1. Project Based Assessments
An Alternative Pathway to Proficiency
2013 Field Test
Participants’ Training
This presentation will provide an overview of the Project Based Assessment (PBA) process and the responsibilities of the Site Administrator, Proctor, and Tutor in the 2013 Field Test

2. Project Based Assessment - Introduction
A PBA is an alternative way for a student to demonstrate proficiency on the Keystone Exam end-of-course assessments in order to meet Pennsylvania’s graduation requirements.
For the 2013 Field Test, any student currently enrolled in a Keystone course (Algebra I, Literature, or Biology) may participate.
When the PBAs become operational, proposed Chapter 4 regulations provide for a student (beginning with the class of 2017) to engage in a PBA after two unsuccessful attempts to reach proficiency on a Keystone Exam; LEA must confirm participation in a satisfactory manner in supplemental instructional services consistent with the student’s educational program.
Each PBA is module-specific.
For the 2013 Field Test, students will be randomly assigned one of the two modules for the Keystone Exam area in which they are participating.
Beginning with the class of 2017, students who do not reach proficiency on a Keystone Exam overall will be required to complete a PBA for each module that is not passed.
A Keystone Project Based Assessment (PBA) is an alternative way to demonstrate proficiency on the Keystone Exam end-of-course assessments, in order to meet Pennsylvania’s graduation requirements.
For the 2013 Field Test, any student currently enrolled in a Keystone course—Algebra I, Literature, Biology—may participate.
When the PBAs become operational, current proposed Chapter 4 regulations provide for a student (beginning with the class of 2017) to engage in a PBA after two unsuccessful attempts to reach proficiency on a Keystone Exam and participation in a satisfactory manner in supplemental instructional services consistent with the student’s educational program.
Each PBA is module specific.
For the 2013 Field Test, students will be randomly assigned one of the two modules for the Keystone Exam area in which they are participating.
When the PBAs become operational, students who do not reach proficiency on a Keystone Exam overall will be required to complete a PBA for each module that is not passed.

3. Project Based Assessment - Overview
Created by PA educators with guidance from curriculum experts
Based on the Assessment Anchors and Eligible Content of each Keystone course
Consist of scaffolded tasks building to the creation and submission of a project based assessment
Require approximately five to seven hours to complete actual assessment; time may vary based upon tutoring required
Completed by students before, during, or after school in a supervised environment
Logistics and locations for project completion determined by district
For the 2013 Field Test, the window will open on March 15, 2013, with anticipation that projects will be submitted by May 3, 2013.
PSSA accommodations apply
The PBAs were created by PA educators in conjunction with Jay McTighe (co- author of the Understanding by Design series), and they are based on the Assessment Anchors and Eligible Content of each Keystone course.
The PBAs consist of a series of scaffolded tasks that build to the creation and submission of a Project Based Assessment.
Students will need approximately 5 to 7 hours to complete the actual assessment. However, the PBA is not a timed test, so the five to seven hour estimate is simply a guide for planning purposes. Also, this time estimate does not include tutoring time, which will vary based on individual student needs.
PBAs must be completed in a supervised environment, either before or during or after school.
Each district may determine the specific logistics and locations for project completion. For the 2013 Field Test, the window will open on March 15, 2013, with anticipation that projects will be submitted by May 3, 2013.
Districts should follow current accommodation guidelines for PSSA and Keystone Exam testing when administering the PBAs.

4. PBA Design Online Delivery Secure Site Accessible by Defined Roles
Administrator
Proctor
Tutor
Student
The PBAs will be completed entirely online on a secure site that requires logins and passwords.
Each user will have different levels of access, based on his/her role, depending on whether the user is an administrator, a proctor, a tutor, or a student .
Always remember that the online PBA is taken in a monitored environment before, during or after school.

