Ohio’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Revised (KRA-R) is a required assessment for all kindergarten students during the first weeks of school.  The KRA-R assesses students in four areas: social foundations, language and literacy, mathematics, and physical well-being and motor development. 

Ohio’s State Tests (OST) and End of Course (EOC) exams are required content-specific assessments, covering the knowledge and skills outlined in Ohio’s Learning Standards.  Districts are required to administer EOCs tests to all students at the completion of the associated course as part of the state graduation requirements. Students with significant cognitive disabilities may qualify for the Alternate Assessment for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (AASCD) in place of other state tests.   

Assessed areas include:

• English Language Arts:  Grades 3-8 and sophomore English (English Language Arts II)

• Math:  Grades 3-8, Algebra and Geometry

• Science:  Grades 5 and 8; and Biology

• Social Studies:  American History and American Government

Third Grade Reading Promotion Score Information for 2023-2024

Third Grade Reading Guarantee Family Score Reports Interpretive Guide

Ohio law requires school districts to offer either the state-funded ACT or SAT to all students during their junior year. Upper Arlington Schools has elected to administer the ACT to students during the spring of their junior year. ACT assessment areas include English, mathematics, reading and science. Assessment results can be used when applying to college and/or being identified as gifted per Ohio law.  

The state-funded ACT is administered to juniors with no expense to the family. Students may register for additional ACT opportunities at their own expense.  

The Iowa Assessments are achievement tests that assess students’ foundational skills and higher-order thinking skills in specific content areas. 

The tests provide national and local comparisons. The results of the Iowa Assessments are reported as national percentile ranks that indicate how an individual’s performance compares with other students around the country who took the same test. A score at the 50th percentile or above in a subject area indicates that a student is performing at grade level in that subject area.  According to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) guidelines, a score at the 95th percentile or above in a subject area identifies a child as achieving at a gifted level in that subject area. For information about gifted services in the Upper Arlington Schools, please visit our Gifted Services webpage.

Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) appraises the development of students’ reasoning abilities using verbal, quantitative and nonverbal cognitive tasks. 

A standard age score for the composite VQN of 128 or above on the CogAT identifies students in grades 2, 4, and 5 as gifted in superior cognitive ability, according to Ohio Department of Education guidelines. A standard age score for the composite VQN composite of 127 or above on the CogAT identifies students in grade 3 as gifted in superior cognitive ability. For information about gifted services in the Upper Arlington Schools, please visit our Gifted Services webpage.

Star assessments are computer-adaptive tests for students that measure reading, math and early literacy skills. These assessments are administered a minimum of three times a year (fall/winter/spring).

Assessed areas include:

• Star Early Literacy:  kindergarten and grade 1

• Star Reading:  grades 2-10

• Star Math:  grade 1-Geometry

Ohio law requires school districts to administer dyslexia screening assessments to students in grades K-3 and students in grades 1-6 who transfer into the district midyear within 30 days of the student’s enrollment.  

Upper Arlington Schools utilizes Star Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM) assessments to meet this requirement.  Star CBM begins by assessing students’ understanding of letters and their sounds, moves on to basic phonological awareness and early decoding, and progresses to passage reading.