Smarter Balanced

• Smarter Balanced Assessments are aligned to the Common Core Standards and provide a yearly check of progress in math and English language arts. Smarter Balanced provides feedback to help teachers and students succeed.
• April 8-May 3
• English Language Arts and Math
  • There are two subtests for each subject
  • Estimated total testing time: 6-7.5 hours, there is not a time limit for these tests and students receive multiple breaks
  • Overall schedule will be on the school calendar as it is finalized
• Results are mailed with the final report cards at the end of the year
• Required by the state

South Dakota Science Assessment

• Grades 5, 8, and 11 participate in the South Dakota Science Assessment, which measures mastery in life, earth, and physical science.
• April 10-30
• Science
  • There are 3-50 minute testing sessions. There is not a time limit for the tests.
  • Overall schedule will be on the school calendar as it is finalized
• Results are mailed after school starts in the fall. In the future we plan to mail results with the final report cards at the end of the year, if the results are reported at that time.
• Required by the state

South Dakota Science-Alternate Assessment

• Students in grades 5, 8, and 11 who qualify to take alternate testing participate.
• April 1-May 3
• Science
• The length of time needed will vary for each individual who takes this test.
• Results are mailed after school starts in the fall.
• Required by the state

National Career Readiness Certificate

• The NCRC measures practical skills for workplace success in areas of workplace documents, graphic literacy, and applied mathematics.
• This assessment takes approximately 3 hours.
• It is given to seniors during the fall semester. This year it is scheduled for September 18th.
• Students are able to know their results within a week, often the same day of testing. If earned, a copy of the certificate will be mailed home and the certificate will be presented to the student at awards day.
• Harding County High School chooses to participate in the NCRC.

ASVAB

• https://www.asvabprogram.com/
• This is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, which allows students to look into many career fields.
• Harding County High School requires Juniors take the ASVAB in the fall semester as well as any seniors who would like to retest for military purposes. This year it is scheduled for November 14. Students can test for up to 3 hours
• Results will be mailed in the fall semester.

Home School Testing

• This is required for home school students in grades 4, 8, and 11 to measure their academic achievement in math and English.
• March 25-April 19, it is administered at home.
• Results are mailed at the end of the school year.

ACT

• Post-secondary educational institutes require placement tests, but the ACT is not required by the Harding County School District or the state. It is offered at Harding County School twice a year (April and October test dates).

ACCESS and ACCESS Alt (for EL students)

• ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 is a secure large-scale English language proficiency assessment administered to Kindergarten through 12th grade students who have been identified as English language learners (ELLs). It is given annually in to monitor students’ progress in acquiring academic English. ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 is aligned with the WIDA English Language Development Standards and assesses each of the four language domains of Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. The assessment is available in both paper-based and online formats for Grades 1-12, while Kindergarten and Alternate ACCESS for ELLs are paper-based tests.ACCESS 2.0: Jan. 28 – Feb.28, 2019
  ACCESS Alt: Jan. 28 – Feb.28, 2019