1. Louisiana’s Comprehensive Assessment System

2. Ensuring Comparability with Other States
Louisiana students are just as smart and capable as any in the country. However, academic results have not always afforded Louisiana’s students the opportunities of their peers in other states.
Year
Assessment Plan, including Comparability
Late 1990’s
Standards for Louisiana’s state assessments (LEAP) were informed by NAEP achievement levels. However, Louisiana considered Basic to be proficient for the purposes of accountability.
2013
State Board commits to Mastery (Level 4) as the new bar for proficiency.
2015
Louisiana administered intact PARCC forms through an alternate vendor.
2016
Louisiana administered LEAP; could not be more than 49.9% PARCC questions; no cap on percentage of points.
Louisiana sought comparability with PARCC states, but also with previous state assessment.
2017
Louisiana administered LEAP. Items from a variety of banks; vast majority PARCC items.
Continued commitment to national comparability

3. Goals of Louisiana's System
Purpose
Approach
High quality, fully aligned content in the shortest form possible
Set an instructional vision
Hold our system accountable for rigorous reading, writing, and math learning
Fully assess the complete scope of standards
Reduce assessment times where possible
Find and use the best items to build forms
Modified, shortened form
Comparability
Equity that ensures Louisiana students are held to the same expectations as students anywhere
Credibility so that parents know results mean the same in Louisiana as in other states
Maintain stable scale and cut scores
Use admin, scoring, and processing rules
Run an external audit
Cohesion grade to grade and within a grade
Grade to grade students experience the same quality of items and results to monitor growth
Within a grade, provide information on progress to mastery in order to adjust instruction
Provide K-high school summative assessment
Provide aligned diagnostics and interims for each grade

4. Ensuring Comparability with Other States: Areas Studied
To ensure Louisiana’s claims of comparability were defensible, the Department conducted a third party validation by the Center for Assessment.
The Center studied four core areas:
Areas of Study
Finding
Test Content: Content of tests was comparable
Sufficient match in content and test design
Test Administration
Administrative policies, procedures and practices consistent with PARCC and 2015 LEAP
Scoring and Reporting: Scale and achievement standards were comparable
Louisiana and DRC maintained rigorous procedures to ensure accurate and reliable scoring, including aggregation and reporting
Psychometric Analyses
Analyses were sufficient to create a link between LEAP and PARCC

5. Ensuring Comparability with Other States: Claims Studied
The Center also studied three claims:
Claims Studied
Finding
Results from the LEAP assessments can be compared to results from states taking the PARCC tests.
Sufficient evidence to conclude
Results from the LEAP assessments could be compared to previous years in Louisiana.
Link was sufficient to support claim
Results from the computer tests can be compared to the pencil-and-paper form.
Only minimal difference; no adjustments needed for reporting

6. Assistant Superintendent, Louisiana Department of Education
Contact Information
Jessica Baghian
Assistant Superintendent, Louisiana Department of Education