NC Personalized Assessment Tool and NC Check-Ins 2.0 FAQ

2022–23 North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool System Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool 

1. What is the North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool (NCPAT) system?  

In 2015 the Task Force on Summative Assessment recommended the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s (NCDPI) Division of Accountability Services develop and implement a through-grade assessment that would provide teachers, students, and parents with information about student performance on grade-level content standards throughout the year and provide reliable test score data for state and federal accountability. The first phase was the development and implementation of NC Check-Ins in 2015 as a pilot to volunteer schools. Subsequently, the NC Check-Ins were available at all grades and to all public school units.   With the positive feedback on NC Check-Ins and with the opportunity for an Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) from the United States Education Department, NCDPI is piloting the NCPAT system, an expanded model of through-grade assessments. The pilot is a five-year research study with the intention of implementing the NCPAT system statewide no later than the 2024–25 school year. The first step is the development and piloting of NC Check-Ins 2.0 and the flexible summative assessments. If the pilot is successful, the goal is to replace the current NC Check-Ins with NC Check-Ins 2.0. The new flexible summative will replace the existing end-of-grade (EOG) summative tests. 

The NCPAT includes three interims and a flexible summative assessment aligned to North Carolina grade-level content standards for reading and mathematics. In the 2022–23 school year, schools participating in the NCPAT pilot will administer NC Check-Ins 2.0 for mathematics and reading to eligible students at grades 4, 5, 7 and 8 and the flexible summative for reading and mathematics at grades 4 and 7.  

2. Are schools required to participate in the NCPAT?  

The NCPAT is currently a pilot research study. School participation in the NCPAT is voluntary and open to all public school units. Public school units (PSUs) must confirm participation by July 1, 2022, of schools to participate in the pilot for the 2022–23 school year.  For the 2022–23 school year, all schools, including those not in the pilot, may voluntarily participate in the NC Check-Ins 2.0. The schools in the voluntary pilot participate in the NC Check-Ins 2.0 and the flexible summative assessment. 

3. What are the NC Check-Ins 2.0? 

The NC Check-Ins 2.0 are a component of the NCPAT system and are primarily intended to serve as formative assessments.  The current design purposes of the NC Check-Ins 2.0 are to 

• provide educators, students, and stakeholders with immediate and detailed feedback on student performance on grade-level-specific content standards to inform classroom instruction for individual student’s needs;  

• provide a progress indicator for each interim on individual student performance in relation to overall grade level performance expectation; and 

• provide a reliable estimate to inform a student’s summative assessment experience. 

4. Are schools required to give the NC Check-Ins 2.0? 

Participation in the NC Check-Ins 2.0 is voluntary. Participating schools are encouraged to consider the purposes of administering other interim or benchmark assessments for reading and mathematics to minimize duplication of effort and cumulative testing time.  

5. At what grade levels and content areas are NC Check-Ins and NC Check-Ins 2.0 available? 

NC Check-Ins will be available in the grade levels not being piloted in the 2022–23 school year. Effective with the 2023–24 school year, only NC Check-Ins 2.0 will be available for reading and mathematics in grades 3–8. Science and end-of-course (EOC) NC Check-Ins will continue to be available through the original platforms (WinScan and online). Please see the chart below. 

6. How many NC Check-Ins 2.0 are available at each grade level? 

There are three reading and three mathematics NC Check-Ins 2.0 available at each grade level. The current NC Check-Ins for grades 3–8 in reading and mathematics will be phased out as the NC Check-Ins 2.0 are developed and become available. 

7. Which students are eligible to take the NC Check-Ins 2.0? 

For the 2022–23 school year, all students following the North Carolina Standard Course of Study (NCSCS) and enrolled in grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 are eligible to take the NC Check-Ins 2.0. All students in the voluntary pilot will take the flexible summative assessment at the end of the school year instead of the current end-of-grade assessments. 

8. Will NC Check-Ins 2.0 expand to include end-of-grade (EOG) science and high school end-of-course (EOC) courses? 

As required in North Carolina Session Law 2019-212 (Senate Bill 621), at the completion of the NCPAT pilot for reading and mathematics grades 3–8, the NCDPI will explore the feasibility of alternate design options for science and EOC. 

9. Can NC Check-Ins 2.0 be used as a progress indicator?  

As part of the pilot, the NCDPI will explore if student performance data from Check-Ins 2.0 can be reliably used to report a progress indicator conditional on current performance. The progress indicator will express the likelihood a student is on track to be proficient with a level 3 or above on the end of year summative. 

