State Board of Education Topic Summary s19
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION – TOPIC SUMMARY
Topic: Diploma: Assessment: ACT and College Board Presentations
Date: February 15, 2007
Staff/Office: Kosty/Assessment and Information Services
Action Requested: Information only Policy Adoption Policy Adoption/Consent Calendar
ISSUE BEFORE THE BOARD:
The assessment subcommittee members reviewed this docket item to assist in preparation for the upcoming discussion with the State Board relative to potential uses of ACT and College Board products by Oregon schools and districts.
BACKGROUND:
The following matrix represents the various products from ACT and College Board as presented to Oregon’s State Board of Education and the House Education Committee on Innovation in Education during January 2007.
ACT / College BoardProduct / Description - Audience / Product / Description - Audience
Explore / Baseline Assessment – 8 and 9th
Curriculum-based/grade norms / AP / Advanced Placement Courses (37) and Tests – 10, 11th and 12th
Plan / Mid-point College Readiness assessment
Predictor for ACT – 10th
Curriculum-based/grade norms / PSAT/NMSQT / Practice Test and Predictor for SAT – 10, 11th and for AP Courses – 10th, 11th and 12th
Entry vehicle for National Merit Society
ACT / College Readiness/Entrance – 11, 12th
Curriculum-based/grade norms / SAT / College Entrance Exam – 11, 12th
College Entrance and Placement – 10th, 11th and 12th
(21 end of course tests in English, Math, Science, History and Foreign Language)
WorkKeys / Workplace skills assessment / College Ed / Advanced Placement Courses (37) and Tests – 10, 11th and 12th
UNIACT Interest Inventory / EXPLORE-PLAN-ACT career planning (grades 8-12) / SpringBoard / 6-12 instruction and assessment
ACT Online Prep / EXPLORE-PLAN-ACT test prep
and diagnostics (grades 8-12) / MyRoad / College/Career Planning - All
After reviewing materials and presentations, the following list of characteristics of each vendor is presented below for discussion.
Attribute / ACT / College BoardNationally Norm Referenced / Yes / Yes
Diagnostics Package / Needs independent study / Needs independent study
Counseling Package / Yes / Yes
Program Evaluation / Yes / Yes
Aligned to State Standards* / Needs independent study
Oregon State Standards Match completed in Jan 2006 / Needs independent study
Complies with NCLB for Oregon / Would require technical work / Would require technical work
Workforce Test / Yes / Yes
Used for College Entrance / Yes / Yes
Subject Areas / Math, Reading, Writing, Science / Math, Reading, Writing
Accommodations / Needs independent study / Needs independent study
Web Based Products / ACT Online Prep
DISCOVER (college/career search) / AP Chinese and Japanese
SAT Readiness
PSAT/NMSQT course
MyRoad and My College Quick Start
* May require augmenting tests to cover state’s content standards.
Both ACT and College Board are working with the following states to leverage their products to be used for multiple purposes including use in Accountability Reports in compliance with federal requirements. The following table outlines how each of these states are using these national assessment products. Only those states using a product for accountability are listed for brevity. Please note that it is not clear where the following states are with respect to approval from the US Department of Education to use these assessments for NCLB/AYP.
State / Product / Accountability UseIllinois / ACT Augmented, WorkKeys, ACT Writing / NCLB/AYP
Colorado / ACT / State Accountability
Michigan / ACT Augmented, WorkKeys, ACT Writing / NCLB/AYP
Kentucky / ACT / NCLB/AYP
Maine / SAT / NCLB/AYP
POLICY QUESTIONS:
To address the question of whether Oregon would or could use this assessment for accountability, Dr. Ed Roeber, Michigan Director of Assessment has agreed to come to the March State Board of Education meeting to discuss what it took to bring the ACT into the Michigan accountability system and answer questions of Board members to better inform their decisions. Ideally, we should develop questions in advance to prepare Dr. Roeber and Board for this discussion. Following are some suggestions.
· Describe your experiences on a state level with student motivation
· What does it take to align this new assessment to your existing content standards?
· Describe the partnership with the University community and their level of involvement
· What studies and work were required to get federal approval?
· How are tests at lower grade levels linked to the ACT?
· What issues have you found relative to linking results of assessments prior to ACT?
· Is a growth model possible in this scenario?
· How long is the testing window and are re-takes or make-ups allowed?
· How long is the test for students = number of questions and time allowed.
· What was the approximate cost to get the test approved for USED?
· What is the annual cost per student to administer?
· Others?
If the Board feels they would like to pursue administration of one or more products outside of the accountability system, the following questions may be useful as a starting point for discussions.
· What purpose would the test serve? – Inform instruction, career planning, dual credit, proficiency in subject areas, etc.
· Would the test be offered to all students?
· Could the current Oregon Assessment be used as a minimum qualification for getting the test paid for by state? For example if student passed 10th grade assessment, a credit for taking the ACT or SAT could be given.
· Others?
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