Welcome, North Carolina educators!

North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) selected mCLASS DIBELS ® 8th Edition as the state’s K-3 Literacy Assessment. mCLASS is an integrated literacy system based on the Science of Reading. mCLASS has been revised and upgraded from the assessment NC districts have used in the past, based on the latest research and the Science of Reading. It is a valid and reliable assessment, supporting universal literacy screening, screening for risk of dyslexia, and progress monitoring.

What’s new?

  • Recordings available for Preparing for beginning of the year assessment administration for teachers and leaders sessions.
  • There have been some mCLASS Platform updates! Learn about them below in our Updates section.
  • New episodes of Amplify’s Science of Reading: The Podcast are now available!
  • Register now for new sessions below in our Professional Learning section.

About mCLASS in NC

DPI is committed to providing equitable, inclusive literacy instruction for all by:

  • Aligning core curriculum, instruction, and assessments with Science of Reading.
  • Providing appropriate literacy interventions to address difficulty with reading development.
  • Implementing practices based on the Science of Reading in every classroom every day.
  • Providing aligned resources to parents, guardians and family members.

mCLASS is built on decades of research at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon, a national center for early childhood assessment and instruction. The measures are already in use in many districts in North Carolina. With the additional mCLASS suite including reporting, grouping, lessons and caregiver support, DPI’s early literacy goals for North Carolina students will be met.

North Carolina mCLASS DIBELS 8 requirements

DIBELS 8th Edition fulfills legislative requirements for K-3 students with sub test measures for:

  • Phonemic awareness
  • Phonics
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary
  • Comprehension

For the above reasons, the state will begin using DIBELS 8 data for EVAAS purposes effective 2021-22 from MOY-EOY for Kindergarten, BOY-EOY for all 1-2 teachers, and BOG-EOG for grade 3.

DIBELS measures at each grade level 
Measure Grade K Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3
Letter naming fluency
Phonemic segmentation fluency
Nonsense word fluency
Word reading fluency
Oral reading fluency
Maze (basic comprehension)
Required additional measures at each grade level below 
Oral language
Vocabulary

 

Amplify assessment invalidation process

  1. Teacher requests approval for an invalidation from a school-level administrator and provides a valid reason for requesting the invalidation.
  2. School-level administrators reach out to the district Read to Achieve (RtA) contact to approve the invalidation.
  3. District RtA contact approves the request and notifies the school-level administrator who notifies the teacher.
  4. Teacher invalidates assessment.

mCLASS Platform Updates

Amplify is excited to announce that the mCLASS platform will be updated to provide a more streamlined experience. When teachers log in, they will arrive at Educator Home, where they will find a new, more efficient way to access their assessment, reporting, and instructional tools in fewer clicks. mCLASS students logging in will arrive at Student Home, where they will be able to complete assigned mCLASS assessments. These updates will take place on July 1, 2023. 

A brief tour of Educator Home for Admin and Specialists can be found here.

A brief tour of Educator Home for Teachers can be found here

Additional information on accessing mCLASS after July 1 during Reading Camp can be found in the Reading Camp section below.  

Professional Learning

  • Teachers, register now!

  • Leaders, register now!

  • Online courses

  • Additional Professional Development

Reading Camp 2023-24

As defined by the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2021, “Reading camp” means an additional educational program outside of the instructional calendar provided by the local school administrative unit as a literacy intervention that shall be offered to:

(i) any third-grade student who does not demonstrate reading proficiency and (ii) any second-grade student who demonstrates difficulty with reading development. Local school administrative units may offer a reading camp as a literacy intervention to any first-grade student who demonstrates difficulty with reading development.

Getting started with Reading Camp

Enrollment and Assessment Guidance

Coming soon 

Reading Camp Webinar Recordings

Schedule coming soon

Enrollment resources

Each night, DPI extracts rostering files from PowerSchool and sends them to Amplify. Changes in PowerSchool are captured in mCLASS the next day. As a reminder, no manual changes can take place in mCLASS.

  • Staff enrollment:

  • Student enrollment:

mCLASS reporting

mCLASS gives you instant results and clear next steps for each student. Quick and actionable reports provide detailed insight into students’ reading development across foundational literacy skills for teachers, specialists, administrators, and caregivers.

View the mCLASS Reporting Guide to learn more.

Additional resources around mCLASS reporting can be found under the Training tile on mCLASS home (mCLASS Reporting icon upon login to NCEdCloud).

Remote assessment

We at Amplify and the team at the University of Oregon are here to provide continued guidance and support around collecting and using DIBELS® 8th Edition data.

This guide offers recommendations for benchmark assessment with DIBELS as well as tips for interpreting benchmark data during our unpredictable school disruptions.

North Carolina remote assessment guidance

Service Hub

Amplify Service Hub Now Live:
The Service Hub is an online portal which allows district- and school-level administrators to create support tickets, check on ticket status, and view reports related to support cases. Educators who have an RtA Admin role have access to the Service Hub. You can access the Service Hub here. Log in with the SSO Login icon and search for North Carolina Public Schools. Your NCEdCloud credentials will enable you to access the Service Hub.

Learn about navigating, viewing insights, and more in the

Amplify Service Hub Overview.

Spanish in NC

mCLASS Lectura is available for all students enrolled in a Dual Language program. When mCLASS Lectura is used with D8 teachers have access to the dual language report. This report provides side-by-side data of the student’s performance in Spanish and English. 

Then mCLASS suggests actual strategies and specific activities to promote cross-linguistic transfer for bilingual students.

If you have students that would benefit from this assessment but are not enrolled in a dual language program, individual licenses can be purchased. Please reach out to your CSM and Jennifer Eason, your Account Executive, for more information.

Science of Reading resources

To continue your own professional learning around the Science of Reading, subscribe and join with your colleagues.

Science of Reading: The Podcast delivers the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. Further your professional development with each episode by subscribing and downloading them now.

Science of Reading: The Community is built for those committed to fostering conversation around the Science of Reading and implementing best practices in the classroom (including the virtual classroom).

What does classroom instruction look like when it is based on Science of Reading practices? We’ve outlined a Science of Reading action plan to guide your evaluation in our new FREE ebook, Science of Reading: Making the shift.

Caregiver supports

The mCLASS Home Connect website houses literacy resources for parents and caregivers, including at-home lessons organized by skill to help students at home during remote learning. Our mCLASS parent/caregiver letters in English and Spanish ensure that families know how to best support their child.

FAQs

Interested in learning more?

Amplify and NC DPI are collaborating on this FAQ. Please continue to check back, as we are updating this based on questions we receive about mCLASS and the current NC implementation.

FAQ Link

Additional Amplify products

Get in touch with us to learn more about bringing other high-quality Amplify programs to your school or district.