OSA Web Conference Series MEAP and MME Science Assessment 2011 – 2012 Office of Standards and Assessment

2 MEAP Science Assessment As begun last year, the MEAP science test aligns to the K – 7 Science Content Expectations. The elementary school MEAP spans the 95 GLCEs across 2 nd, 3 rd, and 4 th grades. The middle school MEAP spans the 113 GLCEs across 5 th, 6 th, and 7 th grades.

12/23/ Remember, the elementary and middle School science GLCEs are organized under 4 Disciplines; Science Processes Life Science Physical Science Earth Science MEAP Science Assessment

12/23/ The Science Content Expectations distribute 15 science standards across the 4 Disciplines; Science Processes  3 standards Life Science  4 standards Physical Science  4 standards Earth Science  4 standards MEAP Science Assessment

12/23/ The elementary school MEAP science test has 48 operational items plus 12 field test Items. The middle school MEAP science test has 53 operational plus 12 field test items. As always, the field test items are not scored MEAP Science Assessment

12/23/ Every standard has a least 1 GLCE assessed. The operational items are distributed across the 15 standards using a representative sample. MEAP Science Assessment

12/23/ The GLCEs assessed are selected at random among all GLCEs available within a standard No GLCE within a grade span is any more important than any other GLCE in regard to selection MEAP Science Assessment

12/23/ A test form is divided into 2 parts, with half of the test items in each part. Both parts of a form present items across all 15 standards MEAP Science Assessment

12/23/ Both the elementary and middle school MEAP science test will 5 forms; a school will use 1 of the 5 forms Some of operational items are the same across the 5 forms, while some of the operational items are different MEAP Science Assessment

12/23/ All test items are multiple choice having 4 answer options. Each item is worth 1 point. The 2011 – 2012 MEAP science test design is the same as used last school year. MEAP Science Assessment

12/23/ The MEAP science test date is Oct 19 th, with opportunity to schedule following make-up dates through Oct 28 th MEAP Science Assessment

12/23/ MME Science Assessment Yes, the MME for science for the 2011 – 2012 will change, slightly. The MME for science will add 3 operational items and subtract 3 field test items; in other words, a student’s score will be based on 3 more items, from 32 to 35.

12/23/ MME Science Assessment As you know, the MMEfor science assess 5 disciplines; Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics, and Science Processes. The latter discipline has the same content expectations for each of the other 4 subjects

12/23/ MME Science Assessment An independent quality review of the MME for science, conducted by Norm Webb, from the University of Wisconsin, found that OSA can improve the MME by adding a few more items that aligned to the Reflection, and Social Implications content expectations from the Science Processes discipline.

12/23/ MME Science Assessment With this slight design change, the MME for science will still include 20 science items from the ACT, now 35 operational items align to the content expectations across the 5 disciplines, and now 14 non- scored field test items.

12/23/ MME Science Assessment The total number of test items, across the ACT plus the OSA-prepared operational and field test items, will remain the same as last year, however, 69.

12/23/ MME Science Assessment Background on MME test design…. As mentioned, the design of the MME for science assessrs student performance across 5 disciplines, where Science Processes consist of separate assessment area along with Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, and Physics.

12/23/ MME Science Assessment Separating out Science Processes, leaves: Biology with 4 assessed standards, Chemistry with 3 assessed standards (C2 & C3, having few expectations, were combined)

12/23/ MME Science Assessment Earth Science with 4 assessed standards, and Physics with 4 assessed standards (P4 was split in P4a and P4b, having many expectations)

12/23/ The Science Process discipline has 1 standard with 2 parts, Inquiry & Reflection and Social Implication. The 20 ACT items align to the Inquiry content expectations. The Science Processes items that OSA prepares align to the Reflection and Social Implications content expectations.

12/23/ MME Science Assessment This school year, the MME will consist of 6 general issue forms, 1 make-up form, and 1 emergency form. Other than having all unique items, the make-up and emergency forms will follow the same design as the general issue forms.

12/23/ The general issue forms will all have the same set of 18 common operational items, while each of the 5 forms will have a unique set of 17 items. The common item sets as well as each unique item set represent the science disciplines across the assessed standards

12/23/ The 14-item field-test sets are also unique for the 5 general issue and make-up forms Outside the addition of the 3 Reflection and Social Implication operational items and the cut of 3 field test items per form, the MME has followed the same design since Spring 2009.

12/23/ Rodger H. Epp - Sr. Assessment Development Coordinator – Science - Office of Standards and Assessment (OSA) Office of Standards and Assessment