Assessments

ACCESS and Alternate ACCESS for ELLS

Required by the State of Minnesota

ACCESS for ELLs measures English Language proficiency.  Test items are written from the model performance indicators of WIDA's five English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards:  

1. Social & Instructional Language,
2. Language of Language Arts,
3. Mathematics,
4. Science
5. Social Studies 

Test forms are divided into five grade level clusters (testing grades 1-12).

ACT

Required by Minneapolis Public Schools

The purpose of the ACT test is to measure a high school student's readiness for college and provides colleges with one common data point that can be used to compare all applicants.

CogAT

Required by Minneapolis Public Schools 

CogAT is an assessment used as part of the Advanced Learner Identification process.

Computer Delivered Format for the majority of these assessments. Alternate ACCESS (grades K-12), Kindergarten and students with accommodations may be able to test on paper.

FastBridge 

Required by MPS

• earlyReading and earlyMath
• aReading and aMath
• CMBReading

FastBrdidge is a web-based assessment suite. MPS uses FastBridge assessmentswill be used as district-wide universal screeners for all students K-9 in order to assess students’ reading and math skills. 

The purpose of a universal screener is to identify students who could benefit from additional support and to monitor students’ growth throughout the school year. Universal screening assessments are typically brief, conducted with all students at a grade level, and provide teachers and other staff with data to plan instruction, as well as support decision making at the class, grade, or district level.

• To see which FastBridge reading and math assessments are required and when screening is happening, please visit the public website for MPS Assessments and navigate to the current year's assessment calendar.
• To read more about FastBridge, including more detailed descriptions of each required assessment, please reference this document.

The FastBridge earlyReading and earlyMath assessments will be given to kindergarten and 1st grade students. 

The aReading and aMath assessments will be given to students in grades 2-9.

The assessments are aligned to Common Core Standards and MN K-12 Standards. Assessment results can be used to identify students in need of additional instructional support or advanced differentiation.

In Spring, FastBridge aReading, aMath, and CBMReading are optional for grades 4-5.

Formative Assessment System for Teachers (FAST)