5. Roles in the PBA Intermediate Unit District Administrator
Site Administrator
Proctor
Tutor
Student
Project Evaluator
In order to manage the administering of the PBA, various roles have been identified. Each role has various responsibilities.
The IU role is to provide training and support and to assist with the review of the projects
The following slides will focus on those roles that are involved in the actual completion of the process and their corresponding responsibilities:
District Administrator
Site Administrator
Proctor
Tutor
Student
Project Evaluator

6. Responsibilities of the District Administrator
Serves as liaison with IU regional representatives
Communicates PBA concept to stakeholders
Oversees the implementation of the PBAs in district schools
Supports environment to ensure accuracy and security
Recommends educators to serve on statewide review panel
When the PBAs become operational, the District Administrator will likely be a central office administrator who will work with the site administrators of each building to support them in implementing the PBAs.
In smaller districts and for the purposes of the 2013 field test, the District and Site Administrator may very likely be the same person.
[Review bullets.]

7. Responsibilities of the Site Administrator
(Only when PBAs become operational) Ensures that, prior to the PBA, each student has participated in a satisfactory manner in supplemental instructional services consistent with the student’s educational program.
Supports environment to ensure security
Provides an overview of the PBA concept, the online portal, and the project requirements to stakeholders
Identifies project needs for students (only when PBAs become operational) and assigns appropriate projects/modules
For the 2013 field test, the administrator should assign students to the appropriate project but may randomly select either module. For those students completing a PBA in the same class setting, it may be most efficient to assign all students to the same module.
When the PBAs become operational, the number of modules assigned to a student at any point in time should be based upon each student’s individual circumstances.
Determines timeline for completion (i.e., number of weeks students may work on PBA)
For the 2013 field test, the site becomes available for students to begin working on their projects on March 15, with anticipation that projects will be submitted by May 3.
Notifies student of PBA start date and previews site with students
Assigns proctors and tutors to PBA students
Schedules students for supervised sessions in before, during, and/or after school
Routinely reviews student progress to ensure completion in a timely manner
The site administrator will likely be the principal or assistant principal. This individual oversees and coordinates the implementation of the projects within a building. As noted on the slide, some of these responsibilities will only be required when PBAs become operational and will not be needed for the field test.
[Review bullets]
These responsibilities may be assigned to someone else, such as a school counselor – if access to the PBA site is involved, currently he/she would need to use the administrator’s login/password to gain such access.

8. Responsibilities of the Proctor
Logs student onto secure portal
Remains in the room to ensure security
Each session may include multiple students working on various PBA modules.
May be a study hall teacher, a paraprofessional, the assigned tutor, a librarian, etc.
Individuals assigned to this role may vary from day to day.
The proctor is the individual who logs the student onto the PBA site and then remains in the room while students are working on their projects.
Each session may include multiple students working on various PBA modules.
The proctor may be a study hall teacher, a paraprofessional, the assigned tutor, a librarian, the site administrator, etc. – whoever happens to be assigned to “proctor” the session on that day.

9. Responsibilities of the Tutor
Reviews project activities at designated checkpoints for content and quality of work to permit student to continue to the next activity.
Supports environment to ensure security
Provides remediation on the Eligible Content based upon student need (does NOT tutor or instruct on specific activities in PBA)
May explain or clarify directions.
Evaluates the project based upon evaluative criteria (Eligible Content); provides remediation on Eligible Content for project revision, as needed; and submits project for statewide review
A student can only move forward in the PBA if the tutor checks for quality and content. If the tutor and proctor are separate individuals, then they will need to work together in order to assist students in progressing through the activities.
In addition, the tutor provides remediation on the Eligible Content, either upon student request or when the tutor sees evidence in the activity that the student needs some additional instruction.
The PBA site includes a scoring guide for each project to be completed by both the student and the tutor to determine whether the project is ready for submission to the project review team for evaluation.

