1. OCS: Putting the Assessment Pieces Together
Dr. Marilynn Kulieke
Rosemary Jacot
GAINS Education Group
CAC Meeting
October 1, 2019

2. OCS Reading Standards Important Standards Addressed by Aspire
Key Ideas and Details (KID)
Craft and Structure (CAS)
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas (IKI)
Important Standards but Not Addressed by Aspire
Foundational Skills:
Print Concepts, Phonological Awareness,
Phonics and Word Recognition, Fluency

3. Summative and Formative Assessments
Summative Assessment
(Assessment of Learning)
Formative Assessment
(Assessment for Learning)
Point-in-time assessments that measure a predetermined set of benchmark skills in order to determine student achievement.
An intentional process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement

4. ACT Aspire-Aligned Assessments

5. OCS Assessments Measure the Common Core State Standards
Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

6. OCS Assessments Measure Specific Skills
Framework for Assessments

7. ACT Aspire Assessment: Summative (Required)
The main use of the summative Aspire test is to evaluate overall reading achievement over time.
Limitations: small number of items, not available below Grade 3, results are not benchmark-based, are given in a constrained time period, timed test problematic completion, results are delayed

8. OCS Proficiency Scale Assessment (Introduced)
Target goals:
Demonstrate written and spoken understanding of a text.
Create questions based on key details about the text.
Use text evidence to support understanding and responses.
The main purpose of the Proficiency Scales is to provide an overall evaluation of a student skills on reading tasks related to priority standards.
Limitation: Doesn’t provide teachers with information on skills, requires training for consistent ratings and the development of tasks, covers a broad range of skills

9. GAINS Formative Assessments K-8 (Optional)
The main purpose of the Formatives is to analyze student performance three times a year for progress monitoring of skills related to the Aspire summative test. Supporting the OCS priority standards, the school receives benchmark-based reports, school, classroom, and individual reports.
Limitations: Takes time to administer; requires teacher training to fully utilize reports in teaching; open ended items are scored by teachers  

10. Aspire Interim Assessments 3-8 (Optional)
The main purpose of the ACT Interims is to analyze student performance four times a year in preparation for the Aspire summative test.
Limitations: Not based on the priority standards; does not report on specific benchmarks that can be used in instruction 

11. i-Ready Assessments K-8 (Optional)
The main purpose of i-Ready is to individualize adaptive instruction.
Limitations: Not closely aligned to the Common Core; is not specific to the OCS Priority Standards.

12. GAINS Quizlet Assessments K-8 (Available)
The main purpose of the GAINS quizzes is to monitor student progress on the OCS priority standards. Teachers can modify the Word documents to create their own quizzes.
Limitations: Teacher scored

13. Teacher-Created Assessments K-8
(Teacher Discretion)
The main purpose of a teacher created quiz is to give a snapshot of students’ performance on an instructional lesson or unit.
Limitations: May be not be based on OCS benchmarks; item quality can vary; difficult to use for progress monitoring

14. Aspire Classroom Assessments 3-8 (Optional)
The main purpose of the Aspire Classroom Assessments is to familiarize students with the Aspire.
Limitations: Too few items lead to poor reliability and limited application to instruction.

15. Create a few notes what you notice and what you still wonder about the ACT Aspire-Aligned Assessments

16. Introducing the OCS Standards and Benchmarks for Reading Literature and Text Includes ACT Aspire Performance Level Descriptors at Reading Level (PLD) and OCS Proficiency Target Goals with Their Rating

17. ACT PDL OCS Standards OCS Target Goals
OCS Standards and Benchmarks for Reading Literature and Text Includes ACT Aspire Performance Level Descriptors at Reading Level (PLD) and OCS Proficiency Target Goals with Their Rating
Performance Level Descriptors for each category at each grade level 3-8
ACT PDL
Standards from CCSS and the unpacked benchmarks
OCS Standards
Level 3 (Target Goals) are included for each priority standard
OCS Target Goals

18. ACT PDL
Performance Level Descriptors for each category at each grade level 3-8
To demonstrate comprehension of texts with these elements, a student performing at this level: • identifies central ideas. • summarizes texts. • connects ideas, events, and characters to make logical inferences. • uses key details to draw conclusions about character traits and actions.

19. Unpacked Benchmarks from the OCS Standard
OCS Standards
Standards from CCSS and the unpacked benchmarks
OCS Standard from CCSS
Unpacked Benchmarks from the OCS Standard
Priority Standard

20. OCS Target Goals
Level 3 (Target Goals) are included for each priority standard
Target goals:
Demonstrate written and spoken understanding of a text.
Create questions based on key details about the text.
Use text evidence to support understanding and responses.

21. Create a few notes what you notice and what you still wonder about the OCS Standards and Benchmarks.

22. Next Steps: Helping to Put the Pieces Together at Your School