K-5 mClass Benchmarks

mClass Newsletter Information

2024 - 2025

As part of The Alaska Reads Act, the State of Alaska requires that districts administer an early literacy screening tool three times a year to students in grades K-3 to identify potential reading difficulties in order to improve reading outcomes for students. Families can read more about this comprehensive K-3 reading policy at The Alaska Reads Act website: education.alaska.gov/akreads    

mClass with DIBELS 8th Edition Assessments is the State of Alaska Department of Education’s and ASD’s Early Literacy benchmark screening and progress monitoring tool for students in grades K-3 in reading. mClass utilizes curriculum-based measures and is used by schools as part of the ASD Comprehensive Assessment System to support informed instructional decisions. 

The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development explains the decision to adopt mClass as the statewide literacy screener here: 

https://education.alaska.gov/Alaska-Reading-Resources/Statewide-Early-Literacy-Screener 

mClass screening assessments will only be administered in-person during the benchmark window listed below: 

• Fall 2024: September 3 - 13 

Results for K-3 students that were assessed during a benchmark window, will be available in Parent Connect by September 27, 2024 ParentConnection Login Information and Reference Guide: parentconnect.asdk12.org

mClass is the universal Early Literacy Screener selected by the AK Department of Education and Early Development and used by the Anchorage School District to help with the early identification of students with reading deficits. Students in grades K-5 will take the mClass screener three times each year: fall, winter, and spring.

At Polaris, we utilize this data to best support the needs of students. Any student who scores below benchmark will receive targeted, individualized, interventions to support their reading growth and development.