dsib-adad-mar15item02

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California Department of Education
Executive Office
SBE-003 (REV. 09/2011)
dsib-adad-mar15item02 / ITEM #03

/ CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
MARCH 2015 AGENDA

SUBJECT

California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress: Update on Program Activities, including, but not limited to, Approval of Individual Student Reports, California Alternate Assessment Field Test, Development of the New Primary Language Development Test, Smarter Balanced Assessments, and Digital Library Resources. / Action
Information
Public Hearing

SUMMARY OF THE ISSUE(S)

This item reflects the collaboration of the California Department of Education (CDE) Assessment Development and Administration Division (ADAD), the Educational Data Management Division (EDMD), the Special Education Division (SED), and the Analysis, Measurement, Accountability and Reporting Division (AMARD).

California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress

The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System includes Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (Smarter Balanced) and the California Alternate Assessment (CAA) computer-based field test assessments that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts/literacy (ELA) and mathematics, specified state-developed paper-pencil assessments that were previously administered through the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program in science, the Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS), and new assessments to be recommended by the CDE with stakeholder input and approved by the State Board of Education (SBE).

This item provides an update on the following topics: (1) individual student reports; (2) status of the CAA; (3) Primary Language Development Test (PLDT) Stakeholder meetings; (4) operational administration of Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments; (5) launch of Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments; (6) Smarter Balanced Digital Library; (7) technology , including the status of the Broadband Infrastructure Improvement Grant (BIIG) to support technology infrastructure; and (8) outreach activities.

Individual Student Reports

Incorporating feedback from the January 2015 SBE meeting and in consultation with SBE staff, the CDE revised its CAASPP Individual Student Reports (ISRs). Attachment 1 consists of the three ISR templates for SBE consideration: ISR for ELA, mathematics, and science results; ISR for ELA and mathematics results, and ISR for ELA and mathematics results and Early Assessment Program (EAP) information. These ISRs more appropriately highlight the importance of the 2015 Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment results serving as a baseline for measuring future student academic progress and provide further information on the change in the assessment system. Given the Smarter Balanced vertical scale and the ability to report on growth for most students beginning in 2016, the CDE will continue to explore options for reporting in 2016 and beyond. The CDE is in the process of gathering feedback from parents/guardians, teachers, and stakeholders on the new ISR and will provide that feedback verbally at the SBE meeting.

California Alternate Assessment Field Test

Item development for the CAA concluded in early February with the completion of a second round of item reviews to yield 210 field test items. Teachers participated virtually to review field test items for ELA and mathematics. The test items were reviewed by a representative group of special education teachers and county office of education staff in preparation for a CAA spring 2015 field test. A CAA field test window is from April 15 through June 10, 2015. The CAA test administration Webcast will be conducted by Educational Testing Service (ETS) on March 11, 2015. The Webcast, the test administration manual, and the content and specific grade-level directions for administration will provide the necessary information for the CAASPP coordinators and test administrators to conduct the spring field test and an opportunity to answer questions from the Webcast participants.

The field test administration will be a one-to-one, computer-based test administration. Testing may occur at any time during the test window. The test system will allow test administrators to start and stop the administration as often as needed to meet students’ needs and to ensure accessibility. The technology specifications and requirements will be the same as the Smarter Balanced testing system. CAASPP LEA coordinators will be expected to upload all information on eligible CAA students into the Test Operation Management System (TOMS) beginning in March.

Stakeholder Meetings for the Development of the New Primary Language Development Test

California Education Code (EC) Section 60640 (b)(2)(C) states that the SSPI shall consult with stakeholders and English learner experts “to determine the content and purpose of a stand-alone language arts summative assessment in primary languages other than English at aligns with the English language arts content standards.” Additionally, the SSPI shall “consider the appropriate purpose for this assessment, including, but not necessarily limited to, support for the State Seal of Biliteracy and accountability.” Two Stakeholder meetings were held in Sacramento in January 2015. Approximately 100 educators, administrators, parents/guardians, advocates, and stakeholders participated in the day-long meetings and their input will be incorporated into a final report along with the Superintendent recommendation(s).

