The Aspire Test - A Product of Educators - some questions surface

Rickey Stokes

Viewed: 1815

Posted by: RStokes
Date: May 17 2016 7:39 AM

Educators must measure what students know at a point early enough in their​ academic career to make adjustments and continue to measure their progress and what they learn over time.  With the adoption of ACT Aspire, the Alabama State Department of Education is ensuring that our students are ready.  ACT Aspire is a standards-based assessment system that gauges student progression from grades 3 through 10 in English, reading, writing, mathematics, and science.  ACT Aspire is administered to all Grade 3-8 students in Alabama public schools.  As ACT Plan sunsets in fall 2014, ACT Aspire will be administered to all students in Grade 10.​

ACT Aspire is a unique assessment.

• Modular administration allows flexibility in scheduling testing across the entire four-week window.


• Students are assessed with selected response as well as constructed response items.  Of course, the constructed response items do not always have just one answer.


• ​​Schools and systems may test their students with computer-based or paper-pencil assessments.  Many schools are choosing to test with a combination of computer-based and paper-pencil formats.


• The fact that ACT Aspire links to the ACT College- Career-Readiness Benchmarks and aligns with College- and Career-Ready Standards is the most attractive characteristic of this assessment.


• ​Teachers and parents want to know where their students are!  With the ACT Aspire platform, teachers and parents will be able to get detailed information about student progress toward specific learning standards.  With that information, they will be able to tailor instruction and resources to increase growth.

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