1 / 34

“To Test or Not to Test”

“To Test or Not to Test”. December 2008 State Assessment Conference Peter Hendrickson, Everett Assessment Bob Silverman, Puyallup Assessment. Puyallup’s Experience. District Overview. 9 th largest school district in the state 21,938 students 28.8% student diversity

winola
Download Presentation

“To Test or Not to Test”

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. “To Test or Not to Test” December 2008 State Assessment Conference Peter Hendrickson, Everett Assessment Bob Silverman, Puyallup Assessment

  2. Puyallup’s Experience

  3. District Overview • 9th largest school district in the state • 21,938 students • 28.8% student diversity • 23% students qualify for free/reduced price lunch • 33 schools • 7 Junior High Schools (6 in 2008) • 4 High Schools (3 comprehensive and 1 alternative)

  4. 9th Grade Testing Experience Prior to Spring, 2008

  5. 9th Grade Testing Experience: Percent Meeting Standard

  6. Our Decision to Expand • Consensus of all secondary schools • Prior success of our students • High Schools request for data more current than 8th grade results • Junior High Schools (teachers and administrators) wanting performance data for 9th grade students • Support of Executive Administration and Board • Parent and student support • Support of OSPI

  7. Our Plan • Test all 9th Grade students in reading and writing • With school flexibility for testing students with significant disabilities • Test 9th Grade students in mathematics who were enrolled in at least in geometry

  8. Our Process • Began the policy conversation with schools in the spring of 2007 • Reached consensus as a group in October • Developed procedures for communicating with parents in November • Mailed letters to parents in December • Registered students in December/January

  9. Our Results • Percent Tested in Reading: 92.7% • Percent Tested in Writing: 91.2% • Percent Tested in Math: 60.6%

  10. Factors we think contributed to our success in “Writing” • Fall district writing assessments since 2002 using state prompts, scoring guides, and anchors • Annual professional development for teachers • Group scoring opportunity for teachers in target grades • In 2007-08, required 9th grade writing assessment in both the fall and winter • Fall: Scored by Teachers on Release Day • Winter: Scored by Contractor

  11. What we learned about “Math” • We had some “rogue” schools • Tested all students, regardless of math course being taken • The courses students took had a significant impact on student performance

  12. What we learned about “Reading” • The HS reading test was easier for students than was the 8th Grade reading test • Students at all levels of general “Reading Comprehension” levels were successful on the 9th Grade Reading WASL

  13. 8th Grade Reading Scores Related to 9th Grade Reading Scores, 2007 and 2008 Correlation = .691 207 Students 73 Students

  14. Grade 9 Degrees of Reading Power Related to Grade 9 Reading WASL, 2008 Correlation = .627 Winter 2008 Degrees of Reading Power: NPR

  15. Issues/Struggles/Concerns • Managing the HS assessments in 7 additional schools • Logistics of testing • Teachers who are proctors, but teach 7/8 graders • Teacher loss of planning period • Space • Negotiating with schools a common approach • OSPI reports some data without “previously passed” students • How best to use the data in High Schools

  16. Will we test 9th grade students again in 2009? • Definitely, yes! • Letter sent to parents are included • As are our general procedures

More Related