North Carolina Testing Program

English, Romanian, Russian, Spanish

The North Carolina Accountability Model (adopted in 2017-2018) acknowledges that we owe every child an education that properly prepares him or her for their next big steps after graduation – college, career, and adulthood.

The North Carolina Department of Public Education Accountability Services Division is committed to evaluating how students are learning and where we must make improvement based on performance indicators, progress indicators, and growth indicators.

The following tests will be given during the 2023-2024 school year. It is required that all students in Buncombe County Schools participate in the state testing program.

Students in grades K-3 will take the mClass assessment of Reading Skills 3 times during the year to measure progress on reading skills. The windows are in September, January, and May.

Elementary and Middle School Grades 3-8

  • Students at grade 3 take the Beginning-of Grade 3 English Language Arts/Reading Test between the 1st and the 15th day of the school year.

  • Students at grades 3, 4, 6, and 7 take End-of-Grade tests in English Language Arts/Reading and

    Mathematics during the last 10 days of the school year.

  • Students at grades 5 and 8 take End-of-Grade tests in English Language Arts/Reading, Mathematics,

    and Science during the last 10 days of the school year.

High School Grades 9-12

 Students who are enrolled for credit in courses where End-of-Course (EOC) tests are required shall take the appropriate End-of-Course test Final Exam.

End-of-Course tests are given during the last 5 days of the instructional period for 4X4/semester courses or the last 10 days of the instructional period for traditional/yearlong courses.

  • Students at grade 10 take the PreACT (curriculum-based educational and career planning assessment

    that measures achievement in English, Math, Reading, and Science) from October 9, 2023 – November

    17, 2023.

  • Students in grade 11 take the ACT (college admission and placement test evaluating learning in

    English, Mathematics, Reading, Science, and Writing) from February 27, 2024 – March 1, 2024.

  • Students at grade 12 who are identified as Career and Technical Education concentrators are required

    to take the WorkKeys assessments in either November 6 – December 8, 2023, or February 19 – March

    15, 2024.

For 2023-24, EOC tests are available for the following subjects: NC Math I, NC Math III, Biology, and English II.

Per State Board of Education policy and Buncombe County Schools policy, schools are to use results from all End-of-Course, Career and Technical Education State Assessments, and teacher-made Final Exams as at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the student’s final grade for each respective course.

State-Identified English Language Proficiency

Language minority students are identified through the use of the home language survey process. The state-identified English language proficiency test is administered to eligible students in kindergarten through grade twelve.