Hello, Colorado teachers and leaders!
Welcome to the 2026–27 school year! We’re excited to continue to support Early Literacy Assessment Tool (ELAT) schools in Colorado.
Schools that participate in ELAT will receive the following mCLASS® tools and supports:
- mCLASS DIBELS® 8th Edition & mCLASS Lectura: CDE’s only approved interim assessment for ELAT
- Additional screening measures to support students at risk for reading differences, including dyslexia
- 2026–27 mCLASS BOY checklist of ELAT Colorado teachers
- Individualized and group instructional supports for teachers to use with students
- Family and caregiver resources
- Ongoing professional development and resources
Enrollment
Please visit our Technical Onboarding website for information regarding enrollment and licensing.
Please note: you must include Student State IDs in all enrollment files.
Need help logging in? Visit our Teacher Central site for help and instructions on navigating the platform.
Benchmark windows
Additional measures must be assessed within a benchmark window. If it has closed, please reach out to support and state that you need to reopen it for additional measures and screening purposes.
Beginning-of-Year (BOY) Benchmark:
Kindergarten consideration: Through a provision in HB15-1323, you may choose to use up to 60 calendar days for initial benchmarking. Completion of your BOY READ interim assessment within the first 60 days may be used to inform the literacy component of your kindergarten school readiness assessment.
Select a two-week window within the first 30 calendar days of your school year.
Middle of Year (MOY) Benchmark:
Select a two-week window between November 30th and December 18th or January 4th and January 22nd. (Dates need to be before winter break or after winter break).
End of Year (EOY) Benchmark:
Select a two-week window between April 19th and May 22nd.
Progress Monitoring:
Students scoring well below benchmark must be progress monitored every 7-10 instructional days, and students scoring below benchmark must be progress monitored every 10-12 instructional days.
To make any changes to your benchmark dates, please email help@amplify.com.
Professional Development
In partnership with CDE, we’re excited to offer a number of opportunities for Colorado educators in the Early Literacy Assessment Tool (ELAT) Project this school year.
This site will keep you informed on available professional development opportunities and provide access to resources and videos in support of a seamless implementation throughout the school year.
Need help? Please contact Kim Ballantyne with additional questions.
Webinars
In partnership with the Colorado Department of Education, we’re excited to offer one-hour ELAT data review webinars for each benchmark window this year: Beginning-of-Year (BOY), Middle-of-Year (MOY), and End-of-Year (EOY).
BOY and MOY each include two session options, while EOY will offer one session.
Join us for the first session to review Colorado ELAT data and use district-level results to support literacy planning.
Come prepared with:
- Relevant district assessment data
- Access to your mCLASS account
- Questions or insights related to literacy instruction, assessment, and data-informed planning
Please join us for one of the following BOY one-hour sessions.
Save the Dates: Upcoming ELAT Webinars
- Middle-of-Year (MOY):
- March 4, 1:00–2:00 p.m. MT
- March 9, 9:30–10:30 a.m. MT
- End-of-Year (EOY):
- July 29, 1:00–2:00 p.m. MT
Registration details for the MOY and EOY webinars will be shared closer to each session.
mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition materials
Each new participating school or district will receive DIBELS 8th Edition Assessment kits. One kit per grade, K–3, will be shipped.
Downloadable materials available as well below:
Access the mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition materials here.
Access both mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition and Lectura materials by navigating to learning.amplify.com/pdlibrary. Note: login required!
- Select Explore Programs, then mCLASS.
- Choose Assessment materials: mCLASS Lectura or mCLASS DIBELS 8
Additional measures
Additional measures must be assessed within a benchmark window. If it has closed, please reach out to support and state that you need to reopen it for additional measures and screening purposes.
- mCLASS Vocabulary: Understand students’ level of knowledge of grade-level words
- mCLASS Spelling: Understand students’ level of general spelling skills
- ‘i’ designation in mCLASS
- mCLASS RAN: Identify issues with the retrieval of phonological processing
- ‘i’ designation in mCLASS
- Oral Language: A brief screening that identifies students who may struggle with the language structures found in early reading texts by asking them to repeat increasingly complex sentences.
Progress planning tools
Amplify Progress Planning Tool for mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition
This tool uses data from mCLASS users nationwide to provide schools and districts with a meaningful comparative perspective on their progress during the school year.
Additional resources
Check out Amplify for the most up-to-date information and resources provided by Amplify, such as:
Meet the team.
CDE ELAT support
Need more help?
Contact us at (877) 704-1545 for dedicated account support.
Log in at learning.amplify.com, and click the gray chat button in the bottom right corner to chat live with our support team.
Our Help Center contains searchable articles and resources to answer many of your questions.
If you need additional support, please contact our support team.