Smarter Balanced Releases Sample Assessment Items and Performance Tasks

Posted on October 19, 2012 by coreeducation

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) released a set of sample assessment items and performance tasks online yesterday. Developed in collaboration with educators and content experts, the sample items and tasks are meant to help teachers, administrators, and policymakers better understand the Common Core State Standards and prepare for the implementation of the Smarter Balanced assessments.

The samples include nearly 50 assessment items and performance tasks, including examples of innovative, technology-enhanced items that take advantage of computer-based administration to assess a deeper understanding of content and skills than would otherwise be possible with traditional item types. In addition, sample performance tasks showcase the extended classroom-based activities students will experience as part of the Smarter Balanced assessment system.

“Performance tasks ask students to research and analyze information, weigh evidence, and solve problems relevant to the real world, allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in an authentic way,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education at Stanford University and senior research advisor for Smarter Balanced.

The sample items and performance tasks include several features to help teachers, students, and parents prepare for the new assessments. Each item has detailed information about the standards and assessment targets being measured. In addition, most selected-response and technology-enhanced items can be automatically scored, providing instant feedback to users. Scoring rubrics are available for constructed-response items and performance tasks. Select English language arts/literacy items include a text complexity analysis that explains how quantitative and qualitative factors were evaluated to determine the appropriate grade level of a passage.

The sample items and performance tasks released today represent just a small fraction of the more than 10,000 items and tasks being written to support the Pilot Test in early 2013. In addition, the Smarter Balanced sample items are displayed in a simulated test platform that does not include accessibility tools and accommodations options that will be available through the operational assessment system-such as Braille, translation options, and the ability to change font size, highlight text, or magnify portions of items.

To view the sample items and performance tasks, please visit http://www.smarterbalanced.org/sample-items-and-performance-tasks/

Consortia Provide Preview of Common Assessments

Posted on August 15, 2012 by coreeducation

As teachers head back to their classrooms, a prevailing question is how to implement the Common Core and prepare students for the associated exams—which aren’t ready yet. Two consortia tasked with developing common assessments to support the Common Core (PARCC and Smarter Balanced) have begun to work with private vendors to develop the questions and tasks for the tests. Member states of the consortia have already produced a range of sample test items to help the vendors get an idea of what they want, which experts say offer insights into the tests that are expected to launch in 2014-15.

Robert Linn, an assessment expert who reviewed the consortia’s sample materials, indicates that the items “really get at a deeper understanding on the part of students, not just superficial knowledge…unless students are really prepared for them, it’s going to be a huge challenge.” He predicts that, even with the sample items to guide them, vendors will find it difficult to develop tests that fully reflect the aims of the two consortia. “They [vendors] are used to writing items for state tests that do not get at this depth of knowledge.”

A major departure from current testing practices is the inclusion of performance tasks, which are far more complex that selected-response questions. For example, a sample ELA task asks 6^th graders to read an interview with a teenager who started a charity for Peruvian orphans. It directs them to articles and videos on specific Web pages to learn more about other young people who help those in need. The students answer constructed-response questions that require them to describe what they’ve learned, analyze the meanings of key words, and discuss how they evaluated the reliability of their Web resources. They must research and present a five-minute speech about a “young wonder” of their choice, complete with audiovisual representations. All of this is to be done in 105 minutes.

Time is one of the biggest challenges facing the consortia. Drafting assessments from scratch that include the use of computer-based or computer-adaptive exams, rather than updating existing tests, is incredibly time consuming. In the coming months, both Smarter Balanced and PARCC will conduct pilot sessions on sample items with students and get their feedback, and conduct formal trials before full-fledged field tests in spring 2014. Smarter Balanced also plans to train teachers as item writers, and has prepared a bank of training materials for that purpose.

To learn more, please visit http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/08/14/01tests_ep.h32.html?tkn=NTYFj8fyu3cA3o%2BO0S2aHRm9wsnldo%2BVqQJO&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1

The Meaning of “College Readiness”

Posted on July 5, 2012 by coreeducation

What does it mean to be “college ready?” This is the question that became the center of debate at the June meeting of leaders from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), one of the consortia tasked with creating assessment systems for the new Common Core. The meeting was held to discuss a draft definition of college readiness in mathematics and English Language Arts that would form the basis for the assessments.

Three hours of discussion by three dozen K-12 and higher education representatives from 18 states didn’t provide the necessary consensus for approving the definition, so the statement will undergo further revision and a vote before its release.

