Happy Spring!
April 2014 Helping Educational Leaders Prepare
What's NEW?
There have been recent discussions about assessment in the state of Iowa, and that often leads to questions. We present an Assessment Q&A in this month's blog.
What is the latest with Smarter Balanced Assessment?
The summative assessment component of Smarter Balanced has moved from the piloting phase to the field testing phase. Beginning in March, the Field Test presents all assessment items to students in consortium states. The purpose is to gather information necessary for the final evaluation of item quality. Results will inform preliminary achievement standards.
A group of Iowa educators (consisting of a State Lead Team and State Network of Educators) are currently developing, submitting, reviewing and posting highest quality formative assessment resources to the Smarter Balanced Digital Library.
The Smarter Balanced assessment system and the launch of the Digital Library is slated to occur for the 2014-15 School Year. The extent of Iowa's continued participation in the Smarter Balanced consortium has yet to be determined.
I thought Smarter Balanced was to be our new "state test?"
That remains to be seen. An Assessment Task Force was commissioned by the 2013 General Assembly to study Iowa's assessment needs and to recommend a new state assessment for public and accredited nonpublic schools. The Assessment Task Force is examining past, present, and future options for the accountability assessment. Most recently, the subgroup is completing rubrics for criteria that any potential assessment is compared against. It examines the following characteristics of the assessment: Fairness, Grade availability, Availability for spring administration, Accurately describes student achievement and growth, Valid, Reliable, Piloted/ tested in Iowa, Content alignment, Alignment in rigor, Ability to predict college / career readiness, Cost, and Technical Support. Once the rubrics are finalized, they will be used to determine an assessment's fit to be Iowa's State Assessment.
What is new in the world of Alternate Assessment?
Iowa participates in a consortium named Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM). The DLM Alternate Assessment System is a comprehensive assessment system being designed to support student learning and to more validly measure what students with significant cognitive disabilities know and can do. DLM is currently in the second round of field testing; Council Bluffs is one of the participating districts. Parent and educator focus groups, a report of progress in the School Leader Update and training opportunities are all scheduled for this spring/ summer.
What are the current requirements for the "second assessment?"
Chapter 12 says:
A school or school district shall establish at least three performance levels on at least one district wide valid and reliable assessment in the areas of reading and mathematics for at least grades 4, 8, and 11, and science in grades 8 and 11 or use the achievement levels established by the Iowa Testing Program to meet the intent of this sub paragraph (2). This is why schools use Iowa Assessment.
According to Chapter 12, here are the guidelines for the 'second assessment:' Multiple assessment measures, for reporting to the local community or state, means more than one valid and reliable instrument that quantifies district-wide student learning, including specific grade level data. The multiple measure/s can be given at any grade level. This is a local decision. At a minimum, a school district or accredited nonpublic school must have at least one additional assessment in reading, mathematics, and science.
In the most recent NCLB update, it does indicate that schools must report to the community on reading and math achievement at grades 3-8 and 11. They must report to the community on science achievement in grades 5, 8, 11.
In the most recent NCLB update, it also says that Iowa schools will have to test students in reading and math at grades 3-8, 10 and 11 (in order to use the Growth Model).
Where can I go to watch the progress of educational bills?
Follow this link to view the bills impacting education that are currently in discussion in Iowa Legislature. This session is anticipated to adjourn by April 30th or before.
What's the big deal with EdInsight?
Educators in Iowa are harnessing the power of EdInsight, Iowa’s education data warehouse to transform data into information since the project inception in 2007. EdInsight offers dozens of pre-formatted reports which are designed to answer an educational question quickly, with a minimum of training. Reports are available in the following data families: achievement and growth, equity and school improvement, annual progress report, curriculum, special education, student indicators and finance. EdInsight also contains a data cube that provides end users the ability to do ad hoc analyses.
There are 202 EdInsight users in the GHAEA area including teachers, school administrators, AEA consultants and AEA administrators. There have been log-ins at the district level for 74% of districts in GHAEA in the past 6 months, 439 log-ins from users in the area in February alone. Access to EdInsight requires training to prepare users in using the warehouse effectively and efficiently.
For more information about EdInsight, contact Sherry Huffman at shuffman@ghaea.org.
What's DUE?
The calendar on the GHAEA School Improvement H.E.L.P. site will continue to be updated with important dates.
