Georgia Milestone Assessment
System (GMAS)
Dr. Joel Boyce
June 2014
A shift from…
to…
Small details yield big results.
Guiding Principles Stipulate that GMAS:
 be sufficiently rigorous to ensure Georgia students are well positioned to
compete with other students across the United States and internationally;
 be intentionally designed across grade levels to send a clear signal of student
progress/growth and preparedness for the next level, be it the next grade
level, course, or college or career;
 be accessible to all students, including those with disabilities or limited
English proficiency, at all achievement levels;
 support and inform educator effectiveness initiatives, ensuring items and
forms are appropriately sensitive to quality instructional practices; and
 accelerate the transition to online administration, allowing – over time – for
the inclusion of innovative technology-enhanced items.
Small details yield big results.
Georgia Milestones
• 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.
– Addition of technology-enhanced items beginning in 2016-2017.
Small details yield big results.
Georgia Milestones
• Blended: Criterion-Referenced and NormReferenced
• Georgia Milestones will provide:
– criterion-referenced performance information in the
form of four performance levels, depicting students’
mastery of state standards
– norm-referenced performance information in the form
of national percentiles, depicting how students’
achievement compares to peers nationally
Small details yield big results.
Georgia Milestones
• The Georgia Milestones EOG will be designed to:
– provide a valid measure of student achievement of the state content
standards across the full achievement continuum;
– provide a clear signal of the student’s preparedness for the next
educational level;
– allow for detection of the progress made by each student over the
course of the academic year;
– be suitable for use in promotion and retention decisions at grades 3
(reading), 5 (reading and mathematics) and 8 (reading and
mathematics)
– support and inform educator effectiveness measures; and
– inform state and federal accountability at the school, district, and state
levels.
Small details yield big results.
Tested Grade Levels and Courses
Grade 3 – 8
High School
• End of Grade (EOG) in language arts,
mathematics, science, and social
studies
• End of Course (EOC) in 9th Grade
Literature and Composition,
American Literature and
Composition, Coordinate Algebra,
Analytic Geometry, Physical Science,
Biology, US History, and Economics
Small details yield big results.
Georgia Milestones
• English/Language Arts CCGPS
– will require close analytic reading to construct meaning, make
inferences, draw conclusions, compare and contrast ideas, themes,
etc., as well as synthesize ideas and concepts across multiple texts
– will require students to develop informative/explanatory responses
or narratives, produce opinions/arguments – citing evidence from
text(s) and using standard language conventions, etc.
• Mathematics CCGPS
– will require demonstration of conceptual understanding,
procedural skills and fluency, problem solving, modeling, and
mathematical reasoning
Small details yield big results.
Georgia Milestones
• Science GPS
– Will require understanding of the core concepts, ideas, and
practices of science to explain scientific phenomena – with
content and Characteristics of Science/Nature of Science
standards serving as co-requisites
• Social Studies
– Will require understanding of the past and its influence on
the present and future – including the interconnectedness
of history, culture, geography, economics, and
governments/civics
Small details yield big results.
Writing on the Georgia Milestones
• Writing will be included in all content areas in
response to text.
• Students will be required to:
– Synthesize what they learned over the course of the
text.
– Cite their inferences made from what they read.
– Draw conclusions from the passages and include
evidence from the text to support their writing.
Small details yield big results.
Georgia Milestones Item Types
• Selected-Response [aka, multiple-choices]
– all content areas
– evidence-based selected response in ELA
• Constructed-Response
– ELA and mathematics
• Extended-Response
– ELA and mathematics
•
**Constructed response is a general term for assessment items that require the
student to generate a response as opposed to selecting a response. Extendedresponse 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 extended-response
items.
Small details yield big results.
Item Format and Item Types
Types of Items
Item Format
•
With both types of assessment items,
(CRT)
Constructed response and performance tasks • Criterion-referenced
we will know:
– measure the full expectations of what students
need to know and be able to do to be on the
trajectory of exiting high school college- and
career-ready
– DOK levels 3 and 4
– Require students to explain, rationalize, show
work, etc.
– Scored through rubrics/exemplars
•
Selected-response items
– Multiple choice
– Measures specific skills that make up
Criterion-Referenced
the written curriculum or standards
1. If students mastered the content
– Used to determine whether a student
2. A student’s content area weaknesses
has achieved specific skills or concepts
and strengths
– Cannot give a broad estimate of
3. What to focus on through differentiated
knowledge
•
instruction
Norm-referenced
(NRT)
Norm-Referenced
– Measures
skill areas
sampled
1. How
students broad
compared
to other
similar
from
a
variety
of
sources
and
experts
students or norm group
– Used
to sort
or rank arequire
student with
2. What
services
students
tobetter
the achievement
3. How respect
to make
placementof other
students
or
norming
group
decisions
– Cannot gauge mastery of content
Small details yield big results.
Transitioning to GMAS
Communication
Teaching and Learning
Technology
Learn as much as you can
about GMAS (RESA, GaDOE,
CCPS, GAEL, etc.)
Recognize that how we prepare
students for learning must change
Recognize that some
components will be rolled-out
– by year 5 entirely online
Prepare communication
packets
Learn how to link curriculum,
instruction, and assessment
Learn the technology
requirements and conduct an
assessment
Create elevator speeches:
Why, What, Who, When,
How
Know what students and teachers
must do to prepare for the GMAS;
monitor, give feedback
Put the technology is students’
hands
Keep stakeholders informed
Develop a deep understanding of the
assessment format and item type
Create and monitor a
technology integration plan
Small details yield big results.
