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| Assessment and Accountability Update - February 2, 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Assessment & Accountability Update for February 2, 2012 is now available. You can access this and past issues of the Assessment & Accountability Update on the ODE website. In This Issue:
February 3 – Last Day for Staff Position Collection February 8 – Student Enrollment Report for 2011-12 released to the public February 9 – Extended Assessment Download Launched By February 9 – DTC Kits for OAKS Paper-based Winter Writing Assessment Delivered to Districts February 13 – Collection Validation Window for Staff Position Opens February 16 – Extended Assessment Test and Data Entry Transmission Windows Open February 23 – Last Day of Paper-based OAKS Winter Writing Assessment
New Essential Skills Resources AvailableOn January 31, 2012, two new summaries of Essential Skills and key implementation resources were posted on the Assessment of Essential Skills Webpage.The Essential Skill of "Apply Math" at: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=2042 The Essential Skill of Writing at: http://www.ode.state.or.us/wma/teachlearn/diploma/essential-skill-of-writing.pdf 
For further information: CCSS for Mathematics: Mark Freed, mark.freed@state.or.us  , 503-947-5610
Assessment of Essential Skills: Derek Brown, derek.brown@state.or.us , 503-947-5841
Oregon Diploma: Andrea Morgan, andrea.morgan@state.or.us , 503-947-5772
Last Chance for Reading Essential Skill Training for Local Facilitators!ODE has added one more session of Level 2 and Level 3 Training of Trainers for the Essential Skill of Reading – Using Work Samples on February 22 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.The training session will show local facilitators how to present introductory (Level 2) training on using the Reading Scoring Guide with student work samples at the high school level. Participants will then receive all the materials needed to hold a local training that is appropriate for both English Language Arts teachers and content area teachers. During the same training session, local facilitators will also walk through Using the Reading Scoring Guide - Level 3 In-Depth training sessions. Two workshops, one for high school ELA teachers and one for content teachers, will focus on increasing accuracy in using the reading scoring guide to certify student proficiency in the Essential Skill of Reading to earn a diploma. Most students who are seniors and all students in grades 9 – 11 will be required to show proficiency in reading prior to graduation. Training of trainer sessions on developing local work samples and on scoring work samples for middle school teachers are scheduled during the spring. However, February 22 is the final opportunity for local facilitators to receive training for high school presentations. To find a full schedule of Essential Skill Training of Trainers sessions and information for registration, go to http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=2042.
Test Delivery System Offline for Maintenance February 3 at 6:30 PM PTThe OAKS Online Test Delivery System, including both operational and practice tests for OAKS, ELPA, and Online Writing, will be offline for maintenance beginning at 6:30 p.m. PT on Friday, February 3. The system will be back online by 7:00 a.m. PT on Saturday, February 4.Extended Assessment Test MaterialsA gentle reminder to all District Test Coordinators and their Qualified Assessors that the Extended Assessment test administration window opens on February 16, 2012, but test materials will be available for download the week prior beginning on February 9, 2012.If you have any questions, please contact Brad Lenhardt at Brad.Lenhardt@state.or.us or (503) 947-5755.
Extended Assessment Test Administrators (Qualified Trainers and Qualified Assessors)A gentle reminder to all new and returning Qualified Trainers and Qualified Assessors that the test administration window opens on February 16, 2012 and that any who plan to administer the Extended Assessments for 2011-12 must (re-)qualify on Oregon’s Extended Assessment Training and Proficiency Website (http://or.k12test.com/), receive security training, and have a Test Administrator Assurance of Test Security form (available at http://www.ode.state.or.us/go/TestSecurity) on file at the District Office, valid for the current school year. To insure your district has the capacity necessary to assess all students who will participate in the Extended Assessment, please do what you can to complete your (re-)qualification process as soon as possible.If you have any questions please contact Brad Lenhardt at Brad.Lenhardt@state.or.us or (503)947.5755.
ELPA, ELLs and the Common CoreThere are numerous efforts to bring states together with a common ELPA aligned with the Common Core State Standards:
SBAC is planning assessments in mathematics and English language arts for ELL students; for example:
Development of the Common Assessment for 2014-15 - February 2, 2012Each week, we will address recent activities of the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) of which Oregon is a governing state. Beginning in 2014-2015, SBAC will deliver the common assessment in Mathematics and English Language Arts.Common Assessment/SBAC Webinar: On Tuesday, February 14, ODE staff will facilitate a webinar on the status of the Development of the Common Assessment from 2:30 to 3:30. This is one of a series of webinars being sponsored by Oregon Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Stewardship Team and Oregon Department of Education staff throughout the 2011-2012 school year. These webinars will provide updates and answer questions about CCSS implementation resources. Each webinar will be recorded for later viewing. Information about joining the February webinars is posted on ODE's Events Registration web page at http://www.ode.state.or.us/news/events/. Opportunity to view and comment on Common Assessment (SBAC): A significant milestone in the assessment development process for the SMARTER Balanced assessment program is the development of Item Specifications and Guidelines. This is the next logical step in the process after the development of content specifications. The item specifications provide specific guidance to item writers on how to translate the Common Core Standards (as articulated through the SMARTER Balanced Content Specifications) into actual assessment items. On Thursday, January 26, SBAC’s contractor Measured Progress and ETS held a webinar to describe the item specifications documents that require state review. This is an iterative process. SMARTER Balanced work group members and K-12 member state leads did an earlier round of review this month and the vendor is now enlarging the circle to include teachers, LEA staff, the vendor community, and others. The revised documents are available currently at http://www.k12.wa.us/SMARTER/Resources.aspx. (Under the SBAC 04 Showcase 2 header). There is an opportunity to give feedback through an online survey, also available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SBACItemTaskSpecsSurvey. Feedback on these documents will be due Thursday, February 9, 2012. As you will see, this is a large collection of information. Here are suggestions for who might be best to review these documents:
Thank you in advance for your efforts to ensure that these assessments benefit from the perspectives and expertise of a wide range of individuals. Announcing Technology Readiness Tool — SMARTER Balanced, in collaboration with PARCC, has contracted with Pearson to develop a Technology Readiness Tool to support states’ planning as they transition to next-generation assessments to be launched beginning in 2014. This new open source tool assesses current capacity and compares that to the technology that will be needed to administer the new online assessments in four areas—devices, device to tester ratio, network infrastructure, and staff and personnel. The first of six data collection windows will be March 20 to May 14, 2012. The goal of the first data collection window is to collect easily accessible baseline data. Data collection will occur once each spring and fall through 2014. Answering Open Questions Each week SBAC addresses a question or two on the minds of Consortium members. Send your questions to sbac@wested.org. What is the role of the State Readiness Coordinator (SRC) with the Technology Readiness Tool? Earlier this week, SBAC distributed a note requesting that each state identify a single point of contact (or a small core team) that can serve as a state-level expert regarding IT Readiness, ODE is in the process of identifying the coordinator. Each State Readiness Coordinator (SRC) will receive comprehensive information about the upcoming technology readiness survey and resources to assist districts and schools with data collection. With accurate information about technology gaps, SRCs can work with the Consortium to plan how to use the survey results. It’s important to note that this survey marks a critical milestone as part of the first phase of implementation of the assessment system. It also provides an opportunity to proactively address technology infrastructure, a major concern for districts and schools that goes far beyond assessments. OAKS Online Tests Administered To DateAs of January 30, 2012 the following number of tests have been started and reported by subject:
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Contact(s) for this Announcement
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Oregon Department of Education
255 Capitol Street NE Salem, OR 97310-0203 |
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