SECTION 9.16 - STUDENT ASSESSMENTS
Student performance assessments will be conducted for the 2012-13 2013-14 school year in accordance
with the schedule in Appendix 7 and the following:
A.
No state assessments will be conducted before the state-mandated start date, except that an
employee may voluntarily participate in piloting or field-testing of assessments to the extent
he/she determines.
B.
Assessments will to the greatest extent possible serve the instructional needs of the teacher, be
designed for integration into classroom instruction, be used for planning of future instruction and
serve for reporting to parents, the building and district. In the fall of the 2013-14 school year, a
joint steering committee comprised of District and Association representatives will be formed to
collaboratively develop an assessment system which meets the District and Association’s shared
interests identified above. The District and Association shall have equal representation on the
steering committee, and shall select their own representatives. Co-chairs shall be appointed by
the Association President and District Superintendent.
Teachers conducting the ninth or tenth grade common reading and/or writing assessments may,
by a consensus of the group of such teachers in a building, decide to substitute a building-wide
alternative common assessment for the district-provided assessment. The building-wide
alternative must be designed to assess the same skills and standards as the district common
assessment, and be used within the same testing window. A decision to use an identified
teacher-developed alternative must be made by a consensus of the affected teachers prior to the
first student day of the 2012-13 school year.
During the 2012-13 2013-14 school year the District and EEA agree to assess student writing in
grades 6-10 in the fall through a portfolio of classroom based evidence. Each secondary school
will select common pieces of classroom evidence to form a writing portfolio for each student.
Teachers will meet as school-based grade level teams to review their students’ writing in relation
to the District writing rubric for their grade. Teachers will use the Classroom-Based Review of
Evidence (CB ROE) to review their instruction and plan for MSP/HSPE preparation and plan for
the balance of the year. Language Arts/English teachers in grades 6-8 will administer the district
writing assessment in February in preparation for the spring MSP. Teachers in grade 9 will
administer the district writing assessment in conjunction with grade 10 HSPE.
C.
Release time for scoring of student performance assessments will be dedicated to scoring.
Grade level teams at each school may choose to do this scoring at their own school site rather
than a central site. Any employee responsible for less than 10% of the number of students who
took the assessment in a particular school may voluntarily participate as he or she determines in
any release time for scoring. For secondary writing assessments, any student writing
assessments identified in Appendix 7 remaining unscored after a release day will be scored by
the District. The District will identify multiple release time dates for writing assessment scoring
within the test administration window for the teacher’s participation.
D.
Students with a special education IEP will be given assessments only as identified in the IEP
which is developed by the members of the IEP team. It is not a requirement that a student's IEP
necessarily include a District grade-level assessment listed in Appendix 7 or school generated
assessments for his/her grade level. During MSP and HSPE testing, special education staff will
be utilized as much as possible to meet the needs of special education students. Building
administrators and special education staff shall consider the needs of special education students
who are not participating in assessments within the building schedule/plan for MSP and HSPE
testing.
E.
The list of State or Federal required and District student performance assessments to be
conducted in 2012-13 2013-14 is identified in Appendix 7. For the 2012-13 2013-14 school year,
the District will seek the advice and input of employees and will engage in collective bargaining
with the Association for the terms of this Section 9.16 as a part of bargaining the open contract.
F.
The decision to administer assessments not identified in Appendix 7, but in the school
improvement plan, will be made by a consensus of the elementary grade level team or secondary
department level team.
G.
If an elementary grade level team or secondary department level team decides to administer a
student writing assessment in the school improvement plan, no less than two (2) days per year of
release time will be provided. When additional release days are sought for a student writing
assessment by the elementary grade level team or secondary department level team, they will
meet with the building administrator to establish the number of release days to be granted.
H.
Upon employee request, the following number of days of released time will be provided to each
employee assigned to administer the Developmental Reading Assessment II:
i.
No less than one (1) day for each assigned class section for Kindergarten teachers;
ii.
No less than four (4) days for First, Second and Third Grade teachers;
iii. No less than one (1) day per assessment period for Fourth and Fifth Grade teachers.
iv. Upon request the district will input the required DRA assessment scores for classroom
teachers. Teachers must have the completed data turned in by the last day of the
assessment window. If data is late, entry becomes the teacher’s responsibility.
Sub days shall be scheduled at the employee’s discretion. Employees may choose to divide or
combine the days provided during any particular assessment period.
I.
Teachers may exempt ELL students who have been in the country less than one (1) year from
literacy assessments. ELL students will be offered the opportunity to take other assessments.
Teachers have discretion to end an assessment when the student is not productively engaged in
taking it. No teacher will be assigned Washington English Language Proficiency Assessment
(WELPA) coordinating duties for a school (e.g., scheduling, distributing, organizing, etc. of testing
materials).
J.
For the 2012-13 2013-14 school year, state-mandated classroom based assessments (CBAs)
identified in Appendix 7 will be embedded in the curriculum as a regular class assignment,
assessment or performance. The scheduling and grading of the District CBA will be determined
by the teacher. Teachers conducting the CBAs will only report the number of participating
students to the Curriculum and Assessment Department.
K.
If schools are selected for other required federal or state tests, the schools and the Association
will be notified as soon as possible. The District will also notify the Association in advance if a
school is selected for field testing of other school-wide assessments.