Alphabet Soup

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"Alphabet Soup"
Making Sense of the PSSA's and 'No Child Left
Behind'
PDE
AYP
NCLB
ESEA
PSSA
IEP
2005-2006
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No Child Left Behind
What exactly is the NCLB law? The federal
Elementary and Secondary Education Act is
periodically reauthorized. In January 2002 a
reauthorization of ESEA was signed by President
Bush. He called the revised law "No Child Left
Behind." The next scheduled reauthorization of
ESEA is in 2008. Specifically NCLB provides a
framework within which each state must (1)
establish rigorous academic standards, (2)
establish an assessment system that annually
measures student progress in meeting those
standards, and (3) impose consequences on school
districts whose assessment results fail to meet
the states standard proficiency goals for two or
more consecutive years.
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Important Terminology
Making Sense of It All...
What are some terms related to the NCLB law? AYP
Adequate Yearly Progress the progress
required of each school district/school/subgroup
to move to 100 proficiency in 2013/2014 ELL
English Language Learners students whose native
language is not English ESEA Elementary and
Secondary Education Act first passed in 1965
this is the federal law that governs all policies
and programs in public schools it is
reauthorized periodically, most recently in 2002.
The current version is entitled No Child Left
Behind. Highly Qualified Teachers term in
federal law that says all teachers (in schools
with federal funding) teaching in core academic
subjects in public schools must have proper
certification. This means (1) all elementary
teachers must have a bachelors degree AND pass
rigorous state tests in reading, writing, math,
and other basic elementary curricular areas, and
(2) all middle and secondary school teachers must
have a bachelors degree AND either pass a core
content test or have an academic major, graduate
degree or coursework equivalent in the subject
area to be taught. Pennsylvania law says that all
public school teachers must be "highly qualified"
by 2005/06, even in schools that do not receive
federal funding.
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IEP students who qualify for special education
services are educated according to an
Individualized Education Program. The IEP team,
chaired by a representative of the district,
includes at a minimum, a special education
teacher, a regular education teacher and the
parent. The team meets annually to review the
students progress and revise the learning
goals. Indicators the items used to measure
AYP the federal law requires state test results
to account for at least 60 of the determination
of Adequate Yearly Progress other measures can
include attendance rates, graduation rates, SAT
scores, dropout rates, Advanced Placement
participation, and so on. Pennsylvania has
elected to use only the PSSA tests, participation
rates on those tests, attendance rates, and
graduation rates as indicators. NCLB No Child
Left Behind the title given to the
reauthorization of the ESEA in 2002.
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PASA Pennsylvania Alternative System of
Assessment official name of the Pennsylvania
state test given to students with severe
disabilities PPI Pennsylvania Performance
Index a growth index that measures progress all
along the achievement scale, not just from basic
to proficient PPI will be used in conjunction
with the "safe harbor" provision to determine AYP
as well as to determine district rewards. This
formula requires constant growth from year to
year, even if the actual percentage of students
meeting proficiency, participating in the
examinations, attending school or graduating is
far above the required AYP target for that
year. Proficiency "Satisfactory academic
performance indicating a solid understanding and
adequate display of the skills included in
Pennsylvanias academic standards." (PENNSYLVANIA
law) This performance is reflected in an
"advanced" or "proficient" score on the state
assessment.
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PSSA Pennsylvania System of School Assessment
official name of the Pennsylvania state
tests Safe harbor a provision that exists
under the ESEA that can be used in determining
whether a school can be said to have met its AYP
target even if the scores, participation rates or
attendance/graduation rates did not meet the
required number. Under Safe Harbor, if a school
or subgroup does NOT meet the proficiency
criteria, but DOES reduce the number of
below-proficient students by 10 or more, it will
be considered to have met AYP. Subgroup
federal law requires disaggregation of scores for
certain groups of students, including
economically disadvantaged students, major racial
and ethnic groups, students with disabilities,
and English Language Learners. The law refers to
these groups as "subgroups."
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Understanding It All...
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In order to make AYP what are the percentages
of students that must be measured as
proficient? Schools must increase the percentage
of students deemed proficient on state tests in
ever-increasing increments. The benchmarks for
the state of Pennsylvania are
NOTE These are the percentages of students who
must score at the proficient (or higher) level on
the state tests. These are NOT the scores on the
tests.
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The challenge 100 proficiency in reading and
math by 2014
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How are participation rates measured? 95 of
each grade level that is required to take each
test, AND 95 of each priority group that is
required to take each test must actually take the
test. If less than 95 of any of these groups
does not take the test, then the school does not
meet the AYP goals and sanctions will occur.
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Is a school judged proficient based on just the
test scores from the entire population of
students who took the test? The "whole school"
score is just one measure of proficiency. Equal
expectations of proficiency are held for all
priority groups. If just one priority group does
not meet AYP targets in a given year, sanctions
will affect the entire school. What are the
various priority groups that have their scores
