English Language Arts and Literacy Test Battery

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - February 10th, 2014

Created by a collaboration between the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association (NGA), the English Language Arts and Literacy tests are designed to prepare high school students and those in lower grades for life after high school.

The test battery was created with some very specific goals in mind. 

Poorly Educated High School Graduates 

For years, the country’s top education experts and authorities have been faced with the issue of under-educated high school graduates. At an alarming rate, high school seniors, some with disproportionately high grade point averages, have been receiving their diplomas without a grasp of some rather simple and very important life skills. Among the skills most often identified as being below average are English and math, although a poor understanding of history, social studies and science is also often observed. You can read more about one journalist’s opinion on this topic at this site. 

In response to this issue, the English Language Arts and Literacy test was created. The test battery places a strong focus on English, with a broad scope of specifics being tested such as comprehension, writing skills and grammar, among many others.

The test battery also assesses a student’s grasp of history, social studies, science and math. These subjects are not introduced into testing until grade six. Children between pre-kindergarten and grade five receive only the English language arts and literacy portions of the test, with grade-appropriate history, social studies, and science and math questions integrated into these portions.

Tests are administered on an annual basis and are carefully tailored to each grade level. The tests are not intended to identify gifted children (although they have the potential to be used for this purpose). Instead, they are intended to ensure that each child is learning at an appropriate rate and progressing through the grades based on their learned knowledge, not just their age.