Memorandum No. 005-15M Assessment & Student Information
MEMORANDUM NO. 005-15M ASI
Page 1
January 8, 2015
January 8, 2015( ) Action Required
( X )Informational
MEMORANDUM NO. 005-15M ASSESSMENT & STUDENT INFORMATION
TO:Educational Service District Superintendents
Educational Service District Special Education Directors
School District Superintendents
School Building Principals
School District Assessment Coordinators
School District Special Education Directors
FROM:Randy I. Dorn, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
RE:Alternate Assessment Results
CONTACT:Lesley Siegel, Alternate Assessment Coordinator, Assessment and Student Information
360-725-4970
Michael Middleton, Director, Business & Select Assessments, Assessment and Student Information
360-725-6434,
Agency TTY: 360- 664-3631
With the 2014–15 transition of assessments aligned to the state’s new K–12 learning standards in English language arts and math, questions about expected performance outcomes have been prevalent in several conversations across the state. In these conversations, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has communicated that different results are expected, resulting in the likely occurrence of different percentages of students at the various performance levels from what has been experienced across the state. This is due in part to two factors—the learning standards being measured are new and the associated assessment instruments used to accomplish this measurement are designed to reflect new expectations of student performance, specifically career-and-college readiness.
Anticipating that results on the new tests may appear as if student performance is declining, OSPI wants to remind the field that the results from measuring the new K–12 learning standards should be viewed as a new baseline of student performance. As the state has incrementally been shifting instruction to the new K–12 learning standards in English language arts and math, the metric used to establish each of the performance levels has been revised to stay aligned to the primary objective of the new standards—measuring student readiness for career and college opportunities in the 21st century, rather than the previous attainment of skills and knowledge to exit high school.
Washington’s new K–12 learning standards are inclusive of all students, including students with significant cognitive challenges. For students in this population, alternate standards aligned to the new K–12 learning standards have been developed that interpret the concept of post-secondary readiness for this population while promoting access to standards based learning in mathematics and ELA. Thus the performance of students accessing the Washington Access to Instruction and Measurement (WA-AIM) should not be seen any differently than that of student performance amongst the general education population. Much as the expectations for the general education population have been altered to align to the notion of career-and-college readiness, the expectations of students served by WA-AIM have altered to keep to the notion of standards-based learning and readiness for available post-secondary opportunities. As the general education performance numbers are likely to change with the new assessment, so it is expected that student performance as measured through the alternate assessment will be different.
As another part of the transition to the WA-AIM, OSPI has added to the assessment design through creation of what will be titled the Engagement Rubric. OSPI acknowledges that student ability within the significant cognitively challenged population is varied,and basing assessment decisions on each student’s learner characteristics, may, even with rigorous instructional support, find the less complex level of the WA-AIM instrument inappropriate. Yet OSPI recognizes that students in this circumstance still put forth effort and accomplish varying levels of success as participants in an academic environment through increased attention to and involvement with academic activities. The engagement rubric provides educators a structured mechanism to measure improved engagement specific to each designated student.
Use of the engagement rubric should be limited to the students determined by the IEP team to have the characteristics associated with the awareness or bridging pre-symbolic level of development. Another factor in the IEP team’s deliberation to assess a student with the engagement rubric is the fact that the performance level assigned will be no higher than Level 1 (or associated nomenclature devised by the state), the lowest achievement level available to the assessment.
If you should have any questions regarding this memorandum, you may direct them to Lesley Siegel at or 360-725-4970 or Michael Middleton at or 360-725-6434. The agency TTY number is 360-664-3631.
K–12 EDUCATION
Gil Mendoza, Ed.D.
Deputy Superintendent
ASSESSMENT & STUDENT INFORMATION
Robin G. Munson, Ph.D.
Assistant Superintendent
Michael Middleton, Director
Business and Select Assessments
RD:KR
OSPI provides equal access to all programs and services without discrimination based on sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability. Questions and complaints of alleged discrimination should be directed to the Equity and Civil Rights Director at (360) 725-6162 or P.O. Box 47200 Olympia, WA 98504-7200.