Assessment/placement options in Imagine Language & Literacy

Organizations using Imagine Language & Literacy (IL&L) have 4 assessment options for their students:

District Administrators should decide on one of these options in collaboration with their Customer Success Manager as they plan their initial implementation of IL&L. An assessment is required for students to be placed in their appropriate starting point (initial learning path) in the IL&L curriculum or to refine their continued learning path at least once per year. However, Imagine Learning strongly recommends administering assessments 3 times a year so you can measure student growth as the year progresses.

 Tip

If your school or district has already selected an assessment option but you aren't sure which one they selected, read Checking which assessment option your organization is using.

 Notes

  • In some cases, districts opt to use different assessment providers for different grade levels or schools based on district/school initiatives and needs. This cannot be done on a student-by-student basis. Clarify the details of your assessment needs with your Customer Success Manager during the rostering/implementation process. 
  • We strongly advise against switching your assessment type mid-year. Each assessment type is scored differently. Therefore, if you switch mid-year, you won't be able to accurately calculate growth from the beginning to the end of the year. 

Imagine Language & Literacy Embedded Assessment

Description Additional Information Recommended for:

The IL&L Embedded Assessment, or ILE, is the default assessment if no other option is chosen.

It is a computer-adaptive assessment that determines student proficiency in key skill areas. Students in the same grade level receive different questions based on their performance. 

The testing experience for students is gamified.

Students take the Placement test the very first time they log in to IL&L; this places students in the appropriate starting point in the program. After the Placement, all further assessments the students take in that school year and in subsequent years are called Benchmarks. The results of the Placement test can be directly compared to the Benchmark test results to identify changes in student performance throughout the year(s).

Optional: An additional assessment called the Reading Level Assessment, or RLA, is available for organizations wishing to review students' Lexile® measures.

Placement, Benchmark, and RLA scores are all available for educators in the Growth section of the IL&L portal. The Placement and Benchmark assessments provide a score for Literacy and a score for Oral Vocabulary, while the RLA provides a Lexile®­­ measure.

The 3 testing windows are determined by  Imagine Learning and cannot be changed:

  • Beginning of Year (BOY) = August 1 - October 31
  • Middle of Year (MOY) = December 1 - February 28th
  • End of Year (EOY) = April 1 - June 30th
  • Organizations with primarily newcomer ELs (because the tests have language support
  • Organizations with primarily K-2 students with some newcomer ELs
  • Organizations where most students are known to be working significantly (2+ years) below grade level

Imagine Galileo ELA Benchmark

Description Additional Information Recommended for:
The Imagine Galileo ELA Benchmark is a fixed-form assessment that measures student mastery of grade-level content. Students in Kindergarten and 1st Grade receive one form of the Galileo ELA Benchmark test, while students in Grades 2+ receive a different form of the test. All students in the same grade level respond to the same set of 35 test items. The test includes both multiple-choice and technology-enhanced item types, similar to the test items that students will encounter on standardized state tests. 

Students take the Galileo ELA Benchmarks by logging in to the Imagine Learning portal. School or District Administrators must schedule the tests before the tests are available for students to take. The testing windows are up to 3 times a year; the schedule is determined by your organization. 

Students' ELA Benchmark scores (called Developmental Levels, or DLs) are available for educators to view via the Galileo K-12 tile in the Imagine Learning Product Portal

 Note

Imagine Galileo is not available for PreK students; if your organization elects to use Galileo, PreK students will receive the Embedded Assessment instead.

  • Organizations with low numbers of ELs
  • Organizations that want to view grade-level abilities
     
  • Organizations that wish to view item-level data (the correct answer for each question, as well as the answer each student selected)

 Tip

Visit the Galileo K–12 page of the Imagine Learning Help Center for more information.

NWEA™ MAP® Growth Assessment

Description Additional Information Recommended for:
The NWEA MAP Growth Assessment is a computer-adaptive third-party assessment that measures what the students know, how they are growing academically, and what they are ready to learn next. Students in the same grade level receive different questions based on their performance.

 

Students take the NWEA MAP Growth Assessments by logging in to NWEA; the scores are sent to Imagine Learning via an overnight sync process.  

Students' MAP scores (RIT scores and Lexiles) are available for educators to view by logging into the NWEA portal. A link to this portal is provided in the Growth section of the IL&L educator dashboard.

The testing windows are up to 3 times a year; the schedule is determined by your organization. 

 Note

NWEA MAP is not available for PreK students; if your organization elects to use NWEA, PreK students will receive the Embedded Assessment instead.

  • Organizations that are already using NWEA in their school or district, so that students don't have to take an additional assessment
     
  • Organizations rostering through a nightly sync (Clever, ClassLink, SFTP)

 

 

Imagine+ Assessment ELA Diagnostic

Description Additional Information Recommended for:
The Imagine + ELA Diagnostic is a computer-adaptive test for students in Grades K–12 that pinpoints specific areas of academic need. Rather than a gamified testing environment, the experience for students is similar to the testing experience for state tests. 

Students take the ELA Diagnostic by logging in to Imagine+ Assessment from the Imagine Learning portal. School or District Administrators must schedule the tests before the tests are available for students to take. The testing windows are up to 4 times a year; the schedule is determined by your organization.

There are 3 versions of the test depending on your students' grade level.

  • The K–1 version of the test includes a tutorial on how to complete the assessment as well as audio support.
  • Two other age-appropriate versions of the test are given to students in Grades 2–5 and Grades 6–12

Students' ELA Diagnostic scores (overall scaled score, domain-specific scores, and Lexile measure) are available for educators to view via the Imagine+ Assessment tile within the Imagine Learning Product Portal or from the Growth widget of the Imagine Language & Literacy educator dashboard.

A percentile rank is also included in the data reported for each student, and cut scores for forecasting state test performance based on Lexiles are available for many states. 

 Notes

  • The Imagine+ Assessment ELA suite is not available for PreK students; if your organization elects to use the ELA Diagnostic, PreK students will receive the Embedded Assessment instead.
  • The ELA Diagnostic is part of the Imagine+ Assessment ELA Suite which includes fixed-form Imagine+ Formatives. A third component, the Imagine+ Screener, can be purchased on its own or bundled with the Diagnostic and Formatives. The screener evaluates children in Grades PreK–3 for reading difficulties, including signs of dyslexia, at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year.
  • Organizations with low numbers of ELs. (Unlike the IL&L embedded assessments, audio language support is not provided. There is, however, a word and phrase translation tool in the testing interface.)
     
  • Organizations that want flexible scheduling options and the ability to test up to 4 times per year
     
  • Organizations that want to view grade-level abilities
     
  • Organizations that want more
    granular reporting
    and/or a single test
    that places the
    student and provides
    a Lexile measure
     
  • Organizations that want the use of the Imagine+ Formatives that come with the purchase of the Diagnostic
     
  • Organizations that want and agree to participate in the research effort and data sharing to help gather efficacy data.

 Tip

Visit the Imagine+ Assessment page of the Help Center for more detailed information.