The draft discussed at the meeting would deem students “college ready” if they score at “Level 4” or above on a five-level test. Level 4 would pegged to the “proficient” level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress and be set so that 75% of students who reached that level would earn Cs in entry-level, credit-bearing courses in English composition and literature, or college algebra and introductory statistics.

For the 11th grade test, scoring at Level 5 would mean that students are “very likely to succeed” in those courses, and scoring a 4 would mean they are “likely to succeed,” according to the draft statement. Those who score 3s “may succeed,” while 2s are “unlikely to succeed and 1s “very unlikely” to do so.

As soon as these guidelines were unveiled, a heated debate began. Some attendees questioned whether the likelihood of earning a C was a good proxy for college success. Before this meeting, the discussions had been around Level 4 being set for 67% of students would earn B’s in college-level courses; this changed because higher education representatives agreed that a C is a passing grade.

Much of the debate centered on the proposed language to describe students’ level of mastery. One revision that was floated before the group, focusing on the potential need for intervention or supports for students who scored 3 or below, drew a frustrated response from some board members.

Tony Bennett, the commissioner of education in Indiana, questioned why the test had to have five scoring levels if Level 3 would invite remediation in high school or college. He pushed for four levels, with a clear “college ready” determination at Level 4.

Some participants in the meeting found the meaning of a Level 3 score problematic to explain to lawmakers and others in their home states. “In most people’s minds, college readiness is either you are or you aren’t,” said Stan W. Heffner, Ohio’s superintendent of schools. If a Level 3 score means students are ready for college with appropriate supports that “wiggle room” could be confusing, he said.

Despite the tensions and disagreements in the debate about the meaning of college readiness, the leaders around the table agreed that the conversation is important. “No matter what the resolution on this is, this is a great signal of joint communications,” said Janet Barresi, Oklahoma’s schools chief.

“How powerful to have higher ed. and K-12 sitting together on this,” Massachusetts’ Mr. Chester said. “That is huge.”

Coming Together to Raise Achievement

Posted on June 24, 2012 by coreeducation

In 2010 and 2011, the US Department of Education awarded five grants to consortia of states to support the development of new assessment systems. The two comprehensive assessment consortia are well-known—Smarter Balanced and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)—but the other three (two alternate assessment consortia and one for English proficiency) are less known.

To make the connections between the consortia and illustrate how they are working together to improve assessment under the Common Core, ETS’ Center for K-12 Assessment & Performance Management (K-12 Center) has updated and expanded their guide to the Five Assessment Consortia in Coming Together to Raise Achievement: New Assessments for the Common Core State Standards.

The Guide begins with short articles offering guidance on current work to implement the Common Core and to prepare for the transition to the aligned common assessments. This is followed by updated descriptions of the five assessment development initiatives underway by the individual Consortia (currently in their second year of work). In fact, the new summaries of Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM), the National Center and State Collaborative (NCSC), and Assessment Services Supporting English learners through Technology Systems (ASSETS) Consortia are the “first complete profiles of the breadth of assessment development work underway across the country.”

Finally, the guide focuses on a set of “significant forces” emerging in K-12 education that are affecting the work of the Consortia. There is discussion of what Tom Friedman calls “inflection points” in his book The World is Flat, where large numbers of people access each other’s ideas to collaborate. The advances in open-source platforms, coupled with the Common Core and the common assessments being developed by the Consortia, “are presenting…an opportunity for an inflection point in American public education,” writes Pascal Forgione Jr., Executive Director of the K-12 Center.

To read the full report, please visit http://www.k12center.org/rsc/pdf/Coming_Together_April_2012_Final.PDF

American Education Week: November 13 – 19

Posted on November 3, 2011 by coreeducation

American Education Week (AEW) began in 1921 as a joint project between the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Legion. Ninety years later, the event still focuses on generating public support for education and “informing the public of the accomplishments and needs of the public schools and to secure the cooperation and support of the public in meeting those needs.”

This year the theme is “Great Public Schools: A Basic Right and Our Responsibility.” The NEA invites the public to participate in AEW by bringing associated activities into their own communities. An electronic toolkit with materials and ideas has been provided for this purpose, and can be found at http://www.nea.org/grants/34749.htm. Each day of AEW has a specific focus:

Monday, Nov. 14: Kick Off Day

Tuesday, Nov. 15: Parents Day—parents are urged to visit their child’s classroom to experience a “day in the life” of their child and to encourage family engagement, an essential component of student academic success.

