myIGDIs

Aug 15 – Oct 16

January 7-31

March 19 – May 29

4K

myIGDIs™ is a formative assessment individually administered by the teacher to support the identification of preschool children requiring additional diagnostic assessment or levels of intervention in literacy and mathematics. This assessment can be used to measure developmental gains and inform instructional needs of individual children. More information about the assessment is located on the myIGDIs web site.

KRA

Aug 15 – Oct 16

Kindergarten

The KRA is a developmentally appropriate instrument that measures a child’s school readiness across multiple domains. Understanding a child’s school readiness helps kindergarten teachers best meet the child’s needs, and it helps schools, families, communities and policy makers know how best to support young children as they enter the K-12 environment. The KRA determines each child’s readiness level from an evaluation of four domains: Social Foundations, Language/Literacy, Mathematics, and Physical Well-Being. The KRA provides a snapshot of students’ abilities at the beginning of the school year.

i-Ready

August 15-30

December 2-13

March 31 – April 11

K-8th

These diagnostic assessment tools help educators see where students are, set high—but achievable—expectations for growth, and connect the right instructional tools to help them get there.

CogAT & Iowa

2nd Grade

The identification of gifted and talented students is a multi-step process which consists of screening and referral, assessment of eligibility, and placement. The objective of the grade 2 testing program is to evaluate each student for the purpose of placement into a district Gifted and Talented program. In accordance with State Board Regulation 43-220, students must meet the criteria for two out of the three dimensions outlined in this law. See SCDE’s Gifted and Talented web site for additional information.

CogAT

3rd-8th

Deadline for nominations: September 15

The identification of gifted and talented students is a multi-step process which consists of screening and referral, assessment of eligibility, and placement. The objective of the grade 2 testing program is to evaluate each student for the purpose of placement into a district Gifted and Talented program.  In accordance with State Board Regulation 43-220, students must meet the criteria for two out of the three dimensions outlined in this law. See SCDE’s Gifted and Talented web site for additional information.

ACCESS for ELLs

K-12th ESOL

All students in grades K-12 who are determined to have limited English proficiency - based upon the completion of a Home Language Survey and the initial assessment of their English proficiency - must take ACCESS for ELLs® or Alternate ACCESS each spring. This includes those students whose parents have waived direct MLP services.

Performance Tasks Assessment

2nd-5th

(meet eligibility criteria)

These assessments are used to identify intellectually advanced students for inclusion in gifted education programs. The purpose of the Performance Task Assessment is to identify students on Dimension C of the SBE Regulation 43-220. Students who meet the criteria for Dimension A (aptitude) or Dimension B (achievement), but not both, must take the primary level in grade 2 and/or 3 and the intermediate level in grade 4 and/or 5.

Climate Surveys

March 3-21

Parents, Teachers,

3rd-12th Students

The Education Accountability Act of 1998 specifies that, “school report cards should include information in such areas as…evaluations of the school by parents, teachers, and students.” Student, teacher, and parent/guardian opinion surveys have been designed to measure perceptions of three factors – Home and School Relations, School Learning Environments, and School Social and Physical Environments. Feedback received in these surveys provide valuable information to principals, teachers, parents, school improvement councils, and community groups in their efforts to identify areas for improvement.

SC Alternate Assessments

March 3 – April 11

3rd-12th

(meet eligibility criteria)

The SC Alternate Assessments are assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities who are assessed against alternate achievement standards as they are unable to participate in the general assessment program even with appropriate accommodations.

SC READY

May 6-7: Reading

May 8: Science

May 13: Math

May 15: Writing

3rd-8th

The South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Assessments (SC READY) program is a statewide assessment in English Language Arts (ELA), mathematics, science and social studies administered to students in grades 3–8 as required by the Education Accountability Act (EAA). The EAA was amended in 2018 to shorten testing by reducing the number of grade levels tested in social studies to grades 5 and 7 and for science to grades 4, 6, and 8. For the 2024-25 school year, Proviso 1.72 of the General Appropriations Bill suspended testing of grade 8 in science and grades 5 and 7 in social studies. As a result, students will be assessed in grades 4 and 6 in science. SC READY social studies will not be assessed in grades 3-8 during the 2024-25 school year.