Periodic Assessments Information

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Periodic Assessment Information Deena Abu-Lughod, SAF for ESO Networks 14 and 19, September 7, 2008 [email protected]

Greetings! I hope your school year is off to a wonderful start! A lot has happened since we last met and I wanted to make sure you were aware of developments in the world of Periodic Assessments. As you know, we like to concentrate on larger issues during our monthly meetings, so this kind of information is best provided in written form. Below, you will find information on Professional Development offerings, new features in Performance Series (Scantron) which is available to all students free of charge, Acuity, the new TCRWP, Fountas and Pinell and DRA assessments, and the new Pearson assessments for ELLs.

Periodic assessments are designed to support CFI and Inquiry Team work, as a catalyst for schoolwide improvement. They help us:  Select focus (target) populations;  Set measurable short-term and June goals (be they in terms of percentages correct on the Acuity Predictives, Performance Series scale score gains or changes in reading levels);  Track student performance & progress  Evaluate the success of our change strategies;  Plan differentiated lessons & revise classroom practices to meet the needs of students.

I urge you to contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns about the periodic assessments or want to share hints, best practices or good experiences with the rest of the network!

Professional Development on Periodic and Other Assessments

Please take advantage of these PD options, as there will be no network-specific trainings on these assessments.

Acuity: Acuity professional development webinars are available throughout the 2008- 09 school year. For more information and to register, please visit http://schools.nyc.gov/Accountability/ResourcesforEducators/PeriodicAssessments/defa ult.htm. These short (1/2 hour) webinars will address very specific topics (eg, Acuity Overview, Analyzing June data, Using the Item Bank, Roles and Permissions, Using Acuity with Inquiry Teams, Using Instructional Materials, Scoring Constructed Response, etc.). There will also be Powerpoints for turnkey training. This is great because it minimizes time out of the building and helps people select exactly what they need. Recorded webinars are available 24/7.

Performance Series: On-site professional development is available during the 2008-09 school year to help support your implementation of Performance Series. To register for these sessions, please visit www.performanceseries.com/nyc/

ECLAS-2 refresher training is available September 23-25. This training lasts three hours; morning and afternoon sessions will be offered. Due to space constraints, training will be limited to one educator per school. Please sign up for the training online at

Dabulug Page 1 5/7/2018 0e341678cff7ea96b5cfef6fa37f0522.doc http://schools.nyc.gov/Accountability/ResourcesforEducators/PeriodicAssessments/defa ult.htm. This might be a good solution for schools that will focus their EC professional development on curriculum and may not have time to train new teachers. The data show that the Sight Words, Reading Accuracy and Reading Comprehension pieces, when administered correctly, are very highly correlated with the Grade 3 ELA. Proper administration, however, requires teachers to be adequately trained, to share an understanding of what is “good enough”, and to not be tempted to overrate their students.

Performance Series Updates

Performance Series permissions have been reset for the 2008-09 school year, and building principals have been designated as “Location Controllers.” For more information about this function and to learn about how to designate other staff members as location controllers, please review the Performance Series memo available at http://schools.nyc.gov/Accountability/ResourcesforEducators/PeriodicAssessments/defa ult.htm. All data for students in grades 2-12 are scheduled to be imported into Performance Series by September 5. I favor Performance Series (computer adaptive) for students reading well below grade level as a substitute for the Acuity ITAs. For such students, Acuity is less reliable because the passages may be too difficult, so we can’t tell whether the student can’t do the skill or whether they can’t do the reading. Performance Series also makes an excellent baseline for Inquiry students; a scale score gain of 250 by June would represent a year’s worth of progress.

