State achievement tests in the United States are standardized tests required in American public schools in order for the schools to receive federal funding, according to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, in US Public Law 107-110, and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
The following standardized tests are designed and/or administered by state education agencies and/or local school districts in order to measure academic achievement across multiple grade levels in elementary, middle and senior high school, as well as for high school graduation examinations to measure proficiency for high school graduation. Nebraska is the only state that does not have a standardized test.
| State | Administrating agency | Tests name | Also called... | Source | Available in languages other than English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Alabama State Department of Education | Alabama High School Graduation Exam Alabama Reading and Mathematics Test | AHSGE ARMT | [1] | No | |
| Alaska | Alaska Department of Education and Early Development | High School Graduation Qualifying Examination Alaska Measures of Progress (AMP) | HSGQE SBA | [2] | No However "LEP (Limited English Proficiency) students may be allowed to use a word translation finder style dictionary or word-to-word dictionary from first language to English language. Dictionaries that include pictures or word definitions are not allowed." | |
| Arizona | Arizona Department of Education | AIMS AZELLA NAEP AZMERIT | [3] | No | ||
| Arkansas | Arkansas Department of Education | Augmented Benchmark Examinations | [4] | |||
| California | California Department of Education | CAASPP California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress | SBAC (previous tests were STAR and CAHSEE) | [5] [6] | Yes | |
| Colorado | Colorado Department of Education | Colorado Measures of Academic Success | CMAS | [7] | Yes | |
| Connecticut | Connecticut Department of Education | Connecticut Academic Performance Test Connecticut Mastery Test | CAPT CMT | |||
| Delaware | Delaware Department of Education | Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System | DCAS | |||
| District of Columbia | District of Columbia Public Schools | Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career | PARCC | [8] | ||
| Florida | Florida Department of Education | Florida Standards Assessments Florida Standards Alternate Assessment | FSA FSAA | [9] [10] | No, but Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students are allowed to use a translation dictionary from their first language to the English language approved by the Florida Department of Education. The dictionary may include synonyms and an index, but must not include definition of words. Test administrators or proctors are also not allowed to read aloud to the student any of the questions, passages, prompts, or answer choices in the English language or their first language during the test. | |
| Georgia | Georgia Department of Education | Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (retired)Georgia Milestones:
| CRCT EOCT GHSGT GAA GMAS | [11] | ||
| Hawaii | Hawaii Department of Education | Hawaii State Assessment Hawaii State Alternative Assessment | HSA/HSAA | |||
| Idaho | Idaho State Department of Education | Idaho Standards Achievement Test | I-SAT | [16] | ||
| Illinois | Illinois State Board of Education | Illinois Standards Achievement Test[17] Prairie State Achievement Examination | ISAT PSAE | [18] | ||
| Indiana | Indiana Department of Education | Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus | I-STEP+ New Test as of 2019 - ILearn | |||
| Iowa | Iowa Department of Education | Iowa Test of Basic Skills Iowa Tests of Educational Development | ITBS ITED | |||
| Kansas | Kansas Department of Education | Kansas Mathematics Assessment Kansas Reading Assessment Kansas Writing Assessment Kansas Science Assessment Kansas History, Government, Economics and Geography Assessment | [19] | |||
| Kentucky | Kentucky Department of Education | Commonwealth Accountability Testing System | CATS | |||
| Louisiana | Louisiana Department of Education | Louisiana Educational Assessment Program Integrated LEAP Graduate Exit Examination | LEAP iLEAP GEE | |||
| Maine | Maine Department of Education | Maine Educational Assessment Maine High School Assessment | MEA MHSA | [20] [21] | ||
| Maryland | Maryland Department of Education | Maryland School Assessment High School Assessment | MSA HSA | |||
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts Department of Education | Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System | MCAS | [22] | ||
| Michigan | Michigan Department of Education | Michigan Educational Assessment Program (retired) Michigan Merit Exam Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress[23] | MEAP MME M-STEP | |||