included in AYP calculations? Required priority
groups include English Language Learners,
socio-economically disadvantaged students (as
defined by students qualifying for free/reduced
lunches), students of certain ethnic groups
(American Indian, Asian, Black and Latino), and
special education students (those with IEPs). It
is possible for some students to be in as many as
four of these priority groups at the same
time. How many students must there be to have a
priority groups score included in the AYP
calculation? There must be a minimum of 40
students in a priority group. These 40 students
can come from any grade level within the school,
as long as they meet the criteria of that
priority group definition. If a school is too
small to have 40 students for any one priority
group, then the state will combine data for 2 or
3 years.
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How are attendance and graduation rates
measured? A school must meet the goal of 95
attendance (or be making progress towards that
goal) in order to meet AYP. The required
graduation rate is 80.
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What happens to a school if the school itself or
any of its priority groups fails to make
AYP? According to the PDE website, if schools
fail to improve after 1 year - warning after
2 years School Improvement I (must pay to
transfer students to different schools school
assistance team school improvement plan) after
3 years School Improvement II (same as above,
plus supplemental services like must pay for
private tutors for students who are not
proficient) after 4 years - Corrective Action
I (same as above plus major changes in
leadership, curriculum, and so on) after 5
years - Corrective Action II (same as above plus
privatization, and so on) after 6 years
Governance Changes must shut down district A
building or district leaves this list ONLY when
it meets AYP targets for TWO consecutive years
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What if a district DOES meet AYP
targets? Schools will receive monetary rewards
and recognition if they meet or exceed their
annual AYP targets or their PPI targets for two
consecutive years. Schools will receive freedom
from some reporting requirements and mandates
after 4 years of meeting targets. It is important
to note that each year the benchmarks for making
Adequate Yearly Progress will be raised.
Therefore AYP becomes increasingly difficult to
achieve.
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Many schools are meeting AYP, but we have a long
way to go
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2004-05 AYP results for Pennsylvania school
districts
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Heat dramatically lowers scores on physical and
mental tests. Reading comprehension declines at
temperatures above 74 degrees F and math skills
decline above 77 degrees F. Classrooms kept
between 68 and 72 degrees F are the most
comfortable for students. It is easier to adjust
and adapt to a cooler classroom than one that is
too hot.
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Subject Area Prompt or Question Additional
Information
Subject Area Prompt or Question Additional
Information
PSSA Style Response Form
PSSA Style Response Form
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Multiple Choice (Selected Response) Multiple-choic
e items (selected response) measure how well
students recall or infer content and how well
they choose the preferred answer among four
responses offered to a question. At times,
multiple choice items provide the best way to
determine whether students gleaned certain
information important from a story, such as the
setting, its central ideas or its main events and
their chronology. (Performance Level Handbook,
p.223) Common Characteristics (from released
PSSA tests) All multiple choice items are written
to the PA Academic Standards 1.2, 1.2, 1.3, 1.7,
1.8 and specifically to bulleted descriptors All
items must be passage dependent. Items are
written in the active voice and most often
present tense. Negatives are not used. The
number of words for the selected responses should
be the same Common Stems (mostly narrative) PA
Academic Standard 1. Select John's
occupation. 1.15 D 2. The word, ____, as used in
the story, means 1.15 F 3. Select the words which
best fit the meaning of the statement 1.1.5 G
1 4. The First Date is an example of (a
biographical text, an informational text,
narrative,) 1.1.5 H 4 5. The phrase that best
describes the main character, ________________ 1.3
.5 B 6. The story implies (suggests) that the
main character. 1. 3.5 B 7. The sentence that
best describes the author's message (point of
view) 1. 3.5 B 8. The metaphor, , means 1.3.5 C
2 9. Describing _______ as ________makes use of
the literary device... 1.3 C 2 Common Stems
(mostly informational) PA Academic
Standard 10. According to the article, 1.2.5 A
3 11. The article is organized.... 1.2.5 A
4 12. A major theme (or idea) of the
article.... 1.2.5 A 4 13. The following
statement is an essential fact in understanding
the article 1.2.5 A 1 14. The author's opinion
about _______ is 1.2.5 A 1 15. The author
probably means _________ 1.2.5 A 4 16. The
author's purpose in writing this article 1.2 .5
A 4 17. The word _____from the Latin
word,_____, meaning _____, in this story
means 1.7.5 A 18. The word "upscale" is an
example of 1.7.5 B 19. The word "mouse" has
changed to mean 1.7.5 C 20. The best source to
find .. 1.8.5 B 2 21. In the card
catalog,.... 1.8.5 B 4 22. Select the words
that should be included in notes about ______
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Value of Non-fiction Writing
Dr. Douglas Reeves, chairman of the Center for
Performance Assessment, summarizes years of
research, "If you do one thing different in your
district to improve children's performance, teach
more non-fiction writing. While most schools
overload on fiction writing, the skills needed to
craft a coherent non-fiction essay help sharpen
students' minds as well as boosting their writing
and reading ability.
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The emotional states of anticipation, confusion,
and curiosity require so many attentional
resources that they cannot last long-30 to 90
seconds. If resolution does not occur, then the
individual moves on to another emotional state.
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Using Assessment for Data Driven Decision Making

