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The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction's Office of Assessment has expanded and is now the Office of Assessment and Accountability.
While the office name and organizational structure are changing, one thing remains the same: our commitment to providing responsive, high-quality service to North Dakota schools and districts.
Bringing assessment and accountability work together creates opportunities for stronger collaboration, better coordination, and more consistent support for schools and districts. Working closely across these areas also allows us to better connect assessment information with accountability efforts and support continuous improvement across North Dakota
As the Office of Assessment and Accountability moves forward, schools and districts can expect the same responsive service and commitment they have come to rely on from NDDPI. We look forward to the benefits this new structure provides and to continuing our partnership with educators, schools, and districts across North Dakota.
NDDPI has resumed daily uploads of student and teacher data into the ND A+ assessment platforms—LaunchPad, ADAM, and WriteUp!—making 2026–2027 school year information available. NDDPI's data team continues to address issues with the courses, classes, enrollments, and academic sessions files. Until we are able to pull and produce clean files for these data elements, this information will not be fed into LaunchPad.
What does this mean for schools and teachers?
The current data issues do not affect the ability to administer or use ND A+ Interim Assessments. However, they will temporarily affect some functionality in ADAM and LaunchPad:
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ADAM: Teachers will not see their assigned classes in the Student Assignments area (which replaces My Classes) or be able to initiate an interim test administration from that view. Teachers will also be unable to view results at this time.
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Navvy: Navvy requires course and class information to complete course mapping. Because the current daily data files do not yet include the required data elements, the mapping process cannot be completed. The Navvy tile will not be available to teachers in LaunchPad until the required data are in place and the mapping process is complete.
NDDPI will continue working to resolve these data issues and will provide updates as additional functionality becomes available.
Where Does This Data Come From?
Data is automatically pulled from:
- The MIS03 report in STARS
- The Fall Enrollment Report in STARS
- Infinite Campus
⚠️ Please note: The timing of teacher access to LaunchPad depends on a teacher being entered in Infinite Campus as a licensed teacher assigned to course sections. Those section assignments must also match a valid MIS03 teacher record. The completeness of student, teacher, course, and class data depends on when districts enter information into Infinite Campus and the MIS03 report.
✅ Good to know: Schools do not need to submit the MIS03 report for data to begin flowing into LaunchPad or for teacher accounts to be created. Once the necessary information is entered and saved in the MIS03 report, the daily data file process will begin capturing and syncing the information.
Accessing LaunchPad
Once a teacher account has been established in LaunchPad, teachers can use the First Time Sign In / Reset Password link on the LaunchPad login page to access their account.
NDDPI has also been working to pull and upload student testing tools and accommodations into ADAM, as we have done in previous years. However, we recently determined that we will not be able to pull and upload accommodations into ADAM for the fall and winter administrations of the ND A+ Interim Assessments.
We are optimistic that we will be able to resolve the issue and/or identify an alternative solution in time for the spring ND A+ Interim Assessment and ND A+ Summative Assessment windows. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.
What Does This Mean for Schools and Districts?
For the fall ND A+ Interim Assessment administration, school and/or district staff will need to manually enter student testing tools and accommodations directly into ADAM. Testing tools and accommodations entered manually in ADAM will remain in place for both the fall and winter administration periods. Staff will not need to re-enter the same testing tools or accommodations when preparing for the winter administration.
For students who require testing tools or accommodations:
- Review each student’s applicable testing tools and accommodations.
- Manually enter the appropriate settings in ADAM before testing.
- Verify that the settings are correct before the student begins an assessment.
- No additional entry will be needed for the winter administration unless a student’s testing tools or accommodations change.
Step-by-step instructions are available in Appendix F: Updating Student Accommodations in the ND A+ Interim Assessment Test Administration Manual (TAM), located on the ND A+ Portal > Administration Resources > Interim Resources.
The 2026–2027 ND A+ Interim Assessment Test Administration Manual (TAM) is now available on the ND A+ Portal. School and district staff should review the updated TAM before administering the fall ND A+ Interim Assessments.
Updated Calculator Policy for High School Mathematics
One important change in the 2026–2027 ND A+ Interim Assessment Test Administration Manual is the calculator policy for high school mathematics assessments. Handheld calculators are now permitted for high school students during the ND A+ Interim Assessments in mathematics, in accordance with the calculator guidelines outlined in the TAM. The updated policy reflects input from North Dakota educators and their advocacy for greater flexibility in calculator use during high school mathematics assessments.
School and district staff should review the updated calculator requirements to ensure that students and staff understand when calculators may be used and which calculators are permitted during testing.
The 2026–2027 ND A+ Interim Assessment Test Administration Manual includes the most current information about test administration procedures, testing tools and accommodations, calculators, and other requirements for administering the ND A+ Interim Assessments.
