Dr. Joel Boyce June 2014

1. Georgia Milestone Assessment System (GMAS) Dr. Joel Boyce June 2014 GMAS

2. A shift from… A shift to… a series of criterion-referenced tests that are not linked strongly to college and career readiness… a single set of criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessments that are linked to college and career readiness and can send a clear signal of student progress/growth and preparedness… Small details yield big results.

3. Guiding Principles Stipulate that GMAS: • be sufficiently rigorous to ensure Georgia students are well positioned to compete with other students across the United States and internationally; • be intentionally designed across grade levels to send a clear signal of student progress/growth and preparedness for the next level, be it the next grade level, course, or college or career; • be accessible to all students, including those with disabilities or limited English proficiency, at all achievement levels; • support and inform educator effectiveness initiatives, ensuring items and forms are appropriately sensitive to quality instructional practices; and • accelerate the transition to online administration, allowing – over time – for the inclusion of innovative technology-enhanced items. Small details yield big results.

4. Georgia Milestones • Features Include: • inclusion of constructed-response items in ELA and mathematics, in addition to selected-response items • inclusion of a writing component (in response to text) at every grade level and course within the ELA assessment; • inclusion of norm-referenced items in every grade and content area to complement the criterion-referenced information and to provide a national comparison; and • transition to online administration over time, with online administration considered the primary mode of administration and paper-pencil back-up until transition is completed. • Addition of technology-enhanced items beginning in 2016-2017. Small details yield big results.

5. Georgia Milestones • Blended: Criterion-Referenced and Norm-Referenced • Georgia Milestones will provide: • criterion-referenced performance information in the form of four performance levels, depicting students’ mastery of state standards • norm-referenced performance information in the form of national percentiles, depicting how students’ achievement compares to peers nationally Small details yield big results.

6. Georgia Milestones • The Georgia Milestones EOG will be designed to: • provide a valid measure of student achievement of the state content standards across the full achievement continuum; • provide a clear signal of the student’s preparedness for the next educational level; • allow for detection of the progress made by each student over the course of the academic year; • be suitable for use in promotion and retention decisions at grades 3 (reading), 5 (reading and mathematics) and 8 (reading and mathematics) • support and inform educator effectiveness measures; and • inform state and federal accountability at the school, district, and state levels. Small details yield big results.

7. Tested Grade Levels and Courses Small details yield big results.

8. Georgia Milestones • English/Language Arts CCGPS • will require close analytic reading to construct meaning, make inferences, draw conclusions, compare and contrast ideas, themes, etc., as well as synthesize ideas and concepts across multiple texts • will require students to develop informative/explanatory responses or narratives, produce opinions/arguments – citing evidence from text(s) and using standard language conventions, etc. • Mathematics CCGPS • will require demonstration of conceptual understanding, procedural skills and fluency, problem solving, modeling, and mathematical reasoning Small details yield big results.

9. Georgia Milestones • Science GPS • Will require understanding of the core concepts, ideas, and practices of science to explain scientific phenomena – with content and Characteristics of Science/Nature of Science standards serving as co-requisites • Social Studies • Will require understanding of the past and its influence on the present and future – including the interconnectedness of history, culture, geography, economics, and governments/civics Small details yield big results.

10. Writing on the Georgia Milestones • Writing will be included in all content areas in response to text. • Students will be required to: • Synthesize what they learned over the course of the text. • Cite their inferences made from what they read. • Draw conclusions from the passages and include evidence from the text to support their writing. Small details yield big results.

11. Georgia Milestones Item Types • Selected-Response [aka, multiple-choices] • all content areas • evidence-based selected response in ELA • Constructed-Response • ELA and mathematics • Extended-Response • ELA and mathematics • **Constructed response is a general term for assessment items that require the student to generate a response as opposed to selecting a response. Extended-response items require more elaborate answers and explanations of reasoning. They allow for multiple correct answers and/or varying methods of arriving at the correct answer. Writing prompts and performance tasks are examples of extended-response items. Small details yield big results.

