Student Assessment Resources ACT Workkeys ACT with Writing ACT QualityCore End of Course ACT Aspire Assessing Special Populations

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8 Based on ACT analysis of actual student performance in college The minimum ACT test scores required for students to have a high probability of success in corresponding first-year, credit-bearing college courses 50% chance of earning a B or better 75% chance or better of earning a C or better ACT College Readiness Benchmarks

Review Sample Student Report: New Readiness Scores and Indicators

Enhanced ACT Writing Test Students will continue to receive a single subject-level writing score. In addition, students will receive scores for four important domains of writing competency (ideas and analysis, development and support, organization, and language use), each scored and reported on a 2–12 scale. Students will also receive a score that combines their scores from the English and reading tests with the writing subject-level score. As is the case today, the writing score will not affect the 1–36 ACT Composite score.

The Principal or Designee May Authorize Access to Appropriate Staff

13 ACT College and Career Readiness Standards Ideas for Progress

ACT Online Prep Assistance Phone: (319)

Participants in the course will:  Gain a thorough understanding of the ACT assessment, including test development, academic components, organization, and purpose;  Understand the relationship between student scores and the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards;  Incorporate ideas on how to use available free resources and supporting materials effectively in a comprehensive way to support a college and career readiness system in their school, and;  Connect the ACT College and Career Readiness Standards to instructional practices to support teaching and learning in the classroom. New Successfully Achieving College and Career Readiness for All Students Course Available

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ACT Aspire Alabama Site: Gateway to Resources The ACT Aspire Alabama site provides the following: Test Dates Links to sites Manuals and Supplements Training Score Reporting Contact Information

ACT Aspire Exemplars Computer-Based Version There is a specific Username and Password for each subject and grade level.

Knowledge and Skills Mapping username: actlabs password: actlabs Agree to the terms. Includes interactive maps in all content areas in Grades Provides an overview of skills and knowledge that research suggests a student should master on the path to college and career readiness. Assists educators with curriculum mapping, planning, development, implementation, and decision making.

Knowledge and Skills Maps The maps use language that reflects state college and career readiness standards, as well as ACT’s own empirically derived College and Career Readiness Benchmarks. The prototype ACT Knowledge and Skills tool is designed to help users identify at what level benchmarks are tested. 27

Knowledge and Skills Maps Choose a subject.

Knowledge and Skills Maps Reading Click the arrow to expand the section. There are six levels of Text Complexity. Click the icon for more information.

Knowledge and Skills Maps Reading By clicking “complex,” the user is provided with a list of characteristics of Complex Literary Narratives and /or Informational Text. Literary Narrative Purpose/Levels of Meaning Structure Language Abstractness Density Knowledge Demands

Knowledge and Skills Maps Math Legend Math Choose a grade span, Math only.

Knowledge and Skills Maps Math Each category expands. Math 6-8 span There are 15 exemplar questions at each grade level and subject. Within each set, there is one reporting category

Knowledge and Skills Maps Math Each category has a Description and related Citations. Description Citations Proportional relationships are multiplicative relationships between quantities and are the next step toward general linear relationships. Students coming into this grade band start with strong multiplication skills and expand the ways of working with ″how many times as much?″ comparisons, including ratios, rates, and percentages. They look at rate-of-change and connect unit rates with the slope of a graph, a pattern in a table, and a multiplier in an equation, using all forms of rational numbers. This builds to general understanding of function as input and output pairs and understanding of proportional functions and then linear functions. Functions are not tied to a specific representation: tables can show representative values, graphs can show behavior in a representative region, equations can represent some types of functions. Linear equations y = mx + b represent all linear functions. The Expressions and Equations domain provides ways of working with these equations. Linear functions are useful in modeling. Sample Description

Knowledge and Skills Maps Math Explain why a graph is or isn’t a function. (Function Behavior) Sample question: Explain why f(x)=4 is or is NOT a function.

