Understanding Assessments

Georgia Milestones score reports show student performance using four performance levels: Beginning Learner, Developing Learner, Proficient Learner, and Distinguished Learner. These scores indicate mastery of Georgia Standards and are used by teachers to identify areas needing support or enrichment. Parents can use the report to support their student's learning at home by discussing strengths and weaknesses with teachers. 

Understanding Performance Levels
Each performance level describes a student's readiness for the next academic step and their ability to meet grade-level expectations. 

• Beginning Learner: Does not yet demonstrate proficiency and needs significant support. 
• Developing Learner: Shows partial proficiency and needs additional support to meet grade-level expectations. 
• Proficient Learner: Demonstrates grade-level mastery and is on track for college and career readiness. 
• Distinguished Learner: Exceeds grade-level expectations, showing advanced proficiency and readiness for the next level. 

What the Score Report Provides

• Achievement Levels:  clear indicator of how well a student has mastered the Georgia Standards of Excellence. 
• Scale Score: A standardized score that reflects a student's performance, with different ranges for each grade and subject. 
• Lexile Measure: For English Language Arts, a national reading measure that helps match students with appropriately challenging reading materials. 

How to Use the Score Report

1. Review and Discuss: Talk with your student about what they learned and how they performed.
2. Talk to the Teacher: Ask your student's teacher to explain the report in detail and identify areas for growth and strength.
3. Support Learning at Home: Inquire about ways to support your student's learning and build on their strengths.

Parent Guide to Interpreting the Georgia Milestones Individual Student Report

Georgia Alternate Assessment (GAA) reports for students with significant cognitive disabilities indicate achievement levels on alternate standards. The GAA 2.0 measures mastery of skills outlined in the state's extended content standards, using scale scores and performance levels to show how well the student understands and applies the knowledge and skills. Parents can discuss these reports with teachers to develop strategies for remediation or acceleration in identified areas. 

GAA Score Report Achievement Levels

• There are four levels:
  • Level 1: Students at this level demonstrate a limited understanding of the knowledge and skills specified in Georgia’s alternate academic content standards. They are actively working with adapted grade-level content that focuses on essential knowledge and skills and may need substantial academic support as they transition to the next grade/course, inclusive postsecondary education, or competitive integrated employment.
  • Level 2: Students at this level demonstrate a partial understanding of the knowledge and skills specified in Georgia’s alternate academic content standards. They are actively working with adapted grade-level content that focuses on essential knowledge and skills and may need frequent academic support as they transition to the next grade/course, inclusive postsecondary education, or competitive integrated employment.
  • Level 3: Students at this level demonstrate an adequate understanding of the knowledge and skills specified in Georgia’s alternate academic content standards. They are actively working with adapted grade-level content that focuses on essential knowledge and skills and may need occasional academic support as they transition to the next grade/course, inclusive postsecondary education, or competitive integrated employment.
  • Level 4: Students at this level demonstrate a thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills specified in Georgia’s alternate academic content standards. They are actively working with adapted grade-level content that focuses on essential knowledge and skills and may need limited academic support as they transition to the next grade/course, inclusive postsecondary education, or competitive integrated employment.

How to Use the Report

1. Meet with the Teacher: In the fall, arrange a meeting with your child's teacher to discuss the report in detail.
2. Identify Strengths and Needs: Work with the teacher to understand your child's areas of strength and any areas where they need further support.
3. Develop an Action Plan: Discuss strategies to address areas of need (remediation) or to build on areas of strength (acceleration) to further enhance your child's learning. 

GAA Parent Flyer

WIDA ACCESS score reports provide English proficiency data through Proficiency Levels (1-6, based on the WIDA Can Do Descriptors) and Scale Scores (which track growth over time) for the four domains (Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing) and three composite areas (Oral Language, Comprehension, Literacy). These reports measure language development, not academic achievement, and are used to monitor student progress and inform instruction. 

Components of a Score Report

• Proficiency Levels: A whole number, ranging from 1 (Entering) to 6 (Reaching), with a decimal indicating progress within the level. These describe what a student can do with English at that level. 
• Scale Scores: A numerical score that tracks student growth over time and across grade levels. A Confidence Band around the score shows the possible range of outcomes. 
• Domains: The four core skills measured: Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing. 
• Composite Scores: Scores created by combining domain scores, such as Oral Language (Listening + Speaking), Comprehension (Listening + Reading), or Literacy (Reading + Writing), and Overall.

