news-record.com

RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Public Instruction has posted copies of its state tests online.

To view them, go to www.ncpublicschools.org.

The tests available online include the End-of-Grade reading and math tests in grades 3 through 8, the eighth grade computer skills test and the End-of-Course subject tests given in middle and high school. They include an answer key and a scoring matrix.

The state education department has long resisted the call to let the public view state tests, which are given annually to North Carolina's public school students and are used to determine whether schools meet state and national standards. But the State Board of Education in 2008 ordered the department to make public the tests to increase public awareness about the exams.

The tests differ slightly from the exams students took. The Department of Public Instruction did not release experimental questions that could be used on later editions of the tests. Those experimental questions are used on the state tests but do not count toward a student's score.

Three versions of each test are used each year. The version posted online has been retired and will not be used in subsequent years.