10. When will the progress indicator be available? 

The earliest a progress indicator metric will be available for reporting will be in the 2023–24 school year. 

11. How will the NC Check-Ins 2.0 inform the flexible summative?  

Student performance data from at least two NC Check-Ins 2.0 interims completed prior to April 1st will be combined and applied in a statistical model to determine the most informative flexible summative the student will take at the end of the school year to ensure maximum reliability of their score on the flexible summative. 

12. Will professional development courses be available to help school staff understand how to access and interpret reports generated from NC Check-Ins 2.0?  

Two online professional development courses will be available statewide at the beginning of the 2022–23 school year. Both courses are optional, and it is a local decision on how the courses are used. 

The North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool course is a 30-minute resource. The Three A’s (Assessment, Analysis, Action) of Data…Increasing Student Achievement One Student at a Time is a 10-hour professional development that has been broken into small sections for manageability. 

Administration and Review 

13. What are the NC Check-Ins 2.0 administration and review period windows? 

The NC Check-Ins 2.0 administration window is open from September 19, 2022, through May 31, 2023. The NC Check-Ins 2.0 administrations and reviews may occur at any time during the administration window. 

14. Must all three NC Check-Ins 2.0 be administered for each subject? 

No. All three NC Check-Ins 2.0 do not have to be administered for each subject. However, students at volunteer pilot schools at grades 4 and 7 for the 2022–23 school year must take at least two NC Check-Ins 2.0 in the same content area prior to April 1, 2023, for NC Check Ins 2.0 data to be used to inform the flexible summative component of the North Carolina Personalized Assessment Tool.  

15. Are PSUs required to administer the NC Check-Ins 2.0 in a particular order?  

No. To accommodate local control of curriculum and pacing, the NCDPI provides a flexible administration and review window for all interims. The administration window opens September 19, 2022 and closes May 31, 2023. PSUs may choose to administer interims in the order that best aligns with their curriculum and pacing. The NCDPI recommends one interim administration per quarter per content area. 

16. Which formats are available for the NC Check-Ins 2.0? 

The NC Check-Ins 2.0 are delivered online. Accommodated versions (braille, large print, and paper) will be available for students who cannot access the online delivery system.  

17. How much time does it take to complete an NC Check-Ins 2.0 interim? 

The NC Check-Ins 2.0 are not timed.  However, the estimated and recommended timing for most students to complete an interim is about ninety minutes. The teacher should use professional judgement to determine the appropriate length of time for each student. 

18. Do students have to complete the NC Check-Ins 2.0 in one day? 

It is recommended to complete each NC Check-Ins 2.0 in a single administration session. However, teachers also have the option to administer each NC Check-Ins 2.0 over multiple school days. For multiple school days, the total administration time can be divided into mini sessions as determined by the teacher. 

19. Are students permitted to take the NC Check-Ins 2.0 remotely? 

Students receiving one-hundred percent virtual instruction may take the NC Check-Ins 2.0 remotely. 

20. Can teachers give an NC Check-In 2.0 that is not on grade-level? 

No. The NC Check-Ins 2.0 are designed to measure grade level specific content standards. The purposes, uses and interpretation of NC Check-Ins 2.0 reports and data are grade level specific. There is no validity evidence to support off grade uses and interpretation of NC Check-Ins 2.0 results.  

21. When giving the NC Check-Ins 2.0 does the classroom need to be set-up as if the teacher is giving an end-of-grade test? 

No. The teacher should not alter the regular classroom setting for administrations of the NC Check-Ins 2.0. For example, there is no need to cover bulletin boards or to post a “Testing—Do Not Disturb” sign on the door.  

22. Are proctors required for NC Check-Ins 2.0? 

No. Proctors are not required or recommended during NC Check-Ins 2.0 administrations. Schools are encouraged to maintain typical classroom environments during the NC Check-Ins 2.0. 

23. What is a student and teacher review session?  

Following the administration of a NC Check-In 2.0, teachers are encouraged to use the students’ results to inform and guide instruction around the standards. NC Check-Ins 2.0 materials (e.g., questions, content) cannot be shared with other schools. Parents can view the student’s scores and responses through customary communication (i.e., individual parent and teacher conferences at the school) within the school setting only.  

