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2. Comprehensive Tested High School Courses – 9 th Grade Literature & Composition – American Literature & Composition – Coordinate Algebra – Analytic Geometry – Physical Science – Biology – US History – Economics

3. Georgia Milestones Coherent – Consistent expectations regarding rigor and student preparedness within grades and courses and with external measures Comprehensive – Single program across the subjects and grades Consolidate – Reading, language arts, and writing into one assessment

4. Georgia Milestones Georgia Milestones is primarily a criterion-referenced test, reflecting the content standards for each grade and course – teachers should teach the Georgia state-adopted content standards and not to the NRT standards All accountability uses of the test results – for both students and educators – will be based on the criterion-referenced scores and proficiency determinations 4

5. Georgia Milestones Transition to Online Starts this school year Online administration will be the primary mode of administration for Georgia Milestones for all grades – Year 1: minimum of 30% online – Year 3: minimum of 80% online – Year 5: minimum of 100% online EVERY School will participate in online testing this school year This year RICS online testing will focus only on tests that require usage of a calculator.

6. Graphing calculators will be allowed for student use on the Coordinate Algebra and Analytic Geometry EOCs ONLY. (Note: For Physical Science and Economics only a scientific calculator is allowed.) Mathematics test forms will have sections where calculator use is permitted and a section where calculator use is NOT permitted. Test manuals will be very clear on this point and will include script to address the logistics involved. Online testing will automatically transition from calculator to non-calculator sections. All students testing online must use the online calculator provided and may not use a hand-held device. Georgia Milestones will provide an online graphing calculator, where appropriate, for student use. This year RICS online testing will focus only on tests that require usage of a calculator.

7. Item Types Selected-Response [aka, multiple-choice] – all content areas – evidence-based selected response in ELA Constructed-Response – ELA and mathematics Extended-Response – ELA and mathematics Technology Enhanced – to begin in 2016- 2017

8. Georgia Milestones General Test Parameters ELA - 3 sections, 1 of which will focus mainly on writing Mathematics, Science and Social Studies will consist of 2 sections Each section will be approximately 70 minutes.

9. Georgia Milestones ELA Criterion-Referenced Total Number of Items: 44 / Total Number of Points: 55 Breakdown by Item Type: – 40 Selected Response (worth 1 point each; 10 of which are aligned NRT ) – 2 Constructed Response (2 points each) – 1 Constructed Response (worth 4 points ) – 1 Extended Response (worth 7 points) Norm-Referenced – Total Number of Items: 20 (10 of which contribute to CR score) Embedded Field Test – Total field test items: 6 Total number of items taken by each student: 60

10. Writing at Every Grade Level All students will encounter a constructed-response item allowing for narrative prose, in response to text, within the 1 st or 2 nd test section. Writing Section: Writing prompts will be informative/explanatory or opinion/argumentative depending on the grade level. Students could encounter either genre. Students who simply rewrite excerpts from the passages to illustrate their points will not score well.

11. Mathematics Criterion-Referenced Total Number of Items: 53 / Total Number of Points: 58 Breakdown by Item Type: – 50 Selected Response (worth 1 point each; 10 of which are aligned NRT) – 2 Constructed Response (worth 2 points each) – 1 Constructed Response (worth 4 points) Norm-Referenced – Total Number of Items: 20 (10 of which contribute to CR score) Embedded Field Test – Total field test items: 10 Total number of items taken by each student: 73

12. Science Criterion-Referenced Total Number of Items: 55 / Total Number of Points: 55 Breakdown by Item Type: – 55 Selected Response (worth 1 point each; approximately 10 of which are aligned NRT) Norm-Referenced – Total Number of Items: 20 (approximately 10 of which contribute to CR score) Embedded Field Test – Total field test items: 10 Total number of items taken by each student: 75

13. Georgia Milestones Social Studies Criterion-Referenced Total Number of Items: 55 / Total Number of Points: 55 Breakdown by Item Type: – 55 Selected Response (worth 1 point each; approximately 10 of which are aligned NRT) Norm-Referenced – Total Number of Items: 20 (approximately 10 of which contribute to CR score) Embedded Field Test – Total field test items: 10 Total number of items taken by each student: 75

14. Lessons learned from state formative assessment pilot last year…. Students are not familiar with constructed response items Many respond ‘dnk’ – as in ‘do not know’ Don’t seem to understand the need to “show” their work, detail their thoughts, rationales, cite evidence to support their answer or claim Tendency is to cite answer only – as if a multiple-choice item Don’t read careful and answer all parts of the question/item