AzMERIT Arizona’s Statewide Achievement Assessment for English Language Arts and Mathematics November 20, 2014

PART I: FROM AIMS TO A Z MERIT

State and federal laws require statewide assessment of student progress on adopted standards. AzMERIT’s story begins with the adoption of our current statewide standards. Standards – Assessment Connection

Standards – What a student needs to know and be able to do – Adopted by State Board in public meetings Curriculum – How a student is taught the standards, includes teaching materials – Adopted by local school board in public meetings – Aligned to the Standards Standards – Assessment Connection

Lesson Plan – Implementation of curriculum – Developed by teacher – Aligned to the Standards Assessment – Measures student progress – Aligned to the Standards Standards – Assessment Connection

Standards discussed at ten Board meetings Public feedback gathered, reviewed, and considered Specific Arizona additions made to the standards June 28, 2010 the State Board of Education adopted new standards Current standards fully implemented in Standards Adoption in AZ

More focused on rigor, critical thinking, deeper understanding, and problem solving Goal to better prepare students for their future Require a different approach to instruction The Current Standards

AIMS was aligned to the old standards. Need a test aligned to the current standards. Test items need to be different from AIMS items. Need a new test design to appropriately measure student progress. Why Not Use AIMS?

In 2010, Arizona joined the multi-state consortium Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). PARCC’s goal was to create a “next generation” assessment to measure student progress on the new standards and to allow for state-to-state comparisons. AZ Joined PARCC

New expectations for statewide assessments Best practices for computer-based assessments Understanding of innovative test items AZ Learned from PARCC

AZ procurement laws required the State Board to use a competitive bid process to award statewide assessment contract. The competitive bid process ensures that the selection of the vendor for the statewide assessment is fair and best meets the needs of the state and its taxpayers. AZ withdrew from PARCC. AZ Left PARCC

Late 2013 – State Board issued a Request for Information (RFI) to identify existing assessment options for Arizona. State Board received six responses to the RFI. Selection Process

March 2014 – State Board adopted a statement of values regarding the new statewide assessment. Feedback from parents, educators, and business and community leaders was incorporated into the statement of values. Selection Process

June 6, 2014 – the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the new statewide assessment was released. The basis of the RFP was the statement of values adopted by the State Board. The requirements of the RFP were informed by the responses to the RFI. A neutral nonprofit organization reviewed the RFP for objectivity and thoroughness. Selection Process

July 25, 2014 – Six responses to the RFP were received. One of the responses was from Pearson on behalf of PARCC. Per AZ procurement law, an independent evaluation committee of Arizona education stakeholders reviewed and scored all responses. Selection Process

Evaluation Committee Members – charter school representative – superintendent – director of research and evaluation – special education director – assistant superintendent for academic services – chief information officer – community member Selection Process

The evaluation committee unanimously recommended American Institutes for Research (AIR). November 3, 2014 – State Board selected AIR to provide AzMERIT. Selection Process