NC Check-Ins 2.0 Reading Grades 3-8 Specifications

NC Check-Ins 2.0

Reading Grades 3–8 Specifications

Purpose and Overview

The North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool is a system of through-grade assessment opportunities aimed toward a balanced assessment system that will provide granular data for immediate feedback about students’ performance throughout the year. The system is currently being developed as a pilot study under the U.S. Department of Education’s Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) and includes three interim resources (NC Check-Ins 2.0) and an end-of-grade assessment for grades mathematics and reading at grades 3–8. 

The current design purposes of the North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool are to

• provide educators, students, and stakeholders with immediate and detailed feedback on student performance on grade-level-specific content standards so classroom instruction may be tailored to an individual student’s needs; 
• provide a reliable estimate to inform a student’s starting point on the end-of-grade assessment that will be used to determine an academic achievement level and to provide data for state and federal accountability; and
• provide a progress indicator for each interim on individual student performance in relation to overall grade-level performance expectation (if feasible).

Content Specification Development

The NCDPI Office of Accountability and Testing/Test Development Section facilitated a specification workshop in January 2020 as part of the process to gather input from relevant stakeholders. The goal of the specification workshop was to gain input from teachers and curriculum specialists from across the state on assessment design features for the NC Check-Ins 2.0. Participants at the workshop reviewed reading content standards to recommend whether there were any currently assessed reading standards that would not be suitable for the NC Check-Ins 2.0. Participants guided future development by identifying other standards that could be assessed through other item types. At the conclusion of the review process, the workshop participants endorsed the NCDPI proposed design that all grade standards assessed on the End-of-Grade assessment be included on NC Check-Ins 2.0. 

Table 1. Content specifications NC Check-Ins 2.0 Reading Grades 3–8 

NC Check-Ins 2.0 Format

The NC Check-Ins 2.0 for reading are online resources with twenty-four total questions divided across three reading selections. The distribution of reading selection type will vary across interims, but all interims will have at least two distinct selection types [Informational, Literature, or Poetry (grades 6–8 only)]. Each reading selection will have six to nine multiple-choice or technology enhanced questions. 

Poetry is included on the NC Check-Ins 2.0 for Reading Grade 6 C, Grade 7 B, and Grade 8 C.

Administration and Review

To accommodate local control of curriculum, the NCDPI will offer a flexible administration and review window for all interims that will open the third week of September to the end of May. PSUs may choose to administer interims in the order that best aligns with their curriculum. The NCDPI recommends one interim administration per quarter. 

Proctors are not recommended for the administration of interims. The interims are not timed; however, the estimated time for most students to complete a twenty-four-question interim is about ninety minutes. Schools have the option to administer the interims in one school day or over multiple school days. For multiple school days, the total administration time can be divided into mini sessions.

The interim item-review window for teachers will also be available from the third week of September to the end of May. Teachers may access interim forms after administration so they can conduct formative reviews with their students. The main purpose of these interims is to provide reliable formative data on grade-level-specific content standards so teachers may adjust instruction. Previewing or disclosing interim content to students before an administration may result in an invalid interpretation about student performance on grade-level-specific content standards.

Some schools may not have completed the entire scope for all standards assessed in a NC Check-In 2.0 before the administration.

NCPAT Pilot Timeline 

• For the 2023–24 school year, all NC schools may choose to participate in the NC Check-Ins 2.0 at grades 3–8 (mathematics and reading).
• Following a thorough review of Spring 2023 pilot administration data, the NCDPI will determine by September 29, 2023 if the NCPAT system will be implemented statewide for the 2023–24 school year at grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 (mathematics and reading).
• Students must complete at least two NC Check-Ins 2.0 by April 1, 2024, for their data to be used to determine an informative starting point on the end-of-grade assessment.