1. Science Assessment Updates
WSTA
October 20, 2017
Pasco, WA

2. Welcome!
Who is with us today?

3. Science Assessment Office Staff
General account
Dawn Cope — Science Assessment Lead
Amy Viveiros—Science Assessment Specialist
Jessica Cole—Administrative Assistant
Anton Jackson-Director of Assessment Development

4. Today’s Topics Current Exams: WCAS Questions and Answers
WCAS Development
NGSS 101
WCAS Design and Features
Item Specifications
Training Tests
Science Assessment Webpage

5. Current Exams: WCAS Questions and Answers

6. House Bill 2224
Providing flexibility in high school graduation requirements and supporting student success during the transition to a federal Every Student Succeeds Act-compliant accountability system
Revises high school graduation assessment requirements in science, english language arts, mathematics, and provisions governing alternative assessment options
Discontinues the Collection of Evidence alternative assessment options
Establishes an appeals process for waiving requirements for Certificates of Academic Achievement or Certificates of Individual Achievement for certain students (ELA and Math only)
Addresses student interventions and academic supports
Establishes new provisions for High School and Beyond plans. Revises or repeals certain accountability-related duties of the State Board of Education

7. For High School Science…
Delays the high school graduation requirement until the class of 2021
Biology EOC is discontinued
Graduation alternatives
Biology Collection of Evidence is discontinued
Other graduation alternatives are delayed until the class of 2021
ACT science score
AP, IB test scores
GPA Comparison
New graduation alternatives for the class of 2021?
Locally Administered Assessment

8. High School Science Assessment 2018+
Grade in 17-18
Class of…
Science Assessment
and beyond 12
2018
N/A 11
2019
WCAS for federal accountability 10
2020
WCAS for federal accountability in 11th grade (2019) 9
2021
WCAS for federal accountability in 11th grade (2020) and graduation
The MSPs and the Biology EOC will no longer be administered.

9. Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS)
Washington State 2013 K-12 Science Learning Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Grade 5
Grade 8
Grade 11
3-5 band
Middle School band
High School band

10. 2018 Science Test Windows
Required for federal and state accountability

11. WCAS Development

12. Goals for WCAS
Design an assessment that reflects how science content is taught and tested in the classroom.
Use WA educators in assessment development.
Develop high quality item clusters and standalone items that achieve alignment to the SEPs, DCIs, CCCs represented in a PE or PE bundle.
Design an assessment that allows for valid and reliable inferences to be drawn from the results.
Design an assessment that ensures the fair and accurate assessment of students in special populations.

13. Science Assessment Development Cycle

14. Educator Work Group Descriptions
(2) Cluster Development Workgroup: Teams of 2-3 educators write stimuli, items, and rubrics designed to validly measure student understanding of the NGSS.
(4) Content Review Work Group: Educators review the products of the cluster development workshop to ensure every stimulus, item, and rubric is scientifically accurate and gathers appropriate evidence about student mastery of the NGSS. At the same time, a separate committee of community members reviews the items and stimuli for bias and sensitivity issues. Recommendations from the Bias and Sensitivity review are considered by the Content Review work group.
(6) Pilot Rangefinding and Rubric Validation: Educators look at a range of student responses to short answer and technology enhanced items and decide how to score responses. Scoring rubrics are refined and materials that will be used to score the field test item are finalized.
(8) Content Review with Data: Educators use field test data as well as science content knowledge, to decide whether the items should advance into the item bank.

15. Professional Development Opportunities
Event
Timing
Item Cluster Writing*
Oct 2015
March 2016
Oct 2016
May/June 2017
Content Review*
Dec 2015
July 2016
Dec 2016
Oct 2017
Bias/Sensitivity Review
Sep 2016
Pilot/Field
Testing
Spring 2017
Spring 2018
Pilot Range Finding*
Summer 2017
Summer 2018
Content Review with Data*
Fall 2017
Fall 2018
Test Planning Meeting*
November 2016
Achievement Level Descriptor Development*
November 2017
Alignment Study*
Early 2018
Contrasting Groups Study*
Early Spring 2018
Achievement Level Setting*
Summer 2018*
Science test scores will be released slightly later than usual in fall 2018 due to Achievement Level Setting.

