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State and National Assessments

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Requirement

Each state, in consultation with LEAs (Local Education Authorities), must implement a set of high-quality academic assessments in mathematics, reading or language arts, and science that measures the achievement of ALL students and are aligned with state academic standards. 
 
States may provide alternate assessments for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities; however, the state must ensure that for each subject, the total number of students assessed using an alternate assessment does not exceed one percent of the total number of students assessed in each subject.
 
States must provide an annual assessment of English proficiency for all English learners. States may choose to exclude English learners who have been enrolled for less than 12 months from the reading or language arts assessment.
 

Oklahoma Assessment Strategies

  • aligns to Oklahoma Academic Standards (OAS)

  • provides a measure of comparability among other states

  • yields both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced scores

  • has a track record of statistical reliability and accuracy

  • provide a measure of future academic performance for assessments administered in high school

  • high technical quality

Information in the OSTP Parent and Student Portal showcases your student's performance on the Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP) Tests in key academic areas. State test results, when combined with other information, (i.e. homework, classwork, report card grades, and local assessments) can help you and the teacher work together to support your student's growth.
 
The 2023-2024 Calendar provides an overview of the assessments according to grade and subject, type, and test dates (both online and in-person).
 
Opt-Outs
 
Per state law, all students are required to participate in the state assessment program. Please read this letter concerning this matter. 
Students with disabilities who are on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) must be included in all state and district-wide assessments. The IEP team determines annually how the student will participate--with or without accommodations--or by means of alternate assessment. The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) provides guidance regarding assessment policies through FAQs, test manuals, training, and website information.
 
The Oklahoma Alternate Assessment Program (OAAP) is a system of alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards intended for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who cannot participate in the general assessment even with accommodations. These alternate achievement standards differ in complexity from the general state curriculum standards. Students who qualify for participation in OAAP will have an IEP containing rigorous and measurable goals and objectives and/or short-term benchmarks. IEP teams are required to use the state-established criteria checklist when making OAAP participation decisions.
 
Alternate assessments have been developed in place of general assessments and are designed to measure academic skills within the same domains required by the regular state or district-wide assessments. They are intended to assess grade-level content with less depth, breadth, and complexity than the regular assessment, and with different definitions of how well and how much students know and do in the content area to be considered proficient. 
 
Oklahoma uses the Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) alternate assessment system to assess the science, math, and English language arts content knowledge. The OSDE monitors school districts for implementation of the required testing procedures as provided in the Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP) manual. The OSDE also monitors school districts to ensure that schools are utilizing the Criteria Checklist for Assessing Students with Disabilities on Alternate Assessments when making alternate assessment decisions and utilizing the assessment identified in the IEP document for state assessments. IEP teams are required to document the appropriate assessment as well as all needed accommodations and accessibility-related needs within the student's IEP on an annual basis. Student's IEP must reflect the use of the same or similar accommodations in both instruction and assessment.
 
What is it?

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), first administered in 1969, is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what our nation’s students know and can do in subjects such as mathematics, reading, science, and writing. Teachers, principals, parents, policymakers, and researchers all use NAEP results to assess progress and develop ways to improve education in the United States. The results of NAEP are released as The Nation's Report Card and are available for the nation, states, and in some cases, urban districts. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
 

Why is participation important?

Schools and students are carefully selected to be in the NAEP samples according to demographic characteristics that make the samples collectively representative of all the nation's students in grades 4, 8, and 12 in public and private schools. The participation of each school and student selected helps ensure that NAEP truly reflects the great diversity of our nation's student population. For example, NAEP reports results for male and female students, Black students and White students, and students in different regions of the country. Samples are selected using a complex sampling design. Test scores and questionnaire responses are always kept confidential. Results are never reported for individual students or schools. District-level results are only reported for select large urban areas across the nation.

Please visit the National Assessment of Education Progress website for more information.