Testing Portals

Montana's six required end-of-year summative state assessments are delivered to students mostly via online solutions. The Office of Public Instruction (OPI) contracts with test delivery contractors in order to deliver these assessments to students enrolled in Montana accredited schools. School districts must manage educator training, student rosters, student delivery, and achievement reporting through these various online portals. Each assessment is managed independently from one another as the assessments themselves have different purposes and measurement intentions. System Test Coordinators should ensure proper school district policies for managing local users and permissions to the online Test Delivery System (TDS) portals listed below.

Program Page	Required Test and Purpose	Subjects Tested	Grades Tested	Testing Time	Test Delivery Portal Link	Test Training and Certification Link
Smarter Balanced Program Page	Smarter Balanced is the general math and reading/language arts assessment for academic achievement reporting in Grades 3–8.  Provide state, district, school, and individual student data  Program Overview Video	Math ELA	3 – 8	3 – 4 hours*	TDS Portal	Training, Resources, Certification Link
MSAA Program Page	Multi-State Alternate Assessment [MSAA] is the alternate math and reading/language arts assessment for academic achievement reporting in Grades 3–8 and 11 for students with significant cognitive disabilities.  Provide state, district, school, and individual student data  Program Overview Video	Math ELA	3 – 8 & 11	2 – 3 hours	TDS Portal	Training, Resources, Certification Link
ACT Program Page	ACT with Writing [ACT] is the general math, reading/language arts, and science assessment for academic achievement reporting in Grade 11.  Provide state, district, school, and individual student data Program Overview Video	Math English Writing Reading Science	11	3 – 4 hours	TDS Portal	Training, Resources, Certification Link
MSA Program Page	Montana Science Assessment [MSA] is the general science assessment for academic achievement reporting in Grades 5 and 8.  Provide state, district, school, and individual student data Program Overview Video	Science	5 & 8	1 – 2 hours	TDS Portal	Training, Resources, Certification Link
AMSA Program Page	Alternate Montana Science Assessment [AMSA] is the alternate science assessment for academic achievement reporting in Grades 5, 8, and 11 for students with significant cognitive disabilities.  Provide state, district, school, and individual student data  Program Overview Video	Science	5, 8 & 11	1 – 2 hours	TDS Portal	Training, Resources, Certification Link
ACCESS Program Page	ACCESS for ELLs and WIDA Screener is the English Language Proficiency assessment for academic achievement reporting for English Learners (EL) in Grades K–12.  Monitor English Learner progress. Provide state, district, school, and individual student data  Program Overview Video	Speaking Listening Reading Writing	K – 12	2 – 3 hours	TDS Portal	Training, Resources, Certification Link

The OPI Assessment Bulletin is published monthly during the school year to announce important assessment and data dates and events. It provides up-to-date information necessary for the standardized administration of state assessments and the accompanying data. The newsletter is distributed via the OPI Monthly Compass and can be found on the RSS feed of the Statewide Testing page of the OPI website.