| Minnesota | Minnesota Department of Education | Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments—Series II | MCA-II | |||
| Mississippi | Mississippi Department of Education | Mississippi Functional Literacy Exam Mississippi Curriculum Test | MFLE MCT | [24] | ||
| Missouri | Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education | Missouri Assessment Program | MAP | |||
| Montana | Montana Office of Public Instruction | Montana Comprehensive Assessment System | MontCAS | [25] | ||
| Nebraska | Nebraska Department of Education | |||||
| Nevada | Nevada Department of Education | Nevada Proficiency Examination Program | NPEP | [26] | ||
| New Hampshire | New Hampshire Department of Education | New England Common Assessment Program | NECAP | [27] | ||
| New Jersey | New Jersey Department of Education | The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers | NJSLA NJGPA | |||
| New Mexico | New Mexico Public Education Department | New Mexico Standards-based assessment New Mexico Alternate Performance Assessment | NMSBA NMAPA | [28] | ||
| New York | New York State Department of Education | Regents ExaminationsNew York State Examination | Regents NYSE | [29] | Yes, translation is available for all Regents exams except for language exams. For English exams, a glossary is available, while foreign language exams have none.[30] | |
| North Carolina | North Carolina Department of Public Instruction | North Carolina End of Grade Tests (Grades 3-8) End of Course Tests (Grades 9-12) | EOGs EOCs | |||
| North Dakota | North Dakota Department of Public Instruction | North Dakota State Assessment | North Dakota CAT | [31] | ||
| Ohio | Ohio State Board of Education | Ohio’s State Tests | OST(Many districts incorrectly refer to as the "AIR Test") | [32] | ||
| Oklahoma | Oklahoma State Department of Education | Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests | OCCT | [33] | ||
| Oregon | Oregon Department of Education | Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills | OAKS | [34] | ||
| Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania Department of Education | Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Pennsylvania Alternate School Assessment Keystone Exam | PSSA PASA | |||
| Rhode Island | Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education | Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System | RICAS | [35] | RIDE publishes a list of bilingual dictionaries and glossaries that current and former English Learner students may use on RICAS assessments. There are Spanish versions of the Mathematics tests. | |
| South Carolina | South Carolina Department of Education | Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (Grades 3-8) High School Assessment Program (Grades 9-12) | PASS HSAP | |||
| South Dakota | South Dakota Department of Education | South Dakota State Test of Educational Progress | DSTEP | |||
| Tennessee | Tennessee State Department of Education | Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program | TN Ready | |||
| Texas | Texas Education Agency | State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness | STAAR | |||
| Utah | Utah State Office of Education | Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence | SAGE | [36] | ||
| Vermont | Vermont Department of Education | Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium | SBAC | |||
| Virginia | Virginia Department of Education | Standards of Learning | SOL | |||
| Washington | Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction | Washington Assessment of Student Learning | WASL | |||
| West Virginia | West Virginia Department of Education | West Virginia General Summative Assessment | WVGSA (Previously WESTEST) | [37] | ||
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction | Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination | WKCE | |||
| Wyoming | Wyoming Department of Education | Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students | PAWS | [38] | ||
In addition to the following list some states administer other required examinations. They include Nevada, which administers several tests as part of the Nevada Proficiency Examination Program. They include the High School Proficiency Examination for Reading and Mathematics; the Iowa Test of Basic Skills; Iowa Tests of Educational Development; Criterion-referenced tests in Reading, Mathematics, and Science; Language Proficiency Assessment; Nevada Alternate Scales of Academic Achievement; and National Assessment of Educational Progress. The Prairie State Achievement Exam is used in Illinois, along with the [17] Illinois State Achievement Test. Alabama requires the Stanford Achievement Test Series; and in Texas, the Texas Higher Education Assessment. That state has discontinued its usage of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Since the 2007–08 school year, Kentucky has required that all students at public high schools take the ACT in their junior year.