eMPower AssessmentsÁ‘¢ by Measured Progress is a college and career readiness assessment program for grades 3 through 8. It is based on current research about what students need to know and be able to do for success beyond high school. With three assessment opportunities each year, eMPower provides a cohesive system of interim assessments to districts and a spring summative assessment for states that yields reliable accountability data to show growth over time. eMPower reports provide a direct predictive connection to the PSATÁ‘¢ 8/9, a part of the SAT¬Á Suite of Assessments.
eMPower Assessments provide an assessment solution for grades 3 through 8. Why is that important?
Preparing for college or career doesn’t begin in high school. District leaders have told us that waiting for the PSAT in ninth grade to see if students are where they should be is too late. It’s important to learn in the early grades whether students are gaining the knowledge, skills and abilities that will keep them on track for college and career. By third grade, state accountability tests usually begin, and most students read at a level where they can engage in assessments that provide meaningful results. We designed eMPower to help show whether students in grades 3 through 8 are on track for success.
What’s the benefit of immediate reports for teachers?
Educators know that an assessment is a snapshot of a student’s abilities at one point in time. With immediate results, teachers can address learning gaps right away and plan for efficient instruction. For example, teachers don’t know at the beginning of the school year how much of the previous grade’s material they need to review. It’s really about giving teachers confidence that they know where students are on the standards trajectory and that their planned instruction is appropriate.
Talk about consistency across classroom instruction, interim assessments and state accountability tests that comes from using eMPower.
Most state accountability tests focus on college and career readiness standards, and many districts and schools continue to refine their curricula and instruction toward these new standards, which require new approaches. eMPower Assessments are all newly developed, with no back-aligned or repurposed questions. eMPower offers a district interim solution, as well as a state-level accountability solution. It provides a consistent test-taking experience through the school year and across grade levels, and demonstrates growth on a continuous scale. All types of assessment should reflect and influence students’ experiences in their classrooms. In order for teachers to plan instruction toward end-of-year proficiency on standards, their interim assessments must gauge student proficiency and show growth, as well as provide information on learning needs that teachers can immediately address.
How important is it to reduce disconnected testing?
We know that classroom time is precious and finite, so assessment needs to be efficient, insightful and actionable. The eMPower program provides meaningful data to support student instruction and is designed to get the most information out of each assessment. The strong alignment to college and career readiness standards means that teachers, schools, and districts can eliminate other inefficient, poorly aligned or redundant assessments. Overall, by using effective assessments that generate meaningful data, teachers can see the connections across assessment, standards and student learning all the way from third grade through high school.
For more information, visit www.measuredprogress.org/empower