10. Example of Tutoring Assistance
Remediation in Eligible Content such as:
John is working on a Literature PBA and is having difficulty identifying the main idea of the sample reading. He requests help from the tutor. The tutor can identify a resource from SAS that addresses main idea or can provide additional tutoring on identifying main idea in samples other than the PBA activity.
Here is an example of how a tutor can assist students by providing remediation in the eligible content:
John is working on a Literature PBA and is having difficulty identifying the main idea of the sample reading. He requests help from the tutor. The tutor can identify a resource from SAS that addresses main idea or can provide additional tutoring on identifying main idea in samples other than the PBA activity.

11. NON-EXAMPLE of Tutoring Assistance
Tutors MAY NOT offer assistance with the activities themselves - only with related Eligible Content.
John is working on a Literature PBA and is having difficulty identifying the main idea of the sample reading. He requests help from the tutor. The tutor works with John on the PBA activity to assist him in identifying the main idea.
Here is an example of what a tutor should NOT do to assist students:
John is working on a Literature PBA and is having difficulty identifying the main idea of the sample reading. He requests help from the tutor. The tutor works with John on the PBA activity to assist him in identifying the main idea.
Tutors MAY NOT offer assistance with the activities themselves only with related eligible content.

12. Who is the Tutor?
The tutor must be certified* in the content area being assessed:
Algebra:  Mid-Level Math 7-9 if taught in 6, 7, 8, 9th  grades  OR Math 7-12 if taught in 6-12th OR the new Grades 4-8 certificate with the concentration being in Math if taught in no higher grade level than 8th.
*PDE will verify appropriate certification.

13. Who is the Tutor?
The tutor must be certified* in the content area being assessed:
Literature:  Mid-Level English 7-9 if taught in 6, 7, 8, 9th grades OR English 7-12 if taught in 6-12th OR Communications 7-12 for grades 6-12th
Biology: Biology only
*PDE will verify appropriate certification.

14. Responsibility of the Student
Gains an understanding of PBA portal, project components, and expectations
Requests help as needed
Communicates with tutor as needed
Completes PBA activities online; stops at designated checkpoints to await tutor approval; and completes final project for submission, as appropriate
Completes PBA within LEA-prescribed timeline
For the 2013 field test, the site becomes available for students to begin working on their projects on March 15, with anticipation that projects will be submitted by May 3.
The student is responsible for learning how to navigate the PBA site, for requesting help and otherwise communicating with the tutor, as needed, and (of course) for completing the PBA activities in a timely manner.
As mentioned previously, for the 2013 field test, the site becomes available for students to begin working on their projects on March 15, with anticipation that projects will be submitted by May 3.

15. Responsibility of the Evaluator
Project Review Panel (Evaluators)
Certified in content area; certification will be verified by PDE
Participates in PBA evaluation training
Evaluates PBAs online using Eligible Content as evaluative criteria
Awards satisfactory/unsatisfactory evaluation and provide annotation for unsatisfactory projects
The project based assessments will be evaluated by statewide review panels comprised of teachers, principals, and curriculum specialists, using an online scoring system, with evaluators working independently of one another. Certification requirements for evaluators is same as for tutors.
Projects will be evaluated according to scoring protocols and using project-specific rubrics developed by PDE.

16. Project Based Assessment Overview
The student training video can be located at:
It provides an overview of what students will see and do as they work on the Project Based Assessment.
This video will describe all parts of the PBA that the student will see and will give everyone involved an understanding of the PBA process from the student perspective.
Please note that the video continues to use the previous role title of “Monitor’ – that role is now called “Proctor.”

17. Home Page/Log On www.pba.pdesas.org
The Project Based Assessment site is – it may look familiar to you, since it similar in look to SAS.
[Note that the URL in the header section is a hyperlink that will take you to the site- as of 3/8/13, only the logins for
To enter the system, you must enter your user name and password on the left and then click “Log On”.

18. PBA Design Each user’s access is username and password protected.
Each user’s access is role-dependent.
Note: You do not need to be logged on to view the Student Training Video on the Help tab.
Each user will be assigned a unique username and password to enter the system.
Once you log on, which tabs you will see depend on your role. (In other words, a student will see something different than a tutor, who will see something different than an administrator, etc.).

