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10/22/2019

School Committee Roundtable: Assessments

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Agenda

District Plan Context�
MCAS Background and Information

What was the response to the problematic question �in MCAS Spring 2019 Administration? �

Assessments in CPS

What is CPS vision about the purposes / use of different types assessments?
What assessments are CPS students experiencing, using 3rd grade as an example?
How do CPS educators use assessments to support teaching and learning, using Baldwin Elementary as one school example?
How is CPS improving its assessment strategy?�

CEA Member Perspective�
Discussion

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Looking ahead: 11/19 Presentation on 2019 MCAS results

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District Plan Context

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District Plan: Vision

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Every CPS student experiences:

Rigorous, Joyful, & Culturally Responsive Learning

Personalized Support �

Builds Postsecondary Success & �Engaged Community Members

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CPS Equity Definition: Adopted August 2018

Racial equity means the absence of institutional and structural barriers experienced by people based on race or color, that impede access,

opportunities, and results.

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RACIAL EQUITY

Achieving racial equity requires proactive and continuous investment in communities of color, who have endured centuries of systemic oppression. CPS is committed to dismantling structures rooted in white privilege, to hearing and elevating underrepresented voices, and recognizing and eliminating bias.

Equity means that each student, regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, religion, or socioeconomic status will have access to the opportunities, resources, and support they need �to attain their full potential.

EQUITY

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CPS District Plan 2017-2020: Strategic Initiatives

EQUITY &

ACCESS

ENGAGED

LEARNING

PARTNERSHIP

IMPROVEMENT

1.1. Create a district-wide system for setting goals with students that support their postsecondary success and aspirations. Connect students to supports within and outside of school, and reflect on and monitor progress with students, teachers, families, and partners.

1.2. Provide all CPS educators with cultural proficiency training and implement ongoing cultural proficiency professional learning in all schools.

1.3. Implement the Dynamic Diversity program to recruit, hire, and retain a CPS workforce that reflects the diversity of Cambridge.

1.4. Identify priority standards within the culturally relevant CPS curriculum that communicate what a student should know and be able to do by content and grade level.

1.5. Provide all students with access to challenging curriculum and technology, such as the Grade 9 Level Up and CRLS 1:1 programs.

2.1. Expand integrated, hands-on, real world learning opportunities for all students across the district and provide necessary support to teachers.

2.2. Expand rigorous, joyful, culturally responsive learning experiences across the district.

2.3. Establish student-centered, collaborative, and transformative professional learning that supports the CPS vision.

2.4. Support student, educator, school and district innovation through the Design Lab, in order to improve student success.

3.1. Implement a PK-12 social, emotional, and behavioral learning framework and vision.

3.2. Develop and expand effective inclusive practices in all classrooms through professional learning.

3.3. Improve student engagement by strengthening student experiences in all classrooms, improving existing programs, exploring mentorship programs, and providing relationship building professional learning.

3.4. Continue to develop multi-tiered systems of support for academic and social-emotional learning, such as Response to Intervention.

4.1. Engage families as partners with a formal, ongoing feedback mechanism that creates differentiated opportunities for family voice and engagement.

4.2. Create a coordinated system of partnerships to support students and families, establishing criteria, aligning with CPS vision, ensuring equity across schools and students.

4.3. Create a common evaluation process for partnerships with explicit expectations grounded in equity and connected to evidence-based practices.

4.4. Pursue and expand partnerships with businesses, higher education, city, and community organizations that are aligned with school and student needs and support postsecondary success.

5.1. Institute a continuous improvement process that supports implementation of the district plan: monitoring, evaluating, and sharing progress.

5.2. Conduct grade-span reviews based on defined criteria and act on recommendations, beginning with the elementary and upper school spans.

5.3. Conduct a Special Education review, analyzing referral and disciplinary data by student group, including types of disabilities

5.4. Establish a clear process for vetting, prioritizing, and implementing initiatives in a realistic way.

5.5. Provide targeted support to schools identified as in need based on specific, pre-determined criteria.

WHOLE

CHILD

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Questions generated by School Committee members at September retreat

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CATEGORY	QUESTIONS
Purpose	How does DESE see and use MCAS as a tool for SWD or other students have not fared as well in the system?
Development	Who is involved in decision-making on DESE questions? �How diverse is that group? How does DESE ensure questions are culturally responsive? How does DESE ensure questions are developmentally appropriate? How does DESE design questions to reflect the purpose?
Administration	What is DESE doing to ensure schools receive data sooner? What happens if CPS does not administer the assessment?
Data	What is DESE doing to provide findings about best practice from schools that are closing gaps more effectively? How is MCAS success correlated with postsecondary success?
Alternatives	What are DESE’s plans to move away from high stakes testing?
Accountability	How is DESE’s use of MCAS and targets different than NCLB?

CATEGORY	QUESTIONS
Purpose	How is CPS looking at and using school variation on MCAS?
Assessment portfolio	How do MCAS results link to our own formative or interim assessments?

DESE-FACING QUESTIONS

CPS-FACING QUESTIONS

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MCAS Background

Part 1

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DESE’s description of the purpose of state testing

“Statewide testing, which accounts for approximately 1 percent of class time each year, provides information to educators, helps parents check their child's and school's progress, and lets taxpayers know if they are getting a good return on the tax money they invest in schools.

Statewide assessments also help the state know where to focus its efforts, whether that be on individual struggling schools or wide subject areas, like early reading or middle school math. Without testing, those needs would �remain hidden.”