• Assessment drives instruction. (Assessment
  information helps the teacher map next steps for
  varied learners and the class as a whole.)
• Assessment occurs consistently as the unit
  begins, throughout the unit and as the unit ends.
  (Preassessment, formative and summative
  assessment are regular parts of the
  teaching/learning cycle.)
• Teachers assess student readiness, interest and
  learning profile.
• Assessments are part of teaching for success.
• Assessment information helps students chart and
  contribute to their own growth.
• Assessment MAY be differentiated.
• Assessment information is more useful to the
  teacher than grades.
• Assessment is more focused on personal growth
  than on peer competition.

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• 99 of all learning occurs at the non-conscious
  level. Only 38 of the spoken message is
  transmitted by words. The conscious mind can
  only process one sense at a time. The
  unconscious mind picks up many messages per
  second.
• Change voice pace, volume, tone, and use gestures
• Call on students with an outstretched hand with
  the palm facing up
• Smile

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• We tend to remember
• 10 from reading
• 20 hearing words
• 30 looking at pictures
• 50 watching a movie, looking at an exhibit,
  watching a demonstration, seeing it actually done
• 70 participating in a discussion, giving a talk
• 90 doing a dramatic presentation, simulation,
  doing the real thing

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University of California Brain Research showed
that music can charge and energize the brain.
The brain gains more energies from certain
frequencies when it harmonizes with body rhythms
(around 8000 Hz). By listening to Mozart
selections for just 10 minutes, testers
demonstrated elevated intelligence scores on
spatial-temporal reasoning problems. Play
positive, energizing music before the start of
class Play triumphal music to supplement moments
of emotional highs Allow musical creativity for
assessment projects.
Music
Music
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• What Are the Trends in Schools With Greatest
  Gains in Standardized Test Scores, Graduation
  Rates, and High Achievement?
• Consistent in-school writing assessment in every
  subject
•  Frequent common assessments short, immediate
  feedback, collaboratively scored
•  Intervention immediate and decisive
•  Constructive use of data students, classes,
  schools
•  
•  

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Report Filter --gt Filter criteria Subject
MathGrade Eleventh GradeFilter All Students
Report Filter --gt Filter criteria Subject
MathGrade Eleventh GradeFilter All Students
Subject MathGrade Eleventh GradeFilter All
Students
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Subject MathGrade Eleventh GradeFilter
Include IEP-Autism, IEP-Deaf-blindness,
IEP-Deafness, IEP-Emotional Disturbance,
IEP-Hearing Impairment, IEP-Mental Retardation,
IEP-Multiple Disabilities, IEP-Other Health
Impairment, IEP-Specific Learning Disability,
IEP-Speech or Language Impairment
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The Actual Legislation http//www.ed.gov/about/of
fices/list/oese/legislation.html
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