Please review the 2026–2027 ND A+ Interim Assessment Test Administration Manual before testing. The manual is available on the ND A+ Portal > Administration Resources > Interim Resources.
ND A+ Interim Assessment blueprints are now available on the ND A+ Portal. The blueprints reflect the continued development of the ND A+ assessments and provide educators with greater visibility into the assessment structure for upcoming administrations.
As part of the long-term assessment design, ND A+ Interim Assessments are gradually building toward 25 items per assessment by spring 2027. As this phased approach continues, educators may notice changes in the number of items represented in the blueprints across upcoming administrations.
The blueprints are intended to help educators better understand the content measured on the assessment and support instructional planning throughout the school year. Schools and districts are encouraged to review the available blueprints and refer to the ND A+ Portal for the most current assessment resources and documentation.
Find the ND A+ Interim Assessment blueprints on the ND A+ Portal > Administration Resources > Interim Resources > ND A+ Interim Blueprints.
With Family Portal scheduled to go live on Sept. 18, 2026, with spring 2026 ND A+ Summative Assessment results available to families, now is a good time to remind schools and districts about Family Portal and the resources available to support families.
The Family Resources section on the ND A+ Portal includes information to help families understand the ND A+ assessment system and access and interpret their student’s results. Schools and districts are encouraged to share these resources with families as part of their assessment communications.
Through Family Portal, families will be able to:
- View their student’s ND A+ Summative Assessment scores and access resources to help interpret the results
- Watch a personalized video report explaining their student’s performance
- Download the student’s full Individual Student Report (ISR)
Access to Family Portal is secure and requires the student’s State Student ID (SSID), last name, and date of birth. The portal and personalized video reports are available in both English and Spanish.
Family Portal ISRs Available in ADAM
Family Portal ISRs are available to district and school administrators in ADAM under Reporting > Report Assets. These reports contain the same information families receive through Family Portal and are provided in the same format as the family-facing report. Administrators can use these reports to review the information available to families and support schools in communicating assessment results.
NDDPI will not communicate directly with families about the availability of Family Portal or the release of student results. Schools and districts are responsible for sharing information about Family Portal and directing families to the available resources.
Schools and districts are encouraged to review the resources in the Family Resources section and share information about Family Portal with families ahead of the Sept. 18 launch.
Navvy Coaching and Course Mapping Support
North Dakota districts now have access to a dedicated Success Partner to support healthy and successful Navvy implementation. Districts that choose to participate in implementation coaching will have regular opportunities to connect with their Success Partner to learn best practices, review district data, and receive ongoing guidance and support throughout the school year.
To help address one of the most common implementation barriers—course mapping—Navvy has introduced a new Course Manager permission. This optional role allows a designated staff member with course knowledge to map standards to courses within the platform, helping districts get started more efficiently. Training will be provided for individuals assigned this role.
📌 Interested? Districts interested in implementation coaching, assigning a Course Manager, or both are encouraged to complete the interest form here.
Navvy Professional Learning
Professional Development for the 2026–2027 School Year
Navvy professional learning opportunities began last week and will continue throughout the school year. These sessions are designed to support both successful implementation and effective instructional use of the platform. Register to strengthen your Navvy knowledge, explore best practices, and connect with other educators using the platform.
On-Demand Learning
Access the Navvy Essentials and Extensions self-paced courses through the ND Educational Hub at your convenience.
Navvy Resource HQ
Districts participating in the full ND A+ system now have access to the Navvy Resource HQ, a centralized location for North Dakota-specific Navvy resources, guides, training materials, and implementation support.
Look for the Navvy Resource HQ button on your LaunchPad dashboard. The site is password protected and can be accessed directly through your LaunchPad account. The password can be found in the resource description within LaunchPad.
Need Additional Support?
Join Pearson's Navvy Success Partners during weekly office hours for implementation questions, troubleshooting, and guidance.
- Tuesdays, 9:30–10:15 a.m. CT on Microsoft Teams | Join here
- Thursdays, 1:00–1:45 p.m. CT on Microsoft Teams | Join here
Navvy Alignment and Item Review
NDDPI, in partnership with Pearson, is seeking North Dakota educators to participate in a review of Navvy reading and mathematics items during the week of Oct. 5, 2026. This review will support the ongoing alignment of Navvy content to the North Dakota Content Standards, achievement level descriptors, grade-level expectations, and the broader ND A+ assessment system.
Participating educators will evaluate item alignment, grade-level appropriateness, content accuracy, and clarity and quality, as well as the instructional and assessment value of the items.
Committee Structure
Review committees will be organized by grade band and content area for reading and mathematics, with up to eight educators serving on each committee.