12. Item Format and Item Types With both types of assessment items, we will know: Criterion-Referenced If students mastered the content A student’s content area weaknesses and strengths What to focus on through differentiated instruction Norm-Referenced How students compared to other similar students or norm group What services students require How to make better placement decisions Item Format Types of Items Criterion-referenced (CRT) Measures specific skills that make up the written curriculum or standards Used to determine whether a student has achieved specific skills or concepts Cannot give a broad estimate of knowledge Norm-referenced (NRT) Measures broad skill areas sampled from a variety of sources and experts Used to sort or rank a student with respect to the achievement of other students or norming group Cannot gauge mastery of content • Constructed response and performance tasks • measure the full expectations of what students need to know and be able to do to be on the trajectory of exiting high school college- and career-ready • DOK levels 3 and 4 • Require students to explain, rationalize, show work, etc. • Scored through rubrics/exemplars • Selected-response items • Multiple choice Small details yield big results.

13. Transitioning to GMAS Small details yield big results.

14. Available Resources Small details yield big results.

15. Coherency - Consistency *SAT data represent 71% of Class of 2013 **ACT data represent 51% of Class of 2013 Small details yield big results.

16. Coherency - Consistency *SAT data represent 71% of Class of 2013 **ACT data represent 51% of Class of 2013 Small details yield big results.

17. Expected Student Performance “The increased expectations for student learning reflected in Georgia Milestones may mean initially lower scores than the previous years’ CRCT or EOCT scores. That is to be expected and should bring Georgia’s tests in line with other indicators of how our students are performing, State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge said. “We need to know that students are being prepared, not at a minimum-competency level but with rigorous, relevant education, to enter college, the workforce or the military at a level that makes them competitive with students from other states,” Dr. Barge said. Small details yield big results.

18. Formative Assessment Bank • Use the FAB items to prepare students for the GMAS. Instruction must be aligned to the item types and format. • Leaders must look for changes in instruction and assessment. • Traditional assessment preparation will not prepare students.

20. Sample English/Language Arts Item in FAB

21. Sample Mathematics Item in FAB

22. Mathematics Rubric Small details yield big results.

23. Solution to Sample Mathematics Problem Small details yield big results.

24. Small details yield big results.

25. Use the Results to Differentiate Instruction

26. Let’s Practice: See Handout Tested Standards Understand the place value system. CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.2Explain patternsin the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a number by powers of 10, and explain patterns in the placement of the decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10. Usewhole-number exponents to denote powers of 10. Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths. CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.5Fluently multiplymulti-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.

27. Small details yield big results.

28. Small details yield big results.

29. What feedback will you give the students? How will you differentiate instruction? Small details yield big results.

30. What feedback will you give the teacher? What would you look for: teacher, students, lesson plans, questioning, assessment? Small details yield big results.

31. Things to Consider • Plan for success: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. • Continue implementing and monitoring the delivery of explicit instruction. • Train teachers on how to use Online Student Assessment (OAS). Monitor usage of items and data reports. • Introduce students to constructed responses using scaffolding beginning grade 1. Implement fully the use of constructed response questions by August 2016 (development of items and rubrics, training, scoring, etc.) • Create and implement a comprehensive use of computers and computer technology plan for students beginning grade 2. • Focus on implementing some Formative Instructional Practice (FIP) modules. • Communicate expectations to all stakeholders. • Ensure full implementation of the standards-based curriculum. Small details yield big results.

32. Georgia Milestones • Things to Consider: • CRCT-M (2%) will not continue • GAA (1%) will continue • Local scanning will not be continued [constructed-response items require hand scoring] • Scores will be delayed in year 1 due to technical work and standard setting [implications to be worked through] • –Growth (SGP) will continue Small details yield big results.

33. Georgia Milestones • Technology that will be accepted for the Georgia Milestones. • Laptops • Desktops • Ipads • *iPad Minis will not be allowed • EOG Milestones will be approximately 16 pages. • Testing window will be 9 days, 2 content areas each day—Math, Science, Social Studies have 2 sections—LA has 3 sections with section 3 being the writing • Current window is March 30-May 1 • Special education students will not have a modified version of the test. • GOFAR—Georgia Online Formative Assessment Resources will be a new feature of SLDS and will replace the Georgia OAS. • Special Request---Field trips need to end by March 31st*** Small details yield big results.