Why can't my students see the Free Reading 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 on CommonLit.org. Instead, you’ll be able to collect baseline data through the first assessment in the Assessment Series. You’ll also have access to a Mid-Year and a Post-Assessment to help you track students’ reading growth throughout the reading year.

Students will only be able to see and access the assessment on their My Assignments pages once the test date arrives. If you have successfully assigned the Free Reading Assessment for your class but your students report that they do not see it on their My Assignments page, please return to your Assignments page and check the date for which you scheduled the assessment in the bottom-left corner of the assessment. If the test date is in the future, your students will not see the assessment on their accounts. There is no due date for the assessment and students can submit after the test date.

If the test date has arrived and your student(s) still cannot see the assessment on their My Assignments page, this may be due to:

• The assessment being locked for the student(s). To check if an assessment is locked, click on the assessment from your Assignments page and click "Student Status." If a lock icon appears to the right of the submission status for a student, the assessment is locked and is not visible for the student on their My Assignments page. For more information on how to lock and unlock assessments, please see or FAQ: "Can I lock the Free Reading Assessment to prevent students from working on it outside of class?"
• A difference in time zones. Currently, CommonLit assessments do not account for "start times" — only start dates. CommonLit also does not yet account for time zones and operates using Pacific Time. If you and your students are located far outside of Pacific Time, this may be why students are unable to view the Free Reading Assessment on their My Assignments 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.