1. Georgia Alternate Assessment Overview of High School Mathematics in Part 1 Session 5 Recording:

2. Welcome to Session 5 High School Mathematics: Part One
This session will begin at 1:00 p.m.
The PowerPoint is located in the GAA Presentations Portlet at this location:
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Due to the number of participants, we request that questions be submitted via Chat Box.
As a participant on this Blackboard Collaborate webinar you will receive a prompt to download this PowerPoint. You can also go to Window, File Transfer to download any files sent through this webinar.
Please log-in with your name and the name of your district beside it (e. g., Joni Smith–Henry County).  If you have already logged-in, please place your name and district in the chat box.

3. GAA
The series of webinars (Sessions 1-8) serve as introductory components for informing and training system staff in the planning, implementation, and submission of the GAA portfolios.
Reading the GAA Examiner’s Manual and the materials provided through the webinar training is necessary to understand the policies and procedures required for the administration of the GAA.

4. GAA
Additional sessions will be available for more in-depth training on topics that will assist test administrators.
All presentations will be posted on the GaDOE website at:

5. Presentations Portlet on GaDOE website
The GAA Presentations link will bring you to Fall Training Presentations (past and present), Mid-Year and Post Administration Presentations, and Other Presentations (such as “Unpacking the Standards”).

6. Overview of this Presentation
This presentation will cover the following topics:
Administration and overview of new standards
Coordinate Algebra and Analytic Geometry
Score Interpretation and understanding Stages of Progress
It is designed to inform:
High School teachers who administer the GAA
Peer Reviewers and Designated Trainers
Special Education Directors
Test Coordinators
Building Administrators

7. Requirements
States must ensure that all students, including students with significant cognitive disabilities, have access to challenging academic standards.
The GAA ensures that all students have the opportunity to learn.
An essential tenet of both the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is that states must ensure that all students, including students with significant cognitive disabilities, have access to challenging academic standards.

8. Requirements
The GAA, designed with the assistance of Georgia general and special educators, is a portfolio of original student work that allows participants to showcase the achievements and progress they have made in skills aligned to the Georgia content standards.
To document that progress, teachers collect student work samples during two collection periods. The first collection period provides evidence of the student’s entry-level performance (initial/baseline performance of the skill). The second collection period provides evidence of the student’s achievement/progress to date.

9. Requirements
Georgia’s graduation rule (State Board Rule ) permits students with significant cognitive disabilities to earn a regular education diploma once specific requirements are met.
One requirement is achieving a score of Established Progress or Extending Progress on all sections of the High School GAA.
The instructional program for students with significant cognitive disabilities includes access courses that are aligned to the general education courses associated with the End-of-Course Tests (EOCT).
In this manner, the High School GAA serves as the alternate assessment for the High School assessment program.
The assessment shall be administered for the first time in grade 11 and submitted for scoring in March.
A total of eight entries are required in High School: two for English Language Arts, two for Mathematics, two for Science, and two for Social Studies.
The graduation rule applies to students with significant cognitive disabilities who entered ninth grade in 2008–2009 and thereafter.

10. Requirements
In 2012–2013, Georgia began implementing the current state-mandated content standards. The State Board of Education adopted these standards in July of 2010.
The GAA has reflected the current state-mandated content standards since the fall of Georgia school systems transitioned to these content standards in English Language Arts (ELA) in Kindergarten through grade 12, and in Mathematics in Kindergarten through grade 9.

11. Requirements
In 2013–2014, schools expanded the transition in Mathematics through grade 10. In 2014–2015, the expansion will continue to grade 11. The content standards selected for assessment on the GAA in 2014–2015 have been reviewed and approved by a committee of Georgia educators.
The high school Mathematics content standards have been implemented by cohort, beginning with students who were in 9th grade during the 2012–2013 school year.

12. Requirements
In 2014–2015, the GAA Blueprint in High School Mathematics includes the current content standards, as students will be assessed on these standards for the first time.
The content standards for Science and Social Studies will remain unchanged for the 2014–2015 school year.
A Blueprint for the current state-mandated content standards is available both on the GaDOE Web site ( and in Appendix D of this manual.
For more information on GaDOE’s transition to the current state-mandated content standards, go to:

13. GAA Blueprint and
Portfolio Components

14. 2014-2015 GAA High School Mathematics Blueprint
The Blueprint outlines the requirements of the GAA for High School math.
The Blueprint identifies the content standards that are required and eligible for assessment on the GAA.
The Blueprint, by grade, can be found in Appendix D of the GAA Examiner’s Manual,
The Blueprint for High School retesters who are to be assessed on the ELA and Math GPS can be found at:
Note: Do not use Blueprints from previous years!

15. Content Standards and Elements/Indicators
The state’s content standards are the goals for instruction, learning, and assessment in each of the content areas.
Elements/indicators are the specific concepts and skills that make up the state’s content standards.
The content standard and element/indicator descriptions, by grade, can be found in Appendix E of the GAA Examiner’s Manual,

16. Blueprint
GAA Blueprint, cover page

17. 2014-2015 Blueprint High School Blueprint, Math
Please note that strikethrough text is present and indicates inapplicable subjects or concepts for the GAA.

18. Blueprint
GAA Standards, cover page

19. 2014-2015 Standards GAA Standards, Coordinate Algebra
Coordinate Algebra serves as the first HS math entry (11 standards to choose from).
Please note that strikethrough text is present and indicates inapplicable subjects or concepts for the GAA.

20. 2014-2015 Standards GAA Standards, Analytic Geometry
Analytic Geometry serves as the second HS math entry (13 standards to choose from).

21. 2014-2015 Standards GAA Standards, Analytic Geometry - continued
Analytic Geometry serves as the second HS math entry (13 standards to choose from).
Please note that strikethrough text is present and indicates inapplicable subjects or concepts for the GAA.

22. Coordinate Algebra Algebra and Functions clusters
Create equations that describe numbers or relationships.
Solve equations and inequalities in one variable.
Understand the concept of a function and use function notation.
Interpret functions that arise in applications in terms of the context.
Build a function that models a relationship between two quantities.

23. Coordinate Algebra Algebra Connections to Geometry cluster
Experiment with transformations in the plane.
Algebra Connections to Statistics and Probability clusters
Summarize, represent, and interpret data on a single count or measurement variable.
Summarize, represent, and interpret data on two categorical and quantitative variables.

24. Analytic Geometry Geometry clusters
Understand congruence in terms of rigid motions.
Make geometric constructions.
Understand similarity in terms of similarity transformations.
Understand and apply theorems about circles.
Explain volume formulas and use them to solve problems.

25. Analytic Geometry Expressions, Equations, and Functions clusters
Solve equations and inequalities in one variable.
Interpret functions that arise in applications in terms of the context.
Statistics and Probability clusters
Understand independence and conditional probability and use them to interpret data.
Use the rules of probability to compute probabilities of compound events in a uniform probability model.

26. Score Interpretation
The score ranges listed for the Scoring Dimension applies to each entry (except for Generalization).

27. Score Interpretation (Grades K, 3-8)
Each Content Area that has two entries (ELA and Math) will be added for a combined and overall Content Area average score. These numbers are rounded.
Scores for Science and Social Studies are assigned by the reader and no average is needed because there is only 1 entry for Science and 1 entry for Social Studies.

28. Score Interpretation (High School)
Each High School portfolio is scored by two readers. The two readers' scores are averaged in the scoring dimensions: Fidelity to Standard, Context, Achievement/Progress, and Generalization. The scores are not rounded and therefore may include decimals.

29. Score Interpretation (High School)
Once each individual HS Entry has been averaged from the two reader scores, it is then combined and averaged with the entry from the same content area and rounded for an entire/overall content area score. *Remember, there are two entries for all four content areas in High School.
Nonscorable entries are calculated with a value of 0. So if one of the two entries is nonscorable, the value of 0 is added to the scorable entry's values for each dimension. For example, if the context score for ELA Entry 1 was a 4 (both readers assigned the score of 4 in Context) and the second ELA entry was nonscorable: = 4/2 = 2. The overall context score for the content area of ELA would be 2.

30. Determining Stages of Progress
This is a screenshot from the Score Interpretation Guide and allows the user to determine the Stage of Progress for Content Areas. Once final scores have been averaged and determined for each content area, all 4 scores are used to determine the Stage of Progress. For example, in HS math if the final score was 2 (Fidelity to Standard) – 3 (Context) – 2 (Achievement/Progress) – 2 (Generalization). The student’s Stage of Progress would be Established. See blue arrow.

31. Questions About Test Administration
Contact Information
Questions About Test Administration
Call: GaDOE Assessment Administration Division
Toll free (800)
Contact: Deborah Houston, Assessment Specialist (404)

32. Contact Information
For information about access to the state-mandated content standards for students with significant cognitive disabilities
Contact: Kayse Harshaw
Division for Special Education Services
Call: (404)

33. Contact Information
Questions About Materials, Distribution, or Collection
Call: Questar’s GAA Customer Service Toll free (866)
Questar’s GAA Customer Service

34. Questions & Answers
Please use the link below to submit any questions you may have related to Sessions 5 and 6.
This is a link to Survey Monkey and will allow GAA affiliates to submit questions germane to the 2014 Fall Training Sessions. Questions will be answered in the final two Fall Training Sessions (Session 7, will address questions related to Session 1-4 AND Session 8, will address questions related to Sessions 5 and 6). To gain access: please highlight the link, right click, and “Open hyperlink.”
2014 Fall Training Q&A Session: Sessions 5–6

35. Georgia Alternate Assessment Overview of High School Mathematics in Part Session 6 Live Session: