ECCA – Curriculum: Reading Assessment for K-3

Revised 2023

Reading Assessment—

Subject to legislative appropriations, District elementary schools shall annually administer the State Board of Education approved benchmark reading assessments in grade 1, grade 2, and grade 3 between the first day of school and September 30 (first benchmark), between December 1 and January 31 (second benchmark), and between April 15 and June 15 (third benchmark).

Following each benchmark assessment, the school shall notify parents or guardians of their student’s results by October 30, February 28, and June 30, respectively. The District shall also report the results to the State Superintendent by the same dates, together with the additional information required by Rule R277-406-3(5).

If a benchmark assessment or a supplemental reading assessment indicates that a student is scoring below benchmark, the school shall take the notification and reading remediation interventions outlined below.

Utah Admin. Rules R277-406-3(1) to (4) (July 22, 2022)

Scoring Below Benchmark—

A student scores below or well below benchmark when the student performs below or well below the benchmark score on the benchmark reading assessment and requires additional instruction beyond that provided to typically developing peers to close the gap between the student’s current level of achievement and that expected of all students in that grade. For any first, second, or third grade student who through assessment is determined to be scoring below or well below benchmark, the school shall take the following actions:

  1. Notify the student’s parent that the student is reading below grade level;
  2. Administer diagnostic assessments to the student;
  3. Using data from the diagnostic assessment, provide specific, focused, and individualized intervention or tutoring to develop the reading skill;
  4. Administer formative assessments and progress monitoring at recommended levels for the benchmark assessment to measure the success of the focused intervention;
  5. Inform the parent of activities that he or she may engage in with the student to assist the student in improving reading proficiency;
  6. Provide information to the parent of the student regarding reading interventions available to the student outside regular instructional time that may include tutoring, before and after school programs, or summer school; and
  7. Provide instructional materials that are evidence-informed for core instruction and evidence-based for intervention and supplemental instruction.

In meeting these standards, “evidence-based” means that a strategy (not including reading software) demonstrates a statistically significant effect, of at least a 0.40 effect size, on improving student outcomes based on either strong evidence from at least one well-designed and well-implemented experimental study (as further defined by the State Board of Education) or moderate evidence from at least one well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental study (as further defined by the State Board of Education). “Evidence-informed” means that a strategy is developed using high-quality research outside of a controlled setting in the given field (as further defined by the State Board of Education) and includes strategies and activities with a strong scientific basis for use (as further defined by the State Board of Education).

Utah Code § 53E-4-307(4)(a) (2023)

Utah Code § 53G-11-303(1) (2023)

Utah Admin. Rules R277-406-2(11) (July 22, 2022)

Utah Admin. Rules R277-406-3(3)(a) (July 22, 2022)