Formative assessments allow teachers to gauge the learning going on in their classrooms. The Achievement Series, a powerful Web-based assessment tool, provides those results immediately. And, the results are based on South Dakota’s content standards.

“The Department of Education is excited to be able to offer this tool to South Dakota schools,” said Stephanie Weideman, director of curriculum, technology and assessment for the Department of Education. “Not only will the Achievement Series provide progress monitoring throughout the year, it will give teachers a tool that may help them prepare their students for the Dakota STEP.”

Teachers use the Achievement Series to develop and administer standards-based tests using paper or the Web. They also can take advantage of preformatted tests. The results are captured in real time, providing instant results to impact future instruction.

Some of the key features of the Achievement Series include:

• standards-based student performance data to assist in instructional planning;
• detailed analysis and reporting of data by subgroups, as required by No Child Left Behind; and

• student achievement data through real-time results displayed in user-friendly charts and graphs.

The Achievement Series covers South Dakota’s content standards in grades 1-12 in reading, math and science. Test questions were created largely by South Dakota teachers familiar with content standards in core areas. Classroom teachers can access individual questions to create their own tests or use pre-loaded tests to assess students.

“One of the department’s goals has been to provide a tool to help teachers better prepare for the Dakota STEP,” said Wade Pogany, director of curriculum and instruction. “This vehicle will help teachers diagnose which standards the students are performing well on and which require more work.”

back to top