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Assessments

Assessments at Merchantville School

Assessments used at Merchantville school district are created according to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards and identify the level of proficiency for each standard. For an assessment to have a positive impact, teacher feedback must be provided in response to the assessment given. Therefore, providing immediate and specific feedback to students is crucial for students learning.

As we create and analyze our assessment results, the following questions are asked to enhance Merchantville's creation of assessments, and curriculum as well as  instructional practices across the district:
 

  1. What is it we expect our students to learn?
  2. How will we know if each student has learned it?
  3. How will we respond when some students do not learn it?
  4. How will we respond when some students already know it?

Assessment Calendar 2026-2027

As required by the State of New Jersey, the Merchantville School District would like to provide you with some information on standardized state and national assessments which will be administered to your child(s) during the 2026-2027 school year. All accommodations per an IEP will be accessible; however, it is recommended that parents/guardians contact the guidance office or building administrator for additional details on accommodations and accessibility options.
 

New Jersey State Assessments
Assessment Subject  Grade Level Date Range Duration
NJSLA-A

Mathematics & English Language Arts

Grades 3-8

ELA & Math

May 3-7
Make-Up Testing:
17 -21

 

ELA:  1 section 150 minutes

Writing: 1 section 90 minutes

Math: 1 section 150 minutes
NJSLA  Science Grades 5 & 8 

May 10 - 13

Make-Up Testing: May 17-21

 Science: 4 units 45 minutes each
ACCESS 2.0 Assessment for English Language Learners Reading
Writing
Math
Science/Social Studies		 Grades K-8  Feb 1- April 2 Listening
Speaking
Reading
Writing
Locally Administered Assessments
Acadience Benchmark Assessments

Mathematics & English Language Arts

 Grades K-2                   

September
January 
June

 5-10 minutes each
Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning 4th Edition (DIAL)

Gross Motor Skills
Fine Motor Skills
Skills and Concepts

 Incoming K Students May and/or June 15 minutes each
ESI-P

Visual-Motor
Language and Cognition
Gross Motor

 Pre-School Students October 15 to 20 minutes
Preschool Early Literacy Indicators  Early Literacy Skills Pre-School Students September
January
June		 5 to 10 minutes
SABRS Assessment Social Emotional Learning  K-8

October
January
June

K-2 Teacher Survey
3-8 Teacher & Student Survey
10 minutes
STAR Assessment Mathematics & English Language Arts Grades 1-8 September
January 
June		 20 minutes +
Writing Pre/Post Assessments English Language Arts Grades K-8 September
June		       45 minutes

 

The STAR Diagnostic assessments allow us to monitor student progress toward grade-level standards. It is administered three times a year. September is to determine baseline data, January is to monitor student progress and April/May is to collect final progress toward grade-level standards.  

The Acadience Assessment is a universal screener for students in grades K thru 2nd grade. This screener assesses core early literacy skills. It is administered three times a year. Data is used to target skills needed for instructional support and/or enrichment. 

All local assessment results are located on Realtime. If you would like a copy of the results, please contact your child's classroom teacher. 

Types of Assessments

Universal Screeners: 

Universal Screeners play a very vital role in determining whether students are achieving mastery of the learning standards. Universal screeners are assessments that are administered to all students in grades K-8 and occur three times each school year. The screen tools used by Merchantvill School District are the STAR Reading and Math Benchmark Assessments and/or Acadience Benchmark Reading and Math Assessments. STAR is administered to students in grades 1-8. Acadience is administered to students in Kindergarten through third grades. 

STAR Reading and Math Assessments: 

The STAR Reading and Math Universal Screeners are adaptive assessments designed to quickly identify what students know, what they are ready to learn, and where they may need additional support. The assessments adjust to each student’s responses, providing an individualized measure of their current reading and math skills.

  • Quick and Adaptable: Students complete the assessment in minutes, and the questions adjust based on their responses to provide an accurate picture of their current skills.
  • Targeted Instruction: Results help teachers identify the specific skills students are ready to learn and provide information to support differentiated and targeted instruction.
  • Meaningful Learning Support: Teachers can use assessment results to select instructional resources and learning activities that align with students’ identified needs.
  • Monitor Student Growth: Progress is monitored throughout the school year, allowing teachers to track growth, identify areas for continued support, and adjust instruction to help each student make meaningful progress.

STAR assessments are one tool our teachers use, along with classroom performance and other measures, to better understand each student’s learning needs and plan effective instruction.

Acadience Reading and Math Assessments: 

Acadience Benchmarks are administered to students in Grades K–2 to assess foundational skills in reading and mathematics. These brief assessments provide teachers with valuable information about each student’s current skills and progress, helping us identify areas of strength and determine where additional instruction or support may be beneficial.

In Reading, students are assessed in the following areas:

  • Letter Naming Fluency
  • First Sound Fluency
  • Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
  • Nonsense Word Fluency
  • Oral Reading Fluency

In Math, students are assessed in:

  • Beginning Quantity Discrimination
  • Number Identification Fluency
  • Next Number Fluency
  • Advanced Quantity Discrimination
  • Missing Number Fluency
  • Computation
  • Concepts and Applications

Students receive a performance rating for each area based on their results: Above Benchmark, At Benchmark, Below Benchmark, or Well Below Benchmark. An overall composite score is also provided.

Acadience results are one source of information teachers use to understand student learning. These results, combined with classroom observations, student work, and other assessments, help teachers individualize instruction, provide appropriate support, and monitor student growth throughout the year.

Understanding Your Child’s LinkIt! “Fingertip” Report

The LinkIt! Fingertip Report provides families with a snapshot of their child’s academic progress over time. The report is designed to make assessment information easier to understand and provides a quick view of student performance across multiple assessment periods.

