The Screener
Follow every student's learning and progress.
The True Progress Screener gives educators a regular view of each student's ELA and math learning, including students who need support, those ready for greater challenge, and those learning well with the school's current provision. For most students, it is the only True Progress assessment they need.
The Screener contributes evidence to Visibility, the first driver of the Student Success System. Educators bring that evidence together with classroom work, observations, and knowledge of the student to understand what is helping and where further attention may be needed.
SUBJECTS
ELA and math, assessed separately
LENGTH
30 questions per subject; about 25 minutes on average
FREQUENCY
Typically three or four times a year
See the Screener in use
Questions adapt to the student's responses, reaching into earlier learning or more advanced material as appropriate. Students in the same classroom can encounter different questions. This overview demonstrates the assessment and shows how educators explore class patterns, individual responses, and progress over time.
Examine the evidence behind a result
A Screener result gives educators several ways to investigate a question. They can move from an overall view to domains, individual questions, and the student's history.
| What educators can examine | What it helps them explore |
|---|---|
| Overall results for a student, class, or grade | The range of learning within a group and which students may need support or greater challenge. |
| Domain results for a class and its individual students | Whether a pattern is shared across the class or concentrated among particular students. |
| The questions presented, the student's responses, and the correct answers | What the student demonstrated on the assessed material and where questions remain. |
| Each question's domain, relevant standard, and time spent | How the responses relate to the learning being assessed and what deserves discussion with the student or teacher. |
| Historical results in the Timeline | Whether a result reflects a continuing pattern or a change that needs attention. |
| Rates of progress for students and classes | How learning is developing between assessment windows. |
For example, a class result in fractions may prompt a closer look. Viewing individual students' results can help a teacher determine whether to revisit the material with the class or investigate the needs of a smaller group.
Reports for shared understanding
Screener reports bring overall results and domain-level learning into a format educators can review with families. Explanations of the assessed areas and learning categories help connect the results to conversations about strengths, support, and greater challenge.
Strengths and needs within a subject
In this sample, the student's overall math result is Proficient, with an Advanced result in Measurement and Data, a Beginning result in Base Ten, and a Developing result in Operations and Algebraic Thinking. Those differences give educators and families specific areas to discuss alongside classroom work. The report includes descriptions of each domain and considerations for support or greater challenge.
An overall result with context
The accompanying page presents the assessment date, time taken, scale score, and overall learning category. It explains scale scores and learning categories, giving families a reference as they discuss the results with their child's educators.
These sample pages describe one assessment. Educators consider the results alongside classroom evidence and the student's learning history; repeated screening helps them follow progress over time.
Consider current learning and progress together
A student learning at a high level may still need greater challenge. A student learning below expectations may be making substantial progress. Repeated screening helps educators consider both the student's current learning and how it is developing, alongside evidence from the classroom.
High achievement, strong progress
What is helping this student continue to grow?
High achievement, limited progress
Would greater challenge or a different approach help?
Lower achievement, strong progress
How is the current support helping, and what remains to be addressed?
Lower achievement, limited progress
What needs closer investigation or a different response?
These patterns inform a conversation. Educators also consider classroom work, what has been taught, and the student's assessment experience before deciding on a response.
Follow learning across the year
Full-year Screener reports bring results from successive assessment windows into one view. Educators and families can follow overall learning and patterns within domains, using that history alongside classroom work to discuss progress and where further attention may be helpful.
Overall learning across the year
In this sample, the student's math scale score rises from 740 to 831 across the four assessment windows, ending the year in the Advanced category after a Developing result in the spring. The report shows the intervening results and how category thresholds change across the year, giving educators and families context for discussing progress.
Patterns within math
The domain view adds detail to that history. Number and Operations in Base Ten begins the year at Beginning and reaches Developing, while Measurement and Data holds Advanced results at the fall and summer windows. These patterns give educators and families specific areas to discuss in relation to what the student has been learning and experiencing in the classroom.
Understand results in your school's context
Classroom and school planning
Looking across classes and grades helps educators understand the range of learners they serve. They can consider where support is concentrated, where students may need greater challenge, and how learning patterns relate to the curriculum. True Progress works with schools to interpret their data in their own context and establish shared criteria for further attention.
Admissions and continuity
Applicants can take the same Screener used with enrolled students, giving admissions and student support a common reference for discussing learning. Results can be considered alongside the applicant's wider record and the school's experience supporting its current students. For those who enroll, admissions results provide an earlier point in their learning history.
When the Screener is enough
When Screener results, classroom work, and educators' observations indicate that a student is thriving and progressing, further True Progress assessment may not be needed. Periodic screening continues. If understanding remains incomplete, a question from either the classroom or the Screener can prompt a closer look.
Diagnostic
The Diagnostic provides more detailed evidence about skills at a particular learning level. It is useful when educators want to investigate a specific area of learning and plan teaching or support.
Inventory
The Inventory examines learning across dimensions and levels within a subject. It is useful when a student's uneven strengths and needs require a more extensive profile to inform planning.
The Screener at your school
We can discuss how your school follows students' learning today, the questions your educators want to understand more fully, and how periodic screening could contribute to that work. The conversation can include reviewing results, recognizing when further assessment would help, and developing shared understanding across your team.
Schedule a Conversation