Georgia Assessments and the GPS

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Georgia Assessments and the GPS
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GaDOE Testing Division Goal

• We will provide well-designed assessments,
  aligned to the curriculum, with timely delivery
  of useful results.

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Testing Updates

• Curricular Transition of Assessments
• New Writing Assessments
• New Georgia Alternate Assessment
• Plans for new 1st Grade Readiness Assessment
• The Lexile Framework
• Program changes and enhancements

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How are tests aligned to the GPS?

• Two major tasks
• Content alignment
• What students must know
• Make sure all test items reflect the content
  described in the GPS.
• Standard alignment
• How well students must perform
• Insure that performance standards reflect the
  mastery level described by the GPS.

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Curriculum Transition

• Where have we been?
• EOCT transitioned to GPS starting in fall 2005
• Physical Science
• Biology
• 9th Grade Literature
• American Literature
• CRCT transitioned to GPS starting in spring 2006
• Reading and ELA, all grades
• Math grade 6
• Science Grades 6 and 7

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Curriculum Transition

• Whats coming up?
• EOCT
• US History and Economics transitions in 2007-2008
• Math I and Math II developed in 2008-2009
• CRCT
• 2006-2007 Math grades 1,2,7 Science grades 3-5
• 2007-2008 Math grades 3-5, 8 Science grade 8
  Social Studies grades 6-8
• 2008-2009 Social Studies grades 3-5

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Curriculum Transition

• The GHSGT is a special case
• Because the GHSGT covers 3 years of content, it
  is important to wait until all students receive
  only GPS instruction in grades 9-12 to change the
  standards.
• In the meantime, a transitional blueprint is in
  place for ELA and Science to ensure that the test
  fully aligns to both QCC and GPS.
• Spring 2008 the ELA and Science tests will be
  based exclusively on the GPS and will have new
  standards.
• Spring 2008 the Social Studies test will be
  transitional. In spring 2010 the Social
  Studies test will be fully GPS with new
  standards.
• Due to the grade level transition plan for
  mathematics, there will not be a transitional
  GHSGT for math it will fully transition to GPS
  in 2011.

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What changes to the test will you see when it
transitions to the GPS?

• CRCT and EOCT will have new content, new
  reporting domains, and a new reporting scale.
• GHSGT will cover content jointly aligned to GPS
  and QCC. Current standard and scale will remain
  in place this year, but will change starting in
  2008.

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Important Note

• Once a test transitions to the GPS the old QCC
  test is no longer comparable to the new GPS test.
• Example Spring 2004 80 of Ms. Smiths Physical
  Science class met expectations on the Physical
  Science EOCT. In fall 2005 Ms. Smith noticed
  that only 60 of her class met expectations on
  the EOCT. Are the students less able this term?
  One cannot make this determination because it is
  a new test with new standards.

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Educator Involvement

• In developing new content and new standards for
  assessments, Georgia educators play a critical
  role.
• All new items are reviewed and approved by
  committees of Georgia educators before they
  appear on an operational test.
• Standard setting panels are comprised almost
  exclusively of Georgia educators.

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New Writing Assessments

• Grade 3 Writing Assessment
• Involves collection of student writing samples
• Four types of writing
• Response to Literature
• Informational
• Narrative
• Persuasive
• Analytic scoring in four domains
• Ideas
• Organization
• Style
• Conventions

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The New Grade 5 Writing Assessment

• First Administration March 7-8, 2007
• Three genres of writing
• Informational
• Persuasive
• Narrative
• Writing prompts will be spiraled at the student
  level
• Analytic scoring in four domains
• Ideas
• Organization
• Style
• Conventions
• Five score point rubric
• 1 through 5 in each domain

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The New Grade 8 Writing Assessment

• First Administration January 17-18, 2007
• Two genres of writing
• Expository
• Persuasive
• Writing prompts will be spiraled at the student
  level
• Analytic scoring in four domains
• Ideas
• Organization
• Style
• Conventions
• Five score point rubric
• 1 through 5 in each domain

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The New High School Writing Assessment

• First Administration September 26-27, 2007
• Test of persuasive writing
• Analytic scoring in four domains
• Ideas
• Organization
• Style
• Conventions
• Five score point rubric
• 1 through 5 in each domain

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The New Alternate Assessment

• NCLB and IDEA require
• Students with significant cognitive disabilities
  be assessed in the same content areas as their
  peers.
• Students must be assessed on the same curriculum,
  not an alternate curriculum.
• Students may be assessed via alternate
• achievement standards, linked to the same
• curricular standards at the students grade
  level.

