End of Course Exams

1. End of Course Exams • In February, 2007 the Missouri State Board of Education approved End of Course (EOC) exams. • WHY?

2. The Missouri METS Alliance is a 20+ person committee appointed by Governor Blunt to develop a preschool through graduate level (P-20) plan to improve public education in Missouri. Governor Blunt held a METS (Mathematics, Engineering, Technology, and Science) Summit on April 25, 2006. • The Alliance identified five strategies: • Improve METS curricula and assessments. • Expand the pool of students motivated to pursue METS careers. • Expand the pool of Missouri’s quality P-20 METS educators. • Establish a technology plan to support METS curricula, GLEs and assessments in Missouri. • Increase public awareness of the value of METS knowledge on the lives of all Missourians, and highlight the importance of METS-related industries and jobs to enhance Missouri’s global competitiveness and innovation.

3. Senate Bill 389 (Spring 2007) In order to receive increases in state appropriations, all approved public two- and four-year public institutions shall work with the Commissioner of Higher Education to establish agreed-upon competencies for all entry-level collegiate courses in English, mathematics, foreign language, sciences, and social studies associated with an institution’s general education core. The coordinating board shall establish policies and procedures to ensure such courses are accepted in transfer among public institutions and treated as equivalent to similar courses at the receiving institutions.

4. Senate Bill 389 Entry-level competencies refer to defining the knowledge and skills necessary for students to begin gaining access to collegiate-level work. The goal is to set clear expectations about what a student should know in order to be prepared for post-secondary coursework, and is separate from admissions standards for individual institutions. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will align these college-level competencies with their secondary assessments.

5. Course-LevelExpectations (CLE’s) • Grades 9-12 Grade-Level Expectations (GLE’s) are now categorized into courses and are called Course-Level Expectations (CLE’s). In most cases, they are worded exactly as they were worded in the GLE’s.

6. Missouri State Board of Education The Missouri State Board of Education identified the following purposes for replacing the high school MAP with End of Course (EOC) assessments: Measuring and reflecting student mastery toward post-secondary readiness Identifying students’ strengths and weaknesses Communicating expectations for all students Serving as the basis of state and national accountability plans Evaluating programs

7. EOC Exam Implementation • Bid for EOC exams was awarded to Riverside Publishing Company. • Item writing = began in fall 2007 • Field test = spring 2008 • End of course exams were ready for operational use during the first semester of 2008-2009.

8. EOC Assessmentsfor 2009-2010 (Phase I) Algebra I, English II, Biology and (Phase II) English I, Geometry, Algebra II, American History, Government. Student performance will be reported using 4 achievement levels: Advanced, Proficient, Basic and Below Basic.

9. Characteristics of the EOC Assessments EOC Phase I tests include the following items: Selected Response (SR) Performance Event (PE)/Writing Prompt (WP) EOC Phase II tests includes only the following: Selected Response (SR)

10. Student Requirements for EOC’s • Students will be required to take: • Algebra I • English II • Biology • Government • One additional EOC in each content area (total of 8 EOCS prior to graduation) • *Students taking Algebra I in the 8th grade will take BOTH the MAP and Algebra I end-of-course exams.

11. Right Test ~ Right Time The responsibility for testing students belongs to the school district. (Districts will be held accountable for students who are not assessed on the 8 required EOC’s prior to graduation.) The district has the responsibility to match its course content with the CLE’s that are being tested in the EOC Assessment.

12. About the Assessments • End-of-Course assessments are taken when a student has received instruction on the course-level expectations for an assessment, regardless of grade level. • All EOC assessments are available both online and in paper/pencil formats.

13. Who takes the EOC Assessments? • Students in Missouri are required to take the Algebra I, Biology, English II and Government assessments. A few groups of students may be exempt from certain End-of-Course assessments. Those include: • Students whose IEP teams have determined that the MAP-A is the appropriate assessment do not have to take End-of-Course assessments.

14. Who takes the EOC Assessments? • English Language Learners (ELL) who have been in the United States 12 months or fewer at the time of administration may be exempted from taking the English II and/or English I assessments. • Foreign exchange students are allowed, but are not required to take the assessments. This is a district decision. • Home-schooled students may take part in the assessment at the local district's discretion.

15. Memo from DESE May 2009 • As we near the end of the first year of implementation of End-of-Course (EOC) assessments, we have re-examined our plan regarding the number of mandatory assessments required of each student for which districts will be held accountable.  Districts will no longer be required to assess students in additional EOC classes beyond Algebra I, English II, Biology, and Government.  •  This is a result of several considerations including the current state budget and the uncertainty of future state budgets.  •  Districts are encouraged to continue to assess students enrolled in courses with associated EOC assessments.  Districts will be able to receive Annual Performance Report (APR) bonus credit for the additional EOC’s, with credit given for student scores weighted by the percent of high school students taking the additional assessments. •  Additional information regarding Adequate Yearly Progress and APR accountability will be provided as it becomes available.