Committees include:
- Kindergarten–Grade 2 reading and mathematics (combined)
- Grades 3–5 reading
- Grades 3–5 mathematics
- Grades 6–8 reading
- Grades 6–8 mathematics
- Grades 9–10 reading
- Grades 9–10 mathematics
Participation Details
The review process includes:
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Sept. 21–25, 2026: Asynchronous independent pre-review of approximately 100 assigned assessment items. Participants will recommend whether each item should be accepted, accepted with edits, or rejected.
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Week of Oct. 5, 2026: Two-day facilitated virtual committee meetings where educators will discuss recommendations and reach consensus on item quality and alignment.
⚠️ Time Commitment: Participants should plan for approximately 16 hours of independent pre-review work in addition to the two days of virtual committee meetings.
Participant Compensation
- $225 honorarium for completing the pre-review work
- $225 per virtual meeting day
Interested in Participating?
Educators interested in participating in the Navvy item review are encouraged to submit their interest here.
As schools and districts begin reviewing updated spring 2026 ND A+ Summative Assessment results, it is important to remember that assessment results and accountability results are related but serve different purposes. Although both use ND A+ Summative Assessment data, they are available on different timelines and inform different decisions.
Use Assessment Results Now
Updated assessment results are available now and can be used to identify areas of strength and need, inform instructional planning and student support, and guide school and district continuous improvement efforts. Schools do not need to wait for accountability results to begin reviewing and using their assessment data.
Accountability Results Are Coming Later
Accountability results require additional data review and calculations before school-level accountability determinations can be made. The school review process for accountability is tentatively expected to begin in mid-October, with public release of accountability results on ND Insights anticipated in mid-November.
Because the accountability process is separate from the release of assessment results, the results available now should not be interpreted as a school's final accountability determination or final measure of student achievement.
Keep These Timelines in Mind
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Now: Review and use updated assessment results to support instruction, student support, and school improvement.
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Mid-October: School review period for accountability is tentatively expected to begin.
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Mid-November: Public release of accountability results on ND Insights is anticipated.
NDDPI will provide additional information as the accountability timeline progresses. In the meantime, schools and districts are encouraged to use the assessment results currently available to support meaningful conversations about student learning and continuous improvement.
Did you know...that several enhancements to WriteUp! were released in August, bringing improvements to scoring accuracy, feedback reliability, and teacher access to the student writing experience. These updates are designed to strengthen the quality of feedback provided to students while giving educators additional tools to support classroom implementation.
Enhanced Conventions Scoring
WriteUp! now uses specialized scoring models to evaluate conventions-related traits, including capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. By identifying and counting writing errors before generating scores, these enhancements improve scoring accuracy, consistency, and alignment with human scoring. As a result, agreement between WriteUp! scores and human scoring for conventions-related traits has more than doubled.
Students will continue to receive actionable feedback, with more accurate conventions feedback and more precise highlighted excerpts. These improvements can help students more easily identify areas where revisions may be needed.
New Teacher Demo Mode
Teachers can now explore WriteUp! from a student’s perspective using the new Demo Mode feature. Demo Mode provides a simulated student environment where teachers can practice submitting responses, review AI-generated feedback, and experience the revision process exactly as students do, all without needing access to a student account.
Demo Mode is a valuable resource for educator onboarding, professional learning, and classroom preparation. It allows teachers to preview the student experience, demonstrate key features and workflows to students, and gain a better understanding of how feedback and revisions are presented within WriteUp!.
For additional information about Demo Mode and other WriteUp! resources, please visit the ND A+ Portal > WriteUp!.
Want to better understand the ND A+ (North Dakota Academic Progression of Learning and Understanding of Students) assessment system? A variety of helpful tools and resources are available to support your learning and implementation.
🔹 ND A+ Overview Video: Get a quick introduction to the assessment system with a short video available on the ND A+ Portal.
🔹 ND A+ Blueprints: Developed with input from North Dakota educators, these blueprints outline:
- The state standards assessed
- Reporting categories
- Distribution of items by reporting category and score points. They guide the design of both ND A+ Summative and ND A+ Interim assessments.
📍 Find them under the Administration Resources tab > Summative Resources on the ND A+ Portal.
🔹 Achievement Level Descriptors (ALDs): Also created with educator collaboration, ALDs describe what students at each achievement level are expected to know and do, based on North Dakota Content Standards.
📍 Available under Administration Resources > Summative Resources on the ND A+ Portal.
📌 Visit the ND A+ Portal to explore these and other helpful resources.
Monthly newsletters are now conveniently stored in one central location: https://www.nd.gov/dpi/newsletters, under the Assessment Newsletter tab.
Newsletters will be available only for the current school year. This fresh-start approach helps keep content timely and relevant.
Be sure to check back regularly so you don’t miss any important updates!
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