characteristics of reading difficulty which may or may not be due to dyslexia.
Illuminate DnA
- DnA is a standards-based assessment that allows teachers to instantly administer and receive results from common formative assessments, unit exams, and just-in-time checks on learning.
- DnA allows teachers to create assessments tightly aligned to your scope and sequence for authentic, information-rich data on student learning
- DnA allows teachers to use prebuilt and custom reports to monitor standards mastery throughout the year and guide resources and instructional practices that improve learning trajectories.
- Horizon assessments are PSAT/SAT practice assessments housed within the DnA area of the Illuminate platform.
- Horizon provides a College Readiness Package as a suite of PSAT/SAT-aligned assessments that administered two times per year and that provide a reliable snapshot of academic skill and readiness throughout a student’s high school career and can provide point in time and growth over time data to describe a student’s path towards college and career readiness.
- Horizon Education studies show that repeated exposure to practice PSAT/SAT assessments can improve student overall scores on the SAT.
Illuminate FastBridge
- FastBridge is a universal screening, diagnostic reporting, and progress-monitoring tool that combines Computer-Adaptive Testing (CAT) with Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM) for reading, math and social-emotional behavior.
- FastBridge builds a strong Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) that ensures educators have the right tools and the right data to provide timely, targeted support. The right assessment solution quickly provides data to pinpoint whole child needs for the school, class, group, or individual student.
- FastBridge will be given a minimum of three times during the school year at the beginning, middle and end. Teachers can use the scores to inform instruction, personalize learning, and monitor the growth of individual students. Principals and administrators can use the scores to see the performance and progress of a grade level, school, or the entire district.
I AM (Indiana’s Alternate Measure)
- I AM is the summative accountability assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities in grades 3-8 and 10.
- I AM measures student achievement and growth according to Indiana’s Content Connectors which are aligned to the Indiana Academic Standards.
- I AM assesses:
- English/Language Arts (Grades 3-8 and 10)
- Mathematics (Grades 3-8 and 10)
- Science (Grades 4, 6, and Biology)
- Social Studies (Grade 5)
ILEARN (Indiana’s Learning Evaluation Assessment Readiness Network)
- ILEARN is Indiana’s online computer-adaptive assessment designed to measure your child’s proficiency of the Indiana Academic Standards in Grades 3–8, Biology and U.S. Government. ILEARN fulfills both state and federal legislative requirements as the accountability assessment for Indiana students and is the summative accountability assessment for Indiana students. It is given in the spring and FWCS assesses:
- English/Language Arts (Grades 3-8)
- Mathematics (Grades 3-8)
- Science (Grades 4 and 6)
- Social Studies (Grade 5)
- Biology ECA (High School)
IREAD-3 (Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination)
- IREAD-3 is a summative assessment that measures foundational reading standards in grade 3. It was developed as a result of House Enrolled Act 1367, or Public Law 109, in 2010 which "requires the evaluation of reading skills for students who are in grade three beginning in the Spring of 2012 to ensure that all students can read proficiently before moving on to grade four."
- Administered once a year online to students in grade 3. Students who do not pass are given an opportunity to retest in grades 4 & 5 after participating in remediation.
ISPROUT (Indiana Student Performance Readiness and Observation of Understanding Tool)
- ISPROUT is utilized to measure skills in children from infancy to kindergarten. ISPROUT is aligned to the Indiana Early Learning Foundations and includes:
- Social and Emotional Skills
- English/Language Arts
- Mathematics
- Physical Development
- Science
- Social Studies
- These concepts are reported in three categories: social/emotional, knowledge and skills, and independence/motor coordination.
- ISPROUT will be utilized for Indiana students in Pre-K and will be tested throughout the year as required.
PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test)/NMSQT (National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test)
- The PSAT is administered in October to high school sophomores and juniors to help them prepare for the SAT. It is administered by the College Board and co-sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation in the United States.
- The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and college scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.6 million entrants each year, and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements. Program entrants must take the test in the specified year of the high school program. The 2020 PSAT/NMSQT is the qualifying test for entry to the 2022 program.
- The PSAT/NMSQT for grades 10 & 11 is funded (but not required) by the Indiana Department of Education.
- Resources can be found at National Merit
SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test)
- In the Spring all Indiana juniors take the College Board’s SAT, which serves as Indiana’s accountability assessment for Mathematics and English/Language Arts (ELA) in high school. The SAT will be administered at FWCS high schools during the school day.
- The SAT is not a graduation requirement, though students may use it as they work towards the Postsecondary Ready Competency requirement of their Graduation Pathway.
- The SAT is a standardized test used for college admissions, published by the College Board, and administered on behalf of the College Board.
- The test is intended to assess students’ readiness for college. It is a globally available test accepted by all U.S. and many international colleges and universities.
- Resources can be found at the College Board
WIDA ACCESS for ELLs
- This comprehensive English proficiency test measures students’ annual growth in the English language domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Data gained from this assessment will measure progress from students’ previous proficiency level and identify those who qualify for formal exit from the ELL program.
- Administered once a year to ELL students in grades K (paper/pencil) and 1-12 (online).
- Students no longer take WIDA ACCESS when they obtain an overall Level 5 (fluent).
