Transcript Slide 1

The Delaware Statewide
Academic Growth Assessment
Pilot
Presented to
The Brandywine School District Legislative Dessert
February 22, 2006
How Did the Pilot Come About?
 2003: BSD task force developed “Dashboard Metrics”;
requested a measure of individual growth
 2004: BSD learned “value-added” analysis couldn’t be done on
DSTP
 2004: BSD invited NWEA and Christina to meet
 2004-2005: BSD and Christina pilot in limited classrooms
 2005: Urban League requests donations to support broader pilot
 2005-2006: 26,000 students in five districts and four charter
schools enter pilot
Quick Facts About NWEA in BSD
 Which students in BSD take the NWEA tests?
 grades 6-10: math
 grades 7-10: reading
 Will we expand use of it?
 2006-2007: add grades 4-6
 2007-2008: add grades 2-3
 When is it taken?
 September, January, April/May, end of summer school
 How much time does it take to complete?
 Approximately 45-60 minutes per test
The Statewide Growth Pilot:
Goals of the Pilot
1) Improve Teaching and Learning:
Provide teachers with highly useful information about the
instructional needs and rate of progress of each student and
each subgroup of students throughout the year so they can
better target and adjust instruction and improve learning.
2) Support Smart School/System Decisions:
Use data on student growth from September to May to identify
how to get the greatest growth for the investment, and inform
improvement plans (district, school, grade level, content area,
individual).
3) Improve the Accountability System:
Fairness:
Judgments based on growth
Accuracy:
More accurate individual results
Puts Learning First:
Fast, helpful feedback several
times each year
Empowers Parents:
More detailed information to
parents
How Is This Test Different?
Conventional Tests

Contain only 45-60 fixed items;
designed to measure on-grade
level performance only

Very inaccurate scores for
highest and lowest performers –
too few questions at extremes
and student boredom/frustration

Provide generic, minimally
useful feedback due to fixed
items on test and long delay in
getting results
High School Math
5th
Grade
Beginning Math
NWEA’s MAP Test

“Computer adaptive” dynamically developed for each
student to “drill down” to their
understanding of each concept

Approx. 50 items selected for
student from item bank of 15,000,
~ aligned to DE standards



Accurate results across the scale,
from lowest to highest performers
Avoids student boredom,
frustration
5th Grade
+
X Daniel
Beginning Math
Immediate results to student, next
day to teacher
RIT Scale
High School Math
-
+ + + +
189
Pilot Goal #1:
Improve Teaching and Learning
 Focuses teaching on each student’s instructional needs,
increasing engagement and accelerating growth
 Allows teachers to quickly adjust student groupings and
instructional materials several times each year based on needs of
the students
 Quickly highlights effective practices, using common yardstick
 Provides usable information to parents: e.g. Lexile score, specific
skill needs
Teacher/Class Overview
Teacher Landing Page
Drilling Down to Actionable Data
Class Reports group students by subject
and current performance level.
Goal Reports group students by Delaware skill or concept they need to
work on next within each subject, and reveal gaps and strengths.
The Continuum of Learning specifies the skills, concepts and
vocabulary the student needs to work on next – the
instructional level that will challenge but not frustrate.
“The Learning Continuum is incredibly helpful – this has been a “missing
piece” in Delaware for a long time.”
Delaware teacher
Predicting DSTP Performance
DSTP
Level
Distinguished
Exceeds
Meets
Below
Well Below
Math RIT Score
8th Grade
10th Grade
254 and above
248 – 253
233 – 247
217 – 232
below 217
257 and above
252 - 256
240 - 251
226 - 239
below 226
We can currently have this information for grades 8 and 10 in reading and
math. We will have even more accurate predictions and have them for all
grade levels, 2 – 10, by summer 2006.
Observations from Delaware Teachers after their
first NWEA testing session:
 Much less misbehavior due to test frustration or boredom.
 Special Education students not stressed, upset or noncompliant.
 Results are more accurate.
 Results are detailed and immediately useful.
 Able to use results to motivate and focus students, and reduce
test anxiety.
Inform and Empower Parents
Joseph W.: Mathematics
www.lexile.com
Advanced Book Search (enter some or all)
Title:
Author:
Lexile Range: Min: 330 Max: 500
Book Type: Fiction
Reading Series:
Book Awards:
Development Rating: Elementary
Keyword(s): Horses
Sort by:
Pilot Goal #2:
Support Smart Management
Decisions
School Growth and Projected Proficiency
Principal’s Landing Page
22%
37%
17%
24%
Just a Few Examples of Powerful Uses
of Growth and Performance Reports
 Motivate Students: Teachers and several BSD principals have
begun meeting with students to discuss their NWEA reports – their
strengths and areas to target for improvement
 Accelerating Students: Identify individuals and groups of students
ready for more rigorous coursework
 Coaching: Identify teachers who are particularly effective at
teaching tough concepts and can coach other teachers
Examples, continued
 Curriculum/Instruction Gaps: Identify concepts that students are
struggling to learn and determine needed changes in curriculum,
materials, supports or professional development
 Cost/Benefit Program Evaluation: Measure and compare the
effectiveness of professional training programs, tutoring programs,
etc. using NWEA’s virtual control groups
 National Benchmarking: Allows district-to-district benchmarking
across states
Pilot Goal #3:
Improve the Accountability
System
Weaknesses of Current NCLB
Implementation
Misjudges many schools by looking exclusively at
percent proficient rather than a combination of
achievement and growth

