Illinois State Board of Education
A New Vision for Illinois Assessment:
Problems Worth Solving
Tests Worth Taking
October, 2013
What Is PARCC?
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for
College and Careers:
 Made up of 19 states + DC and US Virgin Islands
 KY and PA are participating states
 Developing common, high-quality math and English
language arts (ELA) tests for grades 3–11
Computer-based and linked to what students need to
know for college and careers
For use starting in the 2014–15 school year
Why New Assessments Now?
The Common Core State Standards are here and better
standards require better tests.
Unlike many current tests, PARCC tests will be engaging
and will test the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills
students need to succeed in school and life.
Validity of interpretation for large-scale assessment data rests squarely
on the close alignment of assessment items with curriculum.
PARCC’s Fundamental Advance
PARCC is designed to reward quality
instruction aligned to the Standards, so the
assessment is worthy of preparation rather
than a distraction from good work.
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PARCC Assessment Priorities
1. Determine whether students are college- and career-ready or on track
2.
Compare performance across states and internationally
3. Assess the full range of the Common Core Standards, including
standards that are difficult to measure
4. Measure the full range of student performance, including the
performance of high and low performing students
5. Provide data during the academic year to inform instruction,
interventions and professional development
6. Provide data for accountability, including measures of growth
7. Incorporate innovative approaches throughout the system
PARCC’s Core Commitments to
Mathematics Assessment Quality
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•
Focus: PARCC assessments will focus strongly on where the Standards
focus. Students will have more time to master concepts at a deeper
level.
•
Problems worth doing: Multi-step problems, conceptual questions,
applications, and substantial procedures will be common, as in an
excellent classroom.
•
Better Standards Demand Better Questions: Instead of reusing existing
items, PARCC will develop custom items to the Standards.
•
Fidelity to the Standards: PARCC Evidence Statements are rooted in the
language of the Standards so that expectations remain the same in both
instructional and assessment settings.
What is Different About PARCC’s
Development Process?
• PARCC states first developed the Model Content Frameworks to
provide guidance to key elements of excellent instruction aligned
with the Standards.
• The Model Content Frameworks were then used to provide
guidance in the content emphasis for the mathematics
assessment.
So, for the first time. . .
• PARCC is communicating in the same voice to teachers as it is to
assessment developers!
• PARCC is designing the assessments around exactly the same
SHIFTS the standards expect of teachers and students.
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What Are the Shifts at the Heart of
PARCC’s Design?
1. Focus: The PARCC assessment will focus strongly where the
Standards focus.
2. Coherence: Think across grades and link to major topics
within grades.
3. Rigor: In major topics, pursue
conceptual understanding,
procedural skill and fluency,
and application.
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College and Career Ready
Determination (CCRD)
• Students who achieve a
College and Career
Ready Determination
on the high school
assessment will be able
to enter directly into
certain entry-level,
credit-bearing courses
in college, without
having to take
placement tests.
The Common Core State Standards
Require New Aligned Assessments
 The Common Core State Standards were developed
collaboratively by K-12 and postsecondary content experts
and faculty to establish standards of college readiness
 Higher education partners in PARCC—nearly 200
institutions and systems covering over 850 campuses across
the country— committed to work with K-12 partners to
develop assessments aligned to these standards and set a
college-ready cut score that will be used to place incoming
freshman into credit-bearing college courses
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Research Strategy for Validation of
College and Career Ready Scores
• To set college-ready performance standards on the high school assessments,
PARCC will use evidence from research such as:
—Concurrent
validity studies
• Compare performance on PARCC with ACT/SAT/COMPASS/Accuplacer
—Predictive
•
validity studies
Connect success of students on PARCC to performance in first-year courses
—Judgment studies
•
Rate importance of CCSS standards and test items in comparison with first-year
course content
—Alignment studies
•
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Examine relationship between first course content and content PARCC measures
CCRD: Placement
NOT Admission
A College and Career Ready Determination on the PARCC assessments indicate:
• Mastery of the core competencies in the Common Core State Standards identified
by postsecondary education faculty as prerequisites for and key to success in entrylevel, credit-bearing courses in English and mathematics
• Readiness for placement into entry-level, credit-bearing courses in ELA and
mathematics
A College and Career Ready Determination will not:
• Determine admission to college or university
• Replace college/university tests to place students into higher level mathematics
and English courses
• Address non-traditional students who delay enrollment
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What are Performance Level
Descriptors?