24. May online review forms be exported and loaded into other applications? 

No. Online review forms must never be downloaded or saved to a device, copied using a screen capture device, or uploaded into any online platform (e.g., collaboration site, classroom website, third-party vendor). 

Reporting 

25. What types of information are available in NC Check-Ins 2.0 reports?  

Each NC Check-In 2.0 will generate student-level reports for teachers indicating the number of questions correct by domain, content standard, and question type, and will report an overall score. Student answers to questions are available to teachers to guide instruction. School-level reports will provide a summary with similar information. Parents may receive individual student reports with qualitative data. Students will not receive achievement levels for the NC Check-Ins 2.0. 

26. When are NC Check-Ins 2.0 classroom reports available? 

Classroom reports are processed overnight and are typically available online the day after the NC Check-Ins 2.0 administration. 

27. Who may access NC Check-Ins 2.0 reports?  

NC Check-Ins 2.0 reports are designed to be accessed by teachers to support classroom instruction. Public school unit and school test coordinators have access to these reports. Additional school-level staff may be granted access to review reports by the public school unit test coordinator. 

28. How are NC Check-Ins 2.0 reports accessed? 

NC Check-Ins 2.0 reports are accessed through the online reporting system in NCTest Admin. Teachers must have an active NCEducation account linked to the email address found in PowerSchool for the user. 

29. Are public school units required to provide an NC Check-Ins 2.0 Individual Student Report to parents?  

No. Public school units may provide an individual student report for NC Check-Ins 2.0. Public school units providing individual student reports are encouraged to issue the reports within thirty days of administration. 

30. Where can schools access a sample of the NC Check-Ins 2.0 Individual Student Reports? 

Sample individual student reports are available online on the Individual Student Report page.  

31. Are NC Check-Ins 2.0 scores used in School Performance Grades or accountability determinations?  

No. NC Check-Ins 2.0 are classroom resources to support formative classroom practices, not a standardized state test for accountability. 

Flexible Summative 

32. What is the flexible summative? 

The flexible summative is a multi-staged fixed adaptive design for the summative EOG test. Each flexible summative form will have up to four subsets. Each student will only take two subsets. A common subset that all students will take plus an adaptive subset that will be assigned to students based on the reliability of data from NC Check-Ins 2.0. The main advantages of using a flexible design are to increase reliability along the entire scale and improve on the breadth and depth of grade level content covered by each flexible form. 

33. Which students are eligible to take the flexible summative assessment in 2022–23?  

All students at participating pilot schools following the NCSCS and enrolled at grades 4 and 7.  

34. If a student takes two NC Check-Ins 2.0 at different schools or if a student moves mid-year to a school participating in the pilot, will this student be able to take the flexible summative in 2022–23?  

Yes. All students at pilot schools in grades 4 and 7 will participate in the flexible summative in 2022–23.  

35. Will students who are not proficient on the flexible summative have the opportunity for remediation and readministration through a locally-approved summer program like students taking the grade level EOG test?  

Yes.  

36. Will students taking the EOG and the flexible summative be able to test in the same room?  

Yes. Both the EOG and flexible summative will use the same administration guide and follow the same test format. The routing methodology for the flexible summative is entirely behind the scenes and will not impact the summative assessment administration policies and procedures. Students and teachers can expect a similar testing administration experience. 

37. What is the flexible summative administration window? 

The flexible summative administration window is the same as the EOG test administration window (the last ten days of school year). 

38. What types of questions are included on flexible summative? 

The flexible summative will contain the same types of questions as the EOG test. 

39. When giving the flexible summative does the classroom need to be set-up as if the teacher is giving an EOG test? 

Yes. The flexible summative is a standardized state test used for accountability. 

40. What kinds of reporting will be available for the flexible summative? 

The flexible summative will have the same reports available for educators as the end-of-grade tests. Reports available include Individual Student Reports, Class Roster Reports, Score and Academic Achievement Level Frequency Reports, and Goal Summary Reports. 

41. Will students receive a scale score and an academic achievement level on the flexible summative? 

Yes. The flexible summative will report on the EOG scale. Students will receive a scale score and can demonstrate performance at any academic achievement level (Not Proficient, Level 3, Level 4, or Level 5).  

42. Are PSUs required to issue Individual Student Reports for the flexible summative? 

Yes. PSUs must issue Individual Student Reports for the flexible summative following the same requirements as end-of-grade tests. The flexible summative will report on the EOG scale and students will be issued an EOG Individual Student Report.