Crete Public Schools uses a variety of assessments to gather relevant information about student performance or progress and to make decisions about curriculum and instruction. The following information is about the specific assessments Crete Public Schools administers. 

MAP Assessments (Measures of Academic Progress)

MAP^® Growth ™ tests are administered at Crete Public Schools to students in Kindergarten through 11th grade. These tests are given in the areas of math, reading, and science. The assessments help to measure students’ current academic achievement. These tests not only determine the student’s instructional level, but also measure his/her academic growth throughout the school year. 

MAP^® Growth ™ tests from NWEA® are unique in that they are adaptive tests taken on a computer or tablet. This means the test becomes more difficult when the student answers a question correctly. When the student answers a question incorrectly, the test becomes easier. Ultimately, the student takes a test specially targeted to his/her learning level due to the adaptive changes done while taking the test. In addition, since the information presented on the test is aligned with the Nebraska Standards, it is based upon information the student has or will be exposed to in school.  

MAP^® Growth ™ results are represented as RIT scores. RIT scores range from 100-300 and help measure students' achievement and growth. Like inches on a ruler, the RIT scale measures in equal intervals, regardless of a student’s grade and it remains stable over time. As a result, Crete Public Schools can accurately measure students’ growth in between tests and understand if they are performing on, above, or below grade level. RIT scores enable teachers to recognize where to focus attention to optimize students' learning and monitor their progress.  

Crete Public Schools use the data gained through the MAP^® Growth ™ assessments to monitor progress, differentiate instruction, and identify students that could benefit from additional additional support, instruction, or intervention.  

For more information about MAP^® Growth ™, visit https://www.nwea.org/family-toolkit/

DIBELS^® (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills)

DIBELS^® 8th Edition assessments are administered at Crete Public Schools to students in Kindergarten through 5th grade. The assessments help to measure students’ acquisition of literacy skills.  

DIBELS^® assessments are short (one-minute) fluency measures used to monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills. DIBELS^® tests five skills that are necessary for learning to read. DIBELS^® is made up of seven short individual tests, called subtests. Each DIBELS^® subtest focuses on a different skill and takes about one minute to do. Students may be given two to five of the DIBELS^® subtests depending on their grade level. Each subtest is an indicator of how well a child is doing in learning a particular early reading skill, much like using a thermometer to take a student's temperature is an indicator of overall health, each subtest is an indicator of how well a child is doing in learning a particular early reading skill.  

Crete Public Schools use the data gained through DIBELS^® assessments to monitor progress, differentiate instruction, and identify students that could benefit from additional support, instruction, or intervention.  

For more information about DIBELS^®, visit https://dibels.uoregon.edu/about-dibels

NSCAS (Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System)

NSCAS assessments are administered at Crete Public Schools to students in third through eighth grades and eleventh grade. These assessments are given in the areas of reading, math, and science. Third through eighth grade students take the English Language Arts and Mathematics assessments. Students in grade 5 and 8 also take science assessments. Eleventh grade students take the NSCAS ACT. These assessments are required by our Nebraska Department of Education to assess students' achievement of grade level standards.  

NSCAS Growth is a computer adaptive assessment designed to allow students to answer items above and below grade level to demonstrate where they are in their learning, while ensuring there are enough on-grade-level items for summative purposes. Computer adaptive tests select items that are tailored to a student’s performance throughout the assessment.

Students’ achievement on the NSCAS Growth assessments is reported as a scale score and achievement level. The scale score is an estimate of a student’s achievement. The estimate is generated based on the questions the student answered correctly and then converted to a standard scale. Three achievement levels are used for each content area: developing, on track, and advanced. Developing learners do not yet demonstrate proficiency in the knowledge and skills necessary at the grade level. On track learners demonstrate proficiency in the knowledge and skills necessary at the grade level. Advanced learners demonstrate high levels of proficiency in the knowledge and skills necessary at this grade level. Individual student reports are mailed home to students during the Fall following their Spring assessment.  

For more information about NSCAS, visit https://www.education.ne.gov/assessment/nscas-system/

NSCAS (Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System) ACT

Nebraska students in their third year of high school take the NSCAS ACT as part of the Nebraska Department of Education statewide assessment system. The ACT contains multiple-choice tests in four areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science. A fifth section of the test is writing. The NSCAS ACT is provided to all third year cohort students free of charge on a specific date at Crete High School.  

Every question on the ACT is based on high school curriculum with which students are familiar. The higher students score on the ACT it can increase their chances of earning new or better scholarships for college.  

An official ACT score report will be mailed to students 3-8 weeks following the test. Students will also be able to access their score via their MyACT accounts. Students can manage all activities related to their ACT scores. For instance, students can request their scores be sent up to four colleges or universities for free.  

For more information about NSCAS ACT, visit https://www.act.org/content/act/en/students-and-parents.html

PreACT

The PreACT empowers 10th grade students with a unique ACT^® experience.  The PreACT is a short, multiple-choice assessment through paper pencil testing.  The benefits of the PreACT are the early practice for the ACT test with flexible administration dates for Crete Public Schools.  The PreACT score and predicted ACT^® score ranges align to the ACT^® 1-36 scale.  Student may opt to share their information with colleges and scholarship agencies.  The data from the PreACT provides Crete Public School with actionable insight to help educatiors, parents, and student make important decisions for the future.  

For more information about the PreACT, visit https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/PreACT-Overview.pdf

CogAT

The CogAT provides an overall picture of a child’s strengths in the areas of verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal functioning. These three cognitive domains provide a more comprehensive perspective of your child’s reasoning abilities.

Our purpose for giving this test to all students is to help Crete Public Schools understand and evaluate how to best serve all of our students, including those in our High Abilities program. Another positive of this assessment is its ability to show student strengths and knowledge regardless of language or vocabulary. The results of this test give us a clearer picture of each student’s strengths and areas to focus on for growth. 

If you would like a better understanding of this assessment, you can find additional information from the publisher at www.cogat.com.

ELPA 21

The ELPA21 is given to all English Learner (EL) students, and the results are used to inform the district on how to best serve students academically. This assessment evaluates the areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking in English. EL students in Kindergarten through 12th grade take this test once a year to measure their growth in learning English. 

NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called The Nation’s Report Card, is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students in public and private schools in the United States know and are able to do in various subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), located within the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.  

NAEP includes a range of subjects at grades 4, 8, and 12 to provide a comprehensive look at the wide array of academic areas that are a part of a student’s education. Schools across the country are chosen at random to participate, meaning Crete Public Schools may or may not participate in NAEP assessments each year. If Crete Public Schools are selected to participate, students are also chosen at random to take the assessment.  

The school district, the student, or the parents do not receive score results for the student. Instead scores are aggregated across the nation and are used to monitor educational progress in communities and compare performance with other regions of the country. NAEP also provides states with a benchmark to target important efforts that raise the bar for student achievement and ensure students have equal opportunities to succeed. 

For more information about NSCAS, visit https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/about/pdf/naep_overview_brochure_2018.pdf