no reward or recognition for teachers making great gains
with our most challenging students

misjudgments harms public and educator confidence in the
system
Weaknesses of Proposed New
“Growth” Model for Delaware



Uses “cohort”
rather than
individual growth
Uses DSTP, with
low accuracy for
highest and lowest
kids
Pays no attention
to those above
standard (NCLB)
Year 1
Level
Year 2 Level
Level
1A
Level
1B
Level
2A
Level
2B
Level
3
Level
4
Level
5
Level 1A
25
150
225
250
300
300
300
Level 1B
25
75
175
225
300
300
300
Level 2A
0
25
125
200
300
300
300
Level 2B
0
0
50
125
300
300
300
Level 3
0
0
25
100
300
300
300
Level 4
0
0
0
50
300
300
300
Level 5
0
0
0
0
300
300
300
Building A Better Future:
Individual Growth Targets
for All Students
Scale Score
Individual
Growth-to-Standard
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
A
B
C
3rd
4th
• A must maintain growth rate
• B must accelerate and Meet Stds
• C must get on track to Meet Stds
5th
6th
Grade
7th
8th
Prof.
Below
The NWEA Pilot’s Position:
The Ideal Next-Generation DSTP Should…
 Provide immediate, highly detailed and useful information to
teachers, several times each year, to improve student learning
 Provide accurate longitudinal student growth and performance
data to schools, districts and the state, on a nationally used scale,
for strategic management and resource allocation decisions
 Provide the basis for a highly trusted accountability system in
which schools are rated based on student growth-to-standard
 Be cost-effective
Could NWEA Replace the DSTP?
 New state tests require about 2 years of work to bring online,
from RFP date to use, to meet psychometric and legal
requirements
 US DOE would require several improvements to NWEA – e.g.
stronger alignment to our Standards – or we would lose all
federal funding
 NCLB law requires “grade level testing” – either change law or
develop two-phase test
 Need to determine if we want or need student-constructed items
• Essay would have to be handled separately
Conclusion: Begin work soon if we want to use this in 2008-2009
Contact Information:
Delaware Statewide Academic Growth Assessment Pilot
Participating Partners:

Districts: Brandywine, Christina, Red Clay, Caesar Rodney and Milford

Charter Schools: MOT, Marion T., Kuumba and East Side

Urban League, Business Roundtable, DOE, Rodel Foundation, Charter
Schools Network, Delaware Foundation for Science & Math Education
Pilot Coordination: Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League
Nancy Doorey, Pilot Coordinator, [email protected], 302-764-9030
Background on NWEA
 Non-profit, originated 30 years ago by educators; computer-adaptive
since 1998
 Used by more than 1,700 school districts in 46 states (~ 11% of US
schools)
 Vertical scale has been stable for more than 20 years – only one of its
kind
 Item bank of more than 15,000 items; currently being expanded
 Allows national “virtual control groups” by race, SES, achvmt, gender
 Developing partnerships with quality educational software vendors
for optional supplemental links