1. What You Need to Know About TNReady Tennessee’s New Assessment in Math & English Language Arts

2. We are Preparing Students for a Changing World
Few working professionals have simple multiple-choice options when solving a problem in the real world.
In order for Tennessee students to be competitive in a world that is constantly changing, our students must strengthen their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
TNReady asks students to both master basic skills and explain how they use these skills to solve more complex problems.
The future belongs to those students who learn to think. Students that can apply their knowledge in an ever-changing and wide-ranging variety of contexts.
An authentic assessment is task oriented, rather than just recitation of facts, TNReady will focus on the practical application of skills.
Students will still need to know foundational skills, but TNReady will go beyond this basic knowledge to ask students to show that they truly understand how these skills can be used to solve problems.

3. Tennessee students are struggling in the early years after high school.
2007 Cohort of High School Freshmen
10,545 students
did not graduate
from high school
22,334 students graduated from high school and entered the workforce and earn an average salary of
$9,030 annually
40,235 students
enrolled in postsecondary.
58 percent were still enrolled in one year (or 20,418 of the 35,055 who enrolled immediately after graduation).
3,514 had completed
a certificate or degree within three years.
In partnership with the TN Department of Labor and the TN Higher Education Commission, we are now able to report about our students’ progress beyond high school, college and into the workforce.
This graphic focuses on the results of entering high school freshmen in These students would have graduated from high school in 2011, if they completed their course work in four years and a summer.
Of nearly 73,000 students, about 10,500 of them did not graduate from high school on time. We must continue to reduce drop out rates so that our students are able to earn a high school diploma.
Of those students who did graduate, about 22,000 entered directly into the workforce.
We were able to gather labor statistics to see how those students were faring in 2014, three years after graduation. We found that, on average, these students were only earning about $9,000 annually. Think about your last grocery bill or mortgage/rent payment. What standard of living would $750 a month provide?
This is far from a living wage needed to sustain a family. Though we agree that college may not be for everyone, it is clear from this data that students need some type of post-secondary training or certification in order to be able to earn a living that will support an adequate quality of life.
The good news is that over 40,000 students did enroll in post-secondary programs. Nearly 60% of them were still enrolled after one year. And, 3,500 had already earned a certificate or degree within three years. This is our goal. To have more students earning post-secondary credentials that will make them more competitive in the workforce.

4. Tennessee Promise gives students an incredible, new opportunity.
Free, Public K-14 System
Grades
K-12
Grades
13-14
Additional Postsecondary Education and Career Opportunities
Tennessee Promise
Tennessee has a created an awesome opportunity for our students to pursue post-secondary training at no additional expense.
TNPromise extends our free public education to “grades 13 and 14.” Through our community college and technical training institutes, we are now able to offer all students the chance to acquire the skills they need to compete for living wage jobs.

5. It's now our responsibility to set students up for success…
TNReady
Changing World
Given our progress, the changing world, and the opportunity of Tennessee Promise, we must reorganize around a new vision:
Grades
K-12
Grades
13-14
Tennessee Promise
But, in order for students to take advantage of this opportunity, we must ensure they are prepared.
TNReady will help us to make sure that our students are set-up for success to fulfill the TNPromise.
Our students can achieve success after graduation…
Progress
TN Promise
SUCCESS AFTER GRADUATION

6. TNReady will measure if students are on the right track.
TNReady will provide students, teachers, and parents with more accurate, and authentic information about student progress and achievement.
TNReady offers parents, students, and teachers with a new and improved academic check-up each year to make sure all students are moving forward and are track to graduate from high school and be successful in college or the workplace.
TNReady will help ensure students can solve real-world problems.
TNReady will provide better information about post-secondary and career readiness.
We know that success on TNReady will mean that students won’t have to spend time and money on remedial courses in college, and they will be ready to do work at the level they need to not only attend, but GRADUATE from post-secondary institutions.
Along the way, TNReady will help us to be sure that students are on track and will be able to do the work expected of them at the next grade level.

7. And remember…
We have been preparing for this for years. We have done so much work to get students and teachers ready…
We have been through transitions like this before.
TNReady is a new assessment in , but we have been preparing our students and teachers for this new challenge for years.
We know that we have succeeded in navigating these types of assessment transitions before.

