NYS Assessment Information Update Sachem Elementary Teachers K-5

1. NYS Assessment Information UpdateSachem Elementary Teachers K-5 2-hour Staff Development February/March 2013

2. A look at today’s schedule: • 2:30-3:30 (B) Early schools ELA rubrics & Guide Papers • 3:30-4:20 (A) All schools ELA/Math Assessment Info • 4:20-4:30 Break/Early Schools may leave • 4:30-5:30 10 schools ELA Rubrics & Guide Papers (working in small mixed groups with other Grade 3 teachers)

3. NYS ELA and Math Assessments These are NEW assessments, NOT revised assessments… “We did not tweak these assessments, we started from scratch.” -Kate Gearson

4. NYS ELA Assessments • Evidence of the Six Shifts on the assessments • Comparison of what the assessments asked of students in the past vs. what they will ask of students now • 2-point Rubric • 4-point Expository Writing Rubric

5. Passages will be authentic, and will be balanced between informational and literary texts. Shift 1: Calls for Balancing Informational & Literary Text

6. Will contain knowledge-based questions about the informational text; students will not need outside knowledge to respond Shift 2: Calls for Knowledge in the Disciplines students build knowledge about the world

7. Passage selection to be based on text complexity that is appropriate to grade level per CC Shift 3: Calls for a Staircase of Complexity

8. Questions will require students to marshal evidence from the text, including from paired passages. (*3rd grade will not have paired passages) Shifts 4 and 5: Call for Text-based Answers and Writing from Sources

9. Students will be tested directly on the meaning of pivotal, common terms, the definition of which can be discerned from the text. Academic vocabulary will also be tested indirectly through general comprehension of the text. Shift 6: Calls for more Academic Vocabulary

10. In the past students were asked to… • Characterize the text. • Exhibit a cursory understanding of the lead character. • Comprehend one sentence from the entire text. • Understand basic, non-consequential vocabulary. • Answer without a deep analysis of text. • Look beyond text for stimuli. • Answer by recalling text details. • Answer without complete sentences required.

11. Now students will be asked to… • Comprehend complex, grade-level texts. (What should be noted is comprehension of text is assumed, it is not the focus of measurement.) • Identify central themes and key text elements. • Consider entire text. • Place aspects of the text in context of the entire text. • Move beyond basic recall of details within text • making an inference as to how specific portions of text relate to the structure of the whole text • or wrestle with meaningful, real-world questions. • In terms of analysis…. • make and support text-based analyses • to support their text-based analyses with key details • carry an analysis beyond one text, relating details to overarching messages of both entire texts.

12. Continued… • 2 point Rubric is more readingbased Answers must be in complete sentences. *See rubric bullet points.* • 4 point Rubric more writingbased • There will NOT be a listening section in any grade levels • Will no longer include graphic organizer questions or scaffolding for extended response • There will be a Planning Page for Grade 3 (Nothing will be scored on this page.) • No paired passages for Grade 3 • If students just copy a sentence from the text, they must add an inference and support with evidence • Language from the standards may be used within the questions on the assessment

13. Example Passages may be numbered by paragraph or line • Words that could be defined for students are in bold.

14. Holistic Scoring Scorers will… • Read thoroughly, yet quickly, to gain an impression of the entire response. • Read the entire response before determining a score, and then promptly assign a score. • Read supportively, looking for and rewarding those things done well in a response. • Keep in mind that each response represents a first draft, written under timed conditions.

15. Scoring versus Grading Scoring a state test is quite different from grading classroom papers. • There is no single “correct” answer to the test questions. • Students come to the test without knowledge of the passages or prompts. • On-demand writing does not provide time to plan, edit, and revise work as does writing compositions for a class.

16. 2-point Rubric: Short-response Read the fine print… If the prompt requires two texts and the student only references one text, the response can be scored no higher than a 1.

17. (New) NYS CC Aligned Writing Rubrics Although the Gr. 3, 4 & 5 rubrics released are for expository writing, it is important to teach the other forms of writing as well in your classroom: narrative and persuasive/argumentative

18. Grade 3 Expository Writing Evaluation Rubric Read the fine print…

19. Grades 4-5 Expository Writing Evaluation Rubric Read the fine print…

20. NYS Math Assessments • Evidence of the Six Shifts on the assessments • Comparison of what the assessments asked of students in the past vs. what they will ask of students now • 2-point rubric • 3-point rubric

21. Shift 1: Calls for Focus in instruction

22. Shift 2: Calls for Coherence in instruction

23. Shift 3: Calls for Fluency

24. Shift 4: Calls for Deep Understanding

25. Shift 5 & 6: Calls for Application and Dual Intensity

26. In the past … • Questions were simpler, one or two steps, or were heavily scaffolded. • Questions were heavy on pure fluency in isolation. • Questions isolated the math. • Questions relied more on the rote use of a standard algorithm for finding answers to problems.

27. Now … • Questions will require multiple steps involving the interpretation of operations. • Questions will require conceptual understanding and fluency in order to complete test questions. • Problems are in a real world problem context. • Questions require students to… • decompose numbers and/or shapes, • apply properties of numbers, • and with the information given in the problem, reach an answer. • Relying solely on algorithms will not be sufficient!

28. Example of Gr. 4 Multistep Problem:

29. Holistic Scoring • Holistic scoring assigns a single, overall test score for a response as a whole. • The single score reflects the level of understanding the student demonstrates in the response. • To score holistically, you must look at the entire response, rather than evaluating the parts or individual attributes separately. • Keep in mind that some errors may detract from the level of understanding demonstrated and other errors may not detract.

30. Mathematics 2-point Holistic Rubric

31. Mathematics 3-point Holistic Rubric

32. Fluencies • The purpose of fluency practice is to increase the speed and accuracy of solving foundational mathematical concepts.  • The goal for the fluency assessments is NOTto finish all of the problems but rather to complete more problems accurately in the same amount of time. • Students must practice these skills daily and be assessed throughout the year to monitor their growth in their assigned fluency • To achieve a true reading of their mathematical fluency, students should be administered fluency assessments that: • include the same number of problems on each assessment • assess the same skill • provide the same amount of time to work

33. Fluencies • The fluencies outlined for each grade level with few exceptions, are standards learned the previous year • Examples: