The South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Assessment (S C READY) Program is a statewide assessment in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics in grades 3–8 and science for grades 4 and 6. The SC READY tests measure the South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards taught in ELA, Math, and Science classes.
These standards are located on the SCDE website.
• All students, including students with disabilities and multilingual learners (MLs), must be administered SC READY except for those students who qualify for the South Carolina Alternate Assessment (S C-Alt) as determined by their I E P team.
• The SC READY assessment must be administered during the last twenty school days as determined by each district’s instructional calendar. Districts and schools will schedule specific test dates and post these dates to their websites.
• The SCDE requires that districts schedule grade three testing during the first week of the testing window to receive student test scores for determining attendance at summer reading camp as mandated by the South Carolina Read to Succeed Act. Test Administration
• The SC READY tests are not timed. However, students should complete each test before the end of the school day.
• SC READY assessments are administered in a computer-based format only, with the following exceptions: Paper-based testing is available for students who cannot take online assessments due to their disabilities as specified in their IEPs or 504 plans, and for MLs if specified in their ILAPs. Translation of instructions are available for ML students.
• Parent resources including this brochure, sample score reports, and the Writer’s Checklist, are available in multiple languages and in an accessible format.
Go to the Student and Parent Resource webpage for translations, large print documents, and to request other alternate formats: https://ed.sc.gov/tests/assessment-information/student-and-parent-resources/
Types of Test Items
• ELA, mathematics, and science tests have questions with varying degrees of difficulty.
• The ELA test consists of selected-response (SR) items in grades 3–8, technology-enhanced (TE) items in grades 4–8, and evidence-based selected-response (EBSR) items in grades 5–8. The ELA test also includes a Text-Dependent Writing (T D W) item. The TDW item requires that students read a passage(s) and respond to a prompt or task while drawing upon the text(s) for their written response.
• The mathematics test contains SR items (grades 3–8), multi-select (MS) items (grades 5–8), and TE items (grades 6–8). TE items include drag and drop, hot spot, drop down list, keypad input, and constructed-response (type in a number).
• The science test consists of SR, EBSR, and TE item types: drag and drop, hot spot (click to select), match interaction (click to select based on criteria), and text highlight. Constructed-response items are bar graph (click to generate bars on a graph), numeric response, and dropdown list. Tests also include stimulus sets consisting of a short passage that may contain a graph, map, diagram, etc. and three associated questions.
Sample Questions, Tutorials, and Online Tools Training (OTT)
The SC READY webpage (https://ed.sc.gov/tests/middle/sc-ready/) provides practice, preparation, and reference resources including: Samples of test questions for each grade and subject.
• Online Testing Video Tutorial, with step-by-step instructions on how to use the online testing system. Schools should review these tutorials with students in advance of testing.
• Online Tools Training (OTT) computer module that simulates the testing environment and allows students to practice using the testing software and tools available during testing such as the highlighter, magnifier, and calculator. Test Results
• Districts will receive electronic copies of Individual Student Reports (ISRs) by July 17. By August 1, districts will receive paper copies to distribute to parents.
• Student results are reported as scale scores, performance levels (Exceeds, Meets, Approaches, or Does Not Meet), and performance by reporting category (Low, Middle, or High) for each test.
SC Ready Information
South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Assessments (SC READY)
Sample Items
Online Tools Training