Imagine+ Assessment (I+A) and Imagine IM work together as a connected assessment and instruction system. Imagine IM provides core, problem-based math instruction with embedded assessments, and Imagine+ Assessment adds broader data about student readiness, growth, and standards mastery, along with targeted information about specific skills.
When you use the products together, each assessment serves a different purpose in the instructional cycle. The goal is to give you the right information at the right time without adding unnecessary testing.
Note
Imagine IM and Imagine+ Assessment work together, but you access them through separate platforms. Access Imagine+ Assessment through the Imagine Learning Product Portal at login.imaginelearning.com. Access Imagine IM through Imagine Learning Classroom (ILC) at ilclassroom.com/login.
How the products work together
Imagine IM is the core instructional experience. It includes assessments that are built into instruction, such as Check Your Readiness, Knowledge Checks, Cool-downs, Checkpoints, Mid-Unit Assessments, and End-of-Unit Assessments.
Imagine+ Assessment adds three additional assessment types: I+A Diagnostic, I+A Benchmarks, and I+A Formatives. These assessments provide a broader or more targeted view of student learning and support decisions about readiness, growth, standards mastery, and skill follow-up.
Together, the two products support a continuous teach-assess-act cycle. The system is designed so that assessment supports instruction instead of competing with it.
Which assessments are included in each product
The tables below show which assessments are included in each product and what each one is designed to help you understand.
Imagine IM assessments
| Assessment | When it is used | What it helps you understand |
|---|---|---|
| Check Your Readiness | Before each unit | Prerequisite knowledge for upcoming unit learning |
| Knowledge Checks | Before each section | Likely misconceptions before teaching |
| Cool-downs | At the end of each lesson | Whether students understood the lesson goal |
| Checkpoints | After each section | Progress toward section learning goals |
| Mid-Unit Assessments | Halfway through longer units, where applicable | Progress toward understanding recently taught content before the end of the unit |
| End-of-Unit Assessments | At the end of the unit | Understanding of unit content |
I+A assessments
| Assessment | When it is used | What it helps you understand |
|---|---|---|
| I+A Diagnostic | Beginning, middle, and end of year | Overall readiness, strengths, growth areas, and domain-level performance |
| I+A Benchmarks | Typically up to four times per year after instruction, in Grades 3–8 | Transfer of learning and progress toward grade-level standards |
| I+A Formatives | On demand | Targeted information about specific skills, including checks for understanding, reteaching, and reinforcement |
Each assessment answers a different question about student learning and supports a different instructional decision. For more information, see Choosing assessments in Imagine+ Assessment and Imagine IM.
How the assessments differ
Assessments in Imagine IM and Imagine+ Assessment work together, but they do not serve the same purpose. Each one gives you a different lens on student learning and supports a different kind of decision.
Imagine IM assessments are embedded within instruction and are closely tied to upcoming, current, or recently taught content. They help you understand prerequisite knowledge, anticipate misconceptions, and see how students are progressing through lessons, sections, and units.
Imagine+ Assessment provides a broader or a more targeted view, depending on the assessment type. For example, I+A Diagnostic gives a broad view of readiness and growth over time, I+A Benchmarks measure transfer and standards mastery after instruction, and I+A Formatives help confirm whether students have mastered a specific skill.
Using results together
Assessment results are most useful when you view them together instead of as isolated scores. No single assessment gives the full picture of what a student knows and can do.
For example, a Knowledge Check can show a likely misconception before instruction, and a Cool-down can show whether that misunderstanding continued during the lesson. Broader measures such as I+A Diagnostic and I+A Benchmarks can also add context to the day-to-day picture from Imagine IM.
When the products are used together, you can connect readiness, daily learning, unit mastery, transfer, and targeted skill checks over the course of the school year. This helps you gather multiple measures of student understanding while keeping the focus on core instruction.
For more information, see Using Imagine+ Assessment data to plan instruction in Imagine IM.