DDES Assessment Overview

2015-16

DRA2
* required for all students / MAP and MAP for Primary Grades (MPG) / NNAT2
*required for Kindergarten & 2nd grade only / CMAS
* Required for grades3 & 4 only / Expedition Assessments
(Formative and summative) / CBM (Curriculum-based measurements)
Administered by learning support specialists and teachers / Administered by Teachers / Administered by the GT Specialist / Administered by CMAS Test Proctors / Administered and developed by Teachers / Administered by SPED Teachers
3 times/year / 3 times/year / 1 time/year / 1-2 times/year / TBD / Bi-Monthly

Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA2): The Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act was passed by Colorado legislature and went into effect on July 1, 2013. The act focuses on K-3 literacy development and includes requirements for assessment, individualized READ plans for students performing significantly below grade level, and specifics around parent communication and involvement. DDES is currently using the state-approved assessment DRA2 to assess students’ reading comprehension and fluency and to determine a students’ given “text level.” It provides a universal language for naming students’ reading levels against grade level standards. All students are assessed three times a year – fall, winter, and spring. For Kindergarten students, the Word Analysis tasks 1-7 are administered at the beginning of the year, as required by the district. The DRA informs the development of students’ READ Plan, which is developed by the end of October or mid-year for Kindergarten students.

Measures of Academic Progress & Measures of Academic Progressfor Primary Grades (MAP and MPG): DDES uses MAP and MPG as an interim and quarterly measure of growth in students’ reading and math abilities.These assessments are computer adaptive assessments that provide information on letter and number understanding, specifically letter recognition, sounds, concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, word structure and comprehension and writing. Math assesses problem-solving, number sense, computation, measurement, geometry, statistics, probability and algebra. All students are assessed three times a year – fall, winter, and spring.

NaglieriNonveral Ability Test – Second Edition (NNAT2): The NNAT2 provides a nonverbal, culturally neutral assessment of general intellectual ability.All kindergarten and 2nd grade students partake in this 30-minute, online screener, as required by the district. The NNAT2 score is one indicator used in the identification of gifted and talented students.

Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS): The Colorado Measures of Academic Success, known as CMAS, are state-mandated assessments aligned to the Colorado Academic and Common Core State Standards. Beginning in the spring of Grade 3, students partake in CMAS English Language Arts and Math online assessments developed by PARCC (the Partnership for Assessment for Readiness for College and Careers). The CMAS Social Studies is a Colorado-created, online assessment administered in the spring of Grade 4. This test emphasizes a student’s ability to synthesize informational text and to write with clarity, taking a position and defending it with evidence.

Expedition-Based Summative Assessments:

  • CCSS Reading and Writing standards are aligned to all summative assessments listed, however they are not explicitly noted within the STAs. During August and ongoing PD on the CCSS, teachers need to audit STAs and map when and how each Reading and Writing standard is measured for reporting/grading purposes. Planning for additional instruction in Reading (especially CCSS RL standards) and Writing may be warranted, based on students’ needs and flow of standards and assessments in STAs.
  • Formative assessments are listed for each learning target in the scaffolding plans. Scaffolding plans are a 25 to 50 day windows for teachers to use in teaching the first case study. These tools may be considered a strong model for them in writing their own scaffolding plans for subsequent case studies.
  • Additional “short-cycle and on-demand” assessments may be modified/designated from existing listed assessments to provide interim data on student performance within expeditions. Ideally data team may choose these assessments before teaching the content for this case study/expeditions.

CBM (Curriculum-based Measurement):A Curriculum-based measurement, or CBM, is a method the special education teachers use to find out how students are progressing in basic academic areas, math, reading, writing and spelling. CBMs are used every two weeks and generally last from 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the child’s needs.

Glossary of Assessment Terms

Diagnostic Assessment – An assessment that provides baseline data on students’ specific strengths and needs in skills and conceptual understandings,which are then used by teachers for planning and instruction. Often occurs at beginning of school year to illuminate students’ gaps and provide roadmap for differentiating instruction, against a specific curriculum’s scope and sequence.

Summative Assessment (Assessment of Learning) – A tool that “measures or audits attainment and is administered time to time to create snapshots of what has happened” (Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom, Moss and Bookhart, p. 7) in student learning. Typically this is performed at the end of a teaching-learning cycle. Results are used for making final success or failure decisions.

Formative Assessment(Assessment for Learning) - An immediate and daily assessment that is carried out while learning is in progress, which isintended to improve learning and achievement. These tools focus on learning targets, examine progress toward those targets, and ultimately help the student and teacher take action to move closer to the target. At a minimum, it helps teachers identify material that needs to be retaught or clarified.

Interim Assessment – An assessment that is given multiple times in a school year to diagnose gaps between student performance and intended curriculum, how to best target curriculum to meet student needs, and determine students’ ability levels in grouping them for instruction. Interim assessments can also serve as short cycle assessment (curriculum-based)which evaluate student performance to enrich instruction and curriculum.