19. Administrator Access
This section provides an overview of the PBA site when accessed by an Administrator.
NOTE: As of 3/8/13, the Administrator access on the demo site is NOT yet available, so the screenshots on the following slides are from the “developmental’ site. Therefore, there may be some differences between these screenshots and the demo site, once the Administrator access becomes available.

20. Admin: Home Page
Once logged on, this is what an administrator will see.

21. Admin.: Messages Tab
(As of 3/8) the “Messages” tab is currently not functioning.

22. Admin.: Student Tab
Currently, the same information in the Student tab is available on the Administration tab, so we’ll look at this in detail when we get to that page.

23. Admin.: Administration Tab
The “Administration” tab allows the administrator to register staff and students and then assign them to appropriate projects.

24. Admin.: Administration Tab
The Administrator’s first step should be to click on the icon to Register Staff.

25. Admin.: Register Staff, Step 1 Example
In Step 1, type in the user information.
PPID, FirstName, LastName, and are required fields. Then select the corresponding building from the drop-down list.
Please note that if a staff member will be working with students in multiple buildings, the district name at the top of the list should be selected.
Then click “Submit.”

26. Admin.: Register Staff, Step 2
In Step 2, the system uses the staff members PPID as the username and then generates a password. Current plans are for the system automatically to send an with this information to the staff member.
Please note that, if the staff member already has an account on SAS, the password will be the same one used for the SAS site.
Clicking on “Generate” will create a new password.
Click “Submit.”

27. Admin.: Register Staff, Step 3
In Step 3, the role is selected – only “Tutor” is currently available.
Click “Submit.”

28. Admin.: Administration Tab
The “Staff Management” icon allows the Administrator to modify the status of any staff members.

29. Admin.: Staff Management
The “Staff Management” page will likely not be used during the Field Test but would allow the Administrator to modify the status of any staff members.
For example , the Administrator could use the drop-down list to change the “Attributes’’ to ‘UNUSED” for those who were not going to serve as Tutors during a particular semester, so that their names would no longer show up in the drop-down lists of available tutors when registering students.

30. Admin.: Register Students
Once Tutors have been registered, go back to the Administration tab and then click on the icon to Register Students.

31. Admin.: Register Students, Step 1 Example
In Step 1, type in the student’s information.
PA SecureID, FirstName and LastName are required fields.
Then select the corresponding building and click “Submit.”

32. Admin.: Register Students, Step 2
In Step 2, the system uses the student’s PA SecureID as the username and then generates a password.
The proctor/tutor will need to give this info to each student. PLS is working on a way to export and print a listing of usernames and passwords for all students, but, for now, that info can also be found in the ‘Students” tab.

33. Admin.: Register Students, Step 3 Select Area of Study
In Step 3, the administrator designates in which area of study the student will be completing a project.

34. Admin.: Register Students, Step 3 Select Module and Assign Project
Then another drop-down menu appears to select the module the student needs to complete.
For the 2013 field test, the administrator should assign students to the appropriate project but may randomly select either module. For those students completing a PBA in the same class setting, it may be most efficient to assign all students to the same module.
Once a module is selected, the Administrator will click on “Assign Project” [go to next slide]

35. Admin.: Register Students, Step 3 Next Step (Assign Tutor)
…And the selected module then shows under “Current Project Listing.”
For the Field Test, it is likely each student will be participating on only one PBA module.
Once the PBAs become operational, however, if a student needs to complete a second module, either for the same or a different content area, the Administrator would repeat the process again to add additional projects.
Once the project list for the student is complete, the Administrator will click on “Next Step (Assign Tutor).”