Wednesday, Nov. 16: Education Support Professionals Day—a day to recognize and thank those members of our schools’ staff who often go unheralded but impact children’s lives each school day. On this day, be sure to thank school bus drivers, custodians, secretaries, cooks, aids and all other professionals dedicated to the well-being of children in our schools.

Thursday, Nov. 17: Educator for a Day—allows community members to walk in the shoes of an educator, undertaking all the duties associated with the profession. The goal is to enhance understanding among educators and community leaders by highlighting the successes and challenges teachers face each day.

Friday, Nov. 18: Substitute Educators Day—This day seeks to increase respect for substitute educators and advocate for issues affecting these professionals: that all substitutes receive wage and help benefits for those who work most of the year and are provided with genuine, continual professional development opportunities.

The American Legion is encouraging all of its posts to support AEW in a variety of ways (see their brochure at http://legion.org/documents/legion/pdf/american_education_week_booklet.pdf), but there is a particular focus on getting the word out through activities that involve showcasing student accomplishments or creative works, which in turn engages their families and the community at large.

For more information on AEW and to find out how you can get involved, please visit http://www.nea.org/grants/19823.htm

Book Review: The Business of Children

Posted on June 20, 2011 by coreeducation

Looking for a change of pace from academic reports and scholarly articles? Chloe Jon Paul, retired educator, has just released a novel detailing the experiences of four educators, Vera Harriss, Deidre Fletcher, Mark Pettingill, and Stu Martel, over the course of a single academic year.
What causes Vera, who is about to retire, to vent her anger during a Board of Education meeting with a speech that brings the audience to its feet? Why does Deidre leave the job she loves to become a corporate trainer down South? Then there is Mark, the perennial job hunter looking for a job with more prestige and pay. What compels Mark to turn down the perfect offer when it finally comes through? Stu, one of the most popular teachers in the school, struggles with a deep, dark secret that he can only share with Deidre. What causes Stu’s untimely death?

This novel is set in the fictional town of Blevins, Maine during the mid-1980s. Vera is a middle-aged, dowdy but dedicated teacher who has never been one to question established practices. She has always faithfully paid her union dues; preferring to let others take the lead in bettering the profession. Dee is thirty-something – a sophisticated newcomer to the local school system. She arrives there with a history of political and union activism she’d sooner leave behind but somehow can’t. Reluctantly, she becomes a key player in the Blevins Teachers Association’s fight for change in an arena where change was thought to be impossible. Mark feels trapped in a marriage and a job that have lost their luster. Mark becomes easy prey for Dee and succumbs to an illicit relationship he feels powerless to stop. . He scours the Boston Globe’s employment ads week after week, vowing that his resume will eventually land him a position with prestige and more pay.
Stu is a closet homosexual who finally confides in Dee when his lover Jeremy dies of AIDS. Devastated by the earlier loss of his mother and now Jeremy, he finds solace in the tiny back room of his house where he keeps a magnificent collection of antique lamps. That room takes on a special significance toward the end of the story.
Vera, the narrator, tells the reader in the Prologue that she had planned to write a scholarly report on the dilemma of the elementary school teachers upon her retirement – something she had lived and witnessed for thirty years but she says, “ but I know now that I’ll never be able to do that because the story that claws at my brain and keeps me awake nights has to be told.”

For more information on the novel and for ordering information, see http://amzn.com/1600475809.

The No Child Left Behind Showdown

Posted on June 16, 2011 by coreeducation

The announcement of regulatory flexibility for No Child Left Behind from Washington has caused quite a stir. Bipartisan critisims of the Duncan plan and critique from education reformers and special interest groups abound. Some object to the Department of Education infringing on law-making responsibilities that belong to Congress, others object to the idea of attaching reform conditions on regulatory relief. Still others are worried that the conditions will weaken the law’s accountability structures.

For a full account of the “showdown,” see Andrew Rotherham’s article in Time magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2077898,00.html#ixzz1PSNE19a7

NCTQ Blueprint for Change

Posted on January 27, 2011 by coreeducation

This is an interim year for NCTQ’s State Teacher Policy Yearbook, but since there have been so many significant policy changes in the last year (as a result of the Race to the Top competition), the organization has released state-by-state Blueprint for Change reports with 2010 updates.

The Blueprint for Change reports update changes in state laws, rules and regulations governing the teaching profession that have occurred in the last year, including key policy areas such as teacher preparation, evaluation, tenure, dismissal and alternative certification. They provide state-specific, customized roadmaps for each state, identifying policies most in need of policymakers’ attention.

State reports and a national summary are available for download at www.nctq.org/stpy.

The "Core" of Education

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