Georgia Alternate Assessment The Importance of Portfolio Review Prior to Submission February 2011Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

The Importance of Portfolio Review  Missing forms/ pieces of evidence  Ineligible dates  Insufficient documentation  Alignment issues  Grade-inappropriate materials  Student is not engaged or showing progress The importance of portfolio review during and after completion of a portfolio cannot be overstated! Should any of these issues be discovered during any phase of the review, there is still time to make the necessary adjustments. February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

The Importance of Portfolio Review Rescore requests are often predicated by the statement that the portfolio has been reviewed. However, for a portfolio review to be effective, it is critical that the peer review process go beyond counting pieces of evidence and consider all of the portfolio requirements. February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

The Importance of Portfolio Review Portfolio review by the teacher should be an ongoing process. Have I selected the best standard and element for this student? Does he seem engaged? Is he making progress? Are the tasks and materials appropriate? Is he able to demonstrate what he knows? Can he communicate with a reliable response? February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

The Importance of Portfolio Review Use the Checklist for Teachers and Portfolio Reviewers to ensure that all evidence and documentation requirements have been met. Each of the 4 tasks submitted for the entry must be reviewed for alignment.  Tasks must be academic  All 4 tasks must demonstrate connection to the standard and element  Instruction precedes assessment; task must provide evidence of student’s assessed performance after instruction. February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

The Importance of Portfolio Review When reviewing evidence documentation, the teacher and portfolio reviewer must ask himself or herself the following questions: 1.What, specifically, was the student asked to do as it aligns to the academic benchmark? 2.What were the actual questions/actions asked of the student? 3.What were the students’ answers? How did he/she respond? Has evaluation of student performance by the teacher been clearly documented? 4.Were the answers/responses correct? February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

The Importance of Portfolio Review Task descriptions, though brief, must be clear and written with sufficient information. Observation and Interview Forms must be written to describe the specific responses and level of performance for each individual student. If documenting a group activity, be specific about what was asked of the individual student, how and in what manner he/she responded, and whether his/her response was correct. Annotations that are too generic or non-specific could result in the entry being nonscorable. February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Strategies for Ensuring Scorable Entries Each type of evidence, whether Primary or Secondary, has specific requirements that must be met in order to be scorable. Explanations and samples of each type of evidence are included in the GAA Examiner’s Manual on pages Be certain to review the samples and evidence requirements with both new and returning examiners. February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Strategies for Ensuring Scorable Entries Recommendations as to when and how to use each type of evidence can be found on pages 16 and 17 of the manual. Use the GAA Evidence Checklist in order to familiarize test examiners and portfolio reviewers with the conditions that must be met for each type (found on pages of the manual). February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Strategies for Ensuring Scorable Entries Complete and thorough documentation of evidence is critical!  Incomplete, ineffective, or generic documentation can result in lower scores or in the entry being Nonscorable.  The student’s response must be clearly and specifically evaluated or graded. If the correctness of the student response cannot be verified, the entry will receive the Nonscorable Code of IE (Insufficient Evidence). Nonscorable entries due to insufficient evidence can be avoided by following the evidence requirements. February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Structuring a Portfolio Review Who should conduct the portfolio review?  Trained GAA Administrator  Designated GAA Trainer  Core Access Teacher  School Test Coordinator (trained)  SPED Coordinator (trained)  Building Administrator (trained) February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Structuring a Portfolio Review When should the review be conducted?  1 st Review: mid-administration, after Collection Period 1 evidence has been compiled  Final Review: before submission, after all evidence has been compiled and organized in the portfolio binder February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Structuring a Portfolio Review Steps to complete a peer review of the portfolio: 1.Carefully review the Entry Sheet  Student name  Teacher name  Required standard  Eligible standard  Strand, standard, element match  Characteristic of Science documented  Task Descriptions February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Structuring a Portfolio Review 2. Consider all aspects of the evidence requirements  All four pieces of evidence align to standard and element  Primary and Secondary included for each collection period  14 calendar days from Primary to Primary  Type of evidence is the best choice to clearly demonstrate the student response  Grade-appropriate materials February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Structuring a Portfolio Review 3. Review documentation to ensure that all necessary documentation has been provided somewhere within the evidence  Name (Who)  Dates (When)  Task (What)  Setting (Where)  Student performance (How well)  Interactions (With Whom and Describe)  Independence (Prompts)  Collection period labels (Optional) February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Structuring a Portfolio Review 4.Date and sign Checklist for Teachers and Portfolio Reviewers 5.Validation Form must be signed by Building Administrator and Person Responsible for Submitting the Portfolio 6.Recommend and verify that the Release to use Portfolio for Training has been signed and included in portfolio February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Checklist for Teachers and Portfolio Reviewers February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

The Checklist for Teachers and Portfolio Reviewers is provided in the portfolio binder to ensure that all procedures and requirements have been satisfied before the portfolio is submitted. The checklist can be part of the portfolio validation process as the reviewer signs and dates the form after each content area entry is checked. It is recommended that the portfolio be reviewed twice - once after the first collection period has been completed and again before the portfolio is submitted. The GAA Evidence Checklist, specific to each type of evidence submitted, is a helpful tool for use during the portfolio review process. February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

The GAA Validation Form will be provided in the portfolio binder to verify that all requirements and procedures have been followed and that the contents are the work of the student being assessed. This is an important step– the signatures validate the contents of the portfolio. Be certain that signatures have been obtained from both the person submitting the portfolio and the Building Administrator. For transfer students, Validation Forms must be submitted by both the sending and the receiving schools/systems. Required signature Administrator checks one box February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Portfolio Security Given the unique features of the GAA (such as the test window), test security must be considered and attended to throughout the school year and not just during the portfolio submission phase. Content entries are considered secure once they are included in the assessment binder. The assessment binder should not be removed from the school building, except when sign-out procedures are in effect, for the purpose of peer reviews. February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

The Importance of Portfolio Review Effective portfolio review can be the difference between a low scoring or nonscorable entry and an entry that truly represents what the student knows and can do in relation to the academic content standards and elements. February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Contact Information Questions About Test Administration  GaDOE Assessment Administration Division By phone: Toll free (800)  Deborah Houston, Assessment Specialist By phone: (404) By February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Contact Information For information about access to the GPS for students with significant cognitive disabilities  Contact: Kayse Harshaw Division for Special Education Services  By phone: (404)  By February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent

Contact Information Questions About Materials, Distribution, or Collection  Questar’s GAA Customer Service By phone: Toll free (866) By February 2011 Dr. John D. Barge, State School Superintendent