The goal of the South Dakota Department of Education is that all high school students graduate college, career, and life ready. To this aim, the South Dakota assessment system is designed to provide districts, schools, and parents with the information they need to ensure that their students remain on track to reach this goal.
South Dakota public school students participate in annual summative testing in English language arts and mathematics and the results of these tests are included in the state accountability system. In addition to annual tests in English language arts and mathematics, South Dakota requires assessment of science and writing annually and provides schools and teachers with resources to utilize other assessments to help identify strengths and areas for improvement.
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) is administered to Hill City School District Students grades 3-8 and 11. Information regarding content assessed, testing windows, and other information may be found by selecting the Dept. of Education link on this page.
Hill City School District administers the WIDA ACCESS assessment to ELL students which meets U.S. federal requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for monitoring and reporting ELLs’ progress toward English language proficiency.
Hill City Middle School will take part in the NAEP - National Assessment of Educational Progress and assessed in the areas of language arts and mathematics. NAEP information may be found by selecting the NAEP icon on this page.
The formative student assessment program implemented in the district is the NWEA MAP program. The North West Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Performance online assessment program is administered to students grades K-11 three times annually Fall - Winter - Spring. The program measures academic progress in Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. Parents/guardians receive data reports three times per year with student academic performance information. Students may take as much time as they need to complete this online assessment.
For more information regarding state, local, and other classroom level assessment platforms; please feel free to visit the links noted on this page or contact your child's teacher, building principal, or district superintendent. Testing dates may be found on building level website calendars. A link to Hill City School District annual state testing results is found in the DISTRICT link at the top of the page. Please drop down to DISTRICT ACCOUNTABILITY DATA to view district data. You may also find similar data on the LINKS TO VISIT section of our website. Thank you!
Blake Gardner
HCSD Superintendent
605-574-3030