1. Aligning Georgia’s Testing Program to the Georgia Performance Standards
Kathy Cox
State Superintendent of Schools
GPS Day 3 Training
Melissa Fincher

2. Alignment Schedule
Test alignment will follow the GPS implementation schedule…as students are taught the GPS in each content area and grade, the test will be aligned
2005 – 2006 School Year
Reading/ELA Grades 1 – 8; high school
Math Grade 6
Science Grades 6 – 7; high school

3. Three Phases of Alignment
Item alignment
Form alignment
Performance (expectation) alignment

4. How is alignment judged?
Georgia educators are critical participants in the alignment process
Every proposed item is reviewed and approved by a committee of Georgia educators
Items are either accepted, edited, or rejected
Individual comments are collected

5. How is alignment judged?
Items are field tested with representative groups of Georgia students
This spring, field test items will be embedded in operational tests
Field test items will not contribute to a student’s score
Item performance statistics are reviewed by psychometricians, GDOE, and Georgia educators
The content of the item is reviewed in concert with how the item performed (i.e., item statistics)
Items can be rejected at this point
Any item that is revised MUST be re-field tested

6. How is alignment judged?
Accepted field test items are banked
Test forms are developed by selecting items according to the test blueprint to provide
a range of content coverage
an opportunity for all students to demonstrate their level of achievement/understanding

7. How is alignment judged?
Performance expectations are reviewed to reflect content and achievement expectations inherent in the curriculum
Performance Level Descriptions developed to reflect the content and student performance
Cut-scores are determined based on performance expectations of Georgia educators

8. Which tests will be aligned to the GPS?
All state criterion-referenced tests will be reviewed for alignment
CRCT
EOCT
GHSGT
Writing Assessments
GAA

9. When will the new tests be administered?
Winter 2005
EOCT
Spring 2006
CRCT
GHSGT**

10. GHSGT – ELA & Science Spring 2006 and 2007 Spring 2008
Test based on transitional blueprint, reflecting both QCC and GPS
Opportunity to learn
Re-testers will continue to take QCC version
Spring 2008
Full GPS test
First group of 11th graders to have full GPS instruction
Clear opportunity to marry the pass and proficient standards

11. When will the new tests be administered?
Review of the alignment of the Writing Assessments is in process
Redevelopment of the GAA is being planned

12. How will information be communicated?
Test Content Descriptions will be revised
Posted on DOE website May 2005
Sample items will be posted
Item Bank aligned in content areas and grades rolled out
Fall 2005

13. Content Descriptions Content Standard Performance Standard
What you want them to know and do
Performance Standard
How well you want them to be able to do it

14. How will the tests be different?
The tests will have the same general look and feel to them
The tests will reflect the expectations inherent in the curriculum
Students will demonstrate a deeper, richer understanding

15. Example: Deeper Understanding
Which word below acts as an adjective?
Could you please hand me that box of computer paper?
please
hand
box
computer

16. Don’t the tests need to be performance based to align to the GPS?
No, not necessarily
The group of items that comprise a test form can be and will be reflective of performance expectations…it all has to do with alignment

17. Selected-response items can assess higher-order thinking skills.
Constructed-response items do not always measure higher-order thinking skills.

18. Performance measures access narrower content coverage with greater depth. They tend to provide more diagnostic and formative information.
Traditional measures access greater content coverage with less depth. They tend to provide more placement and summative information.

19. Selected-Response Items
Reasons for
better content sampling
higher reliability
greater efficiency
objectivity
measurability
ease in scoring
Reasons Against
too often measure only trivial learning
inappropriate for some targets
more susceptible to guessing

20. Constructed-Response Items
Reasons for
greater depth
more diagnostic
integrate content
lead to student self-assessment
easier to assess complex skills and concepts
Reasons against
less content sampled
scoring requires human judgment
require more time for all

21. How Classroom Assessments Differ from Mandated Assessments
state assessments are intended for accountability purposes – how well student in schools are learning state standards; only a “snapshot” of a content domain is necessary

22. How Classroom Assessments Differ from Mandated Assessments
teachers typically need several samples of performance on each student for classroom decisions

23. What are you testing? Product Process the end result (summative)
steps along the way (formative)

24. Application/Analysis/Synthesis/Evaluation
Learning Targets
Process
Content
Application/Analysis/Synthesis/Evaluation

25. Assistant Director of Testing
Questions/Concerns
Melissa Fincher
Assistant Director of Testing