Performance Level
Descriptors or PLDs
describe what students at
each performance level
know and can do relative
to grade-level or course
content standards
assessed.
Performance Level Descriptor Language
Level 5: Students performing at this level demonstrate a
distinguished command of the knowledge, skills, and
practices embodied by the Common Core State
Standards assessed at their grade level.
Level 4: … strong command …
Level 3: … moderate command …
Level 2: … partial command …
Level 1: … minimal command …
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Assessments
ELA/Literacy and Mathematics, Grades 3–11
Beginning of
School Year
End of
School Year
Flexible administration
Diagnostic
Assessment
Mid-Year
Assessment
PerformanceBased
Assessment
End-of-Year
Assessment
Speaking and
Listening
Assessment
Key:
Optional
Required
Evidence-Centered Design (ECD)
for the PARCC Assessments
Claims
Design begins
with the
inferences
(claims) we want
to make about
students
Evidence
Tasks
In order to support
claims, we must
gather evidence
Tasks are designed
to elicit specific
evidence from
students in support
of claims
ECD is a deliberate and systematic approach to assessment development that
will help to establish the validity of the assessments, increase the
comparability of year-to year results, and increase efficiencies/reduce costs.
Claims for Mathematics
Master Claim: Students are on-track or ready for college and
careers
Sub-claim A: Students solve
problems involving the
major content for their grade
level with connections to
practices
Sub-Claim B: Students solve
problems involving the
additional and supporting
content for their grade level
with connections to practices
Sub-Claim D: Students solve
real world problems
engaging particularly in the
modeling practice
Sub-claim C: Students
express mathematical
reasoning by constructing
mathematical arguments and
critiques
Sub-Claim E: Student
demonstrate fluency in areas
set forth in the Standards for
Content in grades 3-6
Evidence-Centered Design (ECD) for
the PARCC Assessments
Claims
Evidence
Design begins with
the inferences
(claims) we want to
make about
students
In order to
support
claims, we
must gather
evidence
Tasks
Tasks are designed
to elicit specific
evidence from
students in support
of claims
ECD is a deliberate and systematic approach to assessment development that
will help to establish the validity of the assessments, increase the
comparability of year-to year results, and increase efficiencies/reduce costs.
Evidence Statement Tables:
Types of Evidence Statements
Several types of evidence statements are being used to
describe what a task should be assessing, including:
1. Those using exact standards language
2. Those transparently derived from exact standards language,
e.g., by splitting a content standard
3. Integrative evidence statements that express plausible direct
implications of the standards without going beyond the
standards to create new requirements
4. Sub-claim C & D evidence statements, which put MP.3, 4, 6 as
primary with connections to content
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Evidence-Centered Design (ECD) for
the PARCC Assessments
Claims
Evidence
Design begins with
the inferences
(claims) we want to
make about
students
Tasks
In order to support
claims, we must
gather evidence
Tasks are
designed to elicit
specific evidence
from students in
support of claims
ECD is a deliberate and systematic approach to assessment development that
will help to establish the validity of the assessments, increase the
comparability of year-to year results, and increase efficiencies/reduce costs.
Overview of Task Types
• The PARCC assessments for mathematics will involve
three primary types of tasks: Type I, II, and III.
• Each task type is described on the basis of several
factors, principally the purpose of the task in
generating evidence for certain sub claims.
21 Source: Appendix D of the PARCC Task Development ITN on page 17
Overview of PARCC
Mathematics Task Types
Task Type
Description of Task Type
I. Tasks assessing
concepts, skills and
procedures
•
•
•
•
•
Balance of conceptual understanding, fluency, and application
Can involve any or all mathematical practice standards
Machine scorable including innovative, computer-based formats
Will appear on the End of Year and Performance Based Assessment components
Sub-claims A, B and E
II. Tasks assessing
expressing
mathematical
reasoning
•
•
•
•
•
Each task calls for written arguments / justifications, critique of reasoning, or precision in
mathematical statements (MP.3, 6).
