The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Assessments are Connecticut’s statewide mastery examinations for science in grades 5, 8, and 11. They provide an efficient and reliable estimate of a student’s overall performance in science relative to grade-appropriate standards that enables valid interpretations of student achievement and progress. The NGSS Assessments include both the standard tests (often referred to as the NGSS assessments) taken by the majority of students, as well as the Connecticut Alternate Science (CTAS) Assessment, administered to a small population of eligible students with a significant cognitive disability.
Each NGSS assessment item begins with a real-world phenomenon that engages students in an authentic science experience or engineering design challenge. Information in the form of pictures, diagrams, data, charts, graphs, maps, etc., related to the phenomena are presented. Students must use this information along with their own science knowledge and skills to respond to questions that include a variety of item interaction types including:
- Multiple-choice
- Edit-task choice
- Multi-select
- Table match
- Graphing
- Equation editor
- Experiment simulation
- Design simulation
Each item is aligned to a single NGSS Performance Expectation. Some items include only one or two interactions and are called stand-alone items. Others are more complex, having several interactions, and are called item clusters. Each item interaction assesses at least two dimensions (i.e., science and engineering practice, disciplinary core idea, crosscutting concept) from the aligned NGSS Performance Expectation.
The standard NGSS Assessments are administered to students through an online test delivery system. Students have access to a variety of embedded tools including zoom, highlighter, notepad, line reader, grade-specific calculator, and periodic table in grades 8 and 11. A variety of supports and accommodations are available to qualifying students, including text-to-speech, Spanish translation, and Braille test forms. Detailed information about these supports and accommodations is described in the Assessment Guidelines.
NGSS Practice Tests are available at each of the tested grades for students to become familiar with the test delivery system and the various item interaction types that they will see on the live tests. In addition, optional NGSS Interim Assessments may be administered to students.
For more information, please see the Connecticut Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Assessments Interpretive Guide
