Assessments for the 21st Century

Posted on May 20, 2013 by coreeducation

After two-plus years of work, the Gordon Commission recently released a public policy statement designed to “stimulate a productive national conversation about assessment and its relationship to teaching and learning.” The Gordon Commission believes that now is a “remarkable opportunity to re-conceptualize the purposes of educational assessments.”

The Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment in Education (the Gordon Commission) is comprised of “a group of outstanding educational leaders who will produce a vision for assessment that is fair and beneficial to improving U.S. education and which will advance technology to improve educational measurement and student achievement. The members of the Gordon Commission are distinguished scholars in the fields of education sciences, psychometrics and public policy, and thoughtful leaders in the arena of public affairs.”

The Gordon Commission believes that now is the time for change because of the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in mathematics and English language arts; development of the Next Generation Science Standards, and work focused on developing assessments aligned to the CCSS by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC).

“These developments have heightened awareness among educators and state and federal policymakers of the critical relationships among more rigorous standards, curriculum, instruction, and appropriate assessment, and have created an opportunity to address issues of long standing,” the statement notes.

The statement also stresses that assessments are not useful for the sake of assessments: they must be tied to the needs of 21^st century students, students who will certainly need to be proficient in using digital technology, and include both assessment of learning and assessment for learning.

Finally, recognizing the role that policymakers will play in the future of assessment, the public policy statement includes three recommendations directed at policymakers:

States should create a council on educational assessments, modeled on the Education Commission of the States, to monitor how well assessments are working and recommend improvements. The council would evaluate the effects of PARCC and SBAC on teaching and learning, conduct research on changes in assessments, and inform states as they make purchasing decisions. The council would also mount a public information campaign to explain the need for better assessment, examine issues of equity, and study policies to ensure the privacy of assessment data.
President Obama and the U.S. Congress should encourage states to experiment with different methods of assessment and accountability and use the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to create incentives for new forms of assessment, such as performance tasks.
Federal agencies and the philanthropic community should launch a ten-year effort to strengthen the capacity of assessments to measure the full range of competencies students need to develop. Additionally, the government and private funders should expand the number of scholars dedicated to developing expertise in assessment.

More information on the Gordon Commission and its work is available at http://www.gordoncommission.org/.

For the complete public policy statement, see: http://www.gordoncommission.org/rsc/pdfs/gordon_commission_public_policy_report.pdf

WestEd Releases Influential Papers on Formative Assessment

Posted on May 16, 2013 by coreeducation

WestEd believes that the Common Core State Standards offer educators a unique opportunity to use formative assessment to help raise student achievement. They hope to help make this happen with the release of three new papers about formative assessment.

WestEd, an agency that works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults, recently released three defining papers on formative assessment:

Formative assessment in the classroom aims to reveal not just what students are learning, but how they are learning, with results used to guide instruction. Students can use formative assessment results to better understand and advance their learning. The Common Core State Standards, and the common assessment systems being developed to support them, offer educators the opportunity to use formative assessment as part of a balanced approach to raising student achievement.

“Integrating formative assessment in the classroom appears to have great potential for improving instruction and learning,” says Glen Harvey, CEO of WestEd. “These papers are intended to build foundational understanding among teachers, administrators, and policymakers, of this important assessment process.”

Each paper stresses the idea that unless assessments are understood and implemented in the right fashion, they will lose their capacity to help teachers improve instruction.

These papers were released as part of an education policy forum convened by WestEd and the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). The event examined the role of formative assessment in the classroom, its potential for improving student learning, and the challenges that policymakers must address as the field works to build coordinated assessment systems that can provide information useful for instruction and policy.

For more information and to access the papers, please visit: http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs_press/166

Department of Education Letter Could Put Cracks in the Credit Hour

Posted on April 18, 2013 by coreeducation

In an update to the story that this blog has been tracking for some time (see our two past blogs about this subject here and here), the US Department of Education has given its strongest confirmation yet that it is willing to embrace a model of judging educational progress and mastery that transcends the credit hour.

Higher Ed Watch recently released an article about the Department of Education letter that confirms the shift:

The U.S. Department of Education took a critical step forward today in moving towards a more flexible and innovative financial aid system-one that privileges (and pays for) learning, rather than time. In a letter… the Education Department let the world know not only that schools can award federal financial aid based on competency rather than seat time, but that the Department wants them to do so.

The shift by the Education Department toward accepting direct assessment began back in 2005 when Congress “created an alternative path allowing federal financial aid to be awarded to a program that ‘in lieu of credit hours or clock hours as the measure of student learning, utilizes direct assessment of student learning.’” Congress did this in large part to allow Western Governor’s University (WGU), which wanted to follow a model without the credit hour, to receive federal financial aid.

Ironically, WGU ended up opting to work with the Education Department to translate their model into a comparable credit hour system, but another university, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), applied last fall to receive federal financial aid on the direct assessment model.

The letter from the Education Department not only confirms that SNHU’s petition will be granted, but also encourages more universities to follow the same model, despite making reference to what Amy Laitinen of Higher Ed Watch calls “potential, limitations, and unknowns” of the direct assessment model.

For more information, please visit the following website: http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/blogposts/2013/new_department_of_education_letter_could_put_cracks_in_the_credit_hour-80998

And for a direct link to the Education Department’s letter, please follow this link: http://higheredwatch.newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/articles/DCL_DA_3.19.2013.pdf

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/

Free Webinar: The Comprehensive Assessment Consortia

Posted on October 2, 2012 by coreeducation

Two state consortia—Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium—have made great strides to develop new assessment systems ready for use in two years. Over the summer, for example, they released sample items and tasks and are putting together teams of educators to help prepare districts and states for the new assessments. The following free webinar will be offered today to provide a progress update on these consortia.

The Comprehensive Assessment Consortia: A Progress Update

October 2, 2012
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (ET)

Panelists

Pascal D. Forgione, Jr., PhD, Executive Director, K–12 Center at ETS
Sue Gendron, Policy Advisor, SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium
Laura Slover, Senior Vice President, Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers
Bob Wise, President, Alliance for Excellent Education

Please join the Alliance for Excellent Education, with participation from the K–12 Center at ETS, to consider the consortia’s plans. Leaders of the two consortia will provide an update on their activities. Pat Forgione, a former state and district superintendent, will join Bob Wise, president of the Alliance and former governor of West Virginia, to place the consortia’s work in a policy context. Webinar panelists will also address questions submitted by viewers from across the country.

Register and submit questions for the webinar at http://media.all4ed.org/registration-oct-2-2012

Please direct questions concerning the webinar to alliance@all4ed.org.

NOTE: If you are unable to watch the webinar live, an archived version will be available
at http://www.all4ed.org/webinars usually one or two days after the event airs.

PARCC Task and Question Types

Posted on September 7, 2012 by coreeducation

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) recently released sample assessment items. They come complete with a new way of categorizing questions, both for mathematics — where the questions are of Type I, Type II or Type III — and in ELA, where they are EBSRs, TECRs and PCRs. For a guide to deciphering the new typology, see below:

Mathematics

Type I: Tasks assessing concepts, skills and procedures

Type I tasks include a balance of conceptual understanding, fluency, and application. These tasks can involve any or all mathematical practice standards.

Type I tasks will be machine scorable and will include innovative, computer-based formats.

Type I tasks will appear on the End of Year and Performance Based Assessment components and generate evidence for measuring major, additional, and supporting content with connections to the mathematical practices

Type II: Tasks assessing expressing mathematical reasoning

Type II tasks call for written arguments/justifications, critique of reasoning, or precision in mathematical statements (MP. 3, 6). These tasks can also involve other mathematical practice standards.

Type II tasks may include a mix of innovative, machine scored and hand scored responses.

Type II tasks will be included on the Performance Based Assessment component and generate evidence for measuring mathematical reasoning with connections to content.

Type III: Tasks assessing modeling / applications

Type III tasks call for modeling/application in a real-world context or scenario (MP.4) and can also involve other mathematical practice standards.

Type III tasks may include a mix of innovative, machine scored and hand scored responses.

Type III tasks will be included on the Performance Based Assessment component and generate evidence for measuring mathematical modeling/application with connections to content.

English Language Arts

Performance-Based Component

Literary Analysis Task

The Literature Task plays an important role in honing students’ ability to read complex text closely, a skill that research reveals as the most significant factor differentiating college-ready from non-college-ready readers. This task will ask students to carefully consider literature worthy of close study and compose an analytic essay.

Narrative Task

The Narrative Task broadens the way in which students may use this type of writing. Narrative writing can be used to convey experiences or events, real or imaginary. In this task, students may be asked to write a story, detail a scientific process, write a historical account of important figures, or to describe an account of events, scenes or objects, for example.

Research Simulation Task

The Research Simulation Task is an assessment component worthy of student preparation because it asks students to exercise the career- and college- readiness skills of observation, deduction, and proper use and evaluation of evidence across text types.

In this task, students will analyze an informational topic presented through several articles or multimedia stimuli, the first text being an anchor text that introduces the topic. Students will engage with the texts by answering a series of questions and synthesizing information from multiple sources in order to write two analytic essays.

End-Of-Year Assessment

On the end-of-year assessment, students have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to read and comprehend complex informational and literary texts. Questions will be sequenced in a way that they will draw students into deeper encounters with the texts and will result in more thorough comprehension of the concepts.

Question Types for English Language Arts

Evidence-Based Selected Response (EBSR)

Combines a traditional selected-response question with a second selected-response question that asks students to show evidence from the text that supports the answer they provided to the first question. Underscores the importance of Reading Anchor Standard 1 for implementation of the CCSS.

Technology-Enhanced Constructed Response (TECR)

Uses technology to capture student comprehension of texts in authentic ways that have been difficult to score by machine for large scale assessments (e.g., drag and drop, cut and paste, shade text, move items to show relationships).

