This is a highly targeted 6-week Kentucky Summative Assessment English Language Arts (ELA) prep program for 5th grade students. I have been using it in my classroom and for personal tutoring after realizing I needed something more structured than random review packets before testing season.

Like many of you, my work is evaluated heavily on Kentucky Summative Assessment English Language Arts (ELA) performance and I needed a way to:

• Establish a clear baseline and set realistic expectations with parents (e.g., this is where we are now, this is where we could be in one month with serious effort, this is the score you can realistically expect, etc.)

• Break down performance by reading skill and score band in a personalized way so I can recommend the most impactful work on a student by student basis

• Track growth accurately and have a quick way to send detailed weekly updates to parents

It took me a very long time and many revisions to create this (collecting and aligning passages and questions to Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS)/Common Core, matching them to the latest published Kentucky Summative Assessment score and percentile bands, finding the right balance between variety and depth, making scoring simple and effective, etc.). And I hope that many other teachers and tutors will find it useful.

WHAT'S INSIDE

• Diagnostic Benchmark (Week 1): A focused baseline reading check that sets a starting point, highlights key reading needs, and is used later to measure growth.

• Targeted Deep Dives (Weeks 2-4): Focused sessions moving through literary reading (Week 2), informational text (Week 3), and short passage spiral review (Week 4). Students practice the major reading skills together, including complex evidence questions with two parts, just like they appear on the real test.

• The "Stretch" Challenge (Week 5): Rigorous above-grade practice that helps the final simulation feel easier and identifies students ready for more challenging work.

• Final Test Simulation (Week 6): Where everything comes together. A full simulation of the Kentucky Summative Assessment reading test designed to highlight growth from the Week 1 diagnostic and show parents clear evidence of student progress.

• Progress Trackers & Detailed Answer Keys: Each week ends with a tracking tool to identify weaknesses and predict likely Kentucky Summative Assessment performance. These can be easily cut off and sent home. Also, every question includes a detailed written explanation of the correct answer, making it easy for tutors or parents to review mistakes.

This printable program includes 17 reading passages, 86 ELA questions, answer explanations, weekly progress trackers, and skill/standards labels for every question.

PERFORMANCE BANDS

Question difficulty levels are based on the latest published cut-offs:

• Intervention | < 21st Percentile | Scale Score: 400-506
• On Track | 21st-40th Percentile | Scale Score: 507-521
• Proficient | 41st-80th Percentile | Scale Score: 522-537
• Advanced | > 80th Percentile | Scale Score: 538-600

HOW I USE IT

I run this once a week for about an hour during the 6 weeks leading up to testing. I score it, send home the updated projections, and then move to the next weekly focus. Our school runs this as an opt-in morning session before school starts, but it works perfectly during regular class hours too. I advise against assigning it as homework because outside help can compromise the accuracy of the data and undermine the purpose of tracking real growth.

I built this with score improvement in mind, and it does that by design. But what stood out to me even more was how much easier parent communication became. When parents can see clear weekly data and know exactly which reading skills their child needs to work on to improve their score, they become much more involved. It's almost like working together rather than me carrying the responsibility alone (which is how teachers and tutors too often feel during testing season).

CHOOSING THE RIGHT LEVEL

These score bands are based on published state averages. If your class or tutoring group usually performs well above those averages, this grade level may feel easy for your students. Students who are consistently scoring above the 80th percentile may benefit from using the Grade 6 version of this program.