Technical Information for State Tests
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's Accountability Services Division designs and manages statewide assessments that are administered to students enrolled in public and charter schools in grades 3–12. These assessments serve several purposes for the schools, the state, and federal guidelines. The following outlines essential technical evidence that ensure the design, development, and uses of state assessments are valid.
Technical Information
Tab/Accordion Items
Purpose and Overview
The North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool (NCPAT) is a system of through-grade assessment opportunities aimed towards a balanced assessment system that will provide granular data for immediate feedback about students' performance throughout the year. The system was developed as a pilot under the U.S. Department of Education's Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) and includes interim resources (NC Check-Ins 2.0) and a multistage adaptive end-of-grade (EOG) assessment administered at the end of the year.
The NCPAT system includes:
- Mathematics (grades 3–8)
- Reading (grades 3–8 )
- Science (grades 5 and 8)
The NC Check-Ins 2.0 are the through-year formative component of the NCPAT system. The purposes are to:
- provide educators, students, and stakeholders with immediate and detailed feedback on student performance on grade-level-specific content standards to inform instruction for individual student's needs; and
- provide a reliable estimate to inform a student's end-of-grade (EOG) assessment experience.
Draft Technical Report
External Evaluations
- Evaluation of North Carolina's Innovation Demonstration Authority (IADA): The North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool (NCPAT) , National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, August 2024
- Innovative Assessments Annual Evaluation Report, The William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, August 2024
IADA Annual Performance Report
- IADA Annual Performance Report (2023–24)
- IADA Annual Performance Report Appendices (2023–24)
Additional Resources
- Transitioning to a New Assessment Model, AIM 2023 Conference Presentation, October 2023
- What You Need to Know About the North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool (NCPAT)
- Understanding the Individual Student Report
- NC State University: Friday Institute Team Providing Professional Development and Evaluation Support for the NCDPI Innovative Assessment System Pilot
General Assessments
Grades 3–8
- Beginning-of-Grade 3 Reading Test
- EOG Mathematics at Grades 3–8
- EOG Reading at Grades 3–8
- Read to Achieve Grade 3
- EOG Science at Grades 5 & 8
High School
NC Check-Ins 2.0
Grades 3–8
- NC Check-Ins 2.0 Mathematics at Grades 3–8
- NC Check-Ins 2.0 Reading at Grades 3–8
- NC Check-Ins 2.0 Science Grades 5 and 8
High School
NCEXTEND1
Grades 3–8
High School
End-of-Grade and End-of-Course Technical Reports
Edition 5
- Technical Report for End-of-Grade Mathematics and End-of-Course Math I 2018–19 (Edition 5)
- Technical Report for End-of-Grade Reading and End-of-Course English II Assessments 2020–2021 (Edition 5)
- NC EOG and EOC Performance Standards Reported in Lexile® and Quantile® Measures
Edition 4
- Technical Report for End-of-Grade English Language Arts/Reading and End-of-Course English II Assessments 2012–2015 (Edition 4)
- Technical Report for End-of-Grade Science and End-of-Course Biology Assessments 2012–2015 (Edition 4)
NCEXTEND1 Technical Reports
Edition 4
- Technical Report for NCEXTEND1 Mathematics and NC Math 1 Alternate Assessments 2018–19 (Edition 4)
- Technical Report for NCEXTEND1 Reading and Science Alternate Assessments 2018–19 (Edition 4)
Edition 3
2019 and 2021 Standard Setting Reports
- EOG Mathematics and EOC NC Math 1 and NC Math 3 Standard Setting Technical Report (DRC; 2019)
- NCEXTEND1 Mathematics Standard Setting Technical Report (DRC; 2019)
- EOG Reading and EOC English II Standard Setting Technical Report (DRC; 2021)
- NCEXTEND1 Reading and Science Standard Setting Technical Report (DRC; 2021)
Standard Setting External Evaluation Reports
- EOG Mathematics and EOC NC Math 1 and NC Math 3 Standard Setting External Evaluation Report (2019)
- EOC English II Standard Setting External Evaluation Report (2020)
- EOG Reading and NCEXTEND1 Reading and Science Standard Setting External Evaluation Report (2021)
2019 Mathematics Standard Setting Training Presentations
- North Carolina 2019 EOG/EOC Standard Setting Training for Mathematics (DRC; July 8-11, 2019)
- North Carolina 2019 NCEXTEND1 Standard Setting Training for Mathematics (DRC; July 8-11, 2019)
2013 Edition 4 EOG/EOC and Edition 3 NCEXTEND1 Standard Setting Reports
- Standard Setting for the End-of-Course and End-of-Grade Assessments: Executive Summary (Pearson; Aug. 24, 2013)
- Standard Setting for the End-of-Course and End-of-Grade Assessments: Technical Report (Pearson; Oct. 8, 2013)
- Standard Setting Report for the North Carolina NCEXTEND1 Assessments (Alpine Testing Solutions; Aug. 27, 2013)
Edmetric Alignment Studies (2023)
- Technical Report: Alignment Study for NC EOG and EOC Tests
- Technical Report: Alignment Study for NCEXTEND1 Alternate Assessments
- Technical Report: Study of the Alignment of NC Content Standards and Extended Content Standards with the WIDA 2020 English Language Development Standards
Wisconsin Center for Education Research Alignment Studies (2015–16)
NCEXTEND1 Alternate Assessments (April 2016)
- Report on Alignment Characteristics of the NCEXTEND1 Alternate Assessment Instruments: English language arts and mathematics at grades 3–8, science at grades 5 and 8, and high school grade 10 English II, Math I and biology (includes Appendices A–B)
- Appendix C: Coding Procedures for Curriculum Content Analyses
- Appendix D: NCEXTEND1 Mathematics Content Viewer
- Appendix E: NCEXTEND1 Reading Content Viewer
- Appendix F: NCEXTEND1 Science Content Viewer
End-of-Grade and End-of-Course Tests (November 2015)
- Report on Alignment Characteristics of State Assessment Instruments Covering Grades 3–8, and High School in Mathematics, Reading and Science (includes Appendices A-B)
- Appendix C: Coding Procedures for Curriculum Content Analyses
- Appendix D: Mathematics Content Viewer
- Appendix E: Reading Content Viewer
- Appendix F: Science Content Viewer
Mathematics
- EOG Mathematics Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
- EOC NC Math 1 and NC Math 3 Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
Reading
- EOG Reading and Beginning-of-Grade 3 Reading Test Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
- EOC English II Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
Science
- EOG Science Grades 5 and 8 Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
- EOC Biology Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
NCEXTEND1
- NCEXTEND1 Alternate Assessment at Grade 11 Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
- NCEXTEND1 Mathematics Grades 3–8 and NC Math 1 Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
- NCEXTEND1 Reading Grades 3–8 and English II Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
- NCEXTEND1 Science Grades 5 and 8 and Biology Achievement Level Ranges and Descriptors
- NC EOG Grades 3 through 8 and NC Math 1 with The Quantile Framework® for Mathematics (MetaMetrics Incorporated, October 2019/updated March 2020)
- Linking the NC Reading EOG Reading/English II with the Lexile Framework for Reading (MetaMetrics Incorporated, November 2013/updated September 2021)
- Developmental Scale for North Carolina End-of-Grade/End-of-Course ELA/Reading and English II Tests, Fourth Edition (Pacific Metrics Corporation, Dec. 2, 2013)
- Score Comparability: Paper-and-Pencil and Online Assessments (September 2015) This slide deck was shared at the annual LEA Test Coordinators Meeting on Sept. 16, 2015.