NYS Assessment Information Update

Sachem Elementary Teachers K-5

2-hour Staff Development February/March 2013

A look at today’s schedule:• 2:30-3:30 (B) Early schools ELA rubrics & Guide

Papers• 3:30-4:20 (A) All schools ELA/Math Assessment Info• 4:20-4:30 Break/Early Schools may leave• 4:30-5:30 10 schools ELA Rubrics & Guide

Papers (working in small mixed groups with other Grade 3 teachers)

NYS ELA and Math Assessments

These are NEW assessments, NOT revised assessments…

“We did not tweak these assessments, we started from scratch.” -Kate Gearson

NYS ELA Assessments • Evidence of the Six Shifts on the assessments

• Comparison of what the assessments asked of students in the past vs. what they will ask of students now

• 2-point Rubric

• 4-point Expository Writing Rubric

Shift 1: Calls for Balancing Informational & Literary Text

• Evidence on the NYS

Assessments

Students should be reading a

true balance of

informational and literary

texts

Passages will be authentic, and will be balanced between informational and literary texts.

Shift 2: Calls for Knowledge in the Disciplines students build knowledge about the world

• Evidence on the NYS

Assessments

Students should build knowledge about the world

(domains/ content areas) through

TEXT rather than the teacher or

activities

Will contain knowledge-based questions about the informational text; students will not need outside knowledge to respond

Shift 3: Calls for a Staircase of Complexity

• Evidence on the NYS

Assessments

Students are being asked to read the central,

grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are

patient, create more time and space and

support in the curriculum for close

reading

Passage selection to be based on text complexity that is appropriate to grade level per CC

Shifts 4 and 5: Call for Text-based Answers and Writing from Sources

• Evidence on the NYS

Assessments

Students engage in rich and rigorous evidence based conversations

about text, and writing emphasizes

use of evidence from sources to

inform or make an argument.

Questions will require students to marshal evidence from the text, including from paired passages. (*3rd grade will not have paired passages)

Shift 6: Calls for more Academic Vocabulary

• Evidence on the NYS

Assessments

Students constantly build the

transferable vocabulary they need to access

grade level complex texts, which can be done effectively by

spiraling like content in increasingly complex texts.

Students will be tested directly on the meaning of pivotal, common terms, the definition of which can be discerned from the text. Academic vocabulary will also be tested indirectly through general comprehension of the text.

In the past students were asked to…• Characterize the text.

• Exhibit a cursory understanding of the lead character.

• Comprehend one sentence from the entire text.

•Understand basic, non-consequential vocabulary.

• Answer without a deep analysis of text.

• Look beyond text for stimuli.

• Answer by recalling text details.

• Answer without complete sentences required.

Now students will be asked to…• Comprehend complex, grade-level texts. (What should be noted is comprehension of

text is assumed, it is not the focus of measurement.)

• Identify central themes and key text elements.

• Consider entire text.

• Place aspects of the text in context of the entire text.

• Move beyond basic recall of details within text making an inference as to how specific portions of text relate to the structure of the

whole text or wrestle with meaningful, real-world questions.

• In terms of analysis….make and support text-based analysesto support their text-based analyses with key detailscarry an analysis beyond one text, relating details to overarching messages of both

entire texts.

Continued…• 2 point Rubric is more reading basedAnswers must be in complete sentences. *See rubric bullet points.*

• 4 point Rubric more writing based

• There will NOT be a listening section in any grade levels

• Will no longer include graphic organizer questions or scaffolding for extended response

• There will be a Planning Page for Grade 3 (Nothing will be scored on this page.)

• No paired passages for Grade 3

• If students just copy a sentence from the text, they must add an inference and support with evidence

• Language from the standards may be used within the questions on the assessment

Example

Words that could be defined for students are in bold.

Passages may be

numbered by

paragraph or line

Holistic ScoringScorers will…

• Read thoroughly, yet quickly, to gain an impression of the entire response.

