Coffee with the principal

1. Coffee with the principal • Testing, Assessment and the common core standards Rob famularo Principal, coolidge school January 2013

2. Summative vs. formative

3. Why Test? • Several data points help us to quantify student achievement. • Results are used to inform instruction to be meaningful and efficient. • Assessment serves to enhance and facilitate instruction, not the reverse. • Assessment itself, needs to be reevaluated periodically

4. What are Wyckoff’s assessments? • Fountas & Pinnell READING ASSESSMENT • Spelling Inventories (WORDS THEIR WAY) • Anecdotal & running records • teacher created assessments • conferring notes • pre & post writing assessments • end of unit & chapter tests • project work • NJ ASK TESTING • TERRA NOVA/cognitive skills testing

5. 2 types of test results • norm-referenced • criterion-referenced

6. Norm-Referenced Tests • are useful for comparing large numbers of students or student placement • are designed to compare students and dispersing them along a bell curve • covers a broad range of topics & based upon national curricula and texts, not district. • offers item-analysis, validity & reliability

7. Definitions of importance • The national percentile (NP) is most commonly used and considered the best indicator of student achievement when compared with students outside the community; the score is not the number of correct responses, but an interval scale. • This means it is not treated arithmetically, as the difference between the two nps has different meaning/value at different points of the scale.

8. criterion-referenced tests • A criterion-referenced test compares a student’s performance to a behavior . . . how well a student has mastered specific knowledge and skills. • They are given standards or expected criteria prior to their performance. The standards are used to create rubrics or scales for use by instructors or raters in assessing student products or presentations.

9. Coolidge school scores

10. Limitations of nj ask • Cannot use scores to compare norms across country. • Cannot compare scores from grade to grade • Test changes each year and cut scores change • Not considered reliable- one reader per essay

11. DISTRICT FACTOR GROUPS • WERE ESTABLISHED BY THE NJDOE AND RANKS THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE STATE. • DISTRICTS RANGE FROM A TO J • WYCKOFF IS AN I DISTRICT • OTHER I DISTRICTS INCLUDE CLOSTER, CRESSKILL, DEMAREST, ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, FRANKLIN LAKES, HAWORTH, MAHWAH, NORTHERN VALLEY, ORADELL, OAKLAND, OLD TAPPAN, PASCACK VALLEY, PARK RIDGE, RAMSEY, RIVER DELL, RIVER EDGE, RIVER VALE, TENAFLY . . .

12. Comparison to state and dfg scores • Well exceed state average on all indicators • Exceed dfg indicators on most indicators

16. How is test data used? • principal, reading specialist & math specialist analyze individual & group results • we seek to identify patterns of strength & weakness • INFORMATION SHARED WITH STAFF • we look to identify at risk students

17. AT RISK • CHILDREN NEAR 200 & 250 • GOAL: TO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE PARTIALLY PROFICIENT • GOAL: TO MOVE MORE CHILDREN FROM PROFICIENT TO ADVANCED PROFICIENT (250+)

18. How do we address weaknesses? • tie time/Professional learning communities- creation of smart goals • Literacy coaches • TEACHERS WORK WITH TARGETED GROUPS TO MEET NEEDS OR ADDRESS DEFICIENCIES. • Identify pockets of students with similar weaknesses- leads to small group work • Identify students below or near 200- at risk • Identify students at or near 250- at risk

19. How do we address weaknesses?- continued • More in depth analysis of score reports • Academic support- basic skills instruction (push in and pull out) • Differentiated instruction- balanced literacy • Infusion of test questions into curriculum • Technology- ipad

20. WHAT CAN YOU DO? • FOCUS UPON ACADEMICS • Model reading, read to your child, encourage reading • SET HIGH EXPECTATIONS • EXAMINE YOUR CHILD’S WRITING • ENCOURAGE ADDING DETAIL, ELABORATING, USING TAUGHT SKILLS

21. Common core standards initiativehttp://www.corestandards.org/ • State led effort to establish a shared set of clear educational standards • Clear and consistent framework to prepare children for college and the workforce • Robust and relevant to the real world. • Clarity of goals and objectives for each grade level.

22. Rationale for the ccss • Expectations designed to ensure students achieve college and career readiness • 46 states have adopted the core standards • Declining u.s. competitiveness with other developed countries • High rates of college remediation • Naep performance is largely flat over the past 40 years.

23. Language arts shift #1 of the ccss Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational text. • Balance between nonfiction and narrative text • Importance of students building knowledge from information text.

24. Language arts shift #2 of the ccss Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text • Repsond to evidence based writing (inform/argue) • Respond to text dependent questions • Use evidence from text to make a claim, support a theory, etc. • What is your evidence?

25. Language arts shift #3 of the ccss Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary. • A “staircase” of increasing text complexity • Focus on building vocabulary across various types of text. • Focus on academic vocabulary; words that appear in a variety of content areas • Learning vocabulary in context, rather than lists.

26. mathematics shift #1 of the ccss Focus strongly where the standards focus • Narrow the scope of content and expand how time and energy are spent in the math classroom • Focus only on what is emphasized in the standards so students gain strong foundations. • Apply the mathematics they know to solve problems inside and outside the classroom

27. mathematics shift #2 of the ccss Think across grades and link to major topics within grades • Mathematics should not be treated as a series of disconnected topics. • Connect learning within and across grades so that students can build new understanding onto foundations built in previous years. • Each standard is not a new event, but an extension of previous learning.

28. mathematics shift #3 of the ccss In major topics, pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency and application • Teachers teach more than “how to get an answer” • Students are expected to have speed and accuracy in calculation • Students apply mathematics concepts in “real world” situations and cross content areas

29. How are these new standards going to be assessed? • PARCC • THE PARTNERSHIP FOR ASSESSMENT OF READINESS FOR COLLEGE AND CAREERS • http://www.parcconline.org/

30. WHAT IS THE PARCC? • CONSORTIUM OF 23 STATES WORKING TOGETHER TO DEVELOP A COMMON SET OF K-12 ASSESSMENTS • TIGHTLY ALIGNED TO THE CCSS AND GROUNDED IN THE KEY SHIFTS AT THE HEART OF THE COMMON CORE

31. ASSESSMENT ADVANCES IN THE PARCC ASSESSMENT(BETTER STANDARDS REQUIRE BETTER TESTS) • TEXTS WORTH READING • QUESTIONS WORTH ANSWERING • PROBLEMS WORTH DOING • FOCUS

32. TIMELINE • 2012-2013- 1ST YEAR PILOT/ FIELD TESTING • 2013-2014- 2ND YEAR PILOT/FIELD TESTING • 2014-2015- FULL OPERATIONAL ADMINISTRATION OF PARCC ASSESSMENTS