Testing Information

The ACAP (Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program) will be administered once a year in the Spring. Test items will be aligned to the Alabama Courses of Study. 

• The ACAP will be administered to students in grades 2-8.
• Second grade will take the test, but their scores will only be used to measure growth for their 3rd-grade year.
• The assessment will be administered 100% online with the exception of a documented need for paper assessments (IEP, 504 Plan, or I-ELP).
• The content areas to be assessed are math and English/language arts.
• There is a writing component in the tests for grades 4 through 8 based on literary analysis.
• Grades 4, 6, and 8 will take the Science portion (previously this was given in 5th and 7th grades).

STAR Assessments are administered in two ways: three times a year, in the early Fall, early Winter, and late Spring, for formal assessments and two times a year, in mid-Fall and mid-Winter, for benchmark assessments. STAR Assessments for elementary students include STAR Early Literacy, STAR Reading, and STAR Math. 

• STAR Assessments are computer-adaptive tests, meaning each student’s testing experience is unique. When a student answers a question correctly, STAR automatically selects a more difficult item to be the next question. When a student answers a question incorrectly, the opposite occurs and the next item is less difficult than the current one.
• By adapting to students and eliminating unnecessary questions, STAR can accurately measure student performance and growth with fewer items and less time.
• Complete results are immediately available for educators via interactive, easy-to-read reports. The system understands how skills relate to one another and that a student correctly answering advanced items doesn’t need to be tested separately on the basic component skills. For example, a student who aces complex algebra questions won’t see items testing basic addition skills. 

To learn more, visit https://www.renaissance.com/products/star-assessments/.