DDI and Assessments in
ELA
Designing Assessments that Provide
Meaningful Data
David Abel, Fellow for Curriculum and
Assessment/ELA
EngageNY.org
Session Objectives
We will learn…
• About the elements of a high-quality Common
Core-aligned ELA assessment
• How to create and choose assessment tasks that
are rigorous, measure the standards and give
comprehensive information about students at all
levels
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Why do we assess…?
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Let’s begin…
Take 10 minutes to read the 6th grade passage
(Sweet Science Comes Baked In), annotated test
item, and student work samples 1-3 and answer this
question …
Given the standard the question is measuring, what
can we say we know about the students in student
responses #1-3?
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The question
• MEASURES CCSS RI.6.5:
Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph,
chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a
text and contributes to the development of the ideas.
• HOW THIS QUESTION MEASURES RI.6.5:
This question measures RI.6.5 because it asks
students to analyze how a particular sentence fits
into the overall structure and meaning of the text.
More than one response may be correct, but a
correct response will focus on Morgan’s background
and family experience with baking science, as well
as her aspirations.
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Student Response #1
• What do we know about this student, based on
this response?
• What DON’T we know about based on this
response?
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Student Response #2
• What do we know about this student, based on
this response?
• What DON’T we know about based on this
response?
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Student Response #3
• What do we know about this student, based on
this response?
• What DON’T we know about based on this
response?
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The Known Unknown
When working with openresponse questions that require
COMPREHENSION and
ANALYSIS as demanded by the
standards, student responses
such as #1 and, to an extent, #3
do not give you information
about whether students didn’t
perform well because they
couldn’t meet the demands of
the standard or because they
couldn’t comprehend the
complex text.
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“... there are known knowns;
there are things we know that
we know. There are known
unknowns; that is to say, there
are things that we now know we
don't know. But there are also
unknown unknowns – there are
things we do not know we don't
know.”
The formative assessment
advantage
• Formative assessments can yield student
work that gives richer information, given that
they can be administered


Without the same time constraints/pressure that
accompany the 3-8 ELA test
In a manner that connects directly to targeted
instruction
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Common Core-aligned ELA
assessment
• What are the elements of a high-quality Common
Core-aligned ELA assessment?


The CCSS for ELA/Literacy require comprehension,
analysis and communication (writing/speaking) using
evidence from text(s)
Open response writing items and/or performance
tasks are the types of assessment questions that
best provide a means for communication using
evidence from text(s)
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Common Core-aligned ELA
assessment
Grade-level standards add specific demands to the
skills and knowledge of students on track for college
and careers

Therefore, given the emphasis on textual evidence
and the specific demands of grade-level standards,
you need to use texts that can support measurement
of the grade-level standards.
Example: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.6 Determine an
author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze
how the author distinguishes his or her position from
that of others.

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TEXT SELECTION IS THE
FOUNDATION OF CCSS ELA
ASSESSMENT
Texts at
grade-level
complexity
Questions
that measure
the CCSS
Rubrics to
evaluate
student
work
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Or to put it another way…
• The crucial components of CCSS ELA
assessment are:



Texts that can support questions that measure
the CCSS
Questions that measure the CCSS
Rubrics that give you good and actionable info
about student performance
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Selecting texts
• 3-8 Assessment design documents begin on
page 9 of your packet and include:


Passage selection guidelines
New York State Passage Selection Resources for
Grade 3‐8 Assessments
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Features of a Complex Text
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Subtle and/or frequent transitions
•
•
Longer paragraphs
Multiple and/or subtle themes and purposes
Density of information
Unfamiliar settings, topics or events
Lack of repetition, overlap of similarity in words and sentences
Complex sentences
Uncommon vocabulary
Lack of words, sentences or paragraphs that review or pull
things together for the student
Any text structure which is less narrative and/or mixes
structures
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Take out your Homework…
• Does the text you used in your assessment
meet the demands articulated in these review
docs?
• How about text #1? #2?
• Which text would be better to measure the
CCLS as articulated on pages 16-30?
• Discuss with a partner
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Questions that measure the
CCSS
• Extended Response types measure CCSS
Writing Standards (W1, 2)

CCSS Writing standards integrate Reading and
Language Standards (W5, W9)
• Short response types

Claim + evidence
• Claim = statement of comprehension/analysis required by
the standard
• Evidence = proof of comprehension/analysis required by the
standard
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Questions that measure the
CCSS
• Claim + evidence short response questions

Depending on the text, you can progress through
the reading standards …
• from high-level comprehension/what is a central idea of
this text/(R2) …
• to the more granular (R2-3)…
• to craft and structure (R4-6)…
• and, if using multiple texts, integration of knowledge
and ideas (R7-9)…
• All requiring a set number of details (at least 2) in
support of the claim.
Once in this place, you can build on this to assess other
standards (Writing, S&L, Language) with extended
response questions and performance tasks
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Questions that measure the
CCSS
How to write these questions?
Don’t do the analyzing for the kids in your efforts
to be specific, but...
Don’t be so broad that nearly anything (or almost
nothing) answers the question!
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Questions that measure the
CCSS
Examples: (using Text #1)
How does the author's perspective build
suspense for the reader?
How does the author support the idea that
the narrator felt “detached” from his
injured leg?
Non-examples: (using Text #1)
How would you feel if you were in this
situation? What would you do?
How does the accident result in "an
uncrossable gap” between the climbers?
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Take out your Homework…
• Do your questions measure the CCSS(pages
16-30) ?
• Do they provide actionable information about
student ability to comprehend and analyze
complex texts?
• What are the strengths or weaknesses of your
questions? Discuss with a partner.
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Rubrics
• Form follows function! How much information
do you need?
• Do you want a quick view of the student’s ability to
display comprehension and analysis and mostly
measure reading standards? Go holistic a la short
response rubric
• Do you want to measure an extended writing
assignment that can measure the reading, writing, and
language standards? Use the extended response rubric
and get granular.

Sample rubrics on page 43-45
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Return to the student work
packet…and student #1
• Next steps could be:

Referring to an earlier close reading
lesson/unit in which scaffolded instruction
has happened targeting and assessing that
standard
• If the student struggled with the culminating assessment
aligned to that standard, then it is possible the student
is struggling with the standard
• If the student performed well on the assessment, then it
is possible that the student is struggling with
comprehension of complex text
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Return to the student work
packet…and student #1
• Next steps could be:


Administering an assessment targeting the same
standards via a read aloud to see if the student can
meet the standard via speaking and listening
• Students who are not reading on grade level are often
capable of making inferences and conducting
sophisticated analyses!
Targeted skills and comprehension strategy work with
differentiated groups, followed by claim and evidence
style questions to monitor comprehension
• Students’ reading levels must be built up, via targeted
interventions and a volume of independent reading.
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But!
But you will need to make time to overwhelm the
problem!
Without this the data will just tell you what you
may already know….running in place.
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Partner Practice
• With a neighbor, think about how you might need
to adjust your assessment with students who are
struggling to comprehend grade-level complex
texts?


Do you need to select a new text? Revise the
questions? Both?
What else can you do to get good data?
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SUMMING UP
• Text selection matters
• The standards can not be met without
comprehension
• This is challenging and time-consuming…But
worth it!
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THANK YOU
David Abel
dabel@mail.nysed.gov
https://www.engageny.org/3-8
https://www.engageny.org/resource/regentsexams
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