Determining Informative Student Growth on the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading Yaacov Petscher, Ph.D. Director of Research Florida Center for Reading Research

Common Questions How much growth should occur? What score type should be used for growth? Why are students’ PRS scores in Grade 1 decreasing? What do the Reading Comprehension and Word Analysis Ability scores really tell us?

Things to Discuss Review Goals and FAIR Psychometrics Review of FAIR & Score Types ◦ How they were derived ◦ changes to FAIR Growth in FAIR subtests Comparison of Growth

Goals in Assessment – K2 What do we want to maximize in a screen? ◦ Correct classification or base rates Focus on correct classification ◦ Cost = higher false positives/false negatives Focus on predictive power ◦ Cost = Lower sensitivity

Reliability of Broad Screen IRT Precision Estimates for Kindergarten and Grade 1 Broad Screen Tasks by Time of Assessment GradeTaskAP 1AP 2AP 3 KindergartenLetter Names0.51*-- Letter Sounds Phonological Awareness Word Reading Grade 1Word Reading0.86 *The Letter Sounds task was more reliable than Letter Names at AP 1; however, due to the restricted range for high risk, a policy decision was made to use the Letter Name task in order to better capture the floor of the distribution. Because the Broad Screen in G2 is a timed task, precision estimates are not reported; however, test-retest reliability was strong ( ).

Predictive Validity of Broad Screen

Goals of Assessment – 3-12 What do we want to maximize? ◦ Reliable estimate of student ability Computer adaptive test (CAT) ◦ Allows for individual test creation ◦ Limits form effects ◦ Difficult to teach to the test Starting students in the CAT

FAIR-FCAT Relationship FallWinterSpring GradeRC ScreenFSPRC ScreenFSPRC ScreenFSP

FAIR K-2 Broad Screen Each grade has different tasks ◦ Kindergarten ◦ Grade 1 ◦ Grade 2 Probability of Reading Success (PRS) ◦ What does this mean? ◦ How can it be used?

“The Probability of Reading Success (PRS) score predicts the student’s percent chance of being at or above grade level by the end of the year based on the performance for that assessment period (AP) and time of year. The 40th percentile on the SESAT (K) or SAT-10 (grade 1 and 2) is the cut point for grade level performance. The PRS can be used descriptively to compare class, school, or district level performance from one AP to the next. “

State Median PRS K-2

Analyzing Student Progress Make descriptive comparisons ◦ <85% PRS  Was there a change in PRS?  Yes – YAY!  Did they shift zones?  No – Look at TDI information and examine progress ◦ >=85% PRS  Did the student remain the “green zone”?  Grade 1 question…

Previous Grade 1 PRS

New Grade 1 PRS

RC Screen ◦ Helps us identify students who may not be able to meet the grade level literacy standards at the end of the year as assessed by the FCAT without additional targeted literacy instruction. Mazes ◦ Helps us determine whether a student has more fundamental problems in the area of text reading efficiency and low level reading comprehension. Word Analysis ◦ Helps us learn more about a student's fundamental literacy skills--particularly those required to decode unfamiliar words and read accurately. Purpose of Each 3-12 Assessment

FAIR 3-12 Score Types Reading Comprehension - BS/PMT  FCAT Success Probability (FSP)  Percentile  Standard Score  Lexile Ability Score and Ability Range  FCAT Cluster Area Scores  Ability Score (RCAS) Maze - TDI  Percentile  Standard Score  Adjusted Maze Score Word Analysis - TDI  Percentile  Standard Score  Ability Score (WAAS)

Percentiles Raw score transformation that indicates the rank of the student compared to others of the same grade ◦ Does not denote mastery (criteron- referencing) but relative performance

Standard Scores Standardized scores are derived from raw scores to compare one student’s performance on a test to the mean of all other students at that grade Mean = 100, SD = 15, Range =

Ability Scores Similar to standard scores!......but different! Mean = 500, SD = 100, Range =

Why we use Ability Scores

Reading Comprehension MazesWord Analysis AP ScorePM score AP ScorePM scoreAP ScorePM score student lexile score student lexile score %ile & SS RCAS Percentile rank Percentile rank FSP Adj. Maze SS WAAS

Why not FSP? FSP includes previous FCAT Differential calculation of FSP Student may gain in FAIR Reading but not change FSP

Gain Score Analyses Simple difference scores Only students who were in all APs Only within the testing window Only for consistent grade students

Analyzing Student Progress Unlike K-2 we have Ability Scores ◦ Determine if score type is AP or PM score AP score ◦ <85% FSP  Was there a change in FSP? ◦ >=85% FSP  Did the student remain the “green zone”? PM score ◦ Examine AS in light of state results ◦ Did ability score increase for the student? ◦

Changes to RCAS New passages and linking ◦ Range of scores for RCAS & Lexile changing RCAS ◦ RCAS ◦ Uncapped Lexile ◦ 220L – 1735L Uncapped Lexile ◦ 225L – 2105L

Next Steps Analyzing specific growth targets Is there merit in knowing the gain scores? Working with JRF to provide guidelines to districts/schools