• Read the entire response before determining a score, and then promptly assign a score.

• Read supportively, looking for and rewarding those things done well in a response.

• Keep in mind that each response represents a first draft, written under timed conditions.

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Scoring versus GradingScoring a state test is quite different from grading classroom papers.

• There is no single “correct” answer to the test questions.

• Students come to the test without knowledge of the passages or prompts.

• On-demand writing does not provide time to plan, edit, and revise work as does writing compositions for a class.

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2-point Rubric: Short-responseScore Response Features

2 Point The features of a 2-point response are• Valid inferences and/or claims from the text where required by the prompt• Evidence of analysis of the text where required by the prompt• Relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to develop

response according to the requirements of the prompt

• Sufficient number of facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text as required by the prompt

• Complete sentences where errors do not impact readability

1 Point

The features of a 1-point response are• A mostly literal recounting of events or details from the text as required by the prompt• Some relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, and/or other information from the text to

develop response according to the requirements of the prompt• Incomplete sentences or bullets

0 Point The features of a 0-point response are• A response that does not address any of the requirements of the prompt or is totally

inaccurate• No response (blank answer)• A response that is not written in English• A response that is unintelligible or indecipherable

If the prompt requires two texts and the student only references one text, the response can be scored no higher than a 1.

Read the fine print…

(New) NYS CC Aligned Writing Rubrics

Although the Gr. 3, 4 & 5 rubrics released are for expository writing, it is important to teach the other forms of writing as well in your classroom: narrative and persuasive/argumentative

Grade 3 Expository Writing Evaluation Rubric

Read the fine print…

Grades 4-5 Expository Writing Evaluation Rubric

Read the fine print…

NYS Math Assessments• Evidence of the Six Shifts on the assessments

• Comparison of what the assessments asked of students in the past vs. what they will ask of students now

• 2-point rubric

• 3-point rubric

Shift 1: Calls for Focus in instruction

Evidence on the NYS AssessmentsPriority standards will be the focus, other standards will

be deemphasized

Teachers significantly narrow and deepen the scope of how time and energy is spent in the math classroom.

They do so in order to focus deeply on only the concepts that are prioritized in the standards.

Shift 2: Calls for Coherence in instruction

Evidence on the NYS AssessmentsWe will see this reflected through the progression of

content and concepts as depicted in the standards across grade levels. Because of the way math works, if they have

learned it before, they may have to use it with topics in later grades

Principals and teachers are being asked to carefully connect the learning within and across grades so that students can build new understanding onto

foundations built in previous years.

Shift 3: Calls for Fluency

Evidence on the NYS AssessmentsStudents are expected to have speed and accuracy with simple calculations; teachers structure class time and/or

homework time for students to memorize, through repetition, core functions

Principals and teachers are being asked to carefully connect the learning within and across grades so that

students can build new understanding onto foundations built in previous years.

Shift 4: Calls for Deep Understanding

Evidence on the NYS AssessmentsEach standard will be assessed from multiple perspectives, while

not veering from the primary target of measurement for the standard. Not only will questions infuse additional standards beyond the targeted standard, each standard will be tested in

many different ways.

Students deeply understand and can operate easily within a math concept before moving on. As we recall, students learn more than the trick to get the answer right. They

learn the math.

Shift 5 & 6: Calls for Application and Dual Intensity

Evidence on the NYS AssessmentsStudents will be expected to know grade-level mathematical

content with fluency and to know which mathematical concepts to employ to solve real-world mathematics

problems. In other words, students will not be explicitly prompted, and they will see minimal scaffolding on tests.

Students are expected to use math and choose the appropriate concept for application even when they are not

prompted to do so, and students are practicing and understanding. There is more than a balance between these

two things in the classroom – both are occurring with intensity

In the past …• Questions were simpler, one or two steps, or were

heavily scaffolded.

• Questions were heavy on pure fluency in isolation.

• Questions isolated the math.

