General Assessment Information

For fourteen years Colorado has used the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) tests. With the adoption of new academic standards, a new assessment system that is aligned to the new standards must be put in place by 2014. In order to transition to the new state tests, CDE began using the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program (TCAP) in 2012, which measures a blend of old and new standards and will allow school districts to transition their instruction from the old standards to the new ones. The transitional assessments will also allow for continued growth calculations using state tests to maintain comparability from year to year until the system is completely transitioned to the new standards and assessments. This will also preserve the comparability of the school and district performance framework accountability system until 2014.

2012 - 2013 State Assessment Windows

TCAP Grades and Content Area	Early Testing Window	Regular Testing Window
Grade 3 Reading and Lectura	2/11/2013 - 2/22/2013	2/25/13 - 3/8/2013
Grade 3 Writing and Lectura Grades 4 - 10 Reading and Writing Grade 4 Lectura and Escritura Grades 3 - 10 Mathematics Grades 5, 8 and 10 Science	3/4/2013 - 4/5/2013	3/11/2013 - 4/12/2013
CoAlt Grades and Content Areas		Testing Window
Grades 3 - 10 Reading, Writing, Mathematics Grades 5, 8 and 10 Science		2/6/2013 - 3/22/2013
Access for ELLs® Grades and Content Areas		Testing Window
Grades K - 12 Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening		1/7/2013 - 2/8/2013
COACT	Initial Test Date	Make-up Test Date
Grade 11	Tuesday April 23, 2013	Tuesday May 7, 2013