1. NAEP The Nation’s Report Card: The Urban District By: Katie Urbanczyk Chris Vanderhorst Russell Marzullo Jessica Hartle

3. Summary/NAEP ●10-13 sections each including up to 10 multiple choice and a constructed response question. ● First implemented in 1964 (NAEP) ● Tests 4th and 8th graders ●Acts as a “national” achievement marker

4. Summary ● TUDA uses the same test, but looks at specific groups and compares Urban to large cities and the nation. States and informs the public of Urban Education ●TUDA created in 2002 ●18 schools participated from (2009-2011) 21 schools participated since

5. TUDA ●Trial Urban District Assessment ●Wanted to analyze progress of large urban districts specifically ●Assessments based off a national standard and governed by National Assessment Governing Board

6. TUDA Reading Framework ●Based off scientific reading research in which reading is a dynamic cognitive process ●Understanding written texts ●Developing and interpreting meaning ●Using this meaning in the correct context (text, purpose, etc.) ●Two texts for assessment: Literary and informational ●Cognitive targets: Locate and Recall, Integrate and Interpret, and Critique and Evaluate.

7. Trial Urban District Assessment Writin g In 2007, 145,000 students in 45 states and Department of Defense schools participated in this measurement of writing skill.

8. 20118W41ECRMediumStory about exploration of remote island 20118W71ECRMediumArticle explaining change in thoughts or feelings 20118 W1 6 1ECRMediumLetter persuading principal to require/not require community service 201112W11ECRMediumStory or personal narrative about real/imagined difficult choice 201112 W1 4 1ECRMediumEssay about technology important to student 201112 W1 8 1ECRMediumLetter persuading council to build/not build convenience store 20078W51ECRMediumWilliam Carlos Williams poem about missing plums 20078 W1 4 1ECRMediumDescribe what a backpack is and how it functions 20078W1 9 1ECRMediumLetter to friend to convince them to try something new Sample Writing Questions

9. Expectations for Writing To Persuade, in order to change the readers point of view or affect the reader’s action. To explain, in order to expand the reader’s understanding. To convey experience, (real or imagined) in order to communicate real or imagined experiences to others.

10. Basic - 120 Proficient - 173 Eighth-grade students writing at the Proficient level should be able to develop responses that clearly accomplish their communicative purposes. Their texts should be coherent and well structured, and they should include appropriate connections and transitions. Most of the ideas in the texts should be developed logically, coherently, and effectively. Supporting details and examples should be relevant to the main ideas they support, and contribute to overall communicative effectiveness. Voice should be relevant to the tasks and support communicative effectiveness. Texts should include a variety of simple, compound, and complex sentence types combined effectively. Words and phrases should be chosen thoughtfully and used in ways that contribute to communicative effectiveness. Solid knowledge of spelling, grammar, usage, capitalization, and punctuation should be evident throughout the texts. There may be some errors, but these errors should not impede meaning. Advanced - 211 http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/writing/achieve.aspx#grade8

11. Participating Districts Albuquerque Public Schools Atlanta Public Schools Austin Independent School District Baltimore City Public Schools Boston Public Schools Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Chicago Public Schools Cleveland Metropolitan School District Dallas Independent School District Detroit Public Schools District of Columbia Public Schools Fresno Unified School District Hillsborough County (FL) Public Schools Houston Independent School District Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY) Los Angeles Unified School District Miami-Dade County Public Schools Milwaukee Public Schools New York City Department of Education San Diego Unified School District School District of Philadelphia

12. Measuring Scale Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced

13. Accomodations Many of the same accommodations are made for students with disabilities and English Language Learners as are provided for state tests. However, only the instructions can be read aloud.

14. Results/Findings The results for each of the districts is made public and compares that district to large cities and the nation as a whole. Cleveland Schools: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/ds t2013/pdf/2014467XV4.pdf

15. Results/Findings ●6 of the 21 schools did better this year in math in at least one grade level ●5 of the 21 schools did better this year in reading in at least one grade level ●Scores for 5 urban districts were higher than public large city counterparts in the 2011 reading assessment ●Teachers who had students read allowed more frequently scored lower than those who did not

17. http://www.edexcellence.net/

18. How does the info agree? ●Order of test questions may agree with Connectionism -could be reflective of law of readiness (way questions were introduced) ●The amount of testing done is minimal and may align with Automatic Information-Processing Model -very few questions (focuses on attention and limited capacity) ●Aligns with bottom-up processing -it is about what info is on the page

19. How does the info disagree? ●Test questions go against associationism -not every student has background from the story ●Test does not account for Emergent Literacy Theory ideas (listening, talking, reading, etc. are interrelated) -literacy development starts at birth and is ongoing -literacy rich home environments ●Family Literacy Theory will share similar characteristics of Emergent Literacy Theory (involvement of parents in school and at home)

20. Problems ●Although TUDA does compare and evaluate performance gains it does not effectively prescribe reasoning as to how to improve reading gains with specifics to urban students. Family Literacy Theory suggests that parents need to be active in the reading process. ●The Matthew Effect states that when a student knows they are doing poorly in a subject they will continue to do so. The students in these districts know they are in relation to the rest of the nation.

21. Strengths ●How the tests are split up ●Short test taking time (broken up into 25 minutes) ●Allows schools to determine performance achievement ●Tests and standards are national ●Helps fund schools ●Looks for trends across percentiles

22. Weaknesses ●Sample size of students is too small (350,000 per grade) ●Too few districts participate ●Ignores smaller urban schools and schools that don’t meet requirements ●Large sample size coming from Title I schools ●Scores across subjects are not easily comparable ●Does not account for background knowledge ●Results are very limiting to determine any cause and effect relationships ●Excluding of students that are SD and ELL in some situations ●Accommodations are limited and go against state assessments (reading aloud) ●White-Black score gaps with hypocritical idea of Urban (50% minority)* ●Does not align with what everyone is studying ●Test given only every other year ●Too few test questions are given

23. Recommendations in terms of literacy theories ●Use generally applicable test questions that students can draw conclusions from (different for certain areas) ●Give teachers a topic for the test question (story topic) -this will put students at a more even level for those without background knowledge-associationism ●Emphasize involvement of reading at home and involvement of parents for future generations to “close the gap”-emergent lit. theory and family lit. theory ●Account for social background differences*-make texts generally known across different social backgrounds.

24. Recommendations-Opinions ●Stop publishing controversial data aligned with specific areas and making unrealistic comparisons-Matthew Effects ●Be more accommodating for ELL students and students with disabilities ●Stay consistent in terms of what is being tested ●Test more often or stop the test ●Include more Urban Districts that are not categorized by minorities ●Stop comparing among ethnicities/demographics

25. Bibliography CPR. (2010). The Civil Rights Project. Retrieved from http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/ Institute of Education Sciences. (2011). Reading 2011. The Nation’s Report Card. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/dst2011/2012455.pdf Institute of Education Sciences. (2014). Achievement Gaps. National Assessment of Educational Progress. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/studies/gaps/ The Nation’s Report Card. (2013). 2013 Mathematics and Reading: Trial Urban District Assessment. Retrieved from http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_tuda_2013/#/ Tracey, D. H. & Morrow, L. M. (2012). Lenses on Reading: An Introduction to Theories and Models.( 2 nd ed.) New York: The Guilford Press. Ohio State Board of Education & The Kirwan Institute for the study of race and Ethnicity. (2011). Diversity Strategies for Successful Schools. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/State-Board/State-Board- Reports-and-Policies/Diversity-Strategies-Policy/Diversity- Strategies-Report-Final-Recommendations-9-12-11.pdf.aspx