Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment

• The Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Plan was created in 1998 with the goal of promoting literacy growth for all students in Idaho. This plan was revised in 2015, and shortly after, the Idaho Comprehensive Literacy (ICL) Standards for teacher candidates were also revised. In 2022, the ICL Standards were again revised to improve alignment, including the addition of a fifth ICL Standard focused on helping students with diverse reading and writing profiles.
• The Idaho Higher Education Literacy Partnership (IHELP) is a consortium of literacy professionals representing public and private higher education institutions across the state of Idaho. They have developed an Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment (ICLA) corresponding to each ICL Standard. Each exam contains between 30 and 50 questions, including definition and application questions. Teacher candidates must pass each exam at 70% to evidence proficiency.
• There are five ICL standards, which are part of the Idaho Standards for Initial Certification of Professional School Personnel, and a corresponding ICLA is used to measure teacher candidates’ knowledge of the content for each standard.

Candidates take the following exams:

  The IHELP consortium meets regularly to analyze assessment data, review concepts and competencies guides, and revise each exam accordingly. 

• Exams can only be accessed during the designated testing window during BSU final exam week ( calendarfound here). Exams open at 8:00am MST on the Monday of exam week and close at 11:59pm MST on the Thursday of exam week. Exams can be taken 24 hours per day during the testing window. However, access to technical support may be limited outside of business hours.

•  The testing windows for summer courses vary.

• Testing requires accessing several Boise State systems and using ProctorU’s Review+ service for online proctoring, which relies on AI-based monitoring and live proctors who review the footage of exam sessions. All testing sessions are recorded and reviewed. The instructor and College of Education dean will be notified if academic dishonesty is suspected during a testing session. Students are required to take a survey stating they understand the expectations related to academic integrity before they register for the exams.
• No fee is required, and no appointment is necessary to take the exams.
• Each exam has a 2-hour time limit, with the exception of Standard 5, which has a 1-hour 15-minute time limit.

Boise State University embeds the ICLA into several courses. All candidates in the Elementary Education program take the ICLA as part of required literacy courses. In our Secondary Education programs, candidates take the ICLA either in ED-LLC 444/544 or in designated coursework in their program.

Elementary courses:

• Standard 1: Foundations of Literacy Concepts
• Standard 2: Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension
• Standard 3: Literacy Assessment Concepts
• Standard 4: Writing Processes

Secondary candidates take each of the two exams as part of the required courses.

• Standard 2: Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension
• Standard 4: Writing Processes

Note: In graduate-level courses, only students who are seeking initial certification are required to take the ICLA; however, it is at the discretion of the instructor to decide if all students test to show their knowledge of the standards

1. Concepts and Competencies Guides

While there are no study guides for the revised assessments, a guide listing the concepts and competencies for each standard, which is aligned to the ICL Standards, is linked below. The content of each assessment is outlined in these guides.

2. Sample Exam Questions

• Several sample questions are provided below. The purpose of these questions is to show examples of the types of included questions, not to show content for any specific exam.
• The correct answers are marked with an asterisk.

Sample Question 1: In their art class, students are reading texts that offer differing viewpoints on the pros and cons of using certain materials for mixed media projects. After reading the texts, students create a chart that outlines the differences in information presented in each text. Which of the following literacy standards is addressed with this activity?

A. RL.8.5 Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.

*B. RI 8.9 Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.

C. RI.8.3 Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).

D. RI.8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Sample Question 2: After students engaged in various learning experiences to brainstorm ideas related to their chosen topics, they spent several class periods getting their ideas onto the page. They used their ideas from a graphic organizer to form several paragraphs. In which step of the writing process are students engaged?

*A. Drafting

B. Publishing

C. Revising

D. Prewriting

Sample Question 3: Lou is researching the effects of smoking on lung functionality. He reads several articles, views a video clip and explores several credible websites to learn more. As he reads, Lou takes notes about lung functionality from each source. He focuses on the most important key ideas from the sources. Lou is involved in which of the following reader processes?

A. Activating prior knowledge

B. Questioning the text

*C. Summarizing part of or a whole text

D. Synthesizing multiple texts

E. All of the above

Students who took the ICLAs and did not score at least 70% are granted one attempt to pass each failed exam. Boise State requires students to wait for the next testing window to retake an exam. This allows the student the opportunity to review the Concepts and Competencies Guides.

• Testing windows vary throughout the year. Some programs require that students pass the ICLA before student teaching, so it is best to get passing scores ASAP.
  • Academic advisors in each program can provide more information to students about how and when to submit their passing score certificates.

• Directions for retaking an exam are provided at the bottom of the DIRECTIONS FOR BSU STUDENTS page.
• As with original attempts, students should save their passing certificates for their records.

If you need information about programs or program requirements at Boise State, please visit our Teacher Education page.

For technical support, contact the BSU Help Desk.

Email Kimberly Parker at kparker@boisestate.edu with questions.