Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS)
By law, all eligible Texas public school students are assessed in
 Grades 3-9 Reading
 Grades 3-10 and exit level Mathematics
 Grades 4 and 7 Writing
 Grade 10 and exit level English Language Arts
 Grades 5, 8, 10, and exit level Science
 Grades 8, 10, and exit level Social Studies
TAKS includes an accommodated form called TAKS Accommodated for students served by special education who meet the eligibility requirements for certain specific accommodations. The TAKS
Accommodated form includes format accommodations (larger font, fewer items per page, etc.) and contains no embedded field-test items.
TAKS and TAKS Accommodated are available in Spanish and are administered for
 Grades 3-6 Reading
 Grades 3-6 Mathematics
 Grade 4 Writing
 Grade 5 Science
TAKS-M
TAKS-M is an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards designed for students receiving special education services who meet participation requirements. TAKS-M has been designed to meet federal requirements mandated under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
According to federal regulations, all students will be assessed on grade-level curriculum which includes those students receiving special education services. TAKS-M covers the same grade-level content as
TAKS, but TAKS-M assessments have been modified in format (larger font, few items per page, etc.) and test design (few answer choices, simpler vocabulary and sentence structure, etc.).
To assist districts/charter schools with preparation for the administration of the TAKS-M assessment,
ESC Region 20 has created TAKS-M benchmark assessments in the areas of Reading/ELA, Writing,
Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science for grades 3-11. Each test was created using the Spring
2004 or 2006 released TAKS test and adapted according to the format and test design process outlined above. These assessments have not been verified or evaluated for reliability/validity. ESC
Region 20 has not view actual TAKS-M assessments, so formatting may not be the same as an actual test.
Below is the link to the assessments and answer keys for all assessments which also include a scoring rubric for the writing portion http://portal.esc20.net/portal/page/portal/esc20public/SpecialEducation/AGCHome/TAKS-
M%20Alternate%20Assessment/TAKS%202004%20Spring%20Release%20Assessment
Please review the scoring guide at: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/resources/release/taks/2006/g10sg_2.pdf
For more information on TAKS-M and the TAKS-M cut scores for AYP grades and subjects and the
TAKS-M performance level descriptors go to the TEA TAKS-M resource page on the TEA website http://ritter.tea/state.tx.us/student.assessment/resources/taksm/

Please feel free to use all assessments provided for instructional and/or staff development purposes.
TAKS-M Side-by-Side published by ESC Region 13 and Seguin ISD http://www5.esc13.net/agc/taks.html
TAKS-Alt
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) developed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and skills-Alternate
(TAKS-Alt) to meet the federal requirements mandated under NCLB. TAKS-Alt is designed for the purpose of assessing students in grades 3-11 who have significant cognitive disabilities and are receiving special education services. Unlike other statewide assessments in Texas, TAKS-Alt is not a traditional paper or multiple-choice test. Instead, the assessment involves teacher observing students as the complete state-developed assessment tasks that link to the grade-level TEKS curriculum through pre-requisite skills. Teachers then evaluate student performance based on the dimensions of the TAKS-Alt rubric and submit the results through an online instrument.
Information and Resources http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index3.aspx?id=3638&menu_id=793