Georgia Milestones Assessment: Implications for Instruction Kelley Webb, Humanities Program Specialist Stephanie Haga, STEM Program Specialist

What will the assessment look like in ELA? Write Score Sample Items (7th Grade) OAS Items (becoming GOFAR in SLDS) Engage NY: Just Released Test Items (Grades 3-8) Engage NY: Just Released Test Items Georgia DOE Assessment Guides (Grades 9-11)

Georgia Milestones Consolidation of English Language Arts English Language Arts and reading will be combined and a writing component added for every grade level and course within the ELA assessment One overall ELA score and proficiency designation Reporting categories below the overall content area will be reported similar to the domains on the CRCT Cannot make proficiency claims at the lower level reporting categories

Georgia Milestones Criterion Referenced and Norm Referenced Items: students will receive 2 scores: *criterion referenced score (55 total points) *norm referenced score (20 total points) some norm-referenced items (10) will count as criterion- referenced items as well

Georgia Milestones ELA Criterion-Referenced Total Number of Items: 44 / Total Number of Points: 55 Breakdown by Item Type: – 40 Selected Response (worth 1 point each; 10 of which are aligned NRT ) – 2 Constructed Response (2 points each) – 1 Constructed or Extended Response (worth 4 points ): literary prose – 1 Extended Response (worth 7 points): informative/explanatory or argument/opinion Norm-Referenced – Total Number of Items: 20 (10 of which contribute to CR score) Embedded Field Test – Total field test items: 6 Total number of items taken by each student: 60

Writing at Every Grade Level All students will encounter a constructed- response item allowing for narrative prose, in response to text, within the 1 st or 2 nd test section. Georgia Milestones

Writing at Every Grade Level Extended Response Writing Section: Writing prompts will be informative/explanatory or opinion/argumentative depending on the grade level. Students could encounter either genre.

Georgia Milestones Content Area Test SectionMinimum Time Per Section Maximum Time Per Section ELA1 and 260 minutes70 minutes ELA (writing only) 370 minutes90 minutes Administration Times

Georgia Milestones Scratch Paper Blank scratch paper, including notebook paper, should be provided to students taking Milestones regardless of the administration mode: ELA: Section 3 only Mathematics: All sections

Write Score Example Blueprint very similar to ELA Georgia Milestones Assessment: selected response (multiple choice) constructed response extended response

Sample Assessment Grade 3 Informational Task

Sample Assessment Grade 7 Informational Task

What will students struggle with on the upcoming Georgia Milestones? Why? What? complex texts text-dependent questions written response citing evidence analyzing and synthesizing information from two or more texts writing/typing online Why? lack of student exposure to complex texts using close reading strategies lower level comprehension questions (Who? What? Where?) lack of teacher experience and training with literary analysis lack of teacher knowledge of Common Core standards lack of student experience with written response to text-dependent questions

How do we prepare our teachers and students for these assessments? provide teachers with sample assessment items model lessons that integrate reading and writing and cover multiple standards provide examples of complex texts (variety of literary, informational, and digital texts) and assist teachers with selection of these texts model close reading strategies, text analysis strategies, and text- dependent questioning assist teachers with planning units and lessons that integrate reading and writing

Assessment Resources Performance Based Assessments found in Fulton Connect Grades: 2, 5, 8, 9-10 Genre: Argument/Opinion Types of assessment: constructed and extended response Location: Fulton Connect Purposes: both instructional and assessment Formative Item Bank found in Fulton Connect Grades: all Types of assessment: selected and constructed response Location: Fulton Connect Purpose: assessment coming soon!!!

Assessment Resources Write Score Sample Items (3rd Grade) OAS Items (becoming GOFAR in SLDS) Journeys Performance Assessments (Reading Complex Text) Engage NY: Just Released Test Items Georgia Milestones Blueprints How do we prepare our teachers and students for these assessments? provide teachers with sample assessment items

Model Lessons Reading and Writing Project Videos Introduce a Text-Based Debate: Stray Modeled Reading Lesson with Mary Ehrenworth: Pilgrims Sample lessons from Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study, Craft Lessons, Mentor Texts Sample lessons from Write Score Elementary schools: CST professional development/Edmodo Group How do we prepare our teachers and students for these assessments? model lessons that integrate reading and writing and cover multiple standards

How do we prepare students for the online writing assessments? provide opportunities to “write” on computers in and out of class keyboarding skills student and parent awareness access to computers

Opportunities to “write” on computers writing station during literacy stations at the computers (laptops, iPads, etc.) collaborative group responses typed on computers in-class assignments and responses posted on Edmodo or kid blogs allow students to type homework assignments on computers at home as an option computer lab “special” time used to to practice typing, blog, etc.

Keyboarding Skills Resources to help teach students keyboarding skills: Dance Mat Typing: Typing Instructor: west.swf Typing Web: Type to Learn $795 lifetime subscription, web-based

What will the assessment look like in Math? Examples on upcoming slides OAS Items (becoming GOFAR in SLDS) Engage NY: Just Released Test Items

5 th Grade Constructed Response Ex

Instructional Implications Student-Focused Classroom vs. Teacher-Focused Classroom Students need to be the ones doing the math, not just copying procedures. Students need to think and reason in mathematics “Too often, mathematics instruction gives students the erroneous notion that learning math is all about learning procedures, rather than making sense of ideas.” Marilyn Burns

build conceptual understanding starting with the concrete use of manipulatives scaffold students to higher levels of thinking incorporate the Standards for Mathematical Practice into every lesson through writing and student dialogue Instructional Implications

presenting concepts through the Concrete- Representational-Abstract (C-R-A) model teaching vocabulary building context and background knowledge modeling the problem solving process with challenging problems using gradual release using graphic organizers Scaffolding

Standards for Mathematical Practice 1.make sense of problems and persevere in solving them 2.reason abstractly and quantitatively 3.construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others 4.model with mathematics 5.use appropriate tools strategically 6.attend to precision 7.look for and make use of structure 8.look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

Incorporate these standards into every lesson through: student dialogue in partners, groups, and whole class number sense routines math talks Videos of Math Talks Professional Development Books: Number Sense Routines (Grades K-3) by Jessica Shumway Number Talks: Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies (Grades K-5) by Sherry Parrish SMP

Math Resources Video Model Lessons: Standards of Mathematical Practice by Grade Level Teacher Resources: Standards of Mathematical Practice Resources by Grade Level “Our challenge as teachers is not to find better ways to explain to our students what we want them to learn, but rather to find better ways to ask our students to make sense of what they’re learning for themselves.” -Marilyn Burns