What does a Free Reading Assessment look like for students? Is there a student preview of the assessment?

If your district has chosen to purchase Assessment Series in CommonLit School Essentials PRO or School Essentials PRO Plus, you will not have access to the Free Reading Assessment. Instead, you’ll be able to collect baseline data through the first assessment in the Assessment Series (Pre-Assessment). You’ll also have access to a Mid-Year and a Post-Assessment to help you track students’ reading growth throughout the reading year.

Once the Start Date has arrived for the Free Reading Assessment you scheduled for your class, your students will see the assessment appear on their My Assignments page under the class's name.

To begin, students should click the teal "Begin Assessment" button to open the test. Then, they will see a window pop up with general instructions about the test as well as an academic honesty agreement. Once they have read the instructions, they should click the "GOT IT" button, and then they'll be able to begin reading the passages and answering the questions. Note: They will see this window each time they refresh their page or re-open their test, and they must click this button each time.

The assessment includes three reading passages and multiple choice questions, some of which may be multi-select questions. Once students have carefully read the three texts and answered each question to the best of their ability, they should click "Next" on the last question and then click "Submit." If there are any questions they did not answer, the program will let them know and provide them with the opportunity to return to the assessment and revisit individual questions.

Once the student has submitted their assessment, they will no longer see it on their My Assignments page.

To preview the assessment as a teacher before assigning the assessment, click the purple Free Reading Assessment box on the Home Page. From there, click "Preview."

To preview the assessment as a teacher after assigning the assessment, find the Free Reading Assessment on your Assignments page and click "Preview." You can also click "Preview Assigned Assessments" from the Free Reading Assessment page.

Interested in getting affordable, rigorous benchmark assessments at your school or district to track student reading progress over the course of the year? Learn more about CommonLit's Assessments here.