New Developments in NYS Assessments

1. New Developments in NYS Assessments

2. Background • At their February 2009 meeting, the Board of Regents directed the Department to develop a new three-hour, one-day test format for the Regents Comprehensive Examination in English • The first administration of the new three-hour, one-day Regents Comprehensive Examination in English will take place in January 2011

3. Background • The new examination will: • assess the high-school level of the 2005 New York State English Language Arts Core Curriculum, and • be based on the current English Language Arts Core Performance Indicators, Standards 1-3 and the key ideas of listening, reading, and writing • The examination will consist of four parts and will include: • 25 multiple-choice questions, • two short constructed-response questions, and • one essay

4. What is new? • A one-day, three-hour exam • One essay • Two short constructed responses

5. What is the same? • Measures same learningstandards and key ideas • Still includes alistening passage • Writing still required • Part 4 (Critical lens) is unchanged

6. Question Types

7. Alignment with Core Performance Indicators,Standards, and Key Ideas The table below shows the percentage of total credits* that will be aligned with each core performance indicator or standard, and key idea. *Note that the percentages of the questions that are aligned with each core performance indicator or standard for writing have been adjusted to account for the fact that the three writing tasks on the examination will be assigned a weighting of three.

8. Test Sampler • English Test Sampler is posted on SED web site: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/english/ • examples of the types of questions, the formatting, and the scoring guides • may be duplicated for classroom instruction

9. Teacher Participation Opportunities • Certified high school teachers needed to participate in Standard Setting in January 2011 for the new Regents Comprehensive Examination in English • certified in English, special education, or English as a second language • Standard Setting – to be held in Albany • Application: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/teacher/

10. Universal Answer Sheets for Regents Examinations • Office of the State Comptroller conducted an oversight audit of scoring practices on Regents Examinations in 2009 • Need standardized process in place that allows the State to collect item level and test-taker demographic data • Board of Regents action • Starting June 2011, Comprehensive English, Integrated Algebra, Global Studies and Geography, U.S. History and Government, Living Environment, and Earth Science must be scanned for Department analysis • Starting June 2012, all remaining Regents Exams must be scanned

11. Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) • The goal of PARCC is: • to create an assessment system that will help states dramatically increase the number of students who graduate high school ready for college and careers and • to provide students, parents, teachers and policymakers with the tools they need to help students – from grade three through high school – stay on track and graduate prepared

12. PARCC • PARCC includes 26 states, with 11 governing states. NY is a governing state. • The proposed assessment system will be computer based • Students will take parts of the assessment at key times during the school year, closer to when they learn the material, rather than waiting for one big test at the end of the year. • Teachers and principals will be able to see how students are progressing towards achieving the standards at key points in the school year, allowing them to adjust instructional practices or give extra support to students who need it. • Because the assessments will be developed by states in partnership with one another, they will provide a common metric for measuring the performance of their students; for the first time, meeting standards in one state will mean the same thing as in others.

13. Responsibility of School Administrator to Arrange for Scoring The Information Booklets detail: • The number of teachers required to score an exam • The credentials required to be a scorer for an exam • The recommended procedures to follow in scoring • The training process which the scorers must go through before scoring actual exam papers

14. Ensuring Quality Control in the Scoring Process • Make sure that teachers properly train, using directions and rating guides provided by NYSED, before scoring actual August exam papers. • Make sure that a second rating is done for papers with scale scores 60-64 only for those exam titles where it is required. • Make sure that all tabulations of raw scores and conversion to scale scores are performed carefully and checked by a second scorer.

15. Help with Reducing the Incidence of Exam Misadministrations • Common Causes of State Test Mis-administrations • proctor not providing the testing accommodations specified in a student’s IEP or 504 Plan • proctor providing an accommodation that is not permitted for a specific test such as reading the reading passages to a student on the Grades 3-8 ELA Tests • student use of tools that are not permitted for the specific test such as a calculator with Book 1 of the Grades 7 and 8 Mathematics Tests • failure to remove pertinent work from desks or chalkboard before test administration has begun • not adhering to required test time • proctor returning test book and/or answer paper back to student after time has passed to have student attend to unanswered questions or to revise responses

16. Common Causes of ExamMis-administrations continued • scribe not recording exactly what student has dictated • teachers giving aid to student during the test • teachers providing an impromptu lesson on specific test content to students immediately before or during the test • teachers, administrators, or paraprofessionals altering student responses to test questions • student use of cell phone while test is being administered • student cheating • loss of test books and/or answer papers • administering the wrong test to student

17. National Assessment ofEducational Progress (NAEP) 2011 Assessment Window January 24-March 4, 2011

18. NAEP 2011 Components

19. TIMMS/PIRLS Studies • The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) will administer two international studies in April-May 2011 for which NAEP State Coordinators will be conducting initial school notification and recruitment efforts: TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science) at grades 4 and 8, and PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) at grade 4.

20. NAEP-TIMSS Grade 8 Mathematics and Science Linking Study • In light of TIMSS coinciding with NAEP in 2011, NCES is conducting a linking study with the goal being to use grade 8 NAEP scores to project TIMSS scores for all states. The study will be transparent to schools. During the NAEP math and science assessments, NAEP sessions will have TIMSS items included in the NAEP assessment booklets. Likewise, NAEP items will be included in TIMSS assessment booklets during the TIMSS assessment window.

21. Questions • E-mail:emscassessinfo@mail.nysed.gov • Providing feedback on State examinations through the Teacher Evaluation Form: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/exameval

22. Thank you for having us as presenters