1. Tom Schultz Council of Chief State School Officers NGA Building a B-3 rd Grade State Policy Agenda May 10, 2012

2. These slides are adapted from presentations by Catherine Scott-Little, Peter Mangione, Jacqueline Jones and Linda Smith at a BUILD/CCSSO KEA meeting convened Feb. 8-9, 2012 in San Antonio, TX

3.  Overview of State KEA initiatives  KEAs as the “fulcrum” between 0-5 and Kg.- Grade 3 assessments  Key issues for state leaders

4.  25 states with Kindergarten assessment  Purposes of the assessments ◦ 18 states—plan instruction ◦ 12 states—inform policy/track status of children ◦ 4 states—feedback to parents  Areas of children’s development assessed ◦ 11 comprehensive assessments: 5 or more domains ◦ 9 reading only ◦ 2 reading & mathematics

5.  Start development: 18 states plus DC  Continue development: 3 states  Scale-up to all children: 2 states plus PR  Revise/build on current KEA: 9 states

6.  Most states would develop own instrument  Purposes/uses reflected ELC requirements ◦ Improve instruction in K-3 ◦ Identify gaps/improvements in early childhood system/services ◦ Include data in K-12 longitudinal data systems

7.  4 statewide implementation already ◦ 2 refine current KEA system (CA and MN) ◦ 2 develop new KEA tool/system (MD and OH)  3 partial implementation ◦ 2 refine/revise current KEA and move to state-wide implementation (DL and NC) ◦ 1 scale up current KEA system (WA)  2 plan/develop KEA (MA and RI)

8.  Movement toward combining observational & direct/performance assessments -DE, MD/OH  Multiple assessments/common metric – MA  Developing assessments to track children’s progress over time (NC: K-2; MD/OH: Kg.)  Certification process for teachers - MD & OH

9.  View KEAs as 1 element in a comprehensive B-8 system of assessments, data and data use  Highlight how KEAs add value to B-8

10.  Screening Measures  Ongoing Formative Assessments  Measures of Environmental Quality  Measures of the Quality of Adult-Child Interactions  Data on Families/Family Engagement/Communities 10

11.  KEA data is unique: ◦ Data on all children ◦ Data on multiple domains ◦ Data from a common/consistent instrument  Timing of KEAs is strategic: ◦ Baseline on what children know & are able to do at the beginning of K-12.

12. Feedback to ECE Status of all children in multiple domains. Target professional development/T/TA Inform teaching in K-3 Plan curricula & individualize learning opportunities Help families understand their child’s strengths & weaknesses Kg. Entry Knowledge & Skills

13.  Alignment of KEAs with early learning and development standards and with Common Core and other Kindergarten standards  Supports for implementation ◦ Good attention to professional development on administering the KEA ◦ Limited attention to use of KEA for instruction ◦ Limited attention to maintaining assessment quality  Attention to children with high needs ◦ Often addressed in selection of instrument ◦ Less attention in professional development on how to administer and use assessment results ◦ Less attention to disaggregating data

14.  Few plans for monitoring, quality control or system evaluation  How KEAs will work in concert with new K-3 formative assessments in literacy & math.  Use of the data ◦ Lot of attention linking to the data system ◦ Less attention to what will do with the data ◦ Limited attention to safeguards to prevent misuse  Missed opportunity on family engagement in assessments and use of results

15.  We can’t afford to waste resources of collecting assessment data that won’t be used.  So support ways to share data with multiple audiences and help them understand & use the information.  BUT - keep in mind that KEAs are only 1 piece of the picture on how young children are doing.