Growth Assessments

Growth Assessments

Legislation passed in the 2021 Virginia General Assembly (HB2027 and SB1357) required the implementation of “through-year” or “growth” assessments beginning in fall 2021 for reading and mathematics in grades 3-8. To ensure that the growth assessments administered for this purpose are aligned to the Standards of Learning (SOL), the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) developed shorter computer adaptive tests (CAT) using existing SOL test items. The growth assessments administered in fall 2021 were based on content from the student’s previous grade level. For example, students enrolled in grade 5 mathematics in fall 2021 completed fall growth assessments based on grade 4 mathematics.

Beginning with the second year of implementation (2022-2023) and beyond, the legislation requires that the grades 3-8 reading and mathematics growth assessments be administered to students once in the fall and once in the winter (mid-year) during the school year. In addition to the growth assessments, the SOL tests for grade 3-8 reading and mathematics will continue to be administered.

Unlike the fall 2021 fall growth assessments that focused on content from the student’s previous grade level, beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the fall and winter growth assessments will focus primarily on content from the student’s current grade level. For example, a student taking grade 5 mathematics in 2022-2023 will be administered a growth assessment that focuses primarily on grade 5 mathematics content. However, in compliance with the 2021 legislation, the CAT algorithm has been configured so that the student might be administered some items from below or above the current grade level depending on the student’s responses to the on-grade-level content items. For example, students taking the grade 5 mathematics growth assessment will primarily be administered grade 5 test items; however, depending on the student’s responses to the on-grade-level test items, the student may also be administered some grade 4 test items or some grade 6 test items. 

There are several exceptions to the potential administration of off-grade level test items. One exception is that the grade 8 reading and mathematics growth assessments will only include items assessing SOL content that is at or below the 8th grade level since there are no above-grade-level items available in the current CAT item banks. Additionally, in fall 2022, items that measure grade 2 SOL content are being field tested with students. Because these items are being tried out with students, they will not count toward the student’s score. Therefore, the items for grade 3 reading and mathematics growth assessments that count toward the student’s score will only include items that assess content at or above the 3rd grade level. Finally, a student who meets the criteria for a paper test will only be administered test items that assess SOL content aligned with the student’s grade level.