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, 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.

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 on the assessment to open the test. Then, they will see a window pop up with general instructions about the test. 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 "CONTINUE" on the last question and then click "SUBMIT ASSESSMENT." If there are any questions they did not answer, we will let them know and provide them with the opportunity to return to the assessment by clicking "BACK TO ASSESSMENT" to answer any missed questions.

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

For a preview of the student assessment experience for teachers (and students), see our YouTube video: Student Pre-Assessments on CommonLit.