The Utah Aspire Plus is an annual assessment of reading, English language arts, math, and science administered to Utah public school students in grades 9 and 10. The Utah State Board of Education contracted with the Utah Education Policy Center to study possible causes of the decline in Utah Aspire Plus participation, including causes related to the “perceived and realized value” of the assessment to students, parents, and educators, and to recommend changes that might improve participation.

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) partnered with the Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC) to evaluate the predictive validity of the Acadience Reading assessment’s four subscores (Oral Reading Fluency, Accuracy, Retelling, and MAZE), measured in first through third grade, in reference to two subscores on Utah’s third grade RISE Reading assessment: Informational Text and Literature.