1. Essential Skills (Required for DTCs, Recommended for STCs)

2. Objectives Review Requirements and Implementation Timeline
Essential Skills
Objectives
Review Requirements and Implementation Timeline
Understand Assessment Options
Describe Resources Available
Assessment of Essential Skills page is available with resources to help districts implement the Essential Skills

3. Essential Skill Overview
Essential Skills
Essential Skill Overview
9 cross-curricular skills
Embedded in State Content Standards
Students must demonstrate proficiency
3 currently scheduled for implementation: Reading, Writing, Math

4. Implementation Cohort year 2008-2009: Reading
Essential Skills
Implementation
Essential Skills graduation requirements are based on when a student is first enrolled in grade 9 (cohort year)
Cohort year : Reading
Cohort year : Reading and Writing
Cohort year : Reading, Writing, & Apply Mathematics

5. Assessment Options Essential Skills Test Reading Math Writing OAKS 23640
ACT or Plan 18 19
N/A
WorkKeys 5
Compass 81
66 (Int Alg)
Asset 42
41 (Int Alg)
SAT
440
450
PSAT 44 45
AP/IB
Various
SAT Writing
460
Accuplacer 86

6. Work Sample Requirements
Essential Skills
Work Sample Requirements
ESSENTIAL SKILL
WORK SAMPLES
REQUIRED SCORE
(OFFICIAL SCORING GUIDE)
Reading
2 Work Samples
two informational, or;
one informational and one literary
Total 12 (3 traits)
No score lower than 3
Writing
expository, persuasive, narrative modes
(one must be in expository or persuasive mode, the second may be in any of the approved modes).
4 on each of the four required traits
Apply math
algebra, geometry, statistics strands
choose 2 of the 3 strands
4 on each of the four traits plus accuracy.

7. Essential Skills
Work Sample Rigor
Work samples must meet the level of rigor required on the OAKS assessment.
Work samples provide an optional means to demonstrate proficiency not an easier means.

8. Professional Development
Essential Skills
Professional Development
Scoring Guide Training Modules
“Train-the-trainer” modules and materials now available on the website for local use
DISCS
Online scoring guide calibration tool that allows raters to self-evaluate their level of proficiency and continue training as necessary

9. Essential Skills
Promising Practices
Ensure an adequate number of staff are proficient in using the scoring guides
Familiarize students with the scoring guides early
Score classroom assignments for Essential Skill proficiency
Score multi-disciplinary projects for more than one Essential Skill
Develop prompts that can be used at the local and/or regional level
Develop a local or regional work sample scoring infrastructure that allows for a sharing of workload

10. Promising Considerations
Essential Skills
Promising Considerations
Districts should develop a policy for retention of student performance data and work samples
Districts must develop a process allowing students to appeal a district decision to deny a diploma based on the Essential Skills graduation requirement.
Districts are required to maintain documentation of all student scores used for graduation purposes (per the TAM):

11. Essential Skills
Reporting
Essential Skills graduation requirements are submitted through the Cum ADM collection
Essential Skills graduation requirements are applied to regular and modified diplomas (for those students with a cohort year associated with requirement(s)
See the Cum ADM manual for specific reporting codes
Districts are required to maintain documentation of all student scores used for graduation purposes (per the TAM).

12. In a Nutshell Required Essential Skills Approved Methods of Assessment
Reading: cohort (Class of 2012)
Reading & Writing: cohort (Class of 2013)
Reading, Writing & Math: cohort (Class of 2014)
Approved Methods of Assessment
OAKS
Other Approved Standardized Tests
Work Samples

13. Resources Assessment of Essential Skills
Assessment of Essential Skills Toolkit Toolkit
Work Samples
The Oregon Diploma
The Essential Skills Appendix
/admin/ _appendix-k.pdf

14. Essential Skills
Acorns for Storage
Which courses are responsible for Essential Skills Assessment in our school?
Who has the key responsibilities in assessing the Essential Skills?
What is our procedure for keeping track of student progress toward demonstrating each required Essential Skill?
How can elementary and middle schools prepare students for the
Essential Skills?
Which courses are responsible for Essential Skills Assessment in our school?
ELA and Math courses, other content areas (Science, Social Science), CTE, Fine Arts
Essential Skills proficiencies are not restricted to ELA and Math classrooms. Schools and Districts should build local performance assessment plans that explicitly describe when students will be assessed and in which classes. Those assessments may be formative work samples used as general education tools to inform instruction, or summative assessments to measure Essential Skills proficiency levels for graduation purposes.
Who has the key responsibilities in assessing the Essential Skills?
Similar to the question above, Essential Skills activities (instruction and assessment) are not restricted to ELA and Math classrooms. In many cases, the heaviest burden may fall on ELA and Math teachers; however, that workload could be shared depending on the willingness of other teachers (raters) to become proficient using the scoring guide(s) and/or to participate in task development activities. Ultimately, this question will come down to an evaluation of local resources and how administrators view the most meaningful usage of staff time.
What is our procedure for keeping track of student progress toward demonstrating each required Essential Skill?
Again, this will largely come down to the leadership philosophy of building and district level administrators, here are the questions I would ask if I were in a local level position: What do we know about incoming 9th graders? Are we looking at their respective performance on OAKS over the past 1-3 years? Do we have good communication between our middle and high schools in order to facilitate meaningful conversations about other academic indicators, such as performance on work samples and other course work? What assessments do we provide early in high school to establish the best frame of reference for knowledge and skill in each content area? Do we have the capacity to develop and maintain a centralized repository of Essential Skills information, accessible by all necessary staff? Do we have a team that meets regularly to discuss Essential Skills progress for all students? 11th and 12th graders? Seniors only? At what point is a decision made that a student may need additional coursework/remediation? What indicators are used to make that decision? Performance on OAKS, work samples, both, others? How do we communicate Essential Skills progress, issues, and recommended solutions to parents? In general, are parents and the community at large aware and engaged on Essential Skills issues?
How can elementary and middle schools prepare students for the Essential Skills?
Orient students in elementary and middles schools to performance assessment by giving them opportunities to complete work samples, which includes familiarization with official state scoring guides, peer-to-peer scoring and feedback exercises, and formative assessment opportunities with student revision. Use data collected from any valid/relevant source (OAKS, work samples, other standardized tests, coursework, etc.) to make informed decisions about the services that need to be provided. This means having a full understanding of knowledge and skill, for every student, which allows teachers to adjust instruction in the most effective ways to address student need.