Range of Prose Constructed Responses (PCR)

Elicits evidence that students have understood a text or texts they have read and can communicate that understanding well both in terms of written expression and knowledge of language and conventions. There are four of these items of varying types on each annual performance-based assessment.

For more on PARCC’s item and task prototypes, see http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes

PARCC Releases Initial Set of Test Items and Task Prototypes

Posted on August 30, 2012 by coreeducation

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), a 23-state consortium working together to create next generation assessments, released its first set of item and task prototypes for both English language arts/literacy and mathematics. The prototypes are illustrative of how the critical content and skills found in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) may be measured by the PARCC assessments set to be administered for the first time in 2014-2015. The prototype items are early samples or models that may be helpful in building the actual assessment items. They also give educators and the public an early look at what next generation assessment items may look like.

“The prototypes are a first step in demonstrating what is possible with new assessment technology that captures students’ application of knowledge and skills that are essential to success in the 21st century,” said Massachusetts Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester, chair of the PARCC Governing Board. “The prototypes are illustrative of the next-generation PARCC assessment system that reflects the Common Core State Standards.”

The primary purpose of sharing item and task prototypes is to provide information and to support educators as they transition to the CCSS and the PARCC assessments. The dynamic, online prototypes presented on the PARCC website demonstrate that core shifts at the heart of the CCSS are also integrated into the design of PARCC’s technology-based assessments.

Additional prototypes and rubrics will be added over the next two years to paint a more complete picture of the PARCC assessment design in each content area and grade level.

Though not a focus in the first round of prototype work, PARCC will ensure accessible test administration as well as accessible assessment design through its commitment to use the principles of Universal Design and embed supports that will increase access to the greatest number of students taking the assessments.

“PARCC assessments are being designed to promote quality instruction aligned to the Common Core State Standards.” said Laura Slover, senior vice president of Achieve, which serves as the project management partner for PARCC. “They are designed to be work worth doing rather than a distraction from good work.”

Educators will also find more than just the prototypes on the PARCC website. Every item and task prototype is annotated with information about the standard being measured, the type of assessment on which it would appear, and a link to the revised PARCC Model Content Frameworks.

In addition to the release of item and task prototypes, PARCC is also releasing updated versions of the Model Content Frameworks for ELA/Literacy and Mathematics. PARCC held a public comment period in June 2012 asking educators and other stakeholders to provide suggestions on areas in the frameworks that needed additional specificity or clarity. The Model Content Frameworks for Mathematics now include a revised high school section that provides assessment guidance for Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II and Mathematics I, Math II, Math III.

The funding for making the prototypes accessible on the PARCC website, as well as support for developing the prototypes, was made possible by a grant to Achieve from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

To view the item and task prototypes and the Model Content Frameworks, visit http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes

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.”

PARCC selects NMSI to Manage Educator Leader Cadres

Posted on June 28, 2012 by coreeducation

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), a 24-state consortium working together to create next generation assessments in English language arts/literacy and mathematics, has selected the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) to lead the facilitation and management of the Educator Leader Cadres (ELCs). Through this effort, NMSI will support state efforts to build a growing network of K-12 educators and higher education faculty directly involved in Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and PARCC implementation efforts.

“Educator expertise is crucial to successfully implementing the Common Core State Standards and the new assessments,” said Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Heffner. “As a result of the PARCC Educator Leader Cadres, teachers will receive information and tools to support implementation of CCSS and PARCC through a practitioner’s lens.”

The Educator Leader Cadres – made up of 24-member teams of K-16 educators – will meet face-to-face and online to build expertise in the CCSS and PARCC; review sample tasks, items, and state-developed instructional materials; and guide and share best practices around state and local implementation efforts. By engaging in these efforts, the cadres will become leaders in CCSS and PARCC implementation and work to create a leadership network in every PARCC state made up of K-16 educators. These educator leaders can then provide support throughout their states, assisting regional and district efforts to prepare teachers for the upcoming transitions in peer-to-peer workshops and trainings.

The National Math and Science Initiative submitted a proposal that provided innovative approaches to meeting the goals established by PARCC for the educator leader cadres. NMSI demonstrated superior logistical capabilities, including a schedule that directly addresses the timelines associated with the PARCC project; innovative solutions to organizational challenges, significantly minimizing costs to align with the estimated PARCC budget; and provided thoughtful approaches to the design and development of both face-to-face meetings and online meetings, utilizing robust and flexible technologies. NMSI has a strong network of proven partners and subcontractors, with a track record of successfully supporting the travel and logistics of meetings of this size and complexity.

Each PARCC state developed a process to select their ELC members. The first meeting to bring some of the ELC members together will take place this summer.

To learn more about PARCC’s work, please visit http://www.parcconline.org/

To learn about the five consortia tasked with developing assessments for the CCSS, click here.

The "Core" of Education

Tag Archives: assessments