SSSMART™ – the Science, Social Studies, and Mathematics Academic Reading Test – is a breakthrough assessment product for grades 4 to 8. It is designed to assess the knowledge, skills, and strategies students need to read and understand their textbooks and to succeed in the content areas of science, social studies, and mathematics.
SSSMART assesses:
- Academic vocabulary – grade-level, content-specific terms
- CUES (concepts and understanding of essential skills) – the notations, graphs, tools, and resources specific to each content area
- Comprehension – literal, inferential, and critical understanding of text commonly found in grade-level textbooks
- Skimming and scanning – the ability to find information in text quickly by skimming and scanning; a much-needed but often neglected skill
Prepare Students for Lifelong Learning
With time limits for each class period and so much material to cover, many students perform poorly in the content areas because they haven’t learned the specific skills and strategies needed to access information from their textbooks quickly. This unique content-area reading assessment program can prepare your students for lifelong learning.
Designed for Questar by co-authors Dr. Roger Farr, former International Reading Association President, and Kimberly Munroe, SSSMART is a unique way to address the knowledge, skills, and strategies students need to succeed in science, social studies, and mathematics.
Based upon national and state content area curriculum standards – as well as extensive research of the textbooks commonly used at each grade level – SSSMART assesses students’ ability to read and understand content area materials and provides teachers with specific strategies, instructional plans, and activities to help improve their students’ performance.
SSSMART Diagnostic Tests
These are grade-level, multiple-choice reading tests in science, social studies, and mathematics. All three content area subtests – Academic Vocabulary, CUES, and Comprehension – are included in one test booklet, along with a Skimming and Scanning subtest that contains content applicable to all three subjects.
Students mark their answers to all questions on a separate machine-scorable answer document. These tests may be administered by homeroom teachers, content area teachers, reading specialists, or literacy coaches. There are two forms per grade for pre- and post-testing.
SSSMART Survey Tests
Survey Tests are abbreviated versions of the Diagnostic Tests and can be used to quickly evaluate students’ abilities. Like the Diagnostic Test, each multiple-choice Survey Test includes sections on Academic Vocabulary, CUES, and Comprehension.
SSSMART Scoring Services
Questar provides complete scoring and reporting services for SSSMART Diagnostic Tests and SSSMART Survey Tests. Individual, class, grade, school, and district reports are included in the basic report package. Numerous optional reports are also available.
Learn more about Reading Score Reports.
Diagnostic Test score reports display separate scores for each content area and each skill area as well as composite scores. Survey Test score reports show Academic Vocabulary, CUES, and Comprehension scores across the three subjects.
A special feature of the Individual Student Diagnostic Report is a customized Action Plan with specific recommendations for the student’s instruction and growth.
Scoring keys are available for those who prefer to do their own scoring.
SSSMART Professional Development Strategies
These online SSSMART support materials answer the teacher’s question "So now what do I do?" after score reports are received in the schools. The Professional Development Strategies offer content area teachers, reading specialists, and literacy coaches innovative techniques to help teach students the skills they need to improve their proficiency in content area reading.
SSSMART Instructional Activities
Instructional Activities provide teachers with a set of easy-to-use, grade-appropriate, content-specific instructional activities that can be used in daily classroom instruction, as well as in intervention programs for struggling readers.