Race to the Top Assessment Competition Public & Expert Input Meetings General Assessment Atlanta, GA November 17, 2009

Race to the Top Assessment Competition 11/17/2009 Race to the Top State Competition: $4B competitive grant to encourage and reward States implementing comprehensive statewide reforms across four key areas Race to the Top Assessment Competition: $350M to support consortia of States implement common standards by funding the development of a new generation of common assessments aligned to them Applicants: Consortia of States; 50% of the funding must be passed through to participating LEAs Timeline: March 2010Release notice inviting applications June 2010Applications due September 2010Grants awarded

Goals of the Assessment Program Support States in delivering a system of more effective and instructionally useful assessments: More accurate information about what students know and can do: Achievement of standards Growth On-track to college and career ready by the time of high school graduation Reflects and supports good instructional practice Includes all students, including English language learners and students with disabilities Usable to inform: Teaching, learning, and program improvement Determinations of school effectiveness Determinations of principal and teacher effectiveness for the purposes of evaluation and support Determinations of individual student college and career readiness 11/17/2009

Other Requirements Subjects and Grades – at a minimum: Reading/language arts and mathematics Grades 3-8 and high school Summative assessments – at a minimum – but: Not necessarily end-of-year Not necessarily once during the year Not necessarily one test May replace rather than add to assessments currently in use Be valid, reliable, and fair 11/17/2009

Goals for the Input Meetings Paint a vision of the what the next generation of assessment systems could and should look like. Provide concrete expert and public guidance to ED staff, in response to questions asked in the notice. Help prepare States to develop the highest quality proposals with the greatest likelihood of impact. 11/17/2009

Agenda 10:00-10:15Welcome/Setting the Stage 10:15-12:15Expert Presentations 12:15-1:15Lunch (on your own) 1:15-2:15Expert Presentations 2:15-3:30Round Table Discussion 3:30-3:45Break (public speakers queue up) 3:45-4:45Public Speakers 4:45-5:00Conclusion 11/17/2009

Housekeeping Submitting your questions Time keeping Cell phones on vibrate please Today’s session will be transcribed and posted to together with the presentations Additional written input may be submitted to 11/17/2009

States Attending Today Arizona Arkansas California Delaware District of Columbia Georgia Iowa Kentucky Louisiana Maine New Hampshire Ohio South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee 11/17/2009

On the Panel Invited Experts Carol Campbell, Chief Research Officer, Ontario Ministry of Education Lou Fabrizio, Director of Accountability Policy and Communications, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Thomas Fisher, Chair, National Technical Advisory Committee Brian Gong, Executive Director, National Center for the Improvement in Educational Assessment (NCIEA) Paul Nichols, Vice President of Psychometric and Research Services, Pearson Education Theresa Siskind, Deputy Superintendent- Division of Accountability, South Carolina Department of Education From the U.S. Department of Education Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services Joanne Weiss, Director of Race to the Top, Office of the Secretary Ann Whalen, Special Assistant to the Secretary Judy Wurtzel, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development 11/17/2009

Additional Information For more information on the Race to the Top Assessment Program, please visit: assessment/index.html 11/17/2009