Assessment Guidance During COVID-19: Moving Assessments Forward

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Changes to Assessment Policy Number 4: Moving Assessments Forward

Due to COVID-19 and the temporary suspension of NRS assessment administration/scoring, ACLS is relaxing the requirements related to Assessment Policy 4-Moving Assessments Forward.

Currently, this policy states (see ACLS Assessment Policies Manual, page 9):

• Any assessment administered after April 30 may be moved forward into the next fiscal year and used as a pre-test until December 31 of that calendar year.
  For example, a student's test administered on May 2, 2018 (FY 2018) can be moved forward and used as a pre-test into the next fiscal year starting July 1, 2018 (FY 2019) until December 31, 2018. If the student leaves before June 30 and returns after December 31, the student must be pre-tested again.

Effective immediately, the policy changes as per the following:

• Any assessment administered in FY 2020 may be moved forward in FY 2021 and used as a pre-test until December 31, 2020. If a student has two previous assessments, the most recent assessment may be moved forward. For example, a student's test administered in September 2019 (FY 2020) can be moved forward and used as a pre-test into the next fiscal year from July 1, 2020 (FY 2021) until December 31, 2020. If the student has an assessment administered in October 2019 and another assessment administered in January 2020, only the January 2020 assessment can be moved forward.

ACLS and the UMass Amherst-Center for Educational Assessment (CEA) are currently working on a detailed plan for remote NRS assessment administration to be released as soon as possible. In the interim, ACLS is making this policy change to provide flexibility regarding students' placement into NRS levels in FY 2021.

For questions related to assessment policies, please contact Dana Varzan-Parker Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Specialist.

Last Updated: May 20, 2020