16. Stay informed and get involved
Sign up for GovDelivery messages
Go to the Subscribe page for GovDelivery. Enter your address. On the Subscriptions page, select Content Areas > Science, then select the grade band(s) for which you would like to receive information.
Check calendar posted at: Professional Development calendar

17. NGSS 101

18. NGSS Resources Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
NGSS Appendices
The K–12 Framework for Science Education

19. Performance Expectations per Grade Band
Total PEs per grade
Performance Expectations per Grade Band
 Grade Band
Number of Three-Dimensional Performance Expectations
Physical Sciences
Domain
Life
Sciences
Earth and Space Sciences
Engineering
Total
3-5 17 12 13 3 45
Middle school 19 21 15 4 59
High school 24 71
Each Performance Expectation (PE) includes a Science and Engineering Practice,
a Disciplinary Core Idea, and a Cross-cutting Concept

20. NGSS Performance Expectation

21. Cluster Map

22. Observation that needs an explanation
PE Bundle
Phenomenon
Observation that needs an explanation
Context
Idea/setting/background/situation related to the phenomenon that can be further developed into a stimulus
Stimulus
Includes data sets, graphs, tables, descriptive observations, models, and/or descriptions of investigations that can be interspersed among items to add information as needed.

23. WCAS Design and Features

24. Structure and Test Length
5-6 Clusters and 6-10 Standalones
Embedded field test items
All items either 2 or 3 dimensional
Test Length
Grade minutes
Grade minutes
Grade minutes
Administration
Can be administered in multiple sessions like the Smarter Balanced ELA and Math assessments.
1 to 3 sessions recommended.

25. WCAS Features All online
For clusters, one or more stimuli on left side of screen, items on the right side
Item Types:
Selected Response—multiple choice, multiple select
Constructed Response—short answer
Technology enhanced—ex: drag and drop, drop-down choices, simulations
Multi-part items
Parts labeled with letters A, B, and C.
May have a mix of item types. Parts work together. May ask for evidence to support answer in previous part of the item.

26. Sample Screenshot from the WA Smarter Balanced ELA 6-8 Training Test

27. New WCAS Features Collapsing stimuli Locking items
First stimulus is hidden when second stimulus is provided.
Both stimuli are available to the student.
Locking items
Student can answer the question only once.
Allows subsequent questions to update with correct information.
An “attention” box warns student that they won’t be able to change their answer.

28. Standalone Items Allow more PEs to be assessed on a test
Must be 2 or 3 dimensional
Can have multiple parts
Computer scored item types only

29. Item Specifications

30. Item Specifications
Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS) Item Specifications are currently in development, and will be published for each grade level 5, 8, 11.
Front matter: Describes the structure and development of the WCAS, including information about item types and NGSS alignment.
Item specifications for individual PEs: Describe how the dimensions of each PE are combined and assessed in WCAS items.

31. Item Specifications Release
The front matter and a subset of 18 individual PE item specifications will be released in late fall.
Grade 5 Front matter + 6 G5 PEs
Grade 8 Front matter + 6 G8 PEs
Grade 11 Front matter + 6 G11 PEs
The PEs will be distributed across domains and grade bands for each grade level.
An additional individual PE item specifications will be released this winter, distributed across grade levels and domains.
The remainder of the PEs will be released in school year
The Item Specifications will be updated annually based on WA educator feedback.

32. Training Tests

33. Training Tests Will be available in late fall
Will include clusters and standalones
Will include grades 5, 8, and 11
Should be used across grade levels to show the range of item types

34. Science Assessment Webpage

35. Science Assessment Webpage
Main page
Science Assessment webpage
Item Specifications-late fall
Lessons Learned from Scoring Student Work- late fall
WCAP Portal
WCAP Portal training tests
Science training tests-late fall

36. Formative Assessment Resources
Formative assessment resources are available that can help you and your students measure progress toward learning the Science K-12 Learning Standards as assessed on the WCAS
STEM Teaching Tools website
Includes tools that can help teach science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and is currently focused on supporting the teaching of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Each tool is focused on a specific issue and leverages the best knowledge from research and practice.
Recommended tools:
Prompts for Integrating Crosscutting Concepts Into Assessment and Instruction
Integrating Science Practices Into Assessment Tasks
How can formative assessment support culturally responsive argumentation in a classroom community?
How can assessments be designed to engage students in the range of science and engineering practices?
Steps to Designing a Three Dimensional Assessment

37. Learning and Teaching Science
Ellen Ebert, Director
Amber McCullough, K-12 Science Specialist
Rochelle Gandoor-Rood, Program Supervisor
Environmental and Sustainability Education

38. Thank you!