Parent to Parent Conference
Athens, GA
September 12, 2014
Georgia Milestones
• Grades 3 – 8
– End of Grade (EOG) in language arts, mathematics,
science, social studies
• High School
– End of Course (EOC) in 9th Grade Literature &
Composition, American Literature & Composition,
Coordinate Algebra, Analytic Geometry, Physical
Science, Biology, US History, and Economics
Georgia Milestones
Comprehensive
– single program, not series of tests (e.g., CRCT; EOCT; WA); formative
assessment tools to complement summative
Coherent
– consistent expectations and sufficient challenge to position Georgia
students to compete with peers nationally and internationally
– consistent signal about student preparedness for the next level, be it
the next grade, course, or college/career
– consistent signal about student achievement both within system
(across grades and courses) and with external measures (NAEP; PSAT;
SAT; ACT)
Consolidated
– combine reading, language arts, and writing into a single measure to
align to the standards
The Need for a Comprehensive and
Coherent System, Gr. 3-12
Achievement of Georgia Students in Reading (Elementary) - 2013
• NAEP – Grade 4:
34% at/above proficient
• CRCT – Grade 4:
93% met/exceeded
Achievement of Georgia Students in Mathematics (Elementary) - 2013
• NAEP – Grade 4:
39% at/above proficient
• CRCT – Grade 4:
84% met/exceeded
Achievement of Georgia Students in Mathematics (Middle/High) - 2013
• NAEP – Grade 8:
29% at/above proficient
• CRCT – Grade 8:
83% met/exceeded
• Coordinate Algebra EOCT:
37% met/exceeded
• SAT – Class of 2013:
42% college ready benchmark*
• ACT – Class of 2013:
38% college ready benchmark**
Georgia Milestones
General Test Parameters
• ELA will consist of 3 sections, the last of
which will focus primarily on writing
• Mathematics will consist of 2 sections
• Science will consist of 2 sections
• Social Studies will consist of 2 sections
Each section will be approximately 70 minutes.
Georgia Milestones: Unique Features
Features include:
– inclusion of constructed-response items in ELA and
mathematics, in addition to selected-response items
– inclusion of a writing component (in response to text) at
every grade level and course within the ELA assessment;
– inclusion of norm-referenced items in every grade and
content area to complement the criterion-referenced
information and to provide a national comparison; and
– transition to online administration over time, with online
administration considered the primary mode of
administration and paper-pencil back-up until transition is
completed. Paper forms will also always remain available for
students whose disability precludes them from interacting
with a computer successfully.
Addition of technology-enhanced
items beginning in 2016-2017.
Georgia Milestones: Unique Features
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
• Constructed response is a general
term for assessment items that require
the student to generate a response as
opposed to selecting a response.
• Extended-response items require
more elaborate answers and
explanations of reasoning. They allow
for multiple correct answers and/or
varying methods of arriving at the
correct answer.
 Writing prompts and performance
tasks are examples of extendedresponse items.
Online Tools Available for All Students
• Blocking Tool
These tools are available to all students who
test online and are therefore NOT considered
• Eraser
accommodations.
• Highlighter
• Magnifying Glass
• Mark for Review
• Online Calculator – if allowable
• Option Eliminator
• Scratch Pad
• Test Pause
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Key Findings From Pilots of
Formative Open-Ended Items
• Overall performance shortfalls
– Students were not familiar with these types of items
• Many responded ‘dnk’ – as in ‘do not know’
– Students did not show their work, detail their
thoughts, rationales, cite evidence to support their
answer or claim
• Tendency was to cite answer only – as if a multiple-choice
item
– Students did not read carefully and answer all parts of
the question/item
New Opportunities and
Challenges
• All students will experience new ways to show
what they know.
– The key to performance on the assessment is
performance during instruction.
• Classroom instruction and response
requirements
– should be of the same rigor and expectation as
those experienced on the end of grade/course
assessments.
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English Language Arts
• How can parents support students?
– Read with your child
• Ask questions
–
–
–
–
–
What was the text about?
What is the main idea?
How do you know?
Show me in the text…
Tell me 3 things that support your idea.
• Read several articles about a subject or idea
– How are the articles similar?
– What points are different?
• Evaluate what you read
• Compare and contrast different texts and ideas.
