NECAP Reading Grades 6-8 Supporting the Transition to Common Core State Standards

1. NECAP Reading Grades 6-8Supporting the Transition to Common Core State Standards Patsy Dunton English Language Arts Specialist Patsy.dunton@maine.gov Susan Smith NECAP Coordinator Susan.Smith@maine.gov

2. Common core State Standards (CCSS) • Fundamental understandings about the CCSS initiative include: • Strong literacy skills support workplace success • Most jobs (70-85%) require specific study or training beyond high school • A primary CCSS goal is for all students to graduate from high school College and Career Ready (CCR)

3. College and Career Ready For English language arts, this means: • Students can read and use information • Students can make their thinking process explicit • Students use evidence to support their conclusions How do we know if a student college ready? • Placed in composition course without remediation • Meets conditions outlined in the Framework For Success in Postsecondary Writing • Generally, achieved SAT of 500+ • Read and comprehend independently and consistently text with Lexile of 1300 minimum

4. How do we get to CCR? • Use evidence to inform your plan: existing data and exemplars • Make thinking explicit: build a reasoned argument to explain your methods • Use information effectively: determine which resources have sufficient quality and usefulness to use • Compose a question you should ask and answer using NECAP (and MEA) data.

5. Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. • http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ela/documents/Reading%206-12%20by%20CCR%20chart.pdf This is a grade 8 writing standard from CCSS What you are doing!

6. How can NECAP Data inform your transition?

7. Assessment Design—Reading • 3 Sessions of Reading, utilizing 9 different forms that mix together: • Common (Items and passages taken by all students—used to determine performance toward meeting proficiency) • Equating Matrix (Variety of previously Field Tested items/passages taken by students to insure equitable difficulty across the forms) • Field Test (Newly developed passages and items being tested for future use) • Item Types: Stand Alone items (Multiple Choice) and Passages with items (Multiple Choice and Constructed Response) • Stand alones precede passages • Short passages have 4 MCs and 1 CR • Long passages have 8 MCs and 2 CRs

8. Depth of Knowledge (DOK)/Cognitive Demand • Many models of cognitive levels, built from Bloom’s Taxonomy • Norm Webb’s four-level model is used for NECAP • Level 1—Recall • Level 2—Skill/Concept • Level 3—Strategic Thinking • Level 4—Extended Thinking

9. Susan Smith NECAP Data Overview Public Reports available at: http://www.maine.gov/education/necap/results.html Confidential Student Reports available at password-protected site: http://iservices.measuredprogress.org/

10. Let’s Explore the NECAP Reading Assessment Data Once an account has been created for you: http://iservices.measuredprogress.org/ To view a 37 minute webinar on using this system: Using the Interactive NECAP Reporting System - recorded webinar located at http://www.maine.gov/education/necap/presentations.html

11. 3 Years of NECAP Reading Results

12. 3 Years of NECAP Reading Results

13. GenderDifferencesinReadingPerformance NECAP October 2011

14. Patsy Dunton • Using data to inform everyday instruction and support the transition to CCSS

15. Instructional Implications

16. Initial Understanding What is the pattern of performance for your students with IU items? Basic comprehension includes • Summarizing • Locating information • Knowing/recognizing words • DOK of 1 and 2 only • Do your students need support with IU?

17. Vocabulary Items NOT in Text The root graph in the words autograph and biography means A. to tell. B. to write. C. to change. D. to create. An antonym for the word detach is A. mock. B. sting. C. connect. D. produce.

