Partners Briefing Assessment to Support Competency-Based Pathways

1. Partners Briefing Assessment to Support Competency-Based Pathways June 15, 2015 | 1:00 – 2:00 pm ET

2. Agenda for today’s briefing Share the impetus for Achieve and the Center for Assessment in collaborating on Assessment to Support Competency-Based Pathways. Clarify the unique purpose of summative assessment in competency-based pathways (CBP). Discuss characteristics, design and implementation considerations for summative assessments in a competency-based learning environment. Review three “model” stories of districts utilizing assessments for CBP. Discuss participants’ questions about the unique purposes and design of assessments for CBP, potential questions left to be explored, and applicability to state and district contexts.

3. Impetus for collaborating on Assessment to Support Competency-Based Pathways • Center for Assessment - support to states and districts on designing performance assessments • Achieve - CBP working group and site visits, support to states through the CBP State Partnership • Key questions • Which, if any, principles of assessment design need modification for a CBP context? • What unique considerations need to be addressed in implementation? • What various approaches might districts take based on their needs?

4. Unique purpose - validating instructional-level determinations of student proficiency/mastery Assessments are used to validate, monitor the quality and consistency of determinations that students are ready to move on, and to signal rigorous definitions of proficiency or mastery. Source: Page 20, Summative Assessment http://www.achieve.org/publications/advancing-competency-based-pathways-college-and-career-readiness

5. Characteristics of assessment for CBP Contribute to student learning by encouraging students to apply and extend their knowledge. Allow students to demonstrate their learning at their own point of readiness. Require students to actually demonstrate their learning. Where possible, provide flexibility in how students demonstrate their learning (e.g. through a presentation, research paper or video). Given the unique purpose of summative assessment in CBP, and given these characteristics, what assessment design, implementation and validity considerations need to be addressed to ensure quality, consistency and equity? How might districts make different decisions based on their priorities and context?

6. Design and implementation, validity considerations Content Administration Quality Reporting and Use

7. Content Considerations • Grain Size • Standards may be broken down into ‘building blocks,’ typically to isolate and assess pre-requisite skills. • Standards may be combined into larger units to gauge how well students have integrated or applied knowledge. • Structure • Content can be grouped by related domains and/or along a continuum of increasing complexity. • Structure and sequence informed by learning progressions

8. Administration • Standardization Flexibility • More standardized approaches (e.g. centralized development and scoring) offer comparability and test security, but can be time consuming and resource intensive. • More flexible approaches may permit increased personalization but require solutions to address consistency and technical quality. • Developers attempt to find a balanced solution in keeping with the purpose and uses of the assessment. • For example, if classification consistency or generalizability is the goal, a more standardized approach is appealing • Alternatively, if integrated/applied performance in context is the goal, a more flexible approach may be suitable

9. Quality Considerations Content The test items should represent what teachers should be teaching and students should be learning with respect to breadth and depth. Precision When the primary purpose will be to classify the learner with respect to an established threshold, the assessments should provide the most precise information near the performance target. However, an assessment designed for growth may required more information along the full range. Administration/ Scoring Tests should be administered and scored using well-documented procedures. Typically, quality assurance measures such as training and audits are recommended. Fairness Efforts are made to mitigate barriers so students can show what they know.

10. Reporting and Use How are assessments combined to support a decision (e.g. successful course completion)? Conjunctive/ Disjunctive Approaches Require mastery on all assessments or ‘best’ performance Composite Scores Multiple methods available to aggregate assessments into a compensatory, weighted score External Criterion Another summative assessment (e.g. state EOC) used to certify accomplishment

11. Assessment to Support Competency-Based Pathways – Model Illustrations Creekside School District – flexible pacing model Granite State School District – performance assessments Mountain View School District – graduation distinction by exhibition

12. Questions and discussion www.achieve.org/CBP www.nciea.org

13. Partners Briefing Assessment to Support Competency-Based Pathways June 15, 2015 | 1:00 – 2:00 pm ET