New Hampshire Statewide Assessment System
In September, 2017 the New Hampshire Department of Education announced that American Institutes for Research (AIR) was approved as the statewide assessment vendor for English language arts and mathematics in grades 3-8, and science in grades 5, 8, and 11.
The NH Statewide Assessment System (NH SAS) for English language art/writing and mathematics are computer adaptive tests aligned to the NH Academic Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics. The assessments are unique to NH and can be adjusted to meet NH’s needs. These assessments are administered to students in grades 3 through 8 in the spring.
The new science assessments are aligned to the newly adopted NH Academic Standards for Science and will create a new baseline for science assessment data. The NH SAS for science is administered to students in grades 5 and 8 in the spring.
More information can be found at https://nh.portal.cambiumast.com/families.html
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills.
The DIBELS measures were specifically designed to assess the Big Ideas in Reading.
The purpose of the DIBELS Benchmark goals is to provide educators with standards for gauging the progress of all students. The Benchmark goals represent a level of performance for all students to reach in order to be considered on track for becoming a successful reader. They indicate the probability of achieving subsequent early literacy goals.
For a child with a score at or above the benchmark goal at a given point, the probability is high for achieving future goals; the probability of needing additional support in order to achieve future goals is low.
Teachers can use students’ performance to identify students who will most likely require more intensive instruction at the beginning of the school year to prevent the likelihood of the student being a struggling reader at a later time point.
