• Assessments in Grand Island Public Schools

    Grand Island Public Schools uses a comprehensive assessment system to provide helpful data that may help to inform decisions at all levels of the organization. 

    This includes data for:

    • Driving classroom instructional decisions
    • Measuring student progress toward mastery of standards
    • Guiding the development of and evaluating the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction
    • Evaluating equity through monitoring academic achievement and other student outcome data
    • Measuring perceptions around teaching, learning, and school climate

    Parental Access to Educational Practices including information regarding opting students out of district testing are explained in Policy 9110 (linked below).

    If you have any questions, please reach out to your child(s) building Principal or contact the district office at communications@gips.org.

     

    ASSESSMENTS CALENDAR

    A calendar view of all 2024-25 Assessments is available below:

    ASSESSMENT LIST 

    American College Testing (ACT) - Spring

    • Taken by 11th Graders in the Spring
    • The ACT is designed to measure college readiness skills.
    • The test is made up of four subsections (English, Math, Reading, and Science) and the writing test.

    Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) - Spring

    • 11th Graders (Optional)
    • PSAT measures college readiness skills in Reading, Writing, Language Arts, and Math and can be used to predict how a student will perform on the SAT.

    NSCAS Growth: Reading & Math - Spring

    • 3rd - 8th Graders
    • State assessment that measures growth and proficiency toward mastery of Nebraska state standards in ELA and Math.


    NSCAS: Science - Spring

    • 5th and 8th Graders
    • Proficiency in mastery of Nebraska state Science standards.

    ELPA 21 - Spring

    • Kindergarten - 12th Grade English Language Learners 
    • A state-wide assessment for English learners that measures progress toward English proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.


    MAP Growth: Math - Fall, Winter, & Spring

    • Kindergarten - 5th Grade (Math only)
    • Measures achievement and growth and use in progress monitoring over time. 


    AimsWeb Reading and AimsWeb Math - Fall, Winter, & Spring

    • 5th Grade (Math only) and 6th - 8th Grade (Reading & Math)
    • 9th - 12th Grades for English Language Learners (Reading & Math) 
    • Measures achievement and growth and use in progress monitoring over time in reading (for ELs) and math.

    mClass DIBELS 8th Edition - Fall, Winter, & Spring

    • Kindergarten - 5th Grade
    • The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessment is a set of brief, standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy designed to predict the literacy growth of children from Kindergarten through eighth grade.


    CogAT - Fall & Spring

    • 2nd Grade 
    • The CogAT is a universal screener that measures learned reasoning and problem-solving skills in three different areas: verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal. Reasoning skills develop gradually throughout a person’s lifetime and at different rates for different individuals.  CogAT scores show how a child performed in comparison to other children throughout the nation who are the same age. 


    School Culture / Climate Survey (Panorama) - Fall & Spring

    • 3rd - 12th Grade students, families, and all staff
    • Survey measuring perceptions around teaching, learning, school climate, and growth mindset.


    End-of-Unit Assessments - Ongoing

    • Kindergarten - 12th Grades 
    • Measuring student progress towards mastery of the standards and essential learning covered in a unit of study. Includes benchmark assessments.

    OPT OUT

    Parents / Guardians may out-out for their students to participate in surveys or assessments.  A copy of the form linked below must be submitted for each student requesting to opt out:

    QUESTIONS

    If you have any questions regarding assessments, please reach out to your building Principal or contact us at communications@gips.org.