Can involve other mathematical practice standards
May include a mix of machine scored and hand scored responses
Included on the Performance Based Assessment component
Sub-claim C
III. Tasks assessing
modeling /
applications
•
•
•
•
•
Each task calls for modeling/application in a real-world context or scenario (MP.4)
Can involve other mathematical practice standards
May include a mix of machine scored and hand scored responses
Included on the Performance Based Assessment component
Sub-claim D
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For more information see PARCC Task Development ITN Appendix D.
Type I
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Type II
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Type III
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Algebra II/Math III Sample Task
Algebra II/Math III Sample Task
Algebra II/Math III Sample Task
Claims Structure: Mathematics
Master Claim: On-Track for college and career readiness. The degree to which a student is college and career ready (or “ontrack” to being ready) in mathematics.
Total Exam Score Points:
82 (Grades 3-8), 97 or 107(HS)
Sub-Claim A: Major Content1
with Connections to Practices
~37 pts (3-8),
~42 pts (HS)
Sub-Claim B: Additional &
Supporting Content2 with
Connections to Practices
~14 pts (3-8),
~23 pts (HS)
Sub-Claim D: Highlighted Practice MP.4 with
Connections to Content (modeling/application)
12 pts (3-8),
18 pts (HS)
6 pts (Alg II/Math 3 CCR)
Sub-Claim C: Highlighted Practices
MP.3,6 with Connections to
Content3 (expressing mathematical
reasoning)
.
14 pts (3-8),
14 pts (HS)
4 pts (Alg II/Math 3 CCR)
Sub-Claim E: Fluency in applicable
grades (3-6)
7-9 pts (3-6)
Questions
Illinois State Board of Education
PARCC Subclaim
A: Solve problems with major
content
B: Solve problems with additional
and supporting content
C: Express mathematical
reasoning
D: Solve real-world problems
engaging in modeling
Percentage of
Items on High
School
Assessments
Task Types
39%
• Balance of conceptual understanding, fluency, and
application
• Can involve any or all mathematical practice standards
21%
• Balance of conceptual understanding, fluency, and
application
• Can involve any or all mathematical practice standards
17%
22%
• Each task calls for written arguments / justifications, critique
of reasoning, or precision in mathematical statements
• Can involve other mathematical practice standards
• Each task calls for modeling/application in a real-world
context or scenario
• Can involve other mathematical practice standards
Illinois State Board of Education
Prairie State Achievement Exam
• Approximately 50% of the items on the ACT
Mathematics Test involve knowledge and skills
• Approximately 30% of items involve direct
application
• Approximately 20% of the items involve
understanding concepts/integrated conceptual
understanding
ILS Goal
Percentage of
Items on PSAE
Percentage of
Items from ACT
Percentage of
Items on
WorkKeys
Goal #6 –
Number Sense
29%
18%
63%
Goal #7 Measurement
18%
11%
37%
Goal #8 - Algebra
32%
40%
0%
Goal #9 Geometry
19%
24%
0%
Goal #10 – Data
Analysis,
Statistics, and
Probability
4%
7%
0%
PARCC Comprehensive Accessibility
Policies
Accessibility Features for All Students
Accessibility Features for All Students
Audio Amplification
Blank Paper (provided by test administrator)
Eliminate Answer Choices
Flag Items for Review
General Administration Directions Clarified (by test administrator)
General Administration Directions Read Aloud and Repeated (by test administrator)
Highlight Tool
Headphones
Magnification/Enlargement Device
NotePad
Pop-Up Glossary
Redirect Student to Test (by test administrator)
Spell Checker
Writing Tools
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Accessibility Features Identified in
Advance
• Available to all students (i.e., not limited to students with IEPs, 504
plans, or English learners), but will be selected and “turned on” by
school-based educators prior to the assessment, based on each
student’s Personal Needs Profile (PNP).
