General Assessment Information for Parents

Find Your District's State Assessment Contact for Assessment Support

About

Meaningful and relevant tests work hand-in-hand with rigorous academic standards. The state’s summative tests are called the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS), which measure students’ mastery of the standards and the complex thinking and other critical skills students need to be successful in school and in life.

State Content Tests

Each spring, third- through eighth-graders in Colorado take the CMAS tests, which are aligned to the Colorado Academic Standards. Colorado's ninth- and 10th-graders take the PSAT and 11th-graders take the SAT (11th-graders also take CMAS science). Click here for testing dates.

Score Reports

Results for the state content tests are available in the summer.

Individual student performance reports are available to families in June.
District- and school-level student data files, summary data files, and individual student performance reports are available to districts and schools in June.
School- and district-level reports are available in July.

Districts and schools may begin using available data and results IMMEDIATELY for internal planning and to discuss individual student performance with families. Resources to help parents better understand what the test results mean and how they can be used to support their student's academic success are linked in the following section.

The Assessment Division shares preliminary state-level overall achievement data for CMAS, PSAT, and SAT at the June State Board of Education meeting. Final state-level achievement and growth data (overall and disaggregated) are publicly released at the August State Board of Education meeting. Click here for all reporting dates.

What to expect for the state assessments

Fact Sheets about the Assessments:
- Fact Sheet about the Assessments (English PDF)
- Fact Sheet about the Assessments (Spanish PDF)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
- FAQ (English PDF)
- FAQ (Spanish PDF)
Role of State Assessments:
- This fact sheet explains the role of statewide assessments in increasing academic achievement.
  - Role of State Assessments in Academic Achievement (English PDF)
  - Role of State Assessments in Academy Achievement (Spanish PDF)
- This fact sheet explains why participating in statewide testing matters to students.
  - Why Testing Matters (English PDF)
  - Why Testing Matters (Spanish PDF)

Results

Find assessment results for your child's school or district (178 school districts and approximately 1,800 schools).
School and district accountability, state assessments (PDF)

CMAS 2017-18 School Year ICON

About the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)