The report will document results from both the 2025–2026 and 2026–2027 school years.

  • 2025–2026 School Year: The report will display assessment results from the assessment used at your child’s grade level:
    • Grades K–2: Acadience
    • Grades 1–5: STAR Reading and/or Math
    • Grades 6–8: LinkIt! assessments
  • 2026–2027 School Year: The report will display results from the assessments administered during the current school year. As additional assessments are completed, results will be added to the report so families and teachers can monitor progress over time.

Understanding the Overall Score

The Overall Score provides a summary of your child’s performance on the assessment. This score gives families a general picture of how their child is performing in relation to the expected standards or benchmarks for their grade level.

Throughout the school year, we expect students to demonstrate growth. By the end of the school year (Form C), our goal is for students to meet or exceed the identified standards/benchmarks.

It is important to remember that a single assessment score does not tell the whole story of a child’s learning. Teachers consider assessment results alongside classroom performance, student work, observations, and other measures when determining instructional needs and supporting student growth.

Sample LinkIt! Report: 

 

1: This shows the school year and the ELA assessment's name. The report will show the 2025-2026 school year and the 2026-2027 school year. The 2023-2024 report will show results from Forms A, B & C. The 2026-2027 report will show results only from Form A.  This section shows the OVERALL Score for the assessment. By the end of the year or Form C, we'd like to see students meeting or exceeding the standards.

#2: This shows the standards that are assessed for the benchmark. Next to each standard, you will see the score that your child receives for this specific standard.

#3: This shows the specific topics that are addressed with all of the standards and the scores for each topic. 

#4: This shows the three assessments: Form A, Form B, and Form C. Don't forget for the 2026-2027 school year, this summary will only show your student's performance on Form A. 

#5: This shows the school year and the name of the assessment for Math. 

#6: This is the legend for the assessment.

Sample Acadience Report: 

 

Sample Acadience Summary: 

#1:  This shows the school year and the name of the assessment for Reading or Math. The report will show the 2023-2024 school year and the 2024-2025 school year. The 2023-2024 report will show results from the Beginning of the Year (BOY), Middle of the Year (MOY), and End of the Year (EOY). The 2024-2025 report will show results only from BOY.  This section shows the OVERALL or COMPOSITE Score for the assessment as well as the subtests for the grade level. 

#2: This shows the three assessments given- BOY, MOY, and EOY. Don't forget for the 2024-2025 school year, this summary will only show your student's performance on BOY.

#3: This shows the score that students received on the assessment. Since there are a variety of scores for each assessment, pay attention to the color associated with the number. This will tell you whether they are above, at, below, or well below the benchmark for that specific skill. N/A means that skill was not assessed at that time. 

#4: This shows the composite and subtests for Math. 

#5: This is the legend for the assessment.

 

Acadience Subtests: 

Kindergarten:

  • Reading:
    • First Sound Fluency (FSF), Letter Naming Fluency (LNF), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF), Nonsense Word Fluency-Correct Letter Sound & Whole Word Reading (NWF-CLS, NWF-WWR)
  • Math: 
    • Beginning Quantity Discrimination (BQD), Number Identification Fluency (NIF), Next Number Fluency (NNF)

First Grade:

  • Reading:
    • Letter Naming Fluency (LNF), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF), Nonsense Word Fluency- Correct Letter Sounds (NWF-CLS), Nonsense Word Fluency- Whole Word Reading (NWF-WWR), Oral Reading Fluency - Words Correct & Accuracy (ORF)
  • Math:
    • Number Identification Fluency (NIF), Next Number Fluency (NNF), Advanced Quantity Discrimination (AQD), Missing Number Fluency (MNF), Computation.

Second Grade:

  • Reading:
    • Oral Reading Fluency-Words Correct (ORF), Oral Reading Fluency- Accuracy % (ORF %), Nonsense Word Fluency- Correct Letter Sounds (NWF-CLS), Nonsense Word Fluency- Whole Word Reading (NWF-WWR), Retell.
  • Math:
    • Computation, Concepts & Applications.
 

Reading Subtests: 

  • First Sound Fluency: This assessment identifies a student's fluency in identifying the initial sounds in words. 
  • Letter Naming Fluency: This assessment measures a student's fluency in naming or recognizing letters. 
  • Phoneme Segmentation Fluency: This assessment measures a student's fluency in segmenting spoken words into its sound segments. 
  • Nonsense Word Fluency: This assessment measures a student's knowledge of letter-sound correspondences and the ability to blend letter sounds into consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) and vowel-consonant (VC) words. 
      • Correct Letter Sounds: The number of letter sounds produced correctly in 1 minute. 
        Whole Words Read: The number of nonsense words read correctly as a whole word.

Oral Reading Fluency: This assessment measures students' understanding of advanced phonics and word attack skills, accurate and fluent reading of connected text, and reading comprehension. 

 

Math Subtests: 

  • Beginning Quantity Discrimination: This measures a student's ability to discriminate between two quantities. 
  • Number Identification Fluency: This measures a student's ability to orally identify the numerals 1 through 99. 
  • Next Number Fluency: This measures a student's ability to extend the counting sequence.
  • Advanced Quantity Discrimination: This measures a student's ability to discriminate between two quantities. 
  • Missing Number Fluency:  This measures a student's ability to extend a counting sequence- counting by 1s, 5s, 10s. 
  • Computation: This measures a student's ability to answer basic computation problems. 
  • Concepts and Applications: This measures a student's ability to understand mathematical concepts and vocabulary and apply that knowledge to solve mathematical problems.