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Interim Assessments

Test Administration Resources

Resources marked with a star symbol are unique to the Interim Assessment.

  • The Kansas State Department of Education complies with the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which require the participation of all students in assessments used for accountability purposes.

    Students with disabilities are included to the extent possible in grade- and age-appropriate instruction on the content standards; however, assessments must provide adaptations to provide all students the opportunity to show what they have learned. These adaptations are called accommodations.

    Accommodations for students with disabilities are tools or procedures that mediate a student’s disability to permit valid assessment without changing what is being measured. For example, a student with low vision may need accommodations for the test to be accessible. In a test of reading, having reading passages read aloud would change what is being measured, so reading passages aloud to a student is not a valid accommodation. The use of a magnifying tool or a large-print version of a test, however, would be an acceptable accommodation.

    The Kansas Assessment Program provides numerous accommodations for students with disabilities:

    • • Accommodations are available for students who are not yet proficient in English.
    • • The Dynamic Learning Maps® (DLM®) Alternate Assessment System is available for students with significant cognitive disabilities.

     

    Kite Educator Portal allows educators and test administrators to identify supports that are used in the classroom on a regular basis and enter them into a Personal Needs Profile (PNP). Students’ PNPs should be well thought out and created before beginning any type of assessment. For additional information on completing a student's PNP, refer to the Kite Educator Portal Manual for Test Coordinators.

  • Kansas Accessibility Manual
  • KSDE Fact Sheet – Text-to-Speech New

About the Interim Assessments

Interim assessments are traditional tests used periodically throughout the school year to measure students’ understanding of concepts and use of particular skills. Interim assessments are sometimes referred to as benchmark assessments.

diagram of the assessment process

Diagram of Interims relative to the larger assessment system.

Along with summative and formative assessment processes, interim assessments constitute an integral part of a robust and balanced assessment approach. Well-implemented interim assessment ensures that students and teachers remain engaged in feedback and instruction— measuring students’ success in learning material and providing schools with data to make within-year programmatic decisions to help improve student achievement.