January 9, 2014
TO
LEA Superintendents
FROM
June St. Clair Atkinson
NC GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S READ TO ACHIEVE LEGISLATION
The General Assembly's Read to Achieve legislation requires that the State Board of Education/
NC Department of Public Instruction develop tools for good cause exemptions for students in
third grade who do not meet the standards for reading at grade level at the end of year. One
option involves alternative assessments and one option involves a portfolio for students.
Some of you have raised issues about the portfolio passages. This memo is intended to address
some of them and to announce a new advisory group for Read to Achieve. We are also asking
you to submit any alternative assessments you may want to use to satisfy the “just cause” so that
we may ask the State Board for its approval.
Portfolio Passages
and Readability
In working with NC State University, TOPS, the portfolio
passages were developed by using the same process and the
same readability formula that have been used since the inception
of the ABCs accountability model in the 1990s.
Multiple measures are used to determine the appropriateness of
a selection for a grade level. The identification of selections is a
qualitative and quantitative process, which consists of multiple
reviews by content experts to verify grade level appropriateness.
In the process, alignment to content standards, as well as
accessibility for Limited English Proficient Students and
Students with Disabilities is considered and any selection that
does not meet these criteria is not used. The Center for Plain
Language affirms that previewing text with one’s target
audience is one of the best ways to determine appropriateness,
which is why content experts who are familiar with grade-level
reading expectations in addition to applying a readability
formula review all reading selections.
OFFICE OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT
June St. Clair Atkinson, Ed.D., State Superintendent | June.Atkinson@dpi.nc.gov
6301 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-6301 | (919) 807-3430 | Fax (919) 807-3445
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER
Readability of Grade 3 Portfolio Selections
Page 2
January 9, 2014
Portfolio Passages
and Readability, con’t.
For grades 3 and below, NCDPI has used two readability
formulas – Spache and Dale-Chall for the approximately 120
passages from which teachers are to select 36 (three per
standard) based on the General Assembly’s Read to Achieve
requirements and if the teacher or school decides to use a
portfolio approach. To learn more about readability formulas,
please see the attached recent article.
The readability charts will be provided in a secure manner to
local testing coordinators to share with teachers in your district.
Locally-Developed
Alternative Assessments
The Read to Achieve law provides for an alternative assessment
to be used to demonstrate a student’s reading skills. In the law,
alternative assessment is defined as “a valid and reliable
standardized assessment of reading comprehension, approved
by the State Board of Education (SBE), which is not the same
test as the state-approved standardized test of reading
comprehension administered to third grade students.” The
alternative test the SBE provides to all local education agencies
is the Read to Achieve test given to students after the original
administration of the end-of-grade test.
The NC Department of Public Instruction will accept locally
developed alternative assessments for review and potential
approval by the State Board of Education for use in specific
school districts. These alternative assessments should be
submitted to Carolyn Guthrie, director of K-3 Literacy, at
Carolyn.guthrie@dpi.nc.gov. Submit alternative assessments
for review along with a cover letter that describes how your
school district intends to use the alternative assessment.
Submissions for approval will be presented to the State Board of
Education at the next Board meeting after receipt of the
proposal.
It is important to note that locally developed assessments used
for this purpose are required to address all 12 of the assessed
standards.
Advisory Committee
I am creating a new advisory group of local educators, reading
experts from the field and from the university system, and
policy-makers including State Board of Education members to
review portfolio processes to date and to offer recommendations
about the work that has been done to date and steps that need to
be taken in the future. This group will be convened within the
next two weeks.
Readability of Grade 3 Portfolio Selections
Page 3
January 9, 2014
Advisory Committee,
con’t.
Some of the teachers who were involved in writing test items
for the portfolio also will be included in this advisory group.
Thank you for your work in implementing this legislation. Please give me a call or email me if
you have questions.
Attachment
c: SBE Members
Rebecca Garland
Carolyn Guthrie
Tammy Howard
JSA:VJ:mw