Knowledge and Skills Maps Crosswalk for Mathematics and English Language Arts The interactive guide in the center allows you to drill down to the knowledge and skills reporting categories. Use “print screen” or copy/paste into a Word document to print information. 35

Knowledge and Skills Maps Crosswalk for Mathematics and English Language Arts Skills on the left side of the bar are those that are assessed. Skills on the right side of the bar are the Career- and College- Ready Standards. Reporting Categories Understanding Point of View and Bias ELA

Knowledge and Skills Maps Crosswalk for Mathematics and English Language Arts ELA Understanding Point of View and Bias Click “Range of Reading and Text Complexity.” Additional alignment information ELA includes reading, English, and writing.

Knowledge and Skills Maps Crosswalk for Mathematics and English Language Arts ELA Range of Reading and Text Complexity R10 List of matching skills found in the ACT Knowledge and Skills Maps

ACT Aspire Growth Reports Districts and schools that participated in ACT Aspire Assessments (Reading, Math, English, Science and Writing) with an N count of 10+ in consecutive years( 2014 and 2015) will receive Growth Summary Statistics and Student Growth Percentile reports and data file.

Growth Vocabulary Mean Gain Score is the simple average of gain scores (difference between scores from consecutive years/2015 and 2014) for a group of students. Target Gain is the mean gain score for all students in the nation who have participated in ACT Aspire for consecutive years. Gain Interpretation indicates if the mean gain score for students is within sampling error(via a 90% confidence interval) of the target or significantly above or below the target.

Growth Summary Statistics District By Subject/By Grade- Math

Growth Vocabulary Student Growth Percentile (SGP)- The Student Growth Percentile measures the percentile rank of a student’s score in year 2, among all students with the same score from year 1. The SGP ranges from 1 to 100, with 50 as the average. Low Growth- The SGP is less than 25%. Average Growth- The SGP is 25%-75%. High Growth- The SGP is higher than 75%.

Student Growth Percentile Samples Castellano, K.E. & Ho, A.D. (2013). A Practitioner’s Guide to Growth Models. Washington, D.C.: Council of Chief State School Officers.

Student Growth Percentile Formula (Student Growth)Percentile Rank= Number of Students below Score + (.5 x Number of Students at Score) x 100 Number of Students in the Academic Peer Group

Student Growth Percentiles District By Subject Area and Growth Period- Math

Student Growth Percentile Model

Administrators about-Student-Growth.pdf Answers to Administrators’ Questions about Student Growth includes the following information: How ACT Measures Student Growth Nine Questions and Answers pertinent to administrators

Teachers and Parents df/Answers-to-Teachers-Questions-about- Student-Growth.pdf df/Answers-to-Parents-Questions-about- Student-Growth.pdf

Assessing Students of Special Populations Alabama Student Assessment Program Handbook for Test Administration Alabama State Department of Education Student Assessment Policies and Procedures of Special Populations Manual: Updated November 2015 (Guidance regarding the inclusion of students with special needs in the state assessment program) ACT Aspire Accessibility User’s Guide ACT with Writing State and District Special Testing Paper Manual, Special Online Testing Manual, Standard Time Online Testing Manual, Standard Time Paper Manual, Test Accessibility and Accommodations User Guide (TAA) ACT WorkKeys State and District Special Testing Manual ACT QualityCore Instructions for Accommodated Testing Manual ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 Reference Guide for Test Administrations Procedures Accessibility Tools and Accommodations Manual

Assessing Students of Special Populations The use of a Reader may be provided for a student who has a documented reading disability that is two or more grade-levels below the student’s enrollment grade and that severely limits the student from decoding at any level of difficulty. Criteria for a read-aloud accommodation: Documented reading disability Evidence that student is reading two or more grade-levels below current enrollment grade Justification or proof of success The deficit should be addressed throughout the student’s IEP or 504 Plan, and the student should be working toward mastery of those deficit skills. The criteria for determining the use of a Reader shall not be solely dependent upon the student’s grade level performance or his/her cognitive ability. NOTE: Student assessment data shows that we are over accommodating students and that students’ test scores are impacted negatively. The number one misused accommodation is Reader (read- aloud).

Alabama Department of Education Student Assessment Kanetra Germany Maggie Hicks