Commissioner’s Memo COM-08-149, created May 22, 2008, referenced the decision not to score the Stanford Early School Achievement Test2 (SEAST2) administered to kindergarten students in spring 2008. The fall test for students in first grade shall be the Metropolitan Achievement Test 8th Edition (MAT8). The MAT8 is for students in first grade who were Arkansas kindergarten students during the 2007-2008 school year. The window for the administration of the exam is September 15 – 26, 2008, and will take approximately two (2) hours to administer. The majority of the MAT8 is read to students.
Training for the administration of the MAT8 and for the Quall Early Learning Inventory (QELI) shall be provided through videoconference on August 12, 2008, from 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. The training is for teachers, principals, district test coordinators, and/or counselors. Schools should contact the local educational cooperative to register. A list of participating sites is attached. Please contact site to register.
School districts shall administer the QELI to all entering kindergarten students and any first grade students who did not attend kindergarten. The QELI administration window is August 11, 2008, through September 19, 2008. Administration of QELI meets the requirements of Ark. Code Ann. § 6-15-404(e).
The QELI is in a checklist format that helps teachers observe and record information about cognitive knowledge and classroom behaviors in six key areas: general knowledge, oral communication, written language, math concepts, work habits, and attentive behavior. The inventory was developed to be appropriate for all students, including students with special needs and linguistic backgrounds other than standard English.