8. Increasing expectations will pay off for students.
Tennessee students are capable of growth with time and support:
11th Grade Writing:
In 2004 – 72%
In 2012 – 92%
Algebra II TCAP
In 2011 – 30.8%
In 2014 – 47.9%
Approximately 100,000 additional Tennessee students are on grade level in math compared to 2010.
More than 57,000 additional Tennessee students are on grade level in science compared to 2010.
We know that raising expectations for students will pay-off.
Over time, our results have proven that students will rise to the level of our higher expectations.
Since 2010, tens of thousands of students have gotten on-track to success after graduation. We fully expect that the we will see the same type of increases after the transition to TNReady.

9. We can compete nationally….
We know that our students can do this. We have proven it before.
The higher standards we adopted with the Tennessee Diploma Project led to our students becoming the fastest improving in the nation.

10. Gains for African American students also topped the nation
We can close achievement gaps.
Gains for African American students also topped the nation
Moreover, Tennessee also demonstrated that we can improve results for ALL students.
Our African-American students made gains that were also the fastest improving in the nation among their peers.
* Certain states did not test sufficient numbers of African American students to be included in NAEP reports

11. TNReady begins in the 2015-16 school year.
TNReady will replace the state’s TCAP multiple-choice only tests in reading and math, grades 3-11, and will include a variety of question types as well as writing.
TNReady has been developed by Tennessee educators to better assess student knowledge, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving skills – in short, all the things students will need to succeed following high school.

12. TNReady will be more engaging.
In reading and writing – students will read from texts and provide written responses to support their answers.
In math – students will solve multi-step problems, many without using a calculator, to show what they know.
Much like teachers already do in their classrooms, TNReady will give students a variety of new ways to show what they really know and can do.
TNReady will be given in two parts.
This new assessment will include two parts, such that writing will be incorporated in the ELA portion of the test and performance tasks will be included in the math portions.

13. TNReady - Part I
Part I for ELA will replace the state’s current writing assessment.
It will require open-ended written responses in ELA.
Part I for Math will include performance tasks in grades 3 – 8.
These performance tasks will include open-ended responses and be multi-step problems that allow students to demonstrate several skills towards a practical application.
Part I of TNReady will be administered during a window that opens in early February and closes in early March.
This is the same timeframe as the current writing assessment.
These elements will be hand-scored and taken during the same window in February as the writing assessment has been historically administered.
Part I will be offered online only, much like the writing assessment was required to be completed online during the school year.

14. Sample Math Performance Task: 5th Grade
Sweet D-Lite and Tastee Treats are sugar companies. They both sell sugar cubes that are 1 cubic cm.
Sweet D-Lite packs their sugar cubes in boxes that are 4cm x 6cm x 9 cm.
Tastee Treats packs their sugar cubes in boxes that are 3cm x 5cm x 11 cm.
It costs both companies $0.06 to make 1 sugar cube.
Sugar Cube
1 cm
1 cm
1 cm
Write an equation that will allow you to find the volume of a box of sugar cubes for Sweet D-Lite.
How many more sugar cubes can Sweet D-Lite put in their box than Tastee Treats?
How much does it cost Sweet D-Lite to fill one of their boxes with sugar cubes to the nearest dollar?
How much does it cost Tastee Treats to fill one of their boxes with sugar cubes to the nearest dollar?
Both companies want to sell $1, worth of boxes of sugar cubes. Which company will need to sell more boxes? How many more boxes will that company sell?
This example of a math performance task is a multi-step problem.
Students will be asked to apply several skills towards a real world problem.
Though this problem requires persistence and stamina, our students can do it! The problem reflects standards taught in 5th grade, and it allows students to demonstrate practical application of the underlying skills.

15. Sample ELA Writing Prompt: 3rd-5th Grade
Write a 1-3 paragraph explanation of how animals use their bodies to sense the world around them. Your explanation must be based on ideas and information that can be found in the “Animals Senses” set.
Manage your time carefully so you can
Plan
Write
Revise
Edit
This example of a ELA writing prompt..
This prompt reflects the focus on both writing and reading in ELA. It also reflects a focus on non-fiction texts.

16. TNReady - Part II
The second portion of TNReady will replace the current TCAP tests for math and English language arts administered in April/May.
This portion will ask students to select responses for multiple types of questions.
Performance on Part I and Part II will be combined into a single composite score for each student.
The second part of TNReady will include multiple question types.
This part of the test will be administered online in all districts where the vast majority of schools have adequate instructional technology and high speed internet access to do so. Paper back-up will be offered in those districts with schools who don’t have the necessary technology.
Students will have a single score generated based on combined performance on Part I and Part II of TNReady assessment.