- DESE

http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/TestingMatters.html

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MCAS Background

Requirements from federal and state law

Students in grades 3-8 and 10, educated with MA public funds, are required to participate in statewide testing.
With the exception of English Learners (ELs) who are in their first year of enrollment in the US, all students must participate in all MCAS testing scheduled for their grade.
All EL students must participate in the ACCESS for ELLs tests.
All students with disabilities are required to participate in scheduled testing for their grade. Students with significant disabilities have the option of participating in MCAS-Alt if �they are unable to take the standard MCAS tests. The state has been setting caps on the % of students taking MCAS-Alt.
Passing 10th grade MCAS is a state graduation requirement, also known as competency determination.

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Next Generation MCAS Overview

Introduced in ELA and math in grades 3-8 in 2017.
Based on Massachusetts 2017 revised curriculum frameworks
Computer-based phase-in
Aligned to NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress, known as the “Nation’s Report Card”) and evidence-based definitions of college & career readiness

Legacy MCAS high school tests were designed to measure readiness to graduate, not readiness for college and career
DESE recruits educators to serve on test development committees. CPS educators often participate �on these committees.

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MCAS results provide information �at multiple levels

Standard Level

Item Level

Demographic Level

Student Level

MCAS results also provide us with growth data in grades 4-8 and 10 �in ELA and math, which enable us to understand the degree to which students grew in a year relative to their academic peers.
MCAS results also provide us with achievement percentiles, which �show the relative performance of a demographic group in a school to the performance of that demographic �group statewide.
The state has also started releasing �at least one of the actual essays students wrote, enabling educators �to engage in looking at student work.

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What are the implications of CPS not administering MCAS?

Lack of longitudinal and standards-aligned data �to inform:�

Instruction
Services
Planning
District-wide decisionmaking

Inability to generate growth data for individual students
Inability to compare peer student demographic data statewide to support equity-driven accountability and improvement, including performance data for:�

Students with disabilities
Racial and ethnic student groups

Schools or district could be recategorized in state accountability determinations and subject �to state interventions
Lost state and federal funding
Lost access to state scholarships �for students

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What was the response to the �Spring 2019 MCAS administration’s controversial question?

Part 1 (continued)

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Background:

The Grade 10 ELA Spring MCAS included an essay in which students were asked to write from the perspective of an overtly racist white character from Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad.

DESE Responses:�

Did not score the Underground Railroad essay question.
Exceptions granted to the required minimum test score for students whose performance prior to the essay prompt was on track to meet the test requirement for graduation.
Retests offered to any student who believes that the presence of the essay question impaired their ability to score high enough �to qualify for a John and Abigail Adams Scholarship.
Allowing students who took the 10th grade MCAS in spring 2019 to be considered for �an MCAS performance appeal if they take �the English Language Arts MCAS test twice without success, instead of three times.

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Background

The Grade 10 ELA Spring MCAS included an essay in which students were asked to write from the perspective of an overtly racist white character from Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad.

CPS Responses:�

Superintendent shares view with Deputy Commissioner that question was:

problematic, unfair and insensitive
at best confusing for students
had the potential to create serious worry and anxiety for others
should not have been part of the MCAS

Letters sent home explaining retest option with State scoring reports
Fall 2019 info meeting offered @CRLS
Guidance Counselors visited Junior community meetings
Tests ordered for every student the State deemed eligible for the retake
Deadline date extended to Monday, 10/28/19

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What is CPS’ vision about the purposes and use of different types assessments?

Part 2

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CPS Assessment System & Practices

Vision & Principles

Developed in collaboration with the CEA advisory committee on curriculum and instruction

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Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of student understanding �to inform instructional decisions. Assessments support the work of effective educators in continually observing, probing, investigating, analyzing and responding to their students' thinking and performance. The most instructionally powerful assessments are daily formative assessments aligned to instructional objectives.

https://www.cpsd.us/cms/One.aspx?portalId=3042869&pageId=49520071

At times, common district and state assessments are used to determine how all students are performing on cumulative subject matter and how student demographic groups are progressing relative to all students, as well as to provide information about curricular gaps and professional learning needs.

See handout

CPS Assessment Principles

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CPS Assessment System & Practices

Vision & Principles (cont.)

Developed in collaboration with the CEA advisory committee on curriculum and instruction

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The foundation of a balanced assessment system is assessment literacy, ensuring that different “users” of assessment - students, teachers, families, administrators, School Committee - have the information they need to make informed decisions based on the evidence �of student understanding.

No single measure can answer each user's questions and each user must have an understanding of the assessment’s purpose, the information it can provide, the conclusions that can be drawn, and the possible next steps to which the information can point.

Ongoing coaching and professional learning

Multiple measures

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Types of Assessments in CPS

CPS utilizes a range of assessments to addresses different information needs.

Type	Purpose	Examples
Screeners	Used to quickly identify whether students are at risk in a particular domain in reading and mathematics.	FastBridge screeners: aReading Early Reading, aMath Boulder Valley or Kathy Richardson Math interviews
Interim / Benchmark	Used to understand whether students are meeting standards �or benchmarks. Can be used formatively to adjust instruction.	Common Formative Assessments Interim ELA and math assessments
Summative	Used after instruction has finished on a topic to understand whether students met objectives.	Algebra 1 Midterm & Final Exam End-of-unit assessments Benchmark Reading Assessment
Performance	Used to provide multiple access points for students to demonstrate authentic mastery of a task/project.	ELA: writing assignments �(op-eds, advocacy letters) H/SS: civic engagement projects STE: notebooks, projects Yearlong student portfolios
Formative	Used to provide data during process of instruction for feedback and immediate adjustments.	Conferring Discourse Focused Routines Exit tickets

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How Do CPS Educators Use Assessments To Support Teaching and Learning?