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Whats New About the GAA?

• The GAA is a portfolio of student work provided
  as evidence that a student is making progress
  toward grade-level academic standards
• The portfolio is flexible to allow for the
  diversity of the students participating in the
  GAA

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Portfolio Requirements

• Grades K-2 will develop a portfolio in ELA and
  Math
• - 2 standards per content area
• Grades 3-8 and 11 will develop a portfolio in
  ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies
• - 2 standards each for ELA and Math
• - 1 standard each for Science and Social Studies
• For each standard, there are two collection
  periods
• one to show the students initial skill
• - the second to show achievement/progress.
• The focus is on academic content and skills

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Types of Evidence

• Primary
• Student work sample
• Permanent product
• Videotape audiotape (with script)
• Series of Captioned Photos
• Secondary
• Data sheet (Charts/Graphs)
• Interview
• Observation (Anecdotal record)
• An additional piece of primary evidence

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Rubric/Scoring Dimensions

• Each entry will be scored on 4 dimensions
• Fidelity to Standard assesses the degree to which
  the students work addresses the grade-level
  standard to which it is aligned.
• Context assesses the degree to which the student
  work is purposeful and exhibits the use of
  grade-appropriate materials in a natural/real
  world application.

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Rubric/Scoring Dimensions

• Achievement/Progress assesses the increase in the
  students proficiency of skill across the two
  collection periods.
• Generalization assesses the student's ability to
  apply the learned skill in other settings and
  with various individuals in addition to the
  teacher or paraprofessional.
• Generalization is scored across all
  entries/content areas in the portfolio

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Georgia Kindergarten Inventory of Developing
Skills (GKIDS)

• Plans are in place for development of a new 1st
  grade readiness assessment
• Core development and advisory teams will meet in
  spring 2007
• Field test planned for 2007-2008
• Operational administration in 2008-2009

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Lexile Framework

• In spring 2006 a study was conducted to link
  scores on the Reading CRCT and Language Arts
  GHSGT to the Lexile Framework
• Lexiles are a widely used measure of both reader
  ability and text difficulty
• Students now receive Lexile scores in addition to
  their traditional scale score on these tests.
  This better enables students, educators, and
  parents to make meaning of test results.
• Can be used to set a target range (100 below and
  50 above) for reading material across the
  curriculum.

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Relating CRCT GHSGT Cut Scores to Lexile
Measures of Typical Readers and Texts
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Interpreting the Graph

• The graph illustrates the relationship of reader
  ability, text difficulty, and the cut scores on
  the CRCT and GHSGT.
• The blue lines represent the Lexile range of
  typical texts for a grade level.
• The red lines represent the Lexile range of
  readers that comprise the middle 50 of readers
  for a grade level.
• The light green squares show the cut scores at
  the Meets performance level on the CRCT (grades
  1-8) and GHSGT (grade 11).
• The dark green squares show the cut scores at the
  Exceeds performance level on the CRCT (grades
  1-8) and GHSGT (grade 11).

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Assessment Vendors

• Online Assessment System (OAS) Riverside
  Publishing Company (RPC). Five year contract
  initiated in July 2006.
• CRCT CTB McGraw Hill. Five year contract
  initiated October 2006.
• GHSGT Five year contract recently awarded to
  Pearson Educational Measurement (PEM) starting
  January 1, 2007.
• EOCT Contract with PEM expires June 2007.
• NRT Contract with RPC expires June 2007.

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Enhancements in Assessment Programs

• Addition of level three to the OAS. Content
  tagged at the standard and element level.
  Benchmark tests available through the OAS.
• Student results available in 5 days for CRCT and
  GHSGT, starting spring 2007.
• Items prompts will be released following each
  writing test, starting spring 2007.
• Assessment data file available automatically
  through the MyGaDOE portal for CRCT and GHSGT,
  starting this spring.

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Questions?

• Contact information
• Chris Domaleski
• cdomales_at_doe.k12.ga.us
• 404-656-2688.