Utah U-PASS Test Prep
About Utah’s K-12 Standardized Tests
Are your kids preparing for the Utah CRT, UBSCT, Utah DWA, or ITBS? All these standardized tests are part of the Utah Performance Assessment System for Students, known U-PASS. Utah U-PASS tests measure the progress of students from second grade through high school and provide actionable data to help parents, teachers, and students improve academic performance. Utah U-PASS is also used by the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) in evaluating each school’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
Time4Learning is an online service that teaches many of the USOE designated skills. We offer this page to support your research on the best ways to help your kids with Utah CRT, UBSCT, Utah DWA, and ITBS practice and preparation.
Utah U-PASS Tests at a Glance
Utah public school students take the following U-PASS tests:
Utah CRT Tests: 2nd Grade – 11th Grade
The Utah Criterion-Referenced Test (CRT) assesses students’ progress in meeting the Utah Core Curriculum standards. These Utah state standards define what Utah students should learn in every grade. The annual Utah CRT testing is administered as follows:
Utah CRT-ELA (English Language Arts): 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th grades.
Utah CRT Math: 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th grades, as well as course-specific Utah CRTs in algebra 1 and 2, geometry, and pre-algebra.
Utah CRT Science: 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, as well as course-specific Utah CRTs in earth systems, biology, physics, and chemistry.
Utah Direct Writing Assessment (DWA)
The Utah DWA is given to students in 6th and 9th grades.
Utah Basic Skills Competency Test (UBSCT)
Tenth grade students take UBSCT tests in reading, writing, and math, and must pass in order to graduate.
ITBS and ITED: National Norm-referenced Tests
The USOE also administers the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) to 3rd, 5th, and 8th graders, and the Iowa Test of Educational Development (ITED) to 11th graders. The ITBS and ITED assess students in reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies. These are nationally standardized, norm-referenced achievement tests, which measure Utah students’ performance in relation to the performance of students across the United States.
How Utah U-PASS Tests Are Scored
The Utah CRT, UBSCT, and Utah DWA assessments are all criterion-referenced tests based on Utah Core Curriculum standards. As criterion-referenced tests, your child will only compete against him or herself, rather than be compared against other test takers, as with norm-referenced tests.
Utah CRT and UBSCT tests are rated on a 4-point scale that shows how well students have mastered grade-specific skills, with levels 3 and 4 indicating proficiency. High school students pass the UBSCT if they score at level 3 or above.
The Utah Direct Writing Assessment is scored based on students’ mastery of six writing traits: ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.
ITBS and ITED scores are expressed as percentile ranks, based on the scores of all students in the same grade nationwide. For example, a percentile rank of 75 means your child scored as well or better than 75% of students who took the test across the country. The national average for all schools is 50.
Other Utah Standardized Tests
Utah uses a balanced range of assessments to promote learning for all students. Utah’s Alternate Assessment (UAA) is designed to measure the progress of students with severe cognitive disabilities. All students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) take the Utah Academic Language Proficiency Assessment (UALPA), which measure progress in English language acquisition.
NAEP in Utah
Utah also participates annually in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as the Nation’s Report Card, where a sampling of students (from grades 4, 8, and/or 12) are tested in several content areas as part of a nationally representative assessment of student performance.
Preparing for the Utah CRT, UBSCT, and Utah DWA Tests
For general tips on test preparation, please visit our standardized test overview page.
The real preparation for the Utah CRT, or any standardized test, begins with your commitment to your children’s education throughout their school years. Devote time and effort to helping your children learn. Start by making sure your kids do their homework and read every day. Many families also employ tutors or an online learning program, such as Time4Learning, to build fundamental skills.
When preparing for standardized tests, students often benefit from test prep programs and books, which offer guidance and practice with test formats, time restrictions, test-taking strategies (when to guess, when not to), and different types of questions. For instance, when a reading passage is followed by comprehension questions, many test prep programs teach students to scan the questions first in order to know what areas of the passage require close reading. Time4Learning is not a test prep program, it is a program that builds the skills that will be tested.
Time4Learning is a new approach that takes advantage of today’s technology. It’s a convenient, online home education program that combines learning with fun educational teaching games.
The online language arts and math curriculum comprise a comprehensive program for preschool, elementary school, and middle school. Science and social studies programs are provided for most grades.
Kids like using the computer to learn and to develop their skills. Time4Learning’s educational teaching games give students independence as they progress at their own pace.
Parents like that it tracks progress and helps kids advance by teaching through individualized learning paths that assure mastery of the skills and concepts that makes kids succeed.
Have a child with math and language arts skills at different grade levels? No problem, just tell us in the online registration process.
Time4Learning is proven effective, has a low monthly price, and provides a money-back guarantee so you can be sure that it works for your family, risk free!
For more information and resources on Utah Education, visit:
USOE: Utah State Office of Education
Utah Homeschooling Information
