SED Update: USDOE Peer Review

1
SED Update USDOE Peer Review Grades 3-8
Testing Program
David Abrams Assistant Commissioner Office for
Standards, Assessment, and Reporting Fall S/CDN
Meeting September 14, 2006
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No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act

• NCLB requires that, by the 2005-06 school year,
  states have in place
• challenging academic content and achievement
  standards in reading/language arts and math and
• an aligned assessment system that measures
  student achievement towards meeting those
  standards in Grades 3-8 and once in Grades 10-12.
• Goal to enable all students to meet challenging
  academic content and achievement standards

3
NCLB Title I

• Title I, Part A accountability requires States to
  determine AYP, in part, by annually administering
  tests aligned with challenging academic content
  and student academic achievement standards in
  reading or language arts to all students.

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NCLB Title III

• Title III, Part A requires that states, LEAs and
  schools show
• Demonstrated improvements in the English
  proficiency of limited English proficient
  children each fiscal year and
• Adequate yearly progress in meeting State
  academic content and student academic achievement
  standards for limited English proficient
  children, including immigrant children and
  youth.

5
Peer Review Overview

• NCLB requires that USDOE review and approve each
  state system of standards and assessments,
  including evidence of how the state has met the
  relevant NCLB requirements.

6
Peer Review Process

• States must prepare and submit a report with
  accompanying documentation (NYS submitted its
  report in January 2006).
• The submission is then reviewed by Peer
  Reviewers, national experts knowledgeable in the
  fields of standards and assessment.

7
Peer Review NYS Results

• On June 27, 2006, SED received a letter from
  Assistant Secretary Henry L. Johnson stating that
  NYS must provide additional evidence to meet NCLB
  requirements.
• USDOE has determined that NYS is not incompliance
  with NCLB with respect to
• NYSESLAT
• Assessment of ungraded students
• Alternative assessment for students with
  disabilities
• NYS must come into full compliance by end of
  2006-07 school year.

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Peer Review NYSESLAT

• Regarding NYSESLAT, USDOE said
• The NYSESLAT is not sufficiently comparable to
  the regular English language arts assessment to
  useas a substitute language arts assessment for
  limited English proficient students.
• Henry L. Johnson Letter (June 27, 2006)

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NYSESLAT Design and Administration

• Administered each spring in five grade bands
• K-1
• 2-4
• 5-6
• 7-8
• 9-12

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NYSESLAT Design and Administration

• Each grade band has four subtests
• Speaking
• Listening
• Reading
• Writing
• Speaking administered to students individually
  any time over a 4-week period
• Listening, Reading, and Writing administered to
  groups of students in three sessions during a
  2-week period

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NYSESLAT Design and Administration

• Tests are untimed
• Tests are kept secure after administration

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NYSESLAT Content

• Design based on
• Learning Standards for English as a Second
  Language
• Current research from the field of second
  language assessment
• Guidance from an ESL expert advisory board
• Direction from SED

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NYSESLAT Next Steps

• SED has accepted invitation from USDOE to join
  LEP Partnership
• SED will engage in specific empirical research
  looking at LEP/ELL student performance on ELA
  exams and NYSESLAT
• SED will work with partner states to propose a
  research agenda to USDOE to see if a dual purpose
  instrument is possible and feasible

14
Special Education Ungraded Students

• SED has amended its policy to ensure that
  ungraded students with disabilities who are not
  eligible for NYSAA do not take an out-of-level
  assessment.
• See August 2006 Memo Revised Guidelines for
  Participation of Students with Disabilities in
  State Assessments for 2006-07 (Rebecca H.
  Cort/Jean C. Stevens)

15
Special Education NYSAA

• SED will revise NYSAA to link it to grade level
  standards.
• See August 2006 Memo Important Changes Regarding
  Administration of the New York State Alternate
  Assessment for 2006-07 (David Abrams James P.
  DeLorenzo)

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Special Education NYSAA

• New Administration Dates for 2006-2007 School
  Year January 2, 2007-March 9, 2007
• Test will return to original administration dates
  in 2007-2008 School Year

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Grades 3-8 Refresher

• Original RFP called for Vertical Scale
• Research with CTB showed that the test design was
  not long enough (need a minimum of 50 MC items)
  to design a pure vertical scale
• Field Objected to original design due to
  administration issues

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Grades 3-8 Refresher

• State Opted to use the Vertically Moderated
  Standards (VMS) approach
• Student progress is measured from grade-to-grade
  relative to proficiency in meeting the standards
  (rather than in terms of scale scores on tests)

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Grades 3-8 Refresher

• Measurement experts say this method is more
  reliable than vertical scaling for monitoring
  student progress
• VMS design does not require overlapping items and
  allows test forms to be shorter

20
Grades 3-8 Refresher

• Items are on each test are developed only for a
  single grade-level and it allows for better
  content converge for each grade
• SED is researching feasibility of Vertical
  Scaling through field-testing research design
  results of research will inform next generation
  of tests

21
Grades 3-8 Update

• Summary Test Score information will be released
  to school districts on September 14 majority of
  school districts should receive overnight
• Testing Data is embargoed until Commissioners
  News Conference which is scheduled for September
  21 at 1100 AM