Assessment
Welcome to our Murray County Schools Assessment page. Here you can find information and links regarding some of the assessments we give to our students each year. If you have further questions, feel free to contact your child's school to get any specifics regarding testing information. For further information regarding state testing, please visit the Georgia Department of Education Assessment website.
Georgia Milestones
The Georgia Milestones Assessment System is a comprehensive summative assessment program and represents a single system of summative assessments that span all three levels of the state's educational system – elementary, middle, and high school. The system is designed to send consistent signals about students' preparedness for the next level, be it the next grade, course, or endeavor, such as entering college or beginning a career after leaving the K-12 educational system.
Georgia Milestones measures how well students have learned the knowledge and skills outlined in the state-adopted content standards in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.
The end-of-course measures are administered at the completion of the course, regardless of the grade level. Middle school students who are enrolled in one or more of these courses are required to take the associated end-of-course (EOC) measure. These measures serve as the final exam for the course and contribute a percentage of the student’s final course grade per State Board Rule 160-4-2-.13 Statewide Passing Score.
Georgia Milestones | ELA | Math | Science | Social Studies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
End-of-Grade (EOG) | Grades 3-8 | Grades 3-8 | Grades 5 & 8 | Grade 8 |
End-of-Course (EOC) | American Literature and Composition | Algebra I/Coordinate Algebra | Biology | US History |
For more information, check out the following links:
i-Ready Assessments
(Information from www.curriculumassociates.com)
What is i-Ready?
i-Ready was invented in 2011 as a combination of the i-Ready Diagnostic (i.e., i-Ready test) and an online instruction program, i-Ready Personalized Instruction. i-Ready Personalized Instruction is a research-based program for students in kindergarten through eighth grade with an individualized plan for instruction based on each student’s performance on the i-Ready Diagnostic test. Once students complete the Diagnostic, i-Ready builds a unique lesson plan with a starting point for each learner based on their individual results. i-Ready gives teachers the flexibility to add lessons or adjust the lesson sequence based on their own knowledge of their students.
What is the purpose of i-Ready?
The purpose of i-Ready is to provide personalized instruction and support the needs of all learners. i-Ready supports teachers as they plan instruction, set goals with students, and assess learner progress. The i-Ready Diagnostic test is designed to help educators by providing meaningful data about the instructional needs of their students and connecting them to i-Ready math and reading instruction that is proven to raise student achievement.
What is the i-Ready Diagnostic test?
The i-Ready Diagnostic is a test designed to help teachers support each student and create a path of personalized instruction for every learner. The adaptive test adjusts its questions to suit each student’s needs. Each item a student sees is individualized based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier questions. Students will find the test difficult, but that is OK. Think of it like a vision test: the blurry letters and incorrect answers help the eye doctor find the correct glasses for you. The i-Ready Diagnostic gets harder until a student answers an item incorrectly and then narrows in on exactly where a student needs support.
Learn more about how i-Ready works.
ACCESS for ELLs 2.0
ACCESS for ELLs is administered annually to all English learners in Georgia. ACCESS for ELLs is a standards-based, criterion referenced English language proficiency test designed to measure English learners’ social and academic proficiency in English. It assesses social and instructional English as well as the language associated with language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies within the school context across the four language domains. ACCESS for ELLs meets the federal mandate requiring states to evaluate EL students in grades K through 12 on their progress in learning to speak English.
Alternate ACCESS for ELLs is a recently developed, individually administered test. It is intended only for English learners with significant cognitive disabilities that are severe enough to prevent meaningful participation in the ACCESS for ELLs assessment. Alternate ACCESS for ELLs is not intended for ELs who can be served with special education accommodations on ACCESS for ELLs. Decisions regarding a student's participation must be made by an IEP team.
GKIDS Readiness Check & GKIDS 2.0
The primary purpose of GKIDS is to provide ongoing diagnostic information about kindergarten students’ developing skills in English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Personal/Social Development, and Approaches to Learning. GKIDS will also provide a summary of student performance in English Language Arts and Mathematics at the end of the kindergarten school year
The GKIDS Readiness Check is given during the first six weeks of kindergarten. The primary purpose of the GKIDS Readiness Check is to highlight knowledge and skills critical for student success in learning – solely to guide individualized instruction.
GKIDS 2.0 provides teachers with a source of real-time information to adjust instruction, by identifying what a student already knows, what the student needs next, and by allowing the teacher to monitor growth. GKIDS serves as one indicator of first grade readiness and serves as both a formative and summative role in assessing kindergarten students.