18. Vocabulary • http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ela/professionaldevelopment.html#TeachingELA • Link to webinar about teaching vocabulary

19. Instruction: IU Literary text structure: • Chronological • Flashback • Cause/effect • Effect/cause • Explicit character development Informational text structure: • Headings • Subheadings • Charts, graphs, other graphics • Background/history • Methods/instructions • Link/navigation bar

20. IU Items: selected response Kong Rong is different from his older brothers because he is A. helpful with his father’s work. B. generous to his younger brother. C. able to read ancient Chinese writings. D. able to hide his faults from his father. Which word best describes the doorman when he opens the door for Kong Rong? A. hospitable B. annoyed C. curious D. pitiful

21. IU Items: constructed response Describe how other characters in the folktale react to what Kong Rong says and does. Use details from the folktale to support your answer.

22. What Comprehension Abilities do NECAP Reading Tasks Assess? INITIAL UNDERSTANDING • Using explicitly stated information to answer questions • Identifying key ideas and details about story elements • Obtaining information from text features • Summarizing key ideas/event/plot • Describing character traits ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION • Making logical predictions, inferences, and conclusions • Identifying author’s message or theme • Connecting information within or across texts • Recognizing generalizations

23. Instruction: Analysis and Interpretation • Most items are DOK 2 but a rare item reaches for DOK 3 Consider • The larger purpose of the text as a whole • Connecting parts of the text • Discussing paired texts • Looking for the main idea, the main lesson or message , or the theme

24. Analyze and Interpret: selected response Kong Rong’s self-confi dence is shown when he A. gives the pear to his brother. B. stands up to the envious official. C. reveals that Confucius is his ancestor. D. passes the imperial examinations. What is Kong Rong’s main goal? A. to get a ride from a farmer B. to study harder than his brothers C. to become Master Li’s student D. to be respectful of everyone

25. Analyze and Interpret: constructed response Explain the theme or message of this folktale. Use details from the folktale to support your answer.

26. Moving from IU to AI Describe how other characters in the folktale react to what Kong Rong says and does. Use details from the folktale to support your answer. Explain how the ways other characters react to Kong Rong reveal Kong Rong’s character. Use details from the folktale to support your answer.

27. Preparing for Analysis • Develop a deep relationship with the text before attempting specific questions • Practice reading aloud and modeling analysis as a whole class • Pairing: Read a short informational text relative to the novel in class, then model relating the information to the novel • Annotate a text as you read

28. Annotating Text • Big Ideas • Facts and Details vs Opinion • Language Use – imagery, uncommon language, sustained metaphor, repeated ideas or words • Author’s Purpose and Intended Audience • Story Elements (lit) • Text Features (info) • Analysis and Interpretation - author’s craft • http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ela/guidedreading.doc

29. Released Items

30. Classroom Practice

32. Eliciting the response from the student: in writing and speaking • Use simplistic text first, then increase difficulty • Use annotating strategies to deconstruct the text • Model the process/gradually release • Teach “language of stimulus” and deconstructing prompts • Teach models for organizing responses without encouraging formulas: using when, because, so that, etc. (reconstructing text) • Teach strategies for identifying evidence/specific details(from annotations) • Teach students to write their own constructed response questions and scoring guides to determine what to notice in a well-supported response

33. Using paired or grouped texts Select texts that have a related topic, theme, or style but are different types of texts. For example: • A poem about bats which emphasizes the speaker’s fear (literature) • An essay about exploring a cave full of bats (narrative nonfiction) • An article about different types of bats and their qualities (informational text) Ask comprehension questions about each to make sure the student understands the individual text

34. Using paired or grouped texts Ask questions across the texts: • Discuss how the speaker in the poem and the narrator of the essay feel about bats • Explain whether the fear of bats is rational or irrational • Compare the images of bats across the three texts and relate them to cultural perceptions

35. NECAP and CCSS • Understanding the trajectory your school is on will help you chart the course • CCSS is more rigorous – although the standards may look familiar, the complexity is defined and progressive • Move your students up the proficiency scale, advancing through analysis and across multiple text types

36. Resources and Questions • NECAP Resources can be found at: http://www.maine.gov/education/necap/index.html • Common Core State Standards resources for Maine can be found at: • http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ela/standards.html • Burning Questions?