Our Assessment Department helps teachers improve instruction and students increase learning through rigorous formative and summative assessments. As we integrate cutting-edge technologies, instructional techniques, and professional support to make student assessment more effective, parents and the community are better able to understand the achievements of Granite District students.
Your student’s assessment scores can be found by logging into the Granite FOCUS webpage here:
Granite FOCUS Link
Instructions for obtaining student documents and growth reports in the parent portal in FOCUS can be found here: Accessing Student Documents in the Parent Portal (PDF)
Why do we test?
Testing has always been integral to education. Assessments inform instruction by helping teachers know if educational goals are being met. They’re an indicator of what’s working in the classroom and what can be done differently. Testing also gives parents a measure of their child’s learning, answering the question: Is my child making progress? Three Reasons Why Assessment Matters (PDF)
Which tests do Utah’s students take?
Utah students in grades 3-8 take the RISE test, an acronym that stands for Readiness, Improvement, Success and Empowerment. Students in grades 9-10 take the Utah Aspire Plus test, which helps predict how they will perform on college-entrance exams such as the ACT. The Utah Aspire Plus test is free of charge and a great way to see what you need to practice before tackling such college entrance exams like the ACT and SAT.
How should students prepare for the test?
Practice for the test is the instruction students receive throughout the school year—the skills and knowledge they acquire each day in the classroom. There are a few things, however, families can do to prepare for test day at home:
- Make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep and eats a healthy breakfast.
- Make the morning of testing as relaxing as possible by arriving to school on time.
- Encourage children to focus and pace themselves without rushing. It’s important to take your time, and read each question carefully.
- Remind children that if the test questions seem hard, that means they’re doing well. The RISE test is computer adaptive, which means it adapts to the examinee’s abilities by proposing harder questions when a student gets something correct, and easier questions when the student gives a wrong answer.