State Required Tests
Alabama Direct Assessment of Writing
Alabama students in Grades five, seven, and ten take the Alabama Direct Assessment of Writing each year to measure their writing skills. It is a criterion-referenced assessment that measures levels of writing achievement ranging from Level I – Does not meet standard, Level II partially meets standard, Level III meets standard, to Level IV – Exceeds standard.
- Fifth Grade students will read one of the following writing prompts and respond to the prompt during a fifty minute testing period; descriptive, narrative, or expository.
- Seventh Grade students will read one of the following writing prompts and respond to the prompt during a sixty minute testing period; descriptive, narrative, expository, or persuasive.
- Tenth Grade students will read one of the following writing prompts and respond to the prompt during a sixty minute testing period; narrative, expository, or persuasive.
Alabama Alternate Assessment
The Alabama Alternate Assessment is designed for special education students whose Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams determine that the students will not participate in the regular student testing program. Students with significant cognitive disabilities must be taught and tested using grade level Alabama Extended Standards. The Body of Evidence includes a variety of products that illustrate student achievement on each Alabama Extended Standard for the grade level of enrollment. A Body of Evidence often includes actual student work, captioned photographs, videotapes, audiotapes, data charts, and graphs. The Body of Evidence will be submitted to a third party for evaluation.
Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State for English Language Learners - (ACCESS for ELLs)
The Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State for English Language Learners is a standards-based, criterion referenced English language proficiency test designed to measure English language learners’ social and academic proficiency in English. It assesses social and instructional English as well as the language associated with language arts.
This test has six main purposes:
- to identify the English language proficiency level of students with respect to state-wide performance standards
- to identify students who may be candidates for English as a second language (ESL) and/or bilingual education services
- to assess annual English language proficiency gains using a standards-based assessment instrument
- to provide districts with information that will help them evaluate the effectiveness of their ESL/Bilingual programs and determine staffing requirements
- to provide data for meeting federal and state statutory requirements with respect to student assessment
- to provide information that enhances instruction and learning in programs for English language learners.
ACCESS for ELLs™ consists of a battery of tests spanning five grade level clusters and five proficiency levels. The grade level clusters include:
- Kindergarten
- Grades 1-2
- Grades 3-5
- Grades 6-8
- Grades 9-12
Alabama High School Graduation Exam
Students must pass the Alabama High School Graduation Exam to earn a diploma.
The state of Alabama recognizes six diploma types.
- Alabama High School Diploma (AHSD) - Earn required 26 credits and pass the AHSGE.
- Alabama High School Diploma with Advanced Academic Endorsement - Earn required 26 credits (advanced courses) and pass the AHSGE.
- Alabama High School Diploma with Career Technical Endorsement - Earn required 26 credits (3 technical courses) and pass the AHSGE.
- Alabama High School Diploma with Advanced Career Technical Endorsement - Earn required 26 credits (advanced courses plus 3 technical courses) and pass the AHSGE.
- Alabama Alternate Adult High School Diploma (for students who earned the required 26 credits for AHSD but didn’t pass the AHSGE) - the test of General Education Development (GED) is required.
- Alabama High School Occupational Diploma - This diploma is ONLY an option for students with disabilities as defined by The Individuals with Disabilities Act (Public Law 105-17).
100% of the graduation exam is multiple-choice.
- It is generally written on the eleventh-grade level. (The first graduation exam, given in Alabama in 1983, tested basic knowledge and was on a sixth-grade level. It was later revised to an eighth-/ninth-grade level in 1991.)
- It requires students to demonstrate what they have learned in required high school core course work and emphasizes logic, problem solving, and other thinking skills.
- The reading section requires students to read and comprehend particles, poems, editorials, manuals, and other similar materials.
- The language section focuses on grammar skills, punctuation, word choice, sentence structure, and organizational skills for writing.
- Most of the math section contains questions about basic Algebra I skills. It also covers some pre-geometry taught in grades seven and eight.
- Most of the science section includes biology questions. The rest is physical science taught in grades seven and eight. School year 2007-08 will assess biology only.
- The social studies section focuses on U.S. History.
With the Class of 2003, all five subject areas of the new exam will be in place and count toward graduation requirements.
Here’s how the phase-in schedule works:
- The Class of 2001 was required to pass the reading and language subject-area tests of the graduation exam.
- The Class of 2002 was required to pass the reading, language, mathematics, and science subject-area tests to graduate.
- The Class of 2004, and all classes that follow, must pass all four subject-area tests mentioned above — plus, the social studies subject-area test of the exam.
Students must score at least the following:
- Reading – 563
- Language – 560
- Mathematics –477
- Science – 491
- Social Studies – 509
Alabama is one of the nation’s leaders in the number of opportunities it gives its high school students to pass a graduation exam. Students will have the following opportunities to pass the Alabama High School Graduation Exam, Third Edition.
- Students who successfully complete Algebra I and/or biology before the spring of their tenth grade will have an early opportunity to take the mathematics and/or science subject test(s) of the AHSGE at the next scheduled administration during the academic year.
- In the spring of Grade 10 (as the pre-graduation examination)
- In the spring of Grade 11
- In the summer as an optional opportunity (between the 11th and 12th grades)
- In the fall of Grade 12
- In mid-year of Grade 12
- In the spring of Grade 12
There are eight opportunities provided to students in Alabama to pass the AHSGE. See your junior high and/or high school counselor for the brochure shown below.
Alabama High School Graduation Exam Requirement Brochure
Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test
Alabama students in Grades three through eight take the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test each year to measure their proficiency skills in reading and mathematics.
- ARMT reading consists of test questions from Reading Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension (selected Stanford 10 items) + ARMT Reading
- Mathematics consists of test questions from
Mathematics Problem Solving and Procedures (selected Stanford 10 items) + ARMT Mathematics
Three item types are included in the ARMT. Multiple-choice, gridded items, and open-ended items assess student performance on the ARMT in mathematics.
- Multiple choice (valued at 1 point each)
Students are presented with a question or an incomplete sentence or idea. The students are expected to choose the correct or best answer /completion from a menu of alternatives. - Open ended (valued at 3 points each)
Assessment questions that are designed to permit spontaneous and unguided responses. - Gridded items (valued at 1 point each)
Students must mark their answer correctly on a grid.(4th – 8th only)
- ASA consists of approximately 66 multiple choice test questions.
- Multiple choice
Students are presented with a question or an incomplete sentence or idea. The students are expected to choose the correct or best answer /completion from a menu of alternatives. - Students in grade five will be assessed in the following areas;
- Physical Science
- Life Science
- Earth and Space Science
- Students in grade seven will be assessed in Life Science.