PARCC Grade- and Subject-Specific
Performance Level Descriptors
Presented to the PARCC Governing Board and Advisory
Committee on College Readiness
June 26, 2013
Today’s Objective
• The purpose of this session is for the Governing Board and Advisory
Committee on College Readiness to vote on the adoption of PARCC’s
grade- and subject-specific performance level descriptors (PLDs)
• A joint GB and ACCR vote is required because the PLDs are one of the
“key matters.” Key matters include:
–
–
–
–
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Contents of high school assessments
College- and Career-Ready Determination Policy
Methodology and process used for standard setting
Adoption of the performance level cut scores that determine CCR
Timeline for
Developing and Adopting PARCC PLDs
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October 2012
GB and ACCR adopted five performance levels, Policy-Level
PLDs, & College- and Career-Ready Determination Policy
April 10, 2013
Grade- and Subject-Specific PLDs released for public
comment
April 10 – May 8
Stakeholders submitted feedback via online survey
May 9 – June 14
Grade- and Subject-Specific PLDs revised in response to
feedback
June 19, 2013
Final Grade- and Subject-Specific PLDs sent to Governing
Board and ACCR
June 26, 2013
Governing Board and ACCR meet to vote on adoption of the
Grade- and Subject-Specific PLDs
What is a Performance Level
Descriptor?
• Performance levels are the broad, categorical levels used
to report student performance on an assessment.
• PARCC has 5 performance levels.
• Performance level descriptors (PLDs) indicate the
knowledge, skills and practices that students should be
able to demonstrate at each performance level, in each
content area (ELA/literacy and mathematics), at each
grade.
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Purposes the PLDs will Serve
•
In October 2012, the PARCC Governing Board/ACCR established that five performance
levels will be used to report student results on PARCC assessments
– Level 5: Distinguished command of the content …
– Level 4: Strong
– Level 3: Moderate
– Level 2: Partial
– Level 1: Minimal
•
Policy-level PLDs were also adopted in October. The policy-level PLDs are not grade levelspecific
•
The PLDs presented today are content area - AND grade level-specific and designed to serve
multiple purposes, most importantly to inform:
– Item and task development for PARCC assessments;
– The setting of performance level cut scores for PARCC assessments (summer, 2015); and
– The development of curricular and instructional materials at the local level
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Who Drafted the PLDs?
• SEA and LEA content experts, classroom teachers and higher education
faculty serving on elementary, middle, or high school panels met several
times during the fall and winter 2012-2013
• PARCC ELA/Literacy and Mathematics OWG members from 16 states
provided guidance in initial drafting and implemented revisions in response
to public feedback
• Maridyth McBee, State Lead from Oklahoma, provided State oversight
• Iterations of the drafts were reviewed by:
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— PARCC ELA/Literacy and Mathematics Operational Working Groups
— PARCC K-12 State Leads
— Higher Education Leadership Team (HELT)
— PARCC TAC
— The Center for Assessment
— ETS and the College Board
Public Feedback Themes
• PARCC received over 400 public responses to its survey, in addition to
state-level feedback from several governing states.
• The major recurring themes were:
ELA/Literacy
Mathematics
1. Clarify the document such that it is more
accessible and usable for teachers, parents
and students
1. Respondents would like to see how
standards/evidence statements align with the
PLDs
2. Concerns about support for educators in
implementing CCSS and PARCC
2. Unclear differentiation between levels,
vague descriptor language
3. Respondents asked why Level 1 is not
included
3. Concern that HS standards and PLDs are
too rigorous (especially Algebra II)
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PARCC Response to Public Feedback
• PARCC implemented many of the suggested changes in order to
improve the clarity, readability, and usability of the PLDs
• Major changes in response to feedback:
ELA/Literacy
Mathematics
1. Added links to test specification documents
1. Addition of evidence statements
on PARCC website
2. Changed format of PLDs to improve
readability and facilitate comparisons
between performance levels
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2. Emphasis on language that distinguishes
between performance levels
ELA/Literacy PLDs
Structure & Factors that Differentiate the Levels
• The ELA/Literacy PLDs are organized in two areas: reading and
writing
— For reading, the levels are differentiated by three factors:
1. text complexity (standard 10) (accessible, moderately complex, very complex)
2. accuracy in student responses
3. evidence cited (explicit, implied) from sources read (standard 1)
At each performance level, the degree to which students are able to demonstrate
command of standards 2-9 (e.g. main idea, point of view, setting, plot, character, structure)
is described in terms of the three factors.
— For writing, the levels are differentiated by:
1.
2.
3.
4.
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idea development, including when drawing evidence from sources
organization
use of conventions (grammar, capitalization, etc.)
language usage
Three factors determine the
performance levels
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1.
Text complexity
2.
Range of accuracy
3.
Quality of evidence
Grade 11
Level
Level of Text Complexity1
Range of Accuracy2
Quality of Evidence3
5
Very Complex
Moderately Complex
Readily Accessible
Accurate
Accurate
Accurate
Explicit and inferential
Explicit and inferential
Explicit and inferential
4
Very Complex
Moderately Complex
Readily Accessible
Mostly accurate
Accurate
Accurate
Explicit and inferential
Explicit and inferential
Explicit and inferential
3
Very Complex
Moderately Complex
Readily Accessible
Generally accurate
Mostly accurate
Accurate
Explicit and inferential
Explicit and inferential
Explicit and inferential
2
Very Complex
Moderately Complex
Readily Accessible
Inaccurate
Minimally accurate
Mostly accurate
Explicit
Explicit and inferential
Explicit and inferential
Excerpt: ELA/Literacy Reading Sub-Claims, Grade 11
Reading Sub-Claims
Reading Literature
Students demonstrate comprehension and
draw evidence from readings of grade-level,
complex literary text.
Reading Information
Students demonstrate comprehension and
draw evidence from readings of grade-level,
complex informational text.
Vocabulary Interpretation and Use
Students use context to determine the
meaning of words and phrases.
See Literary Evidence Table
http://www.parcconline.org/assessmentblueprints-test-specs
See Informational Evidence Table
http://www.parcconline.org/assessmentblueprints-test-specs
See Vocabulary Evidence Table
http://www.parcconline.org/assessmentblueprints-test-specs
EVIDENCES: Students are expected to
produce responses that demonstrate the skills
and content listed in the evidence tables at the
accuracy level and with the quality of evidence
as described for students at each level.
Level 5
A student who achieves at Level 5
demonstrates distinguished command of
the grade-level standards.
In reading, the pattern exhibited by
student responses indicates:

