November 7, 2013

 Provisos are in annual Appropriations Bills  Proviso 1A.60 included in bill  Very prescriptive

From the funds in specific appropriations Assessment/Testing, the Department of Education shall issue a request for proposal to provide a statewide South Carolina Success Program, a program to be available to all public school districts and open- enrollment charters in the State of South Carolina. The department may use up to $3,500,000 of the local assessment funds for this program.

This program shall provide academic support to students and teachers to help ensure on grade level achievement in reading by making available for grades PreK-8 an online-delivered, interactive reading assessment and research-based intervention program for use both at school and at home. This online program must automatically place students into an individualized on-line curriculum and instruction, provide teachers and administrators with immediate reporting, provide recommendations for interventions and teacher lessons, and provide small group instruction lessons. The program must provide computer adaptive assessments at least eight times per year, and teachers, principals, and districts must have immediate on-line reporting to identify those students who are not reading on grade-level and those that are at risk of failing the state reading assessment pursuant to Section of the 1976 Code, as amended. The program must make available to parents reporting and resources regarding student participation via a home portal. To ensure effective implementation of the program in conjunction with the beginning of the academic school year,

the Department of Education shall issue a request for proposal to carry out the requirements of this provision no later than July 5, Implementation of the program must begin no later than August 15, 2013.

 Released an RFP, received one proposal  Formative Funds - $3,096,281  Contract awarded to Istation  Bills submitted from Istation in March and June  If any funds remain after June bill, remaining funds will be distributed

 South Carolina is one of 26 member states in NCSC  Multi state consortia funded to develop an alternate assessment in ELA and mathematics aligned to the Common Core State Standards  Assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities who currently participate in the SC-Alt

 Spring 2014 ◦ Pilots/tryouts of items (Phase 1)  Fall 2014 ◦ Pilots/tryouts of complete forms (Phase 2)  Spring 2015 ◦ Census field test ◦ Results used for federal accountability

 Pilots allow us to: Collect data about how students interact with items Gather information about how the items function Examine administration procedures and conditions Review item scoring processes and procedures

 Participation is an opportunity for teachers to: Experience the administration procedures Determine if the school has the necessary computer software hardware and internet access required for the assessment Influence assessment development

 February – April 2014  One content area (ELA or mathematics)  Limited number of students per teacher  Twenty-five items  1.5 to 2 hours assessment time  Delivered online  Teachers will be asked to provide feedback

 Test dates posted last fall ◦ Adding dates for Smarter statewide field-test ◦ March 18 – June 6, 2014  ETS is contractor for sampling ◦ Sample of grades within schools ◦ Students take either ELA or mathematics  Information about field test ◦

 Test dates are being finalized  Federal Accountability: tests must measure College and Career Readiness Standards ◦ State Board of Education has adopted Smarter ◦ US Department of Education has approved Smarter  State Accountability: EOC must approve assessments  Goal is to avoid having two sets of tests: one for federal and another for state accountability

 Dates on next slide are draft  Draft will be posted in the Assessment page  Including all possible assessments including: ◦ SCPASS, HSAP, EOCEP, SC-Alt ◦ Smarter, NCSC ◦ Assessments for Gifted and Talented  Grade 2 ITBS and CogAT  Performance Tasks

 Smarter ◦ 5 weeks for online testing (late April – early/mid May) ◦ Specific dates for paper/pencil testing  HSAP ◦ April 14–16, makeup until April 24  SCPASS ◦ March 17 and 18 (Writing) ◦ May 5–8, makeup until May 15 ◦ Online option for science and social studies, May 7–22