Montana Common Core Transition

1. Montana Common Core Transition June 2013 CCSSO Conference Showcase Judy Snow State Assessment Director

2. 56 Counties • 491 Districts • 824 Schools • 142,000 Students • 12,199 Licensed Staff • Largest of the 8 Rocky Mountain States • 4th in size among the 50 states • 147,046 square miles

3. Role of Assessment in transition • Development • Accountability • Use of data

4. Montana Content Standards Review cycle built into administrative rule • “Old” Standards adopted before NCLB • Used for current state assessment, Reading and Math • “Middle Standards”—adopted in 2010-11 • Math and ELA • Montana Common Core Standards—adopted in 2011-12 • Math and ELA

5. Middle Standards--Overlaps • In the middle of the CCSS movement • CCSS used as resource and partial model in the development of middle standards Development of middle standards Some middle standards modeled on the CCSS • Timeline for development of assessment for middle standards fell almost on top of the movement to the CCSS • Wrote and field tested items to middle standards with plans for full implementation within two years

6. Deliberate Consideration of CCSS State superintendent directed staff to development studies to compare middle and CCSS for Math and ELA. • External evaluators • Montana educators • Middle standards panels • Achieve Gap Analysis Tool • Survey of Enacted Curriculum • Content Maps

11. Move toward adoption Montana Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) • Considered timelines and study • Recommended if adopt CCSS • continue testing the old standard • abandon the middle • develop field test items written and coded to the CCSS.

12. Adoption of Montana Common Core State Standards • Prior to adoption • Governing state, Smarter Balanced--2010 • Facts about Smarter • Informational meetings on Common Core Standards • Montana Board of Public Education • November 2011

14. Role of Assessment in the Transition • Montana’s statewide test and educator panels—large group of ambassadors regarding assessment literacy related to the standards • Coding released items to both Montana “Middle” standards and Montana Common Core Standard • Field testing items written to the Common Core Standards—educator panel reviews

15. Assessment Between 2012 and 2014-15 • State assessment: CRT based on “old” Montana standards • Reporting stays the same • Field testing • Items aligned to Montana Common Core Standards (MCCS) • Progressive release of field test items aligned to MCCS

16. Operational (scored) items • where possible, items will align to both the previous Montana Standards and the new Montana Common Core Standards (MCCS) • Field test (non-scored) items • will be written to align with the MCCS, targeting standards that are similar to those in the previous Montana Standards Effect of MCCS on the 2013 MontCAS

17. Continue to focus on items that will meet the existing MontCAS test blueprint Gradually introduce items that also align to MCCS into the test Code test items to both sets of standards for as long as this is practical and desirable Stop developing and field testing new items that match only the “old” Montana Standards Transition Plan

18. ELA Item Bank Alignment

19. Many of the standards are very similar between Montana Standards and MCCS Priority will be made of first field-testing items that match both sets of standards, so differences will be minimized Assessment Item Differences

20. SBAC Development Processes • Assessments: pilot, field, practice • Participation in item development, review, range-finding • Formative Assessment/Digital Library • State Leadership Team • State Network of Educator

21. NCSC Development Processes Bright Ideas—Connecting with the Common Core • Instructional modules • Assessment development