With very complex text, students
demonstrate the ability to do
accurate analyses of the text,
showing full understanding of the
text when referring to explicit
details and examples in the text
and when supporting sound
inferences drawn from the text.


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With moderately complex text,
students demonstrate the ability
to do accurate analyses of the
text, showing full understanding
of the text when referring to
explicit details and examples in
the text and when supporting
sound inferences drawn from the
text.
With readily accessible text,
students demonstrate the ability
to do accurate analyses of the
text, showing full understanding
of the text when referring to
explicit details and examples in
the text and when supporting
sound inferences drawn from the
text.
Level 4
A student who achieves at Level 4
demonstrates strong command of the
grade-level standards.
In reading, the pattern exhibited by
student responses indicates:

With very complex text, students
demonstrate the ability to do
mostly accurate analyses of the
text, showing extensive
understanding of the text when
referring to explicit details and
examples in the text and when
supporting sound inferences
drawn from the text.

With moderately complex text,
students demonstrate the ability
to do accurate analyses of the
text, showing full understanding
of the text when referring to
explicit details and examples in
the text and when supporting
sound inferences drawn from the
text.

With readily accessible text,
students demonstrate the ability
to do accurate analyses of the
text, showing full understanding
of the text when referring to
explicit details and examples in
the text and when supporting
sound inferences drawn from the
text.
Level 3
Level 2
A student who achieves at Level 3
demonstrates moderate command of the
grade-level standards.
A student who achieves at Level 2
demonstrates partial command of the
grade-level standards.
In reading, the pattern exhibited by
student responses indicates:

With very complex text, students
demonstrate the ability to do
generally accurate analyses of the
text, showing basic understanding
of the text when referring to
explicit details and examples in
the text and when supporting
sound inferences drawn from the
text.

With moderately complex text,
students demonstrate the ability
to do mostly accurate analyses of
the text, showing extensive
understanding of the text when
referring to explicit details and
examples in the text and when
supporting sound inferences
drawn from the text.

