Achieve3000 Literacy - LevelSet Locator Test

In partnership with MetaMetrics, Achieve3000 has created the LevelSet Locator Test for new users. Specifically, new users will complete the Locator Test as an initial gauge of their reading ability before completing their initial LevelSet. New users’ performance on the Locator Test will be used to direct them to the version of the LevelSet assessment that is most appropriately matched to their reading ability.  This ensures a more accurate pretest Lexile measures for students and a better match to the content students will see as they interact with the lessons in Achieve3000 Literacy.

The locator test will be automatically provided to all new students users when they first log into Achieve3000 Literacy.  Students will complete the 10-item Locator Test, then move seamlessly to the most appropriate version of the LevelSet assessment.

Students completing an interim or post-test LevelSet will not see the Locator Test, as the system already has a specific Lexile score for each student.  It will use that Lexile score to properly place the student in the correct version of the assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Click here for a PDF copy of the Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Locator Test?

The Locator test is a brief Lexile assessment that new users will complete prior to the LevelSet. There are three test forms of the Locator Test, one developed for elementary school (grades 2-5), one for middle school (grades 6-8), and one for high school (grades 9-12).

Each test form consists of 10 items selected from MetaMetrics’ proprietary Lexile Item Bank. Mirroring the items on the LevelSet, the Locator Test items will be in a 2-sentence format (i.e., single sentence followed by the stem) or a native-Lexile format (i.e., passage of text followed the stem). The passages are based on informational (nonfiction) content, whereas the stems consist of embedded completion statements (e.g., fill-in-the-blank) with four answer choices.

The Locator test items will include passages with Lexile text measures between BR70L and 1100L, with the range and target mean for each specific test form set according to the interquartile range of Lexile reading measures observed in that grade range (i.e., based on a large nationally normed sample collected by MetaMetrics of students in Grades 1-12 who received Lexile reading measures between 2010-2016 for three testing windows—fall, winter, and spring). Table 1 shows the specifications for each of the Locator Test forms.

Who will take the Locator Test?

Only new users – those who do not already have a Lexile measure in the Achieve3000 Literacy system - will receive the Locator test prior to completing the LevelSet. Returning users – those who already have a Lexile measure in the system – will not take the Locator test, and instead will be assigned to a level of the LevelSet based on their current Lexile measure. Also, currently, only new users taking the English LevelSet will receive the Locator Test.

How will LevelSet assessments be assigned in Spanish?

New users taking their very first Spanish Pre-Test will be assigned to a level of the LevelSet that corresponds to their class grade. However, if a new user has been assigned to the Support scaffold, they will receive a LevelSet that is two grade levels below their class grade. In contrast, if a new user has been assigned to the enrichment scaffold, they will receive a LevelSet that is one grade level above their class grade.

How will the Locator Test be administered?

When new users first login to the Achieve3000 Literacy platform, will be automatically directed to one of the three Locator Tests forms based on their current grade level: 2-5, 6-8, or 9-12. After completing the Locator Test, they will be automatically directed to the LevelSet. In total, new users will complete 40 items (i.e., 10 for the Locator Test and 30 for the LevelSet).

What is the benefit of the Locator Test?

Previously, new users were assigned to take one of the 11 versions of the Pre-test LevelSet based solely on their grade. For example, a new user in grade six would be assigned to the level 6 version of the LevelSet. However, within each grade, there is considerable variability in students’ reading ability. For example, when new users who read well below-grade-level are assigned to their grade-level LevelSet, their actual reading ability may fall below the range of reading ability that the grade-level LevelSet was designed to reliably measure. As such, despite struggling on that LevelSet, their resulting Lexile measure may still overestimate their actual reading ability. And since their pretest Lexile measure is used to match them to articles, they will be assigned content that they will likely continue to struggle on.

In contrast, when new users who read well above-grade-level are assigned to their grade-level LevelSet, their actual reading ability may fall above the range of reading ability that the grade-level LevelSet was designed to reliably measure. As such, despite acing, or nearly acing, the LevelSet, their resulting Lexile measure may still underestimate their actual reading ability. And in turn, they will be assigned content that is not challenging enough for them. In such cases, these students may show drastic increases in their Lexile measure shortly after completing the pretest, but this reflects their Lexile measure autocorrecting to where it should be rather than actual growth.

With the Locator test, instead of relying solely on a new user’s grade level, the system will now have an initial estimate of their actual reading ability to assign below-grade-level readers to a LevelSet level that was better designed to measure lower Lexile ranges, or to assign above-grade-level readers to a LevelSet level that was better designed to measure higher Lexile ranges.

Other implications of the Locator Test?

The Locator test will provide a more empirical-based estimation of when and by how much a student should be assigned to a lower or higher LevelSet level. The scaffolds assigned to a student will no longer factor into which LevelSet level new users receive. Previously, if a new user had been assigned to receive Support and/or Language scaffolds, that student would have received a version of the LevelSet two grade-levels below their actual grade. In contrast, if Enrichment scaffolds had been assigned, that student would have been assigned to a version one grade-level above their actual grade.

The Locator test will allow for more accurate placement of new users than the step-down logic. The step-down logic will be removed. Previously, the LevelSet had step-down logic in place where students who struggled on the first five to ten items are redirected to a lower level of the LevelSet.

As the Locator test will provide an empirical-based estimation of when and by how much a student should be assigned to a lower or higher LevelSet level, the option for teachers to specify which level a student will take will be removed. Previously, if teachers did not want the very first LevelSet for a new user to take to be at grade-level, they did have the option to specify a different level to which the student would be assigned.

Teachers can check which LevelSet level a student was assigned to by reviewing the student information on the LevelSet Scheduler page in the Achieve3000 Literacy teacher edition. Go to: LevelSet Scheduler > Click the student’s name.