How to Interpret Scores

• Proficiency Levels: Refer to the WIDA Can Do Descriptors to understand what a student can do at their given proficiency level. 
• Scale Scores: Use scale scores to monitor a student's growth and compare their performance over time, but not across different domains. 
• Individual vs. Composite Scores: While composite scores can be useful summaries, individual domain scores can be more informative, as a high score in one domain could inflate a composite score. 
• Context is Key: Proficiency levels are grade-level specific; a score of PL 1 in Listening for a second grader is different from PL 1 in Listening for an eighth grader, as the content complexity of the test differs. 

For Families

• Use the Individual Student Report and the accompanying Understanding Your Child's Scores flyer to learn more about the scores and their meaning. 

ACCESS Scores and Reports

APS families, this area of our website helps you find information about the assessments we use to set goals for your student and plan their instruction. 

Just like you, our teachers and staff want to help your child learn and grow at their highest potential. That’s why we use a tool three times per year to assess current knowledge in the fall, and check progress in the winter and spring. This tool is called MAP, which stands for Measures of Academic Progress. (See the column to the right for other important acronyms you may need to know.) 

Along with our state test, the Georgia Milestones Assessment, MAP is a main component in helping APS practice our core business of teaching and learning across clusters and grade levels with equity, accountability, and real-time adjustment. In fact, MAP aligns well with our Georgia state content standards, which is one of the reasons we began using it in the fall of 2021. 

MAP scores also help us see how APS students are doing compared to other students across the nation. This helps us plan, adjust our methods of instruction, and determine how to best use our resources. These scores also help you track your student’s progress throughout the year, so you can see where they may need your support. 

When our families understand student assessment better, it helps everyone support every APS student even better! 

Read the Family Guide to MAP Growth document from NWEA. 

The Amira Dyslexia Screener Parent Report provides parents with an overview of a student's reading performance and risk for reading difficulties, including dyslexia. The report typically shows a composite score like the Amira Reading Mastery (ARM) score to indicate overall reading ability and percentile rankings. It also includes details on foundational literacy skills, explanations of the results, and practical tips for supporting the child's reading at home. The report's goal is to facilitate early intervention by clearly communicating student needs and encouraging supportive home-based strategies.

Key Components of the Parent Report

• Composite Scores: A score like the Amira Reading Mastery (ARM) score estimates the student's current reading grade level and shows how they are performing compared to their peers. 
• Percentile Rankings: These rankings show the student's performance relative to other students at the same grade level. 
• Foundational Skills: The report may break down scores for individual literacy components, such as phonological awareness, phoneme segmentation fluency, and decoding skills. 
• Risk Status: Based on the screener's results, the report categorizes students into different risk levels for reading difficulties or dyslexia. 
• Actionable Insights: The report provides practical, home-based reading tips for parents to help their child at home. 

How the Report is Used

• Early Intervention: The screener identifies students at risk for dyslexia or other reading difficulties, allowing for early intervention. 
• Informed Home Support: Parents can use the report and accompanying tips to support their child's reading development in ways that align with their specific needs. 
• Collaboration with Schools: The report serves as a communication tool between parents and educators, facilitating discussions about the student's progress and any needed interventions.

Understanding the Amira Parent Report

A Write Score report breaks down a student's writing proficiency into several key areas, or domains, providing an overall score as well as individual scores for each domain. These assessments are used by teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses to guide instruction. The reports are based on a hand-scored, standards-aligned rubric. 

Overall score

The main score represents the student's overall writing proficiency on a standards-aligned rubric. The overall score provides a snapshot of the student's writing level for that particular assessment. 

Domain-specific scores

A Write Score report includes individual scores for several specific writing domains. The scores for each domain indicate a student's proficiency in a specific writing skill. Typical domains include: 

• Purpose and Organization: Assesses how well the student organizes their ideas logically and addresses the prompt.
• Evidence and Elaboration: Evaluates the thoroughness and effectiveness of the student's reasoning, evidence, and examples in supporting their ideas.
• Language Usage and Conventions: Measures the student's command of standard written English, including sentence structure, word choice, and grammar.