Operational Administration of Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments

Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment testing for the 2014–15 school year will commence on March 10, 2015 for schools with the earliest testing window and will continue through August 31, 2015 for schools with the latest testing window. The CDE is supporting LEAs in their preparation for the administration of these assessments. CDE staff, in collaboration with CDE Senior Assessment Fellows, San Joaquin County Office of Education (SJCOE), and ETS, continues their outreach to prepare LEAs for the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments. These efforts have included activities such as the following:

1.  California Online Test Administration Manual

The California Online Test Administration Manual (TAM) was made available to LEAs on January 23, 2015 on the ETS CAASPP Test Administration, Instructions and Manuals Web page at http://caaspp.org/administration/instructions/index.html. The TAM provides California LEA CAASPP coordinators and site coordinators with an overview of the online Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, available resources for coordinators, and what LEAs must do before testing, during testing, and after testing. In addition, the TAM also covers topics on test security, technology requirements, and provides checklists by role (i.e., LEA coordinator, site coordinator and test administrator).

2.  Two Resources: California Test Administrator Reference Guide and Directions for Administration of the Smarter Balanced Online Summative Assessments

The CDE used feedback from LEAs about the TAM used during the Smarter Balanced Field Test to develop these two resources: 1.) Test Administrator Reference Guide and 2.) Directions for Administration of the Smarter Balanced Online Summative Assessments, specifically for LEA personnel administering the tests (i.e., test administrators). The California Test Administrator Reference Guide provides information that a test administrator can refer to prior to testing; whereas, the Directions for Administration of the Smarter Balanced Online Summative Assessments was designed for test administrators to use during testing. These two resources were made available to LEAs in February 2015 on the ETS CAASPP Test Administration, Instructions and Manuals Web page at http://caaspp.org/administration/instructions/index.html.

3.  Smarter Balanced Online Training Workshops

Throughout January and February 2015, ETS, on behalf of the CDE, conducted in-person regional workshops at 17 different sites and a live Webcast for LEA CAASPP coordinators and technology coordinators for the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments. In addition, this training included an overview of the interim assessments and the Digital Library. (Refer to Attachment 2 for a list of outreach activities.)

Launch of Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments

California purchased the full suite of assessments offered by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, including the interim assessments. The interim assessments are voluntary for LEAs to use and are envisioned to assist with teaching and learning in classrooms across the state. On January 28, 2015, the Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments and the Interim Assessment Hand Scoring System were made available to California LEAs through the TOMS. Because the interim assessments were released by Smarter Balanced later than originally expected, Smarter Balanced will offer a credit to states that purchased this component of the assessment system.

Two types of interim assessments are available: interim comprehensive assessments (ICAs) and the interim assessment blocks (IABs). The ICAs are built on the same blueprints as the summative assessments. They assess the same range of standards, include the same item types and formats, including performance tasks, and yield results similar to those of the summative assessments. The IABs, in contrast, focus on smaller sets of standards and provide more detailed information for instructional purposes. The IABs yield overall information for each block which are based on a grouping of content standards. In early March, test administrators were provided with the ability to retrieve reports of individual student results for administered ICAs and IABs on the Smarter Balanced Administration and Registration Tools (ART) secure Web site. These reports are available to test administrators (TAs) within 24 hours after hand scoring has been completed.

To assist LEAs with the interim assessments for the 2014–15 school year, the CDE and its collaborators produced numerous communications to California educators, including:

·  A two-part live Webcast presented on January 15 and 28 provided an overview and demonstration of the interim assessments, including recommended uses for the 2014–15 school year. In addition, the Webcast presented on January 28 introduced the Interim Assessment Hand Scoring System which was released that same day. This system is designed to help teachers complete the hand scoring process for all ICA and IAB assessments. An archive of this two-part Webcast can be viewed on the CDE Interim Assessments Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa/sbacinterimassess.asp.

