New Mexico Alternate Performance Assessment (NMAPA) Test Design and Transition to Common Core Standards

Dr. Tom Dauphinee Deputy Director of Assessment and Accountability

Students With Significant Cognitive Disabilities Past and present performance in multiple setting point to a significant cognitive disability Needs intensive, pervasive, or extensive level of support in multiple settings Current cognitive and adaptive skills require direct instruction to acquire, maintain and generalize across multiple settings Students not able to participate in general assessment, even with accommodations Observations at home, school, and community indicate a significant cognitive disability

Developed in 2006-2007 NMAPA replaced on-demand structured rating scale : On-demand performance assessment Measures on-grade-level academic skills Based on alternate achievement standards Three content areas – Language Arts (separate ELA and writing scores), Mathematics, and Science Students respond through any communicative modality Grade spans 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and high school 10-12 Developed to better meet technical quality requirements of NCLB. Once had social studies test, but discontinued for lack of funding

NMAPA Design 12 performance tasks per content area Each task has an average 5 items Linking tasks to support a vertical scale Tasks arranged in order of complexity Starting task determined by teacher’s questionnaire Starting and stopping rules maximize number of items at appropriate complexity Starting Point Questionnaire based on 11-44 “can do” questions, like can the student recognize the sun, moon, and the earth. Add the score and refer to a look up table for starting task.

Grades 5-6 LA Item Let’s take a look at some of the items in a task from grades 5-6 in Language Arts. This task is based on a poster showing some summer scenes. The test administrator reads from a script, “We’re going to read a story about ways to stay cool when the weather is hot. The weather in New Mexico can be very hot. When it is hot outside, it is important to stay cool. Here are some ways to stay cool when the weather is hot. The TA shows the student the poster: If you are outside, try to stay in the shade….Stay inside. Closing window curtains can help keep the hot sun outside….You can use fans to keep you cool….When the weather is hot be sure to drink plenty of water.

Item 1 The TA says “Show (tell) me what makes the weather hot outside, (pointing to the card), says water, trees, or the sun.

Scoring If the student responds correctly, they get 2 points. If the student fails, they get a second chance. The card for water is removed and the TA asks again, Show me what makes the weather hot outside, trees or the sun. If the indicate the sun, they get 1 point.

Linking Items Grade 3-4 3-4/5-6 5-6 5-6/7-8 7-8 7-8/10-12 10-12 Math Unique Linking Total 9 3 12 6 Science Adjacent grade band scales are linked items that align with standards in both grade bands Until 2009, approximately half of the tasks were linking items and half were uniquely aligned with on-grade-level standards. Peer reviewers raised concerns about too few items aligned with on-grade-level standards Redesigned the NMAPA, and from that point forward approximately on thirds were uniquely aligned with on-grade-level standards

Student Reports for Parents and Teachers The student report for parents and teachers gives background on the purpose for the test to guide instruction and accountablity ratings.

Student Reports for Parents and Teachers It explains New Mexico’s performance levels adapted to alternate achievement standards.

Student Reports for Parents and Teachers It explains shows a student’s score on the scale. And it presents the same information for content area.

NEW MEXICO ACCOUNTABILITY MODEL INCLUDES MEASURES OF STUDENT GROWTH Linear transformation of scores 3 year trajectory for each student Points added if student score is above trajectory, no points if on target, points subtracted if below trajectory Average trajectory and score is computed for school and district New Mexico’s accountability model includes measures of student growth from the NMAPA and the general assessment. Mentioned earlier that the NMAPA is vertically linked and articulated. A linear transformation is applied to scale scores to include scores from both assessments. A trajectory is drawn from three years of scores If a student scores above the trajectory, points are awarded to a school or district, no points are awarded if a student is on target, and points are taken away if a student’s score falls below the trajectory An average trajectory and score is computed for a school and district to determine accountability ratings

EARLY SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS Reduced funding Limited time for transition New items needed Discussions with AIR to form informal state collaborative Overcame a number of challenges when CCSS debuted Loss of state funding for assessment development ($0) Changing administration delayed implementation of CCSS in NM then had limited time to make transition Some items align coincidentally with CCSS but need items to fill gaps Opportunities began to appear when AIR opened discussions with other client states who could share their alternate assessment resources

STATES’ POOLED RESOCURCES States seeking an alternate assessment with peer approval States had CCSS assessments Delaware had downward extensions of CCSS New Mexico’s alternate performance assessment had successfully passed peer review Other states had items or even assessments for CCSS Delaware had and was willing to share downward extensions of CCSS

NEW MEXICO AND SOUTH CAROLINA’S AGREEMENT Share assessment tasks and items Share training materials Communicate about operational use Shared items not released Use tasks and items event after the MOA Each state conducts necessary item content and item reviews to meet regional alignment and accessibility requirements Share training videos and other materials to support the transfer of test AIR tells sharing state when receiving state uses items

TRANSITION STEPS Developed downward extensions of CCSS Gap study of item pool Designing 2014 NMAPA for partial CCSS alignment and 2015 NMAPA full CCSS alignment Downward extensions developed by committees of NM teachers based on those developed by Delaware – called EGBEs

Questions?