36. Admin.: Register Students, Step 4
Using the drop-down menu, select the appropriate Tutor and click “Save.”

37. Admin.: Register Students Completed
The data has been saved – click “Close.”

38. Admin.: Administration Tab
“Student Listing” shows the same information that is found in the “Students” tab.

39. Admin.: Student Listing (Progress)
Once staff and students have been assigned, the “Student Listing” allows the Administrator to monitor individual student progress on the projects.
There is a row for each student and a list of all of the projects assigned to that student. Clicking on an underlined Project Title will take you to the project overview and then look at the student’s work, to-date.
The Tutor assigned to the student is listed in parentheses beneath the project title. Please note that in this demo screenshot, the projects for several students have not yet been assigned to a tutor.
Beside each project title is a row of boxes, each of which indicates an activity within the project that the student needs to complete. Hovering over each box will display the title of the activity.
The key across the top designates the stages of progress for each activity:
A blank checkbox designates ‘Not Ready for Activity” – that the student has not started working yet on
A right arrow in a blue box designates “In Progress” – that the student is currently working on the project
A question mark in a yellow box designates “Help Requested” – that the student is requesting help from the Tutor.
An “S’ in an orange box designates “Submitted” – that the student has submitted the activity to the Tutor for review.
A checkmark in a green box designates “Approved” – that the Tutor has approved the activity, and the student may now begin working on the next activity.
An exclamation point designates “Needs Attention” – that the Tutor has indicated the student is not yet ready to move on and that instructional assistance may need to be provided to the student.
The circle at the end of the row of boxes will become yellow when the Tutor submits the project for evaluation by the review panel. Following the review, it will then either become green if “approved” or red if “not approved.”

40. Admin.: Administration Tab
“Assign Projects and Tutors” is another way to do just that – if, for example, you need to switch Tutors or add another project for a student after you had already saved his or her registration.

41. Admin: Assign Projects & Tutors
Although it is unlikely you will need to use this page during the Field Test, you will see a listing of students and their assigned projects - clicking on “Assign Projects’’ or “Assign Tutor” will look and work the same way those steps did when registering students.

42. Admin.: Dashboard
The Overview icon under the dashboard will eventually offer a list of administrative report options. For example, being able to see a listing, by tutor, of the number of students currently assigned might be helpful, so a tutor does not become overloaded.
As you work through the Field Test, please make note of other possible reports that would be useful and then share those at the end of the process.

43. Tutor Access
This section provides an overview of the PBA site when accessed by a Tutor.

44. Tutor: Tutor Code tab
The Tutor Code tab allows the proctor or tutor to generate a code to share with students, allowing them to log on without the proctor or tutor having to log each student in individually.
This code will expire after 60 minutes.

45. Tutor: Messages Tab
When the tutor logs in, he/she will have s from the students they have been assigned notifying them if they need assistance or when an activity has been completed. The activities have various checkpoints for the tutor to check and make sure the student is on the right path.

46. Tutor: Student Project Page
By clicking on one of the checkpoint submissions on the message page, the tutor will be directed to the student project page.

47. Tutor: Review Student Work
By clicking on any of the activities, the tutor can see and review the student work for that activity.

48. Tutor: Comment/Approve/Alert
By scrolling down to the Comment box, the tutor can indicate to the student if there is a need for additional work or if the student should see the tutor for assistance.
In addition, the tutor needs to click on either the “Tutor Completion Approval” or “Needs Attention” box. By clicking on the Approval, the tutor allows the student to continue to the next set of activities.

49. Tutor: Scoring Guide This screen is the scoring guide.
The student must self-evaluate using the evaluation criteria.
The tutor is responsible to check off the sections as the student has met those requirements. Once all the sections have been checked yes, the tutor must click on the “Submit Project for Evaluation” button to send the project for evaluation to the statewide review panel. This button only appears after the student has checked Yes for each criteria and the tutor has approved each criteria. Only the tutor can submit the project for evaluation.

50. Tutor: Projects Tab
If the tutor clicks on the Project tab, a list of all of the students assigned to that tutor and their projects appears.
The tutor can use this list to track the students’ progress.

51. Questions?

52. Contact Information
Contacts: Project Based Assessments
Jean Dyszel
Project Based Assessments
Rita Perez
Keystone Exams
Rich Maraschiello
If you have additional questions, you may contact these individuals or your IU contact.