Available Resources
Standards
Assessments
Other Resources
Georgia Frameworks;
Georgia Standards
PARCC Evidence Statement
CRCT Readiness
Indicators
Formative Lessons
Formative Assessment Bank
(FAB) via Georgia OAS
Lexile Scores
CCPS Scope and
Sequences
Released items: NAEP,
PARCC, SBAC, other states
Formative Instructional
Practices
Common Core
Common and interim
assessment developed by
DCPS staff
District resources
Small details yield big results.
Coherency - Consistency
Achievement of Georgia Students in Mathematics
2013 CRCT – Grade 8:
83% met/exceeded
2013 Coordinate Algebra EOCT:
37% met/exceeded
2013 NAEP – Grade 8:
29% at/above proficient
SAT – Class of 2013:
42% college ready benchmark*
ACT – Class of 2013:
38% college ready benchmark**
2012 PSAT – sophomores:
37% on track to be CCR
*SAT data represent 71% of Class of 2013
**ACT data represent 51% of Class of 2013
Small details yield big results.
Coherency - Consistency
Achievement of Georgia Students in Reading
2013 CRCT – Grade 8:
97% met/exceeded
2013 9th Grade Literature EOCT:
86% met/exceeded
2013 American Literature EOCT
91% met/exceeded
2013 NAEP – Grade 8:
32% at/above proficient
SAT – Class of 2013:
43% college ready benchmark*
ACT – Class of 2013:
43% college ready benchmark**
2012 PSAT – sophomores:
40% on track to be CCR
*SAT data represent 71% of Class of 2013
**ACT data represent 51% of Class of 2013
Small details yield big results.
Expected Student Performance
“The increased expectations for student learning reflected in Georgia
Milestones may mean initially lower scores than the previous years’
CRCT or EOCT scores. That is to be expected and should bring
Georgia’s tests in line with other indicators of how our students are
performing, State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge said.
“We need to know that students are being prepared, not at a
minimum-competency level but with rigorous, relevant education, to
enter college, the workforce or the military at a level that makes them
competitive with students from other states,” Dr. Barge said.
Small details yield big results.
Formative Assessment Bank
• Use the FAB items to prepare students for the
GMAS. Instruction must be aligned to the item
types and format.
• Leaders must look for changes in instruction and
assessment.
• Traditional assessment preparation will not
prepare students.
Sample English/Language Arts Item in FAB
Sample Mathematics Item in FAB
Mathematics Rubric
Score Designation
4
Thoroughly
Demonstrated
3
Clearly
Demonstrated
2
Basically
Demonstrated
1
Minimally
Demonstrated
0
Incorrect or
Irrelevant
Description
The student successfully completes all elements of the item by demonstrating knowledge and application of measuring
volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units (5.MD.4), applying the formulas V = l ×
w × h and V = b × h for rectangular prisms to find volumes of right rectangular prisms with whole number edge lengths in the
context of solving real world and mathematical problems (5.MD.5b), and adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing
decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations,
and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relating the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning
used (5.NBT.7).
The student shows clear understanding of the standards listed above, but one of the explanations or work shown is insufficient
or weak
Or
All parts of the item are correctly done except for a minor computational error
Or
The student successfully completes two of the three parts of the item and partially completes the other part.
The student shows basic understanding of the standards listed above, but two of the explanations or work shown are
insufficient or weak
Or
The student successfully completes one of the three parts of the item and partially completes the other parts.
The student shows minimal understanding of the standards listed above and completes only one of the three parts
Or
The student partially completes two of the three parts.
The response is incorrect or irrelevant to the skill or concept being measured.
Small details yield big results.
Solution to Sample Mathematics Problem
Small details yield big results.
Small details yield big results.
Use the Results to Differentiate Instruction
Let’s Practice: See Handout
Tested Standards
Understand the place value system.
CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.2
Explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a
number by powers of 10, and explain patterns in the placement of the
decimal point when a decimal is multiplied or divided by a power of 10. Use
whole-number exponents to denote powers of 10.
Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to
hundredths.
CCSS.Math.Content.5.NBT.5
Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.
Small details yield big results.
Small details yield big results.
What feedback will you
give the students? How
will you differentiate
instruction?
Small details yield big results.
What feedback will you give
the teacher? What would you
look for: teacher, students,
lesson plans, questioning,
assessment?
Small details yield big results.
Things to Consider
 Plan for success: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment.
 Continue implementing and monitoring the delivery of explicit instruction.
 Train teachers on how to use Online Student Assessment (OAS). Monitor
usage of items and data reports.
 Introduce students to constructed responses using scaffolding beginning
grade 1. Implement fully the use of constructed response questions by August
2016 (development of items and rubrics, training, scoring, etc.)
 Create and implement a comprehensive use of computers and computer
technology plan for students beginning grade 2.
 Focus on implementing some Formative Instructional Practice (FIP) modules.
 Communicate expectations to all stakeholders.
 Ensure full implementation of the standards-based curriculum.
Small details yield big results.
Georgia Milestones
• Things to Consider:
– CRCT-M (2%) will not continue
– GAA (1%) will continue
– Local scanning will not be continued [constructedresponse items require hand scoring]
– Scores will be delayed in year 1 due to technical work
and standard setting [implications to be worked
through]
– –Growth (SGP) will continue
Small details yield big results.
Georgia Milestones
•
Technology that will be accepted for the Georgia Milestones.
–
–
–
–
•
•
•
•
•
•
Laptops
Desktops
Ipads
*iPad Minis will not be allowed
EOG Milestones will be approximately 16 pages.
Testing window will be 9 days, 2 content areas each day—Math, Science, Social Studies
have 2 sections—LA has 3 sections with section 3 being the writing
Current window is March 30-May 1
Special education students will not have a modified version of the test.
GOFAR—Georgia Online Formative Assessment Resources will be a new feature of
SLDS and will replace the Georgia OAS.
Special Request---Field trips need to end by March 31st***
Small details yield big results.