Formative Assessments Director, Assessment and Accountability Repeat Testing Cathy C. McNeal, Ed.D. Director, Assessment and Accountability May 1, 2014

Formative Assessments Two Primary Purposes Formative assessments provides educators with quick and accurate estimates of students’ instructional levels relative to national norms. Formative assessments provides the means for tracking growth in a consistent manner over long time periods for all students.

Formative Assessment’s unique powers of flexibility and repeatability provide specific advantages for various groups: For students, formative assessments provides a challenging, interactive, and brief test that builds confidence in their math and/or reading ability. For teachers, formative assessments facilitates individualized instruction by identifying students’ current developmental levels and areas for growth. For administrators, formative assessments provides regular, accurate reports on performance at the class, grade, building, and district level, as well as year-to-year comparison. For district administrators, formative assessments furnishes a wealth of reliable and timely data on student growth at each school and throughout the district. It also provides a valid basis for comparing data across schools, grades, and special student populations.

Formative Assessment Test Length Star Formative Assessment is 25 items The length of time to complete the assessment varies by student. Half of the students at every grade will complete the assessment in less than 9 minutes The slowest grade (grade 1) 95% of students finish in less than 15 minutes.

Adaptive Branching Effectively customize the test for EACH student’s achievement level “Paper-and-pencil test” = one test fits ALL Adaptive Branching Testing time decreases Using computer-adaptive procedures, it is possible for students to test on items that appropriately match their current level of proficiency. The use of Item Response Theory (IRT) permits more accurate calibration by adjusting item difficulty to the responses of the individual being tested while striving to minimize test length and student frustration.

Dawson 4th Grade Student STAR Benchmark and Progress Monitoring for 2013-14 Current Grade Student Assessment ID Assessment Date Grade Placement Screening Category Window Name 4 Dawson 4th Grade Student A 9/9/2013 13:51 4.02 At/Above Benchmark Fall Sept 9, 2013 10/4/2013 14:19 4.11 At/Above Benchmark – Progress Monitoring 10/21/2013 14:04 4.16 11/1/2013 12:48 4.2 11/15/2013 12:38 4.24 12/10/2013 10:28 4.33 1/8/2014 8:38 4.42 Winter Jan. 6, 2014 2/21/2014 13:44 4.56 3/13/2014 13:21 4.64 4/3/2014 13:15 4.7 4/16/2014 8:46 4.75 Spring April 14, 2014

What is Student Growth Proficiency What is Student Growth Proficiency? Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) are a norm-referenced quantification of individual student growth derived using quantile regression techniques. An SGP compares a student’s growth to that of his or her academic peers nationwide.

Test Repetition The frequency with which the assessment is administered depends on the purpose for assessment and how the data will be used. Huntsville City Schools Benchmark is 3 times a year. Teachers who want to monitor student progress more closely or use the data for instructional planning may use it more frequently (as frequently as weekly for progress monitoring purposes). STAR keeps track of the questions presented to each student from test session to test session and will not ask the same question more than once in and 90-day period.

STAR Test Administrator Standardized Assessment Procedures Students may be retested during BENCHMARK Assessment Window, if the STAR Building Test Coordinator approves the retesting reason. Multiple testing of a student during a test window usually lowers the student’s score. STAR assessments will remain in the database for 24 hours.

Sample of Repeat Testing in STAR Math during a Benchmark Window Current Grade Student Assessment ID Assessment Date Grade Placement Grade Scaled Score Time to take the STAR Math Assessment 4 Student 1 4/15/2014 10:03 4.74 795 12 minutes 47 seconds 4/15/2014 10:30 794 10 minutes 54 seconds