Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, state assessments were not administered and therefore data for student achievement
and student growth are not available for the 2019-2020 school year.
Based upon North Dakota''s waiver approved by U.S. Department of Education, North Dakota''s Department of Public
Instruction did not calculate the Accountability Index for schools for the 2019-2020 report cards. Furthermore,
Choice Ready data was not collected for the 2019-2020 school year. The School Support Status is based upon school
performance results for the 2018-2019 school year.
Student Assessment Participation:
The “Participation Overview” graph displays the participation rate reported as the percentage of students who took North Dakota’s required state assessments North Dakota State Assessment (NDSA) or North Dakota Alternate Assessment (NDAA), an alternate form of the assessment for the subjects of English Language Arts (ELA), Math, and Science. Each year, all students attending North Dakota’s public schools in grades 3-8 and 10 or 11 are required to complete the NDSA. The participation rate is calculated by dividing the total number of students who were tested by the number of students who should have taken the state assessments in the tested grades. Students who participated include those who answered a sufficient number of questions in the state assessments to receive a score on the test. North Dakota’s Department of Public Instruction works with public school districts to ensure that all of North Dakota’s students take the required state assessments and are proficient in each of the assessed subjects.
*Note: Federal law requires schools to have a 95% participation rate. North Dakota’s Department of Public Instruction worked with key stakeholders across the state to provide school districts the flexibility to select one of two options in the administration of high school assessments for accountability: administration of the NDSA / NDAA in grade 10 or administration of the ACT / NDAA in grade 11. Starting with the 2017-2018 school year, the data below for high schools represents the school’s state assessment participation for students in the respective grades tested for accountability. If the filter for grade 10 is selected, the data will be inclusive of the NDSA and NDAA grade 10 results. If the filter for grade 11 is selected, the data will be inclusive of the ACT and NDAA grade 11 results.
Some students may take the test for one subject but not the other(s). Students who participate but for various reasons do not complete the testing process (e.g., illness), are still counted as having participated. Certain students may take an alternative assessment and not participate in NDSA. This may include students with disabilities or students with limited English proficiency who have attended schools in the U.S. for less than 12 months.
*Student demographic details, including the percentage testing with “Accommodations”, are available in the “Participation Demographics” tab.
Student Achievement Proficiency:
The “Performance Overview” graph shows the proficiency rates of students who have been enrolled for at least 120 days within the school year and who have taken either the North Dakota State Assessment or the state’s Alternate Assessment administered to grades 3-8, and grades 10 or 11.* The “Performance Demographics” tab includes filtering by the test taken, grade level, and accommodations by academic year and subgroup. A subgroup is a group of students identified by a particular characteristic, such as race, ethnicity, English proficiency, disability status, or income.
The student achievement rates are calculated by dividing the total number of students in the tested grades who were proficient in the state assessments by the total number of tested students who were either proficient or not proficient. Currently, the state assessments have four proficiency levels: “Novice”, “Partially Proficient”, “Proficient”, and “Advanced”. Students are proficient if they score at or above the proficiency levels set by NDDPI’s assessment office. Currently, students are considered proficient if they achieve a proficiency level of “Proficient” or “Advanced”.
*Note: North Dakota’s Department of Public Instruction worked with key stakeholders across the state to provide school districts the flexibility to select one of two options in the administration of high school assessments for accountability: administration of the NDSA / NDAA in grade 10 or administration of the ACT / NDAA in grade 11. Starting with the 2017-2018 school year, the data below for high schools represents the school’s achievement for students in the respective grades tested for accountability. If the filter for grade 10 is selected, the data will be inclusive of the NDSA and NDAA grade 10 results. If the filter for grade 11 is selected, the data will be inclusive of the ACT and NDAA grade 11 results.
How North Dakota State Tests Are Scored:
The North Dakota State Assessments are standards-based tests that measure how well students have mastered the challenging North Dakota state content standards. The NDSA tests report student achievement at the following four levels:
1. Advanced: Demonstrates exemplary understanding and exceeds expected level of performance.
2. Proficient: Demonstrates understanding and meets expected level of performance.
3. Partially Proficient: Demonstrates an emerging or developing level of understanding and performance.
4. Novice: Attempt made; however, lack of understanding and performance is evident.
Accommodations for Special Education in the Administration of State Assessments:
One of the choices for filtering the Student Achievement data is by selecting the “Accommodations” filters on the “Performance Demographics” tab.
Accommodations are changes in procedures or materials that ensure equitable access to instructional and assessment content and generate valid assessment results for students who need them. Embedded accommodations (e.g., text-to-speech) are provided digitally through instructional or assessment technology, while non-embedded designated features (e.g., scribe) are non-digital. Accommodations are generally available for students for whom there is a documented need on an Individual Education Plan (IEP), 504 plan, or Individual Language Plan (ILP).
Approved accommodations: American Sign Language (ASL), closed captioning, streamline, abacus, assistive technology/alternate response options, braille, calculator/calculation device, 100s number table, print on demand, speech-to-text, scribe, multiplication table, text-to-speech, or read aloud.
Federal regulations require that a state not permit particular accommodations on any state assessment if a particular accommodation would invalidate the assessment’s results. It is also important to remember that certain accommodations may be used on some assessments, but are prohibited on other types because of the potential to invalidate the measured construct.
To protect student privacy, data for schools who have less than 10 students will not be displayed.
In some cases, when appropriate for the purpose of transparency, information involving 10 or more students may be displayed in ranges to avoid potential identification of students in small demographic populations. When utilized, ranges may be represented visually with diagonal lines or open circles in lightly shaded colors.
Please contact North Dakota's Department of Public Instruction with any questions and feedback