Background on the Oregon Statewide Assessment Program

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Background on the Oregon Statewide Assessment Program

The purposes of the Oregon Statewide Assessment Program are (1) to provide information on individual student achievement on performance standards set by the State Board of Education for the Certificate of Initial Mastery and the benchmark grades leading to it; (2) to provide information for policy decisions by the legislature, the governor, the State Board of Education, and local school districts; (3) to support instructional program improvement efforts; and (4) to inform the public about student achievement in Oregon schools.

The Oregon Statewide Assessment is different from national, norm-referenced tests used in many districts and states. The Oregon Statewide Assessment is a criterion-referenced assessment based on the Oregon Content Standards. As a result, the types of scores produced from the Oregon Statewide Assessment are somewhat different from those produced by national, norm-referenced tests.

For reading/literature and mathematics, scores produced from the Oregon Statewide Assessment are based on an achievement scale widely used in the Northwest. The scale, with numbers ranging from about 150 to 300, is similar to other scales such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scale or other "growth" scales. Each point on the scale is at an equal distance from the previous point on the scale, so changes up or down can be charted and viewed as comparable from year to year.

The major advantage of the assessment scale is its connection to the Oregon Content and Performance Standards. The recently adopted Performance Standards for the Certificate of Initial Mastery were set by panels of teachers, curriculum specialists and community members who reviewed test items anchored to the achievement scale and determined the score a student would have to receive as evidence of having met challenging academic standards. Assessment scores are reported in specific skill areas, enabling educators to identify aspects of the curriculum needing improvement.

Writing and mathematics problem solving rely on a model, which trains expert "judges," typically classroom teachers, to match student work to criteria for performance on a predetermined scale. In 2001 nearly 2,000 raters at 18 regional scoring sites met to read and score the 280,000 student papers submitted in writing and mathematics problem solving assessments. Writing is analyzed by two different raters on six elements or traits of good writing, and each trait is rated on a scale of 1 - 6 (low to high). Raters of mathematics problem solving assessments look at four elements or dimensions of good problem solving. Each dimension is rated on a scale of 1 - 6; in addition, the work is analyzed for the correctness of the solution.

Associated Topics

Academic Content Standards
Academic Content Standards identify what Oregon students are expected to know and be able to do in the content areas of English language arts, mathematics, health, physical education, science, second language, social sciences, and the arts.
Achievement/Performance Standards
These standards define how well students must perform on state assessments leading to the high school diploma.

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