Vision:
The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) School Accountability Report Cards provide accessible,
meaningful, and actionable information to educators, families, and communities about public schools across the
state. The reported measures were selected to both meet federal requirements and address the needs and desires of
diverse stakeholders who contributed to the design and implementation of the new reports. North Dakota public
education is rooted firmly in the belief that all schools should be engaged in a cycle of continuous improvement.
The information provided highlights areas of strength and celebration, while also identifying room for growth and
improvement.
Student Achievement
Student Assessment Participation:
The “Participation Overview” graph displays the participation rate reported as the percentage of students who took
North Dakota’s required state assessments North Dakota State Assessment (NDSA) or North Dakota Alternate Assessment
(NDAA), an alternate form of the assessment for the subjects of English Language Arts (ELA), Math, and Science. Each
year, all students attending North Dakota’s public schools in grades 3-8 and 10 or 11 are required to complete the
NDSA. The participation rate* is calculated by dividing the total number of students who were tested by the number
of students who should have taken the state assessments in the tested grades. Students who participated include
those who answered a sufficient number of questions in the state assessments to receive a score on the test.
*Note: Federal law requires schools to have a 95% participation rate.
Some students may take the test for one subject but not the other(s). Students who participate but, for various
reasons, do not complete the testing process (e.g., illness) are still counted as having participated. Certain
students may take an alternative assessment and not participate in NDSA. This may include students with disabilities
or students with limited English proficiency who have attended schools in the U.S. for less than 12 months.
Student demographic details, including the percentage testing with “Accommodations”, are available in the
“Participation Demographics” tab.
Student Achievement Proficiency:
The “Performance Overview” graph shows the proficiency rates of students who have been enrolled for at least 120 days
within the school year and who have taken either the NDSA or the NDAA, administered to grades 3-8, and grades 10 or
11.* The “Performance Demographics” tab includes filtering by the test taken, grade level, and accommodations by
academic year and subgroup. A subgroup is a group of students identified by a particular characteristic, such as
race, ethnicity, English proficiency, disability status, or income.
The student achievement rates are calculated by dividing the total number of students in the tested grades who were
proficient by the total number of tested students who were either proficient or not proficient.
*Note: NDDPI worked with key stakeholders across the state to provide school districts the
flexibility to select one of two options in the administration of high school assessments for accountability:
administration of the NDSA / NDAA in grade 10 or administration of the ACT / NDAA in grade 11. Starting with the
2017-2018 school year, the data below for high schools represents the school’s achievement for students in the
respective grades tested for accountability. If the filter for grade 10 is selected, the data will be inclusive of
the NDSA and NDAA grade 10 results. If the filter for grade 11 is selected, the data will be inclusive of the ACT
and NDAA grade 11 results.
How North Dakota State Tests Are Scored:
The NDSA is a standards-based test that measures how well students have mastered the challenging state content
standards. The NDSA tests report student achievement at the following four levels:
- Advanced: Demonstrates exemplary understanding and exceeds the expected level of performance.
- Proficient: Demonstrates understanding and meets the expected level of performance.
- Partially Proficient: Demonstrates an emerging or developing level of understanding and performance.
- Novice: An attempt was made; however, a lack of understanding and performance is evident.
Accommodations for Special Education in the Administration of State Assessments:
One of the choices for filtering the Student Achievement data is by selecting the “Accommodations” filters on the
“Performance Demographics” tab.
Accommodations are changes in procedures or materials that ensure equitable access to instructional and assessment
content and generate valid assessment results for students who need them. Embedded accommodations (e.g.,
text-to-speech) are provided digitally through instructional or assessment technology, while non-embedded designated
features (e.g., scribe) are non-digital. Accommodations are generally available for students for whom there is a
documented need on an Individual Education Plan (IEP), 504 plan, or Individual Language Plan (ILP).
Approved accommodations:
American Sign Language (ASL), closed captioning, streamline, abacus, assistive technology/alternate response options,
braille, calculator/calculation device, 100s number table, print on demand, speech-to-text, scribe, multiplication
table, text-to-speech, or read aloud. Federal regulations require that a state not permit accommodation on any state
assessment if a particular accommodation would invalidate the assessment’s results. It is also important to remember
that certain accommodations may be used on some assessments but are prohibited on other types because of the
potential to invalidate the measured construct.
To protect student privacy, data for schools who have less than 10 students will not be displayed.
In some cases, when appropriate for transparency, information involving 10 or more students may be displayed in
ranges to avoid potential identification of students in small demographic populations. When utilized, ranges may be
represented visually with diagonal lines or open circles in lightly shaded colors.
North Dakota Accountability Report Cards:
Federal law requires school accountability measures to identify categories of schools that necessitate additional
support to meet improvement goals. These measures were selected by local stakeholders to align with the core value
that all students should graduate from North Dakota schools Choice
Ready, meaning they have the skills, knowledge,
and opportunities to successfully transition into a post-secondary pathway of their choosing (e.g., college,
workforce, military). The accountability indicators act as checkpoints to ensure that schools are serving students
in a variety of areas. North Dakota Accountability Report Cards provide a snapshot of how schools across the state
are serving students in a variety of areas.
All schools receive tools to support improvement planning and efforts. NDDPI identifies two additional categories of
support for schools meeting specific criteria based on accountability indicators. Schools identified for
Comprehensive
Support and Improvement (CSI) or Targeted
Support and Improvement (TSI) receive additional services
from NDDPI and federal funds to aid in specific interventions to improve student outcomes.
Accountability, Support, and Improvement definitions, resources, and exit criteria can be found here:
https://www.nd.gov/dpi/districtsschools/essa/accountability-support-improvement.
For additional information on
indicators, including calculation methods, data sources, and business rules, see the School
Accountability
Calculation.
Report cards are useful tools for supporting educators in engaging in a cycle of continuous improvement. The
“Accountability Pie” visually represents a school’s performance across all indicators. Each “slice” represents an
indicator and the degree to which the school earned possible points. The “Room for Improvement” slice is comprised
of all unattained points and may be used to identify improvement priorities. While no one report can tell the full
story of North Dakota schools, the dashboard features information on important measures that inform stakeholders how
to better support students.
Please contact dpidashboard@nd.gov with any questions and feedback.