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Utah Aspire Plus

Grade Level: 9-10
Content Area: Reading, Mathematics, Science
Testing Window: March 3, 2025 – May 9, 2025
Remote Testing Allowed: No
Student Data: UTREx – nightly upload
Student Results: Students will be able to see scores upon submission of the test. Because of the discontinuation of the English test, scores for educators and administrators will not be available for the Utah Aspire Plus until the fall of 2025.

Testing Interface: ADAM - https://ltr.adamexam.com/#/

Testing times

Grade 9 Grade 10
Math 75 75
Science 60 60
Reading 75 75

No English test will be administered for the 2024-25 school year because of a change in the core standards.

Skip to the big list of resources, guides, and tutorials

What do the tests look like?

  • The assessment contains approximately 50% items from the Utah test bank, and 50% from ACT Aspire.
  • The questions are multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank/short answer format.
  • There will be four subjects tested in each grade: English, Reading, Science, and Math.
  • The four tests can be administered in any order. Schools can schedule the tests ACT-style, where students sit down and take each component test one after the other. Or, schools can schedule tests SAGE-style, where individual teachers sign up for different dates within the testing window.
  • The tests will be timed, like ACT Aspire and ACT.
  • The test will not be differentiated by course, only by grade level. Freshman will have a distinct, different test from sophomores, but the Math and Science tests will not vary based on the courses in which students are enrolled.
  • Science tests will focus on the ILO standards instead of the content standards. In other words, the questions will focus on the process of scientific investigation rather than questions about Biology, Earth Science, Chemistry, or Physics content.
  • Grade 9 and 10 end-of-level tests will be transadaptive, meaning the test will be translated into Spanish and adapted to account for linguistic and cultural differences between English and Spanish speakers.
  • Printed Braille and large print manuals will be shipped to schools ahead of time, so no Braille printing is required during testing.

Questions?

Contact Kassidy Towery at 801-567-8115 | kassidy.towery@jordandistrict.org.

Resources, Guides, and Tutorials

Accommodations

  • Utah Aspire Plus Accommodations

  • Students who require the use of any Assistive Technology (AT) will need approval for use of such accommodation at the state level because Utah Aspire Plus- AT needs to be added to a white list in order to work with the Nextera platform. Please request and submit forms from Tracy Gooley at tracy.gooley@schools.utah.gov at least 3 weeks prior to testing.

FAQs

Can students taking different tests (RISE or ACT and Utah Aspire Plus) test in the same room?

Due to the test security and administration requirements, students taking RISE and students taking Utah Aspire Plus cannot be tested in the same room.  Utah Aspire Plus is a timed assessment, where RISE is not. Additionally Utah Aspire Plus has different test administration scripts than the test administration scripts that must be used for RISE.  ACT has very strict administration guidelines that must be followed exactly, and administration with another test (or even administration of the same test but with different timing codes in the same room) is not allowed.

What kind of items will be on the Utah Aspire Plus assessment? Is it the same as ACT Aspire? How should our students prepare?

Utah Aspire Plus is a hybrid assessment that is aligned to the Utah Core Standards. The 9th grade end-of-level assessment for math is aligned to Secondary Math I, and the 10th grade end-of-level assessment for math is aligned to Secondary Math II.  The English and reading tests are aligned to the 9th grade ELA standards for the 9th grade assessment, and the 10th grade ELA standards for the 10th grade assessment. Science has questions selected from biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science.  However, those questions are “content agnostic” which means that if a physics student received a biology question, he or she should still be able to answer the question; the science questions are focused on scientific skills, reasoning, etc. as described in the Intended Learning Outcomes of the science standards.  The best way to prepare students is to make sure students understand their core content.

Can students take Utah Aspire Plus at a school location other than the location where they are registered students (like they can for the ACT)?

This primarily applies to online schools.  The answer to this question is no.  Because the administration of this test is not managed on a local basis like the ACT student management (Utah Aspire Plus is managed based on nightly UTREx uploads), the option for students to test at locations other than their own school locations is not possible.  All student tests will only be generated and associated with their school that they are assigned to through UTREx.

What kind of calculators can students use on Utah Aspire Plus?

Students will be able to use the embedded Desmos graphing calculator for the math section, or they can bring their own approved calculator (calculators without internet access capability like the TI-84). The calculator policy is the same as the ACT calculator policy.

How do we need to set up the testing room arrangements for students who are testing with accommodations?  How are the Utah Aspire Plus arrangements different than the ACT?
If the student has 1.5x time, 2x time, or 3x time as an extended time accommodation, that timing will be built in to the system and the test will stop when the time runs out, just as it does for the standard timing.  We recommend testing students with accommodations in an appropriate setting so as to minimize disruption for all students.  This is particularly true for students who may be taking Utah Aspire Plus as a battery where directions must be read at the start of each session.  If students in the session are not starting and ending at the same time, then there will be testing disruptions for the students who have extended time that would not be appropriate.  There are some Utah Aspire Plus accommodations that require testing in a one-on-one setting.  For example, human reader accommodations require a one-on-one testing environment.