The Benchmark Exams will be administered April 17-20, 2007. The operational test for science in grades 5 and 7 will be administered during this time frame.
Writing Prompt Field Tests will occur during the Benchmark Exams this year for fourth and eighth grades because the pool of writing prompts for the specific grades has been depleted. Writing prompt field test items were dropped a few years ago from the regular testing at the request of school districts to shorten the time of testing. However, it is now time to replenish writing prompt items for the involved grades. This will increase the time of testing by 45 minutes for the grades, but will not increase the number of days for testing nor require the interruption of instruction at another time in the calendar.