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English Language Arts
• Practice writing
– Strategies for practice:
• Put the main idea on a card
• Record facts, details from sources
• Write a concluding statement to summarize.
– Read the standards and become familiar with the
grade level expectations
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English Language Arts
• Make reading and writing fun and purposeful
at home.
• Read about things that interest your child
– Compare and contrast different sources
• Song lyrics, articles about famous people, events
• Recipes
• Write a journal or blog
– Make lists
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Mathematics
• Real world problem solving
– Turn real life situations into word problems and
determining the important information needed to solve
the problem.
• E.g., If we put new carpet in your bedroom, how many square feet
will we need?
• Based on the price of these samples, how much will that cost?
• E.g. If the tires costing $95 each should last 30,000 miles and those
costing $145 should last 60,000 miles, which one is a better value?
• Students must be able to describe how they got the
answer.
– Communicate how they did their work
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Mathematics
• Strategies for mathematics--Communication
– Model think alouds and have student do think
aloud in return
– Model writing the steps or explanation for solving
a problem and have the child write it as they work
through it.
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Practice Using Technology
• Practice writing using paper/pencil and via computer
– Keyboard skills
– Basic Word-processing skills.
– Use technology often.
• Word processing
• Online Calculator
– Practice during instruction
•
•
•
•
•
Blocking Tool
Eraser
Highlighter
Magnifying Glass
Mark for Review
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Standards Based IEPs
• IEP goals should tie to a standard, but not
restate the standard.
– They are the “value-added” that students with
IEP’s require through specialized instruction.
– IEP goals are in addition to the state’s content
standards, not in place of
– Mastery of IEP goals should be embedded within
grade level instruction, not offered in isolation.
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Standards-Based IEPs
• Education data should be reviewed by content
area for the individual student
• Should include but not be limited to:
–
–
–
–
Eligibility information
Progress on IEP goals and objects
Descriptions of supports needed to make progress
Formative and summative assessment from the
classroom
– Results from previous state-mandated test
administration
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Standards-Based IEPs
• In light of the responses now needed to
demonstrate what students know
• IEP teams may need to meet to discuss
– Is the student making progress with the instruction
given to all students?
– Does the student need specialized instruction
– Should assistive technology and accommodations for
instruction be considered?
– Do students need specific goals to develop skills
needed to achieve the state standards?
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Test Administration
Accommodations
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Test Administration Accommodations
• Accommodations provide access for demonstration of
achievement
– Allow participation
– Do not guarantee proficiency
• and therefore should not be selected solely as mean to help
ensure proficiency
• Must be required by the student in order to participate in the
assessment
• Must be provided during routine instruction and assessment
in the classroom (both before and after the state tests are
administered)
Key Considerations
• For all students we should consider –
– the student’s need for the accommodation
– the student’s experience with the accommodation
– whether the accommodation is of benefit to the
student
– the student’s feelings and beliefs about the
accommodation
Important Points to Remember
• Allowable accommodations always grow out of the
content and skills measured by the assessment and
the purpose of the assessment
• Teams and committees should consider the purpose
and content of the assessment as well as the
individual student’s need and circumstance when
selecting accommodations
• Inappropriate use of accommodations can (and
does) negatively impact student achievement
Types of Accommodations
Standard Accommodations: those accommodations
that provide access to the assessment without
altering the construct measured by the assessment.
Conditional Accommodations: more expansive
accommodations that provide access for students
with more severe disabilities who would not be able
to access the assessment without such assistance.
 Conditional accommodations should be used sparingly.
•
The vast majority of students requiring accommodations should be able
to successfully demonstrate their achievement with standard
accommodations.