• Based on each student’s individual needs, a PNP is created for the
student to ensure that he or she receives appropriate access without
the distraction of other tools and features that are not required by the
student.
• Although school-based educators will enable specific accessibility
features for students, the student will decide whether or not to use
the feature. These accessibility features will be readily available on
the computer-delivered testing platform.
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Accessibility Features Identified in
Advance
Accessibility Features Identified in Advance
Answer Masking
Background/Font Color (Color Contrast)
General Masking
Line Reader Tool
Text-to-Speech for the Mathematics Assessments
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Administrative Considerations for All
Students
• Detailed guidelines on the administration of the PARCC
assessments will be included in the PARCC Test Administration
Manual.
• Principals may determine that any student may require one or
more of the following test administration considerations,
regardless of the student’s status as a student with a disability
or who is an English learner:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Small group testing
Frequent breaks
Time of day
Separate or alternate location
Specified area or seating
Adaptive and specialized equipment or furniture
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Proposed
Accommodations for Students
with Disabilities
Presentation Accommodations
Content
Area
Mathematics
Presentation Accommodations
Video of a Human Interpreter for the Mathematics
Assessments for a Student Who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Braille Edition of Mathematics Assessments
(Hard-copy braille tests for Mathematics)
Both Content
Areas
Additional Assistive Technology
(Guidelines available fall 2013)
Tactile Graphics
Video of a Human Interpreter for Test Directions for a Student
Who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Paper-and-Pencil Edition
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Response Accommodations
Content Area
Mathematics
Both Content
Areas
Response Accommodations
Calculation Device and Mathematics Tools*
(on Non-calculator Sessions of Mathematics Assessments)
Additional Assistive Technology
(Guidelines available fall 2013)
Braille note-taker
Scribing or Speech-to-Text (i.e., Dictation/Transcription or
Signing) for the Mathematics assessments, and for selected
response items on the English Language Arts/Literacy
assessments
* See notes below
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Other Proposed Accommodations for
Students with Disabilities
Category
Accommodation
Timing & Scheduling Extended Time
Setting
Many settings that were once considered accommodations
are now consider accessibility features for all students and
will be included in the test administrator manual. These
include – separate location, small group testing, specified
area or seating, time of day, and frequent breaks.
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Unique/Emergency Accommodations
• A small number of students may require additional
accommodations either because they are not listed in the
PARCC manual, or they do not have an IEP or 504 plan but
require an accommodation as a result of a recently-occurring
accident or illness.
• PARCC states will review requests for unique accommodations
in their respective states on an individual basis and will provide
approval after determining whether the accommodation would
result in a valid score for the student, using guidelines
comparable across PARCC states.
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Proposed Accommodations
Policies for English Learners
Accommodations for English Learners
KEY for Table 5 below:
•
Highly recommended for use by English learners at this English language proficiency level
 Recommended for use by English learners at this English language proficiency level
May not be appropriate for students at this ELP level
Accommodation
Extended Time
General Administration Directions Clarified in Student’s Native Language
(by test administrator)
General Administration Directions Read Aloud and Repeated as Needed in
Student’s Native Language
(by test administrator)
Scribe or Speech-to-Text:
Responses Dictated for Mathematics Assessment in English
Word-to-Word Dictionary (English/Native Language)
Beginning
Intermediate
Advanced
•
•
•
•
•
•


š

•
š
š
•
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PARCC Information Release
July 2013
 Summative assessment cost estimates
 Final English Language Learners policy
 Final accommodations manual for students with disabilities
 Final performance level descriptors for all grades/courses in
ELA/literacy and mathematics
August 2013
 Additional sample items
 Specific information about windows for traditional and block
scheduling, when assessment components will be available
within the window, models of what PARCC will look like in
schools, and proctor requirements
Questions
Contact
Heather Brown – hedi0201@me.com
Jennie Winters – jwinters@lake.k12.il.us
For “End-of-Course” Questions, email Rachel Jachino,
rjachino@isbe.net
Any publicly released assessment policies, item prototypes,
PARCC Model Content Frameworks, and other valuable resources
can be found at www.PARCConline.org
www.facebook.com/ilmathcommoncore
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