October 6, 2006 Curriculum Leaders Assessment Update Scott E. Smith Assistant Director

Please hold your questions until the “end.”

“Opportunity to Learn”: Grades /2007 and beyond

A Recent Federal Policy Change: On Tuesday, September 26 th, the USED advised us that because Kansas is implementing an OTL assessment schedule we have the flexibility of retesting “non-proficient” students. This policy has also been allowed in the past for states that have exit exams and end-of-course tests.

Defining the AYP Cohort in the Context of OTL: The USED has also eliminated the possibility of using as an AYP cohort those high school students (i.e., a combination of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors) who happen to take the assessments on a given year. The USED has said instead that AYP in the context of OTL must be calculated using enrollment of a particular class.

What follows, then, in this Power Point is a high school OTL plan incorporating two principal guidelines from the USED, namely (1) the opportunity to retest non-proficient students, and (2) the necessity of basing the high school AYP calculation on the enrollment of a particular class. The class enrollment suggested by KSDE is the junior class.

2006/2007: Making the Transition to AYP in the Context of OTL Remember: KSDE was forced to mandate testing of entire classes in 05/06 in order to ensure enough test scores to establish stable cut scores for the new state assessments.

11th grade students who were proficient in 10th grade: this would be the first group of students considered an 11 th grade cohort who happened to test early. Their scores actually count twice—once in 2006 and once in th grade students who were non-proficient as 10th graders and are tested for the second time in 2007: again, these students are part of the first 11 th grade cohort. These students have a second chance to become proficient. If these students are not retested, their non-proficient scores from 2006 are used in the 06/07 calculations. 11th graders who are tested for the first time. NT codes are used for all students not tested by 11th grade (see new document). Continued … Mathematics: Whose scores would be counted for AYP in 06/07 ?

What other students might be tested at the discretion of the district in 06/07 and beyond? Answer: Any 10th graders thought to be ready: their scores would be held or “banked” until these students reach the 11th grade. Any 9th graders thought to be ready: their scores would also be held or “banked” until these students reach the 11th graders.

Whose scores would count for participation in 06/07? Answer: All students enrolled as 11th grade students: some of these 11 th graders will be credited for participating in 06/07 whereas others will be granted participation credit for having participated as sophomores in 05/06. In other words, all 11 th grade students are counted in the participation calculations based on whether or not they were tested sometime during 9 th, 10 th, or 11 th grades. NOTE: NT Codes are used for all students not tested by 11th grade (see new document).

Mathematics: Who counts for AYP in and beyond? Banked scores from 11th grade students who were proficient when tested in 10th grade or 9th grade Scores for 11th grade students who were non- proficient in earlier situations and are tested for the second time as juniors.

What other students could be tested in and beyond at the discretion of the district if they meet established criteria? Answer: Any 10th graders thought to be ready; their scores are banked until they are 11th graders. Any 9th graders thought to be ready; their scores are banked until they are 11th graders.

Who counts for mathematics participation in 07/08 and beyond? Answer: All 11th grade students whether current or banked participation NT codes are used for all students not tested by 11th grade (see new document).

Reading: Whose scores count for AYP in 06-07? All 11th grade students being tested for the first time NT codes are used for all students not tested by 11th grade (see you documents).

What other students could be tested at the discretion of the district in 06/07? Any 10th graders thought to be ready; their scores are held or “banked” until these students become 11th graders. Any 9th graders thought to be ready; their scores are banked until they are 11th graders.

Reading: Who counts for participation in 06/07? Answer: -- All 11th graders (current participation) -- NT codes are used for all students not tested by 11th grade (see new document).

Other Assumptions … Only students who do not achieve “meets standard” may be retested. The tests must be given in separate semesters. Twelfth graders are not to be tested through OTL. The cohort group must consist of eleventh graders only.

Students who switch schools: When the student moves to another school after having been tested only once, the sending school is the AYP school and keeps the score of a student scoring proficient. If the student who has tested only once is non-proficient, the receiving school becomes the AYP school and an NT code is used to make the student ineligible because he wasn’t able to take advantage of his second testing opportunity in the sending school. In neither case does the banked score count for or against the receiving school. When the student moves to another school after having been tested twice, the score stays with the sending school and the receiving school notes in KIDS that the sending school is the AYP school.

Assumptions continued … Most special circumstances and exceptions can be found in the “Special Coding Circumstances for OTL” document.

Cautions/Next Steps … No OTL plan can be implemented until it has been approved by USED. KSDE intends to work very fast on an OTL plan for this year. The Feds may require that schools put in place some mechanism for remediation to justify the opportunity to test twice. Again, though, schools would presumably still have the option of testing only once during the 11th grade year and not making provisions for remediation.

Sample scenario … My district tested all sophomores in mathematics with P&P in 05/06. We want to continue with P&P tests indefinitely. What will we do in 06/07? Answer: A P&P district will have the option of testing (1) all juniors who didn’t score “meets standard” or above as sophomores, (2) any 9 th and 10th graders thought to be ready, and (3) any juniors who have never been tested.

KCA TEST BUILDER Manuals were ed to Superintendents & Test Coordinators on Monday, Oct. 1st. Additional Manuals can be found at Click KCA Test Builder and login Questions/Support

Kan-ed Test Builder 3.0 Empowered Desktop, Learning Station Questions/support: Phone:

KIDS Data Upload for Writing Answer Sheet Pre-slugging Answer sheet information will be pre-slugged for any students in the KIDS system as of 10/18/2006, so make sure your students at grades 5, 8 and 11 are in the KIDS system. You still must register the number of students for whom Writing Assessment materials are requested. Registration for materials needs to occur by 10/18/2006. Go to the CETE website to register.