Understanding Washington State Testing

In Washington, students take tests to see how well they are learning and how the education system is doing. These tests help teachers understand student progress and improve teaching methods. Students in Washington are tested every year as they move through school.

• Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA): Students in grades 3–8 and 10 take English language arts (ELA) and math tests. These tests are important for meeting state and federal requirements. High school students can also use the ELA and math tests to help meet graduation requirements.
• Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS): Students in grades 5, 8, and 11 take science tests that are required for state and federal accountability.
• Washington - Access to Instruction and Measurement (WA-AIM): This program provides ELA, math, and science alternate assessments for students in grades 3–11 who have significant cognitive disabilities. These tests are required for state and federal accountability. High school students can also use these tests to help with graduation requirements.
• Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Skills (WaKIDS): This program brings together families, teachers, and early learning providers to support kindergarten students in their learning and transition to public schools.
• WIDA Screener: This test checks if multilingual learners in grades K–12 are eligible for English language development services.
• Annual WIDA ACCESS Assessments: These tests are given to K–12 students who qualify for English language development services. They help determine if students can continue receiving these services.
• WIDA Alternate ACCESS: This test is for K–12 students with significant cognitive disabilities who qualify for English language development services. It checks their eligibility to continue receiving these services.
• OSPI-Developed Assessments: Washington has created classroom-based assessments for subjects like Arts, Educational Technology, Health and Physical Education, and Social Studies. These assessments are based on state learning standards and help guide everyday instruction. State experts create tasks and questions that model good assessments and share them with local school districts.

Students can take the Smarter Balanced Assessment, WCAS, and WIDA tests with or without accessibility features. If a student needs special accommodations not covered in the guidelines, their IEP team can ask the District Assessment Coordinator to submit a Non-Standard Accommodation Request.