17. Question Types
Part II will include multiple types of questions that provide students a variety of ways to show what they know.
Interactive
Open-ended response
Evidenced-based
Selected response
TNReady will go beyond simple multiple choice questions.
Students will be asked questions that varied question types such that they can demonstrate their knowledge in different ways.

18. Interactive Questions
These types of questions ask students to:
Move or manipulate items
Move around graphics
Complete exercises that reflect real work activities like editing a paper or graphing an equation

19. Open-Ended Questions These types of questions:
Ask students to type an answer where no choices are given and provide an open-ended response

20. Evidence-based Questions
These types of questions are usually two-part and:
Ask students to support their answer
Part B of the question typically requires the student to choose a piece of evidence using the text to support their answer in Part A

21. Multiple Choice and Multiple Select Questions
These type of questions:
Ask students to select the right answer either by -
Selecting one correct answer from many options
Selecting multiple correct answers from many options

22. TNReady Practice Tools
Each standard will have an example question that reflects the design of TNReady test questions
Item Sampler
Mini practice tests will be available for both Part One and Part Two of TNReady
Same platform as the actual test
Practice Test
The best preparation for TNReady will come from high quality teaching and engaged student learning that is taking place in classrooms throughout the school year.
But we also do believe it is important for educators to have access to early and free tools. We will provide tools that help students and teachers incorporate the kind of thinking that TNReady will require into their everyday classes.
These practice tools will include an Item Sampler that is web-based, so that teachers can create classroom assessments that use questions like those students can expect to see on TNReady throughout the course of the school year.
Because the Item Sampler platform is web-based, both teachers and students can access it outside of school, after hours, and on weekends.
In addition, students will have access to a Practice Test that uses the exact same application as the TNReady. Students will be able to use this application at school, only during periods before the assessment window opens for Part I and Part II. This practice test is mini-version of the full TNReady assessment, so that students can be familiar and comfortable with the new assessment platform.
Students don’t need “test prep” to demonstrate what they know are able to do. TNReady is designed to reflect everyday teaching and learning.

23. Item Sampler – Answer Questions & View Results
This is an example of the Item Sampler that teachers can use to create classroom assessments and view students results throughout the course of the year.
This web-based tool will look and feel like the TNReady assessment platform. Students and teachers will be able to access it outside of school and after school hours.
Teachers can quickly see student progress on the questions and understand what areas and skills student still need to work on. Teachers control how students demonstrate mastery and determine how to plan their instruction based on students results.

24. TNReady - Detailed Reporting for Parents & Teachers
Teachers and parents want to know how their students are doing in school and where they need to improve.
TNReady assessment will provide students, teachers, and parents with more detailed, accurate, and authentic information about each student’s progress and achievement in the classroom.
TNReady will provide parents better information on how their child is performing on certain skills.
These reports will help parents and teachers know in what areas students may need additional support as they progress to the next grade level.

25. Online Assessment TNReady will be administered online.
This gives Tennessee students an opportunity to develop critical technology skills they need for success, while also ensuring that they do not fall behind their peers in other states where online tests are given.
We have phased in required online testing over the last four years. Many states have been testing online for 15+ years.
Part I will be offered online only, much like the writing assessment was required to be completed online during the school year.
Part II of the test will be administered online in all districts where the vast majority of schools have adequate instructional technology and high speed internet access to do so. Paper back-up will be offered in those districts with schools who don’t have the necessary technology.
We believe that providing access to instructional technology for all students is a matter of equity. Our students are growing-up in a digital world. We cannot limit their success by providing an analog-only education.

26. Refining TNReady… With Educator Involvement
Tennessee educators – both at the K-12 and higher education levels — were involved in the selection process of TNReady.
Tennessee will make decisions about item selection, test length and composition, and scoring.
Going forward and on an ongoing basis, Tennessee will decide on changes to the test based on changes to standards, and Tennessee teachers will be engaged in item development and review.
TNReady is being developed with the expertise of Tennessee educators.
As we change standards based on the recommendation of Tennessee educators, TNReady will be updated to reflect those standards.

27. TNReady…Preparing Students for Success After Graduation
“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” - John Dewey “We are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet.” - Margaret Mead
The world is fast-changing. We don’t want our students in Tennessee to fall behind.
We must accept the challenge of educating children in a way that prepares them not for the world of today but for the world that they will find in adulthood.