Benchmarks Overview

Welcome to ESGI Benchmarks

Transform Your Early Learning Assessment with Benchmark Data

Imagine having both the real-time formative assessment data you love from ESGI and the standardized benchmark data you need for program evaluation and accountability—all in one powerful platform. That's exactly what ESGI Benchmarks delivers.

Why ESGI Benchmarks Will Transform Your Assessment Approach

Finally, benchmark data that actually helps you teach. Unlike traditional benchmark solutions that only qualify students for services, ESGI Benchmarks give you standardized data points that immediately inform instruction while providing the robust longitudinal data you need for district-wide decision making.

ESGI’s Benchmarks can help you:

Support Data-Driven Decisions: Monitor district-wide student progress and make informed decisions about long-term early learning program success

Evaluate Early Learning Initiatives: Analyze the success of your early learner programs with precision using standardized assessment data

Implement Benchmarks Easily: Pre-created benchmarks that are as simple to use as every other ESGI assessment

How It Works: Simple Setup, Powerful Results

Getting started with ESGI Benchmarks is straightforward:

Set Your Testing Windows: Choose your beginning, middle, and end-of-year testing periods (up to 40 days each)
Select Grade Levels: Activate benchmarks for Pre-K through 2nd grade across your schools
Teachers Assess: Your teachers use the same familiar ESGI interface with standardized benchmark protocols
Analyze Results: Access comprehensive reporting through both dedicated benchmark dashboards and your favorite existing ESGI reports

Different from most ESGI assessments, Benchmarks are standardized – so teachers must have students complete all questions and cannot skip items - ensuring reliable, comparable data across your district while maintaining the user-friendly ESGI experience everyone knows.

Available Benchmark Tests by Grade Level

Each of the below tests can be enabled or disabled by the assigning administrator on the Benchmark management page. Benchmark tests reflect the key literacy or math skills necessary for students to be proficient in for each grade level across the course of a year based on the Head Start early learning framework and state standards. Where appropriate, assessments progress in complexity across the BOY / MOY / and EOY progression (for example, the Kindergarten BOY Counting to 100 test only asks students to count to 30, whereas the MOY test asks them to count to 60, and the EOY asks them to count to 100).

Pre-K (PK)

Test Name	What Does it Assess?	BOY	MOY	EOY
Rhyme Assessment	Demonstrates awareness that spoken language is composed of smaller segments of sound	✓	✓	✓
Matching First Sounds	Demonstrates awareness that spoken language is composed of smaller segments of sound	✓	✓	✓
Alphabet Knowledge	Identifies letters of the alphabet and produces correct sounds associated with letters	✓
Uppercase Letter Identification	Identifies letters of the alphabet and produces correct sounds associated with letters		✓	✓
Lowercase Letter Identification	Identifies letters of the alphabet and produces correct sounds associated with letters		✓	✓
Print Concepts	Understanding of how print is used and the rules that govern how print works	✓	✓	✓
Reading Comprehension	Understanding of narrative structure through storytelling/re-telling	✓	✓	✓
Number Concepts - Verbal Counting & 1:1 Correspondence	Knows number names and the count sequence	✓	✓	✓
Number Concepts - Number Identification	Associates a quantity with written numerals up to 5 and begins to write numbers	✓	✓	✓
Patterns	Understands simple patterns	✓	✓	✓

Kindergarten (K)

Test Name	What Does it Assess?	BOY	MOY	EOY
Blending and Segmenting Phonemes	Isolate and pronounce sounds in three-phoneme words	✓	✓	✓
Uppercase Letter Identification	Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet	✓	✓	✓
Lowercase Letter Identification	Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet	✓	✓	✓
Letter Sound Identification	Demonstrate basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondences		✓	✓
Print Concepts	Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print	✓	✓
High Frequency Words	Read common high-frequency words by sight	✓	✓	✓
Reading Comprehension	Ask and answer questions about key details in a text	✓	✓	✓
Counting to 100	Count to 100 by ones and by tens	✓	✓	✓
Writing Numbers 1-20	Write numbers from 0 to 20 and represent objects with written numerals	✓	✓	✓
Addition and Subtraction with Objects	Solve addition and subtraction word problems within 10	✓	✓	✓
Identify & Describe 2D and 3D Shapes	Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size	✓	✓	✓

Grade 1

Test Name	What Does it Assess?	BOY	MOY	EOY
Phoneme Addition and Substitutions	Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds	✓	✓	✓
Encoding	Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words	✓	✓	✓
High Frequency Words	Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words	✓	✓	✓
Reading Accuracy Passage	Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension	✓	✓	✓
Reading Comprehension	Ask and answer questions about key details, describe characters and events, retell stories	✓	✓	✓
Extend the Counting Sequence to 120	Count to 120, read and write numerals, represent objects with written numerals	✓	✓	✓
Understanding Place Value	Understand that two-digit numbers represent amounts of tens and ones	✓	✓	✓
Addition and Subtraction within 20	Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems	✓	✓	✓
Measurement	Order objects by length and compare lengths using a third object	✓	✓	✓
Identify & Describe Shapes	Distinguish between defining and non-defining attributes of shapes	✓	✓	✓

Grade 2

Test Name	What Does it Assess?	BOY	MOY	EOY
Encoding	Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words	✓	✓	✓
High Frequency Words	Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension	✓	✓	✓
Reading Accuracy Passage	Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression	✓	✓	✓
Reading Comprehension	Ask and answer questions and describe how characters respond to events	✓	✓	✓
Counting within 1000	Count within 1000; skip-count by 5s, 10s, and 100s	✓	✓	✓
Understanding Place Value 100s, 10s and 1s	Add and subtract within 1000 using place value understanding	✓	✓	✓
Addition and Subtraction within 1000	Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve word problems	✓	✓	✓
Measuring Length with Tools	Measure length using appropriate tools like rulers and meter sticks	✓	✓	✓
Shapes and Attributes	Recognize and draw shapes with specified attributes	✓	✓	✓