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Examples of Standard Accommodations
Students with Disabilities (SWDs)
Setting
Presentation
Special education classroom
Large Print/Large Font)
Special or adapted lighting
Sign the directions
Small group
Sign test questions
Preferential seating
Oral reading of test questions in
English
Sound field adaptations
Individual administration
Test administered by certified
educator familiar to student
Technology applications, such as
Braille, word processor, or other
communications device with all
grammar and spell check devices
disabled
Student marks answers in test
booklet
Student points to answers
Verbal response in English only
Presentation
Frequent monitored breaks
Optimal time of day for testing
Extended time
Flexibility in the order of
administration for content areas
Explain or paraphrase the directions Scribe
for clarity (in English only)
Adaptive furniture (e.g. slant board) Braille
Individual or study carrel
Response
Braille writer
Color overlays, templates, or place
markers
Abacus
Low vision aids (e.g. CCTV,
magnifying equipment)
Adapted writing tools (e.g. pencil
grips, large diameter pencil)
Repetition of directions (in English
only)
Adapted/ lined paper
Audio amplification devices or noise
buffer/listening devices
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Conditional Accommodations
• More expansive accommodations that provide
access for students with more severe
disabilities or more limited English proficiency
who would not be able to access the
assessment to demonstrate their
achievement without such support
– must be used sparingly, per State Board Rule
– must be considered when interpreting scores
Conditional Accommodations
• There are three accommodations that are
considered conditional:
– Signing reading passages (Students w/Disabilities,
SWD, only)
– Reading of reading passages (SWD or English
Learner, EL)
– Use of a basic function calculator (SWD only) in
grades 3 – 5*
*Specified calculators allowed for all students in grades 6-12 in mathematics and the
Physical Science and Economics EOCs.
Why must we attend to the guidance
for conditional accommodations?
1. These accommodations were never intended to be
available for all students.
2. The guidance is designed to protect the
accommodations for students who truly require
them.
Why must we attend to the guidance
for conditional accommodations?
3. Anytime an accommodation is considered it is
important to reflect what the test is designed to
measure.
–
The goal is meaningful (i.e., valid) measurement of
student achievement
4. It is important to consider the long term effects of
inappropriate accommodation use.
–
Accommodations should foster independence, not
dependence
Conditional Accommodations
• Guidance on the appropriate use of
conditional accommodations is provided in
the Student Assessment Handbook
• Only students meeting the guidance criteria
are eligible for conditional accommodations
• The educational plans for students qualifying
for conditional accommodations must include
specific goals that address the deficits which
necessitate the accommodation
New Accommodations
Chart
• IEP, IAP, and EL-TPC
teams should review
table to determine what
accommodations are
available online versus
paper.
• Conditional
accommodations are
indicated by “C” in
accommodations table.
Note that all Oral Reading (“read-aloud”) accommodations will be
delivered through online testing, with standardized language, and
through the use of headphones.
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New Accommodations
Chart
• IEP, IAP, and EL-TPC teams
must note the differences
between legacy programs
and the Georgia
Milestones Assessment
System.
• The logistics of providing
accommodations during
assessments must be
planned well in advance of
the opening of a district’s
local testing window.
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New Georgia Milestones Webpage Has Launched!
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-andAssessment/Assessment/Pages/Georgia-Milestones-Assessment-System.aspx
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Reporting for Year 1 (2014-2015)
• Required technical work will result in scores being reported
in Fall 2015
– Inclusion of a full year of student data in the setting of achievement standards
– Input of Georgia educators
– Standard Setting
• Policy aspects for 2014-2015
– State Board approved GaDOE’s request for a waiver of the testing requirements relative to
Grade 3, 5, 8 promotion
– State Board approved GaDOE’s request for a waiver of the requirement that end of course
assessments serve as the final exam and comprise 20% of the final course grade (through
Summer 2015)
• Accountability aspects for 2014-2015
– Students must participate (CCRPI Participation Rate) in the appropriate Georgia Milestones
assessment
– Georgia Milestones participation and performance will be reported in the 2015 CCRPI Report
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Transition to Georgia Milestones:
Resources Available NOW
• Content standards
– frameworks, formative lessons, PARCC evidence statements
• Sample items
– formative items/benchmarks via Georgia OAS→GOFAR;
– released items via PARCC, SBAC, other states (KY, NY), NAEP
– parent’s guide to Georgia’s new assessment developed by the National PTA
[http://www.pta.org/advocacy/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3816 ]
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•
•
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•
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CRCT Readiness Indicators
Lexiles (as one indicator of text complexity)
Technology Specifications
Calculator Guidelines
Eliciting Evidence of Student Learning Modules
Accommodations Guidelines
Focus on teaching and learning – eliciting
evidence of student learning during instruction
and adjusting as needed.
Transition to Georgia Milestones:
Resources Available Soon
• Sample items specific to Georgia Milestones
• Ancillary support resources, such as
– Assessment Guides
– Student Study Guides
– Informational videos [parents & public /educators]
– Experience Online Testing Practice Center (to aid students in
gaining familiarity for CTB’s online test administration system)