PTA New Hampshire Assessment Guide - Parents Guide to New English Language Arts and Mathematics

Oct 3, 2026

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Guide explaining how New Hampshire’s Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics translate into new CCSS-aligned assessments. Describes rollout timing, purposes of summative testing, and the differences from prior state measures that focused more on memorization. Details what students will do in ELA and math, benefits for early insight into college and career readiness, and the shift toward computer adaptive testing with accessibility notes for older systems.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Overview of new assessments

Why new assessments?

What is different about the new summative assessments?

CCSS-aligned assessments

Benefits of new assessments

parents’ guide to New English language arts and mathematics aSSESSmENTSIN NEW HampSHIRE In July 2010, New Hampshire adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). In New Hampshire, the CCSS, as well as other state content standards, are known as the New Hampshire College and Career Ready Standards (NH CCRS). The state’s new standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn in English language arts and mathematics as they progress through grades K-12. In the 2014-15 school year, New Hampshire will begin rolling out new assessments aligned to the CCSS. The new assessments are being used to gauge how well students are mastering the standards – and ultimately how ready students are for college and career education and training. In spring 2014, some schools will participate in field-testing the new assessments to ensure that the new test items are free of bias and that they challenge students working at all performance levels. WHaT aRE NEW HampSHIRE CollEgE aNd CaREER REady STaNdaRdS IN ENglISH laNguagE aRTS aNd maTHEmaTICS? The New Hampshire College and Career Ready Standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics are designed to enhance and improve student learning. The standards have greater clarity and rigor than most previous standards. They are relevant to the real world, giving young people the knowledge and skills they need for college and career success. They are also robust, ensuring a future U.S. workforce that can compete in the global economy. The new standards emphasize fewer topics and stress not only procedural skills, but also conceptual and critical thinking. The standards build knowledge from grade to grade, enabling students to master important concepts before moving onto others. The standards are not a curriculum. Decisions about curriculum, tools, materials, and textbooks are left to local districts and schools that know their students best. The CCSS were developed through a state-led initiative, spearheaded by governors and state commissioners in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, college faculty, parents, and education experts. They build on the excellent foundation laid across all states, and have been internationally benchmarked to ensure rigor on par with top-performing nations. To date, more than 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the CCSS. In 2011, several New Hampshire educators began implementing the CCSS in their districts, schools, and classrooms. To prepare educators, New Hampshire partners have provided a wide range of trainings, resources, and online tools to help administrators and teachers build capacity in the instructional strategies that will support the new standards. THIS guIdE INCludES: ■ overview of new assessments, which measure student proficiency against more rigorous standards ■ Sample questions ■ overview of accountability for students, teachers, and schools ■ additional resources for parents CCSS-aligned assessments WHy NEW aSSESSmENTS? Teachers and principals talk a lot about assessments, which are used to measure students’ academic achievement. This document highlights the end-of-year summative assessments, which judge student progress toward mastering state standards and program and school effectiveness. For other assessments used, see box at right. New summative assessments will address longstanding concerns that parents, educators, and employers have had about current state assessments – namely that they measure students’ ability to memorize facts, rather than their critical thinking and knowledge application skills. WHaT IS dIffERENT abouT THE NEW SummaTIvE aSSESSmENTS? The new assessments for English language arts and mathematics will enable educators to deepen their understanding of student progress from grade to grade—and just as importantly, identify and address any gaps in progress well before students enter college or the workforce. | Ty

FAQs

Why did New Hampshire introduce new CCSS-aligned assessments?

To better measure mastery of rigorous standards and address concerns that earlier assessments emphasized memorizing facts instead of critical thinking and application.

What changes do the new English language arts assessments require from students?

Students read more complex fiction and non-fiction, use evidence to answer questions and make inferences, present persuasive arguments, and receive writing assessment at every grade level.

How do the new math assessments differ from multiple-choice testing?

They use multi-step problems, conceptual questions, and real-world applications, and require students to explain how they arrived at answers, with deeper coverage of fewer topics.

Oct 3, 2026

Upload by dbqoiu