• March 2016

    Dear Parent/Guardian,

    As partners in your child’s education, it is important to ensure that he/she is prepared for each step along the educational journey. One way to determine student preparedness is through assessment. Based upon Act 200 legislation, there have been further changes to our state’s assessment system for spring 2016. 

    Your child will be participating in the SC READY ELA and mathematics assessments this spring.  All students in grades 3–8 are required to take the SC READY assessment except those who qualify for the South Carolina National Center and State Collaborative (SC-NCSC).  SC READY replaces the ACT Aspire ELA and math assessments that were administered last year.

    SC READY assessment items measure student performance on the South Carolina College-and Career-Ready ELA and mathematics standards. The SC READY assessments are untimed and will be administered in paper/pencil format this year; next year these assessments may be computer based.

    SC READY will be administered over three days: 

    April 26 – ELA Day 1 – Writing:  Students will be given an extended writing prompt and will be required to read a passage and support their response with evidence from the text.  They will also be asked questions about grammar and the writing process.  Some of these items may be multi-select items, where students will be prompted to select more than one response option.

    April 27 – ELA Day 2 – Reading:  Students will read a passage and select answers to test items.  Some of these items may be multi-select items, where students will be prompted to select more than one response option.

    April 28 – Math:  Students will select responses to test items from a list of possible answer options. Some test items may be multi-select items on the 5th grade test, where students will be prompted to select more than one response option.  Calculators are not permitted for the SC READY math assessment in grades 3-5.

    SCPASS will continue to be administered to students in grades 4 through 8 in the areas of science and social studies during May 11-18.  SCPASS assessments are also untimed and will be administered in a computer-based format. 

    With any new assessment, there is a learning curve for both the students and the school.  Teachers are very aware of these assessments and are working with your student on test-taking strategies to prepare for their administration.  As always, please be sure students are well rested and eat a good breakfast on testing days in order to help them do their best.  Please make every effort to have your child at school on time.  If possible, please avoid scheduling doctors’ appointments or other out-of-school functions during testing hours.   Electronic devices are not allowed during testing sessions and will be collected by the teacher; they will be returned after each testing session is completed.

    If you have further questions about spring assessments, you may contact your child’s school or visit http://ed.sc.gov/tests/.

    We will share additional details from the South Carolina Department of Education as they are provided.  Thank you for your support as we work together to provide your children with the best education possible. 

    Sincerely, 
     
    Mrs. Ramsey