Assessment

pencil and bubble sheetAccording to the Code of Virginia, all students(grades 3-8 and high school) in Virginia Public Schools are required to be assessed in certain academic areas. Standards of Learning Assessments are administered to students in May of a current academic year.

Please visit the Virginia Department of Education website to garner more information regarding the Virginia Assessment Program or contact Jill Guill (946-9386) with assessment questions.


  SDBQ Report

 

Virginia Assessment Parent Portal

Starting in Fall 2024, ACPS will introduce the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) Virginia Assessment Parent Portal. This portal grants you access to all of your child’s state test results, including Fall Growth Assessments, Winter Growth Assessments, and the Spring Standards of Learning (SOL) tests. This is a valuable opportunity for you to view your child’s results across all tests and monitor their progress from year to year.

You can find the VA Assessment Parent Portal on the VDOE website (https://va-results.pearsonaccessnext.com/register) using the web address  provided. Upon creating a free account, you will need to enter your child’s details, including:

  • Your child’s first and last name as listed in school records.
  • Your child’s date of birth.
  • Your child’s unique claim code, obtainable from your child’s building administrator.   Note that these claim codes change with each test administration to ensure your child’s information remains secure.

Additionally, the VDOE has introduced a new parent report in PDF format, accessible via the Parent Portal alongside the Student Detail By Question (SDBQ) Reports.

This new report aims to help parents and guardians understand their child’s performance on state assessments throughout the school year, comparing Fall Growth Assessments, Winter Growth Assessments, and Spring Non-Writing SOLs. It includes visual graphs and score explanations to clarify the significance of the numbers and assess your child’s content knowledge. Furthermore, resources are provided to assist families in planning next steps.

  • 2024-2025 ACPS Testing Calendar

    2024-2025 ACPS Testing Calendar.  The calendar contains dates for all local assessments given during the 2024-2025 academic school year and is broken down into elementary, middle, and high.

  • Balanced Assessment Plan

    Amherst County Public Schools (ACPS) began moving towards a strategically balanced assessment program during the 2016-2017 school year when the Virginia legislatures mandated the elimination of several Standards of Learning (SOL) test. This act propelled ACPS to intentionally look at our practice and purpose for assessing students. From this assessment review we discovered the strengths of our curriculum programs, as well as their weaknesses, which allowed us the opportunity to make changes focused on what is best for students.

  • Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL)

    The Standards of Learning (SOL) for Virginia Public Schools establish minimum expectations for what students should know and be able to do at the end of each grade or course in English, mathematics, science, history/social science and other subjects.

    SOL tests in reading, writing, mathematics, science and history/social science measure the success of students in meeting the Board of Education’s expectations for learning and achievement. All items on SOL tests are reviewed by Virginia classroom teachers for accuracy and fairness and teachers also assist the state Board of Education in setting proficiency standards for the tests.

  • Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening (PALS)

    Click here to learn more about the PALS assessment for grades Pk-5. Early literacy screening is the key to providing effective literacy instruction and preventing future reading problems. The Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) provides a comprehensive assessment of young children’s knowledge of the important literacy fundamentals that are predictive of future reading success.

  • The WIDA Model

    Educators use ACCESS results, along with other WIDA resources, to make decisions about students' English academic language and to facilitate their language development.

    Students' scores reflect proficiency levels ranging from Level 1 (Entering) to Level 6 (Reaching).

  • Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program (VKRP)

    The Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program (VKRP) aims to build a more comprehensive understanding of school readiness. As an assessment system, VKRP adds measures of mathematics, self-regulation, and social skills to complement Virginia’s statewide assessment of kindergartner’s literacy skills (PALS).

  • 2024-2025 Assessment Calendar