Request for Information
Interim Assessment System for Grades 3–8
Requirements
North Carolina is proposing a new through-course assessment model to inform and to improve
instructional practices. The proposed assessment framework will be designed to maintain high
standards and to provide a national comparison of student performance. This model involves the
design and the administration of quarterly assessments throughout the school year in grades 3–8
for English language arts/reading and mathematics. The purposes of this Assessment Framework
are:
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To provide formative feedback to teachers on student performance by content standards
throughout the school year
To provide students growth information both for school accountability and for the
educator evaluation instrument’s Standard 6
To report school performance grades
To fulfill ESEA accountability requirements
To provide data for state and national comparison
To facilitate the evaluation of the feasibility of the proposed assessment system, the NCDPI is
requesting potential vendors respond to this Request for Information by providing the following
information on current interim/benchmark assessments offered by the vendor. The reference to a
quarterly structure is not limiting; vendors may propose a system with four, three, or two
assessments administered throughout the school year; however, vendors must explain in detail
how their interim/benchmark assessments meet each of the following requirements. Vendors
may elect to propose a system and specify how the requirements would be fulfilled. For each of
the solutions, either current assessments or proposed, the cost per student must be provided.
Development
Development Timeline: Pilot year 2015–16 (year-round schools convene in July 2015)
 Provide process and methodology for identifying a representative sample of students
 Provide documentation that assessments are based on sound research in assessment (e.g.,
2014 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing)
 Provide evidence the following accommodations do not invalidate the assessments
o Math read aloud
o Use of calculators
 Provide evidence that the assessment model fulfills the summative requirements outlined
by the state
 Provide evidence that reliability estimates for the assessments meet industry standards.
 Provide content validity evidence that affirms each grade level in mathematics and
English language arts/reading content standards and depth of knowledge adopted by the
North Carolina State Board of Education are fully assessed
 Provide validity evidence that the assessments measure college-and-career readiness
o Academic achievement levels that report grade level proficiency (at least 3 and
preferably 5) generated from a research-based standard setting methodology that
uses the content standards as the foundation
o Academic achievement level descriptors
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o State and national percentiles
Provide range of actual content standards measured on each assessment
Outline process for revising current assessments due to changes to the content standards
and the timeline necessary for implementation
Provide evidence that the assessment includes items other than multiple-choice
Provide detailed description of any technology-enhanced item types
Outline item development process and provide information on the replacement of items
over time (if new items will be written and field tested or reclaimed from existing item
banks)
Provide the approximate number of items, forms and sub-forms, if applicable, per
assessment
Provide availability of comparable assessments for significant cognitively disabled
students
Administration
 Provide testing window requirements and outline the availability of the assessment for
administration and scoring
 Provide an approximate test administration time for each grade level for ELA and math to
include reading of directions and set up of computers
 Provide delivery specifications of the assessments, meaning, online or paper/pencil
 Provide the technical specifications and requirements for the online platform, if
applicable
 Provide the process for scheduling a student for an online assessment
 Provide detailed description of the computerized adaptive system, if applicable, to
include evidence that all students are measured on all content standards (on-grade level
only) and at the same depth of knowledge
 Provide evidence that the assessments are accessible to all students including students
with disabilities and English language learners and provide the following formats
o Braille
o Large print
o One-item per page
o Read aloud for mathematics
 Provide a list accommodations approved for use on paper and online formats
 Provide a list of the accommodations offered in the online system, if applicable
 Provide availability of comparable assessments for significant cognitively disabled
students
Calibration and Scaling
 Outline plan and timeline for calibration for each assessment and for producing a
summative result
 Provide evidence of how items are calibrated by item type
 Provide evidence of the scoring model used to include scaling
 Provide evidence of how each assessment provides student-level reporting of each
content standard assessed to guide instruction
 Provide evidence of how the various assessments are combined to
o support growth analysis as generated by EVAAS (a proprietary product of SAS)
o create a summative scale score
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o create a summative achievement level
Scoring
 Outline process to include the timeline for scoring each assessment
 Provide time frame for scoring performance-based or constructed response items
 Provide process for loading scores into North Carolina’s student information
management system
Reporting
 Provide framework of the reporting system to be used for reporting to parents, teachers,
administrators, districts and to the state
 Provide specifications of assessment reports for students, teachers, schools, districts, and
the state for each assessment
 Provide the delivery system for providing the student, school, and district data files to the
state
 Provide student-level performance feedback specifications for each assessment and
document the minimum number of items to report student-level content standards results
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