·  A video was released in late February to provide TAs with an overview of the Training Guides and Exemplars on using the interim assessment scoring rubrics and the Interim Assessment Hand Scoring System.

·  Supporting documents were also added to the CDE CAASPP Web page, including tables that describe all ICAs, IABs, and a description of grade level availability for each of the interim assessments. These tables provide information about the number of hand scoring requirements for each of the ICAs and IABs, along with a table provided by Smarter Balanced that shows the estimated time required to score different item types. Additional information about the ICAs and IABs was posted to the CDE CAASPP Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa/sbacinterimassess.asp that describes the availability of ICAs and IABs by content area (ELA and mathematics) and by grade level.

In response to early feedback received from LEAs that have used the interim assessment system, the CDE is exploring further enhancements including teacher-specific log-in to access items prior to administering and scoring and the ability for a TA to view student responses.

In addition to these enhancements, the CDE is communicating to LEAs the important differences between the interim assessments and the practice tests as they relate to preparing for the summative assessments. Specifically, the interim assessments provide an indication of how well students are learning the content standards. The items in the interim assessments are built using the same standards as the items in the summative assessments. The practice tests, on the other hand, are intended primarily to provide students and teachers with exposure to the technology and features that will be encountered on the summative assessments. To familiarize students with the assessment environment, the CDE is encouraging LEAs to use the practice tests. LEAs are encouraged to reserve the interim assessments to gauge, at specific times during the school year, student achievement. LEAs can access both the practice tests and interim assessments through the CAASPP Web site at http://caaspp.org/.

Smarter Balanced Digital Library of Formative Assessment Resources

Another resource that California has made available to LEAs to support ongoing teaching and learning activities for all students in grade kindergarten through twelve inclusive is the Digital Library. Access to the Smarter Balanced Digital Library has grown to include over 220,000 registered California educators. In early January, to meet the growing demand from LEA staff for information about the Digital Library, ETS added four representatives and one lead representative dedicated to providing technical assistance on the Digital Library for LEAs. In addition, a dedicated phone line for Digital Library support was established for providing direct assistance to LEAs.

From January 5 through January 27, ETS conducted a call campaign to the 630 LEAs that had yet to upload their schools and staff into the Digital Library system. All LEAs were offered assistance in completing their registration, if needed. The response was positive, with 621 LEAs planning to use the Digital Library this school year. Nine LEAs indicated that they do not plan to use the Digital Library this school year because their lesson plans for the 2014–15 school year are already completed. Each of these nine LEAs was contacted by one of the CDE Senior Assessment Fellows to encourage use of the Digital Library and offer training and support. To provide further assistance to the LEAs and schools implementing the use of the Digital Library, the CDE intends to produce a training video for release in the fall.

In early January, Smarter Balanced released two additional resources to support LEAs in understanding and communicating about the Digital Library. The Digital Library Fact Sheet provides an overview of the Digital Library, the formative assessment process, and the features that allow teachers to search a multitude of options for instructional materials that will help inform teaching and learning. The Digital Library Overview and Sample Resources’ slideshow is a recorded tour that is meant for anyone wanting to know more about the Digital Library’s design features and professional learning resources. It includes three sample resources to demonstrate how to interact with the Digital Library. The CDE posted links to these resources to its Digital Library Web page and notified CAASSP listserv subscribers via a weekly e-mail update. Both the Digital Library Fact Sheet and Digital Library Overview are meant for educators, parents and guardians, school board members, and community representatives.

These, and other Digital Library resources, are located on the CDE Digital Library Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa/diglib.asp. In addition, a 15-minute interactive module titled “Using Interim Assessment Blocks to Support Teaching and Learning” was posted as a teacher resource in the Smarter Balanced Digital Library. To assist educators in using the Digital Library, a feature has been added to the log-in screen that offers tutorials about how to get started, find and navigate resources, and understand the formative assessment process.