About Assessments in Colorado
Colorado has a series of educational standards known as the Colorado Academic Standards that outline academic objectives for students in every grade across 12 content areas, including math, English language arts and science. The standards create learning expectations for what students should understand, know and be able to do at each grade level and in each content area.
The Colorado Measures of Academic Success, PSAT and SAT are the end-of-year assessments given to Colorado students. CMAS tests in English language arts and math are given in grades 3 through 8; science for grades 5, 8 and 11; and social studies, which is sampled in grades 4 and 7. Colorado administers the PSAT in grades 9 and 10 and the SAT in grade 11. Additionally, students in kindergarten through grade 12 who are identified as multilingual learners are given the English language proficiency assessment ACCESS for ELLs®.
Our statewide tests are designed to measure students’ mastery of the standards and the complex thinking and other critical skills students need to be successful in school and in life. The results from assessments are critical in determining if educational goals are being met and if students are on track to graduate prepared for college and careers.
While state assessments are only one measure of student learning, having all Colorado students take this set of assessments gives parents important insights into their student’s achievement as well as the progress their school and district are making in serving all students.