Assessment
State Testing
Each year, New Hampshire public and chartered public schools are required by state law (RSA 193-C) and federal accountability laws (Every Student Succeeds Act) to assess students using a standardized assessment. We utilize several assessments to comply with these requirements. For more details about our statewide assessments, please visit the Office of Assessment webpage.
Schools are working hard to coordinate the administration of the statewide assessments to ensure students have access to the assessments in a safe environment. If you have questions about test administration at your school, please contact the school principal/administrator.
Statewide assessments are an important part of a student’s core educational program. They provide:
An evaluation of student mastery of content and skills in core academic areas
Serve as one tool for measuring the degree to which students are on track to graduate high school and be college- and career-ready
Help inform future instruction in the classroom
Along with student work on classroom assignments, projects, essays, and local formative and summative assessments, statewide summative assessment results provide teachers and parents with important information about where students are on their path toward academic success. They also provide information on how to best support learning recovery.
The testing requirements for the state of New Hampshire are as follows:
General Assessment | Grades | Content Area |
NH Statewide Assessment System (NHSAS) | 3-8 | English Language Arts, Math |
NH Statewide Assessment System (NHSAS) | 5, 8, 11 | Science |
SAT School Day with Essay | 11 | English Language Arts, Math |
Alternate Assessment | Grades | Content Area |
Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) | 3-8, 11 | English Language Arts, Math |
Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) | 5, 8, 11 | Science |
English Language Proficiency | Grades | Content Area |
ACCESS/Alternate ACCESS for ELL's | K-12 | Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening |
Results
Student results for the NH SAS are generally available immediately upon the student completing the test. Parents are able to view NH SAS student results through the Family Portal with an access code. Please contact your student’s local school to request an access code for the Family Portal. Upon request, the local school can send a student’s Individual Score Report (ISR) home before the end of the school year.
Practice Tests
Parents may access the NH SAS Student Practice Site by going to the NH SAS Portal:
College Board offers a range of SAT practice opportunities. Students who use the SAT practice tests are eligible for scholarships: SAT Practice and Preparation – SAT Suite | College Board.
Dynamic Learning Maps provides resources for parents to support student learning and examples of the testlets students may receive during testing. New Hampshire is a Year-End Model state.
Preparing students for ACCESS for ELLs Online - Learn about the ACCESS online test platform and see the type of questions students will see on the test.
Exemption
You are allowed to exempt your child from participation in the state assessment (permitted in RSA 193-C:6) You must complete and submit an exemption form. Please contact your child’s school to receive a copy of the exemption form. Please understand, if you choose to exempt your child from the assessment, no scores or summary of individual student performance, based on the statewide assessment, will be provided to you or your student.
If you have questions, please contact your child’s classroom teacher or school principal.