With readily accessible text,
students demonstrate the ability
to do accurate analyses of the
text, showing full understanding
of the text when referring to
explicit details and examples in
the text and when supporting
sound inferences drawn from the
text.
In reading, the pattern exhibited by
student responses indicates:

With very complex text, students
demonstrate the inability to do an
accurate analysis of the text,
showing limited understanding of
the text when referring to explicit
details and examples in the text.


With moderately complex text,
students demonstrate the ability
to do minimally accurate analyses
of the text, showing minimal
understanding of the text when
referring to explicit details and
examples in the text and when
supporting sound inferences
drawn from the text.
With readily accessible text,
students demonstrate the ability
to do mostly accurate analyses of
the text, showing extensive
understanding of the text when
referring to explicit details and
examples in the text and when
supporting sound inferences
drawn from the text.
Excerpt: ELA/Literacy Reading SubClaims, Level 4, Grade 11
• Level 4 is the target for attaining a
College- and Career-Ready
Determination on the PARCC
assessments
• Aligns with expectations for student
performance laid out in the
Common Core State Standards
• PLDs are the criteria used to make
judgments in the standard-setting
process
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Mathematics PLDs
Structure & Factors that Differentiate the Levels
• The Math PLDs are organized into five areas (claims)
–
–
–
–
–
Major content
Additional and supporting content
Mathematical reasoning
Mathematical modeling
Fluency (grades 3-6 only)
• Factors that differentiate the levels
– Relative complexity of standards (evidence statements) for mathematical
content and practice
– Extent to which student can make effective use of stimulus materials such as
graphs, tables, tools
– Extent to which student can construct solutions to problems, solve scaffolded
and unscaffolded problems
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Excerpt: Algebra II
Algebra II: Sub-Claim A
The student solves problems involving the Major Content for the grade/course with connections to the
Standards for Mathematical Practice.
Rate of
Change
F-IF.6-2
F-IF.6-7
Level 5: Distinguished
Command
Level 4: Strong
Command
Level 3: Moderate
Command
Calculates and interprets
the average rate of
change of polynomial,
exponential, logarithmic
or trigonometric
functions (presented
symbolically or as a
table) over a specified
interval, and estimates
the rate of change from a
graph.
Calculates and
interprets the average
rate of change of
polynomial,
exponential,
logarithmic or
trigonometric
functions (presented
symbolically or as a
table) over a
specified interval,
and estimates the rate
of change from a
graph.
Calculates the
average rate of
change of polynomial
and exponential
functions (presented
symbolically or as a
table) over a
specified interval,
and estimates the
rate of change from
a graph.
Compares rates of
change associated with
different intervals.
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Level 2: Partial Command
Calculates the average rate of
change of polynomial and
exponential functions
(presented symbolically or as
a table) over a specified
interval.
Level 4: Strong Command
Calculates and interprets the
average rate of change of
polynomial, exponential,
logarithmic or trigonometric
functions (presented
symbolically or as a table) over
a specified interval, and
estimates the rate of change
from a graph.
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Excerpt: Algebra II, Level 4
• Level 4 is the target for attaining a
College- and Career-Ready
Determination on the PARCC
assessments
• Aligns with expectations for student
performance laid out in the
Common Core State Standards
• PLDs are the criteria used to make
judgments in the standard-setting
process
Timeline for Standard Setting
• October 2013: Governing Board and ACCR approve general standard
setting approach
• November 2013: Release RFP for standard setting
• Summer 2014: Governing Board and ACCR approve standard setting
methodology
• Fall 2014: Governing Board and ACCR approve standard setting panel
memberships
• Summer 2015: K-12 and Higher Education content and technical
experts set standards for PARCC performance levels
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Next Steps for Public Release
• PARCC will produce materials to accompany the public release of the
PLDs on July 17, including:
– List of FAQs
– Narrated PowerPoint presentations for each content area
• The PARCC Educator Leader Cadres will receive information and
training on the PLDs, assessment blueprints and evidence tables
during online virtual sessions beginning on July 1 and continuing
through the end of September.
– Content will be released publicly after ELC training concludes
– Additional sessions on educator use of PLDs at the classroom level will
be held during October in-person meetings
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Draft Motion for Vote
The PARCC Governing Board and Advisory Committee on
College Readiness approve the proposed PARCC grade- and
subject-specific performance level descriptors for
ELA/Literacy and Mathematics for grades 3-11, including the
PLDs for six high school end-of-course mathematics
assessments.
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