Missouri State Assessments

Missouri Grade-Level Assessment

The Missouri Assessment Program assesses students’ progress toward mastery of the Show-Me Standards which are the educational standards in Missouri. The Grade-Level Assessment is a yearly standards-based test that measures specific skills defined for each grade by the state of Missouri. The assessment also includes sections from the TerraNova survey, a national norm-referenced test, which is used to compare how well students are performing compared to their peers across the country.

Who takes the Grade-Level Assessment?

All students in grades 3-8 in Missouri will take the grade level assessment. Communication Arts and Mathematics are administered in all grades. Science is administered in grades 5 and 8. A few groups of students may be exempt from certian portions or all of the assessment. Those include:

• Students whose IEP teams have determined that the MAP-A is the appropriate assessment do not have to take the Grade-Level assessment.
• English Language Learners (ELL) who have been in the United States 12 months or fewer at the time of administration may be exempted from taking the Communication Arts portion. All other content areas must be assessed.
• Foreign exchange students are allowed, but are not required to take the assessment. This is a district decision.
• Homeschooled students may take part in the assessment at the local district's discretion.
• Private school students are not required to take the Grade-Level assessment.

What Kinds of Questions are on the Test?

There are two types of questions on the Grade-Level assessment:

• Multiple choice items are composed of selected response questions developed specifically for Missouri/or the survey portion of TerraNova, a nationally normed test.
• Constructed response items require students to supply an appropriate response rather than making a selection from a list of choices.

Is the Grade-Level Assessment available in languages other than English?

No. All Missouri Grade-Level assessments are available only in English. A list of accommodations for English Language Learner students can be found at the bottom of this page: http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/assess/grade_level.html