• Questions relied more on the rote use of a standard algorithm for finding answers to problems.

Now …• Questions will require multiple steps involving the

interpretation of operations.

• Questions will require conceptual understanding and fluency in order to complete test questions.

• Problems are in a real world problem context.

• Questions require students to…decompose numbers and/or shapes, apply properties of numbers, and with the information given in the problem, reach an answer.

• Relying solely on algorithms will not be sufficient!

Example of Gr. 4 Multistep Problem:

Holistic Scoring• Holistic scoring assigns a single, overall test score for a

response as a whole.

• The single score reflects the level of understanding the student demonstrates in the response.

• To score holistically, you must look at the entire response, rather than evaluating the parts or individual attributes separately.

• Keep in mind that some errors may detract from the level of understanding demonstrated and other errors may not detract.

Mathematics 2-point Holistic RubricScore Point Description2 Points A two-point response answers the question correctly.

This response demonstrates a thorough understanding of the mathematical concepts but

may contain errors that do not detract from the demonstration of understanding

indicates that the student has completed the task correctly, using mathematically sound procedures

1 Point A one-point response is only partially correct.  This response indicates that the student has demonstrated only a partial understanding

of the mathematical concepts and/or procedures in the task correctly addresses some elements of the task may contain an incorrect solution but applies a mathematically

appropriate process may contain correct numerical answer(s) but required work is not provided

0 Points A zero-point response is incorrect, irrelevant, incoherent, or contains a correct response arrived using an obviously incorrect procedure. Although some parts may contain correct mathematical procedures, holistically they are not sufficient to demonstrate even a limited understanding of the mathematical concepts embodied in the task. 

Mathematics 3-point Holistic RubricScore Point Description

3 PointsA three-point response answers the question correctly. This response demonstrates a thorough understanding of the mathematical concepts but may contain

errors that do not detract from the demonstration of understanding indicates that the student has completed the task correctly, using mathematically sound

procedures

2 PointsA two-point response is partially correct.

This response demonstrates partial understanding of the mathematical concepts and/or procedures

embodied in the task addresses most aspects of the task, using mathematically sound procedures may contain an incorrect solution but provides complete procedures, reasoning, and/or

explanations may reflect some misunderstanding of the underlying mathematical concepts and/or

procedures

1 PointA one-point response is incomplete and exhibits many flaws but is not completely incorrect. This response  demonstrates only a limited understanding of the mathematical concepts and/or

procedures embodied in the task may address some elements of the task correctly but reaches an inadequate solution

and/or provides reasoning that is faulty or incomplete exhibits multiple flaws related to misunderstanding of important aspects of the task,

misuse of mathematical procedures, or faulty mathematical reasoning reflects a lack of essential understanding of the underlying mathematical concepts may contain correct numerical answer(s) but required work is not provided

0 PointsA zero-point response is incorrect, irrelevant, incoherent, or contains a correct response

arrived at using an obviously incorrect procedure. Although some parts may contain correct mathematical

procedures, holistically they are not sufficient to demonstrate even a limited understanding of the

mathematical concepts embodied in the task.

Fluencies• The purpose of fluency practice is to increase the speed and

accuracy of solving foundational mathematical concepts.

• The goal for the fluency assessments is NOT to finish all of the problems but rather to complete more problems accurately in the same amount of time.

• Students must practice these skills daily and be assessed throughout the year to monitor their growth in their assigned fluency

• To achieve a true reading of their mathematical fluency, students should be administered fluency assessments that:• include the same number of problems on each assessment• assess the same skill • provide the same amount of time to work

Fluencies• The fluencies outlined for each grade level with few

exceptions, are standards learned the previous year

Examples:Grade Level Required Fluency Standard taught the previous year

1 Add/subtract within 10 K.OA.2 Solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within 10.

2 Add/subtract within 201

Add/subtract within 100 (pencil and paper)

1.OA.6 Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10.

4 Add/subtract within 1,000,000 3.NBT.2 Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.