The District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has approved the following list of providers of interim assessments that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics. With the District’s recent adoption of the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics for grades K-12, local education agencies (LEAs) within the District participating in Race to the Top must adopt interim assessments aligned with these common standards, to be delivered every 6-8 weeks throughout the school year beginning in school year 2011-2012. The entities on this list have demonstrated an ability to meet criteria established by OSSE to provide high-quality, aligned interim assessments.

LEAs have the discretion to select an entity that is not on the OSSE-approved list but will be required to demonstrate to OSSE that the entity does meet the criteria outlined below and will be evaluated against the scoring rubric included as Appendix A.

Interim Assessment Provider Criteria

• Comply with any subsequent guidance or regulations promulgated by the U.S. Department of Education on the Race to the Top Program.
• Review the District of Columbia’s K-12 Common Core content standards in English language arts and mathematics and the District’s “crosswalk” document comparing the Common Core Standards to the existing content standards, and develop interim assessments aligned to the Common Core content standards.   
• Offer clear, complete details regarding the capacity to deliver proposed scope of services.
• Provide services to LEAs in accordance with the written assurances to the state as per this application process.
• Comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
• If selected by an LEA, execute a written contract for services.
• If selected by an LEA, comply with possible liability insurance requirements set forth by the LEA.  
• Meet the terms of agreements/contracts with each LEA with which it contracts.
• Ensure that the assessment content, pedagogy and all other aspects of delivery are consistent with the instruction provided and content used by the LEA and the state. The content must be aligned with the District of Columbia Common Core Standards and assessment measures.
• Provide services that are secular, neutral and of high quality.
• Ensure the privacy of the student.  
• Meet all applicable federal, state, and local health, safety and civil rights laws.
• Maintain all documentation related to the provision of interim assessments program for at least  five years.  Such documentation includes, but is not limited to, copies of materials used in the interim assessments program, and evidence of provider qualifications.
• As noted in the District of Columbia Race to the Top Application, meet the following state requirements on interim assessment design and implementation:
  • The interim assessments for English Language Arts and Mathematics in grades 3-10 are to be based on the Common Core Standards and broken into sub-standards in order to make the assessments instructionally useful.
  • Multiple questions are to be asked for each standard.
  • The degree of difficulty, language, and question formats are to be modeled after the current DC CAS.  Items are to be vertically aligned, and the sequence of items is to align with the sequence of curriculum within the LEA, including the traditional and integrated sequence options for high school mathematics courses.  
  • Assessed standards are to be spiraled across multiple assessments to provide for review and allow teachers to see improvement.
  • All assessments are to have, at a minimum, multiple choice and constructed response question types.
  • For constructed response question types, rubrics, anchor papers, and scoring guide must be provided with the option of off-site hand scoring available. 
  • The format is to be paper-based or online with an ability to view questions.
  • Four to five English language arts and four to five math assessments are to be designed for each year of grades 3-10.
  • Assessments are to be aligned with the LEA calendar, given every 6-8 weeks leading up to the DC CAS and once more near the end of the school year.