New Parent Reports from Performance Series (Scantron Computer Adaptive) . Parent Summary Report > Brief score list > Longitudinal progress graph . Parent Extended Report > Complete current score list > Longitudinal progress graph > Guidance on next skills appropriate to student’s instructional level (Top 3 Suggested Learning Objectives) . Extended Student Profile > Graph of current score data > Graph of longitudinal progress > Short narrative

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Acuity System Updates

The August 20 data upload transferred students into new schools and new grade configurations in Acuity. For more information about available features and updates to the Acuity system, please review the “Acuity Updates” memo available at http://schools.nyc.gov/Accountability/ResourcesforEducators/PeriodicAssessments/defa ult.htm. Go to “Prior Year” to find reports from the Spring Predictive. (Ask for a roster report, and then drill down to individual students.). As of Sept. 15, 2008-09 class-level data will be available and teachers can access:  Class-level Prior Year Roster Reports for their 2008-09 classes  Student-level Prior Year Reports for their 2008-09 students  Class-level Prior Year Reports for their 2007-08 classes

Expected Acuity Improvements:  Reviewing and revising item quality and alignment to NY State standards  Reducing the number of items per assessment to ensure students can complete each pre-designed ITA within a single class period  Developing genre-based ITAs in ELA for grades 3-8  Updating the Impact Math ITA blueprints to follow the new pacing guides  Expanding the Integrated Algebra ITA series to align with 3 different pacing guides: > 2-semester Prentice Hall > 4-semester Prentice Hall > AMAPS calendar of lessons

New Features for Fall 2008:  Item Bank customization  Ability to edit pre-designed ITAs  Item Authoring  Increased breadth and depth of item bank coverage

 Automatic assignment of Instructional Resources  Improved local scanning

Winter 2008 (scheduled December release):  Ability to sort ELA items by passage in the Item Bank  Printable Instructional Resources  Student-by-Item Matrix Report (This is great; we’ve been asking for it. You will be able to get the results for the whole class on just 2-4 pages instead of 120. It will look similar to the State Item Response, but color coded (Dummy data appear below; distractors appear color coded but this is probably just an error – usually green indicates a correct answer.).

Using Acuity to Track Student Growth:  Do: > Monitor growth on the Acuity vertical scale within & across grades on Student Longitudinal Reports and Student Progress Reports > Use Student Assessment Reports to observe change in predicted State test performance level from one Predictive to the next  Don’t: > Look at growth in raw score from one pre-designed ITA to another – or between ITAs and Predictive Assessments > Compare students across classes or networks (assessments are not normed) > Compare the Acuity scale score to the scale score on the State test

New TCRWP Early Childhood Assessments  Data Collection > Educators will enter student results from TCRWP assessments into new TCRWP data analysis platform  Reporting

> Data analysis platform will allow educators to track student progress; will illustrate progress with charts and graphs > Platform will assist educators with grouping students according to early indications of possible needs > TCRWP will provide no-cost professional development on the use of the platform to all schools that selected TCRWP assessments for K-2 or 3-8 students

New Fountas and Pinell and DRA  Assessments > New Approved Alternative programs for K-2 literacy > Leveled texts allow educators to identify students’ instructional and independent reading levels > Identify students who need extra help or intervention > Additional optional assessments available  Administration > Administer at least twice per year > Recommended: follow ECLAS-2 assessment windows  Data Collection and Reporting > Results are recorded on individual and class record sheets > For Fountas & Pinnell, data collection software is provided in kits

New ELL Assessments Pearson will be the new provider for the optional ELL assessments, to be administered in November and March. Details to come.

NYSELSAT Results Available in ATS

The State has released the results of the 2008 NYSESLAT. You should run the RMSR report in ATS to receive a roster and scores of students who took this test. Even better, use the RLAT report to see details over a three-year period, including the results for LAB-R and NYSESLAT. Guidance and information concerning the interpretation of scores is available at www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/nyseslat/home.shtml. There will be no score reports.

 Keep an eye out in particular for students who have remained at the same level for 2 or more years.  Look for students who have high speaking scores but low reading or writing scores: there’s probably a literacy issue there, more than a language one.  Long-term ELLs would make a fascinating and important Inquiry group. We really need to learn how to reach these students.

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