Innovative Approaches to Alternate Assessm ent Design: Tennessee - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Innovative Approaches to Alternate Assessm ent Design: Tennessee Grade 2 Alternate Assessm ent CCSSO 2017 National Conference on Student Assessment Dr. Nakia Towns, Assistant Commissioner, Data & Research Division

Our Vision Districts and schools in Tennessee will exemplify excellence and equity such that all students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to successfully embark upon their chosen path in life. 2

Our Priorities 3

Our Big Goals 4

Grade 2 Design

Grade 2 Assessm ent Overview  Optional Administration – This assessment offered to districts at no additional cost and only at the district’s option  Designed to help ensure that our youngest students are strengthening foundational literacy and math skills  This assessment is part of an overarching strategy to improve early grades instruction and student learning – Kindergarten Entry Inventory Screener – Voluntary Pre-K Program Criteria & Funding – Read to Be Ready Coaching Network – Read to Be Ready Summer Camps – Pre-K/K Student Growth Portfolios for Teacher Evaluation – Third Grade Individual Value-Added Data for Teacher Evaluation 6

Grade 2 Assessm ent Overview  Criterion-referenced assessment versus norm- referenced. – Designed to replace the SAT-10, which was optional for grades K – 2 from 2011-2016 in Tennessee.  Designed to only assess Tennessee Academic Standards . – Will provide teachers, leaders, parents, and community members information on how our students are performing at the end of second grade on Tennessee- specific standards. – Provides information on progress in advance of third grade, before the first year for student and school accountability . 7

Grade 2 Assessm ent Design Tim eline  July 2016 – Item Review  September 2016 – Gen Ed Field Test and Passage Review  October 2016 – Alternate Field Test  April – May 2017 – Operational Administration  Summer 2017 – Standard Setting  Fall 2017 – Individual, School, and District Score Reports 8

Grade 2 Assessm ent: Initial Reception from the Field  98 of 144 districts administered the Grade 2 assessment this spring, driven by positive feedback from the fall field test: – 96% of educators agreed or strongly agreed that the items on the ELA field test align with the TN state standards . – 92% of educators agreed or strongly agreed that the items on the Mathematics field test align with the TN state standards . – Educators “felt the test length and rigor was a good fit for second graders.” And “thought the amount and quality of questions was very appropriate for second grade.” 9

Grade 2 Mathem atics Blueprint Number of Percent of Subdomain Points Test Computation with Whole Numbers 17 29 14 24 Number Relationships and Patterns Measurement Concepts 13 22 9 15–16 Data and Geometric Concepts 5–6 9–10 Problem Solving 58–59 100 Total Administered in two (2) subparts, 40 and 42 minutes long. 10

Grade 2 Mathem atics Overview  The mathematics test will focus approximately: – 70% of the assessment items on major work of the grade and – 30% of the items on supporting and additional work.  Student mastery of fluency , ability to problem solve , and understanding of the grade level standards will be assessed.  Students will be assessed on their ability to connect topics across the grade level domains. 11

Grade 2 Mathem atics Item Types Non-Contextual Fluency  1-point item; aligned to a single standard  Fill-in-the-blank format  Multiple-select format Multiple Choice  1-point item; aligned to a single standard 12

Grade 2 Mathem atics Item Types Multi-part  2-point item; aligned to a single standard  Contains multiple parts Integrated  5–6 point item; aligned to two or more standards  Contains multiple parts 13

Grade 2 Mathem atics: Integrated Item 14

Grade 2 ELA Blueprint Informational Text Subtest Literature Subtest % 44 Total Items Points 42 Total Items Points % 28 Reading 15 Reading 15 30 9 Writing 5 Writing 5 10 Foundational Literacy (Phonics and Word Foundational Literacy Recognition, Vocabulary (Phonics and Word 35 19 Acquisition, Recognition, Vocabulary 20 40 Word Composition, and Acquisition, Sentence Composition) Word Composition, and Sentence Composition) 19 10 Listening 10 20 Listening 9 Fluency 5 100 50 100 Total Total 54 Administered in four (4) subparts, each 40 – 42 minutes long. 15

Grade 2 ELA Overview The integrated format will assess students based upon questions derived from both literary passages and informational text in order to determine their mastery of the standards in the following areas:  Reading Comprehension  Foundational Literacy Skills  Language  Conventions/Grammar/Spelling  Writing  Listening  Foundational Literacy Fluency 16

Grade 2 ELA Item Types Reading Comprehension  1-point multiple-choice items  Passage-based items Foundational Literacy  Phonics and Word Recognition – 2-point multiple-select items – Based on words from the passage  Vocabulary Acquisition – 1-point multiple-choice items – Based on words from the passage 17

Grade 2 ELA Item Types Foundational Literacy (continued) Word Composition and Sentence Composition  1-point multiple-choice items  Based on sentences about the passage Writing  5-point writing prompt  Prompt is based on ideas in a short reading passage that is read to students  Requires students to write a response that is at least three or four sentences to answer two passage-related questions 18

Holistic Writing Rubric 19

Holistic Writing Rubric 20

Grade 2 ELA Item Types Listening  Sentence-based – 1-point multiple-choice items – Graphic answer choices – Sentences and questions read to students  Passage-based – 1-point multiple-choice items – Some have graphic answer choices – Some have text answer choices – Passages, questions, and text answer choices read to students 21

Grade 2 ELA Item Types Fluency  5-point item scored using a rubric – Students have two minutes to read 20 sentences  Students read as many sentences as possible in the time allowed, identifying each as true or not true 22

Beyond Oral Reading Fluency  Oral Reading Fluency is typically assessed in situations where students “read aloud from a passage while their reading errors (i.e., miscues) and reading rate are recorded” (Price et al., 2012, p. 2). – Does not connect decoding skills to a measure of comprehension – It requires substantial one-on-one time per student – It does not address the “need to pay closer consideration to oral reading’s often ignored counterpart, silent reading” (Price et al., 2012, p. 2). 23

Grade 2 ELA Fluency Item  The Foundational Literacy Fluency item is a measure of fluency that connects students’ basic decoding skills with their comprehension at the sentence level. ‒ Students’ reading fluency and comprehension will be assessed through the use of yes or no responses to independently read sentences containing second grade vocabulary. ‒ The number of sentences that students answer correctly will be translated into a 0–5 score. Examples: - A fish can swim. - It is dark at night. - A hen is a plant. - A rock is very soft. 24

Grade 2 Alternate Design

Grade 2 Alternate Assessm ent Design Overview  The new alternate assessment for second grade replaces the historical TCAP-Alt portfolio assessment .  Tennessee educators participated in the item review and their input was a critical part of the assessment design to ensure quality, rigor, and accessibility .  The Grade 2 Alternate was designed using a similar process as MSAA and TCAP-Alt: – Developing Alternate Assessment Targets (AATs) from the grade level standards, – Developing Underlying Concepts (UCs) from the AATs – Developing item families consisting of four “tiers” of “levels” from the AATs and UCs 26

Grade 2 Alternate Assessm ent Design Overview  The assessment begins with Tier 1 items and progress with Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4 items before reverting back to Tier 3 items, then Tier 2 items, and ending with Tier 1 items, as shown below.  Operational assessment consists of a single form and with a range of 6-10 items per tier. 27

Grade 2 Alternate Assessm ent Design Overview  Paper and pencil test delivered in three pieces: (1) test item booklet, (2) student response cards, and (3) answer sheet to record answers. – ELA and math only – 30-35 multiple choice questions for each content area – Includes constructed response items in ELA – Answer cards on perforated paper – Teacher completes the answer sheet – Assessment may be administered over multiple days, multiple times as needed for the student  If the district chooses to administer the Grade 2 GenEd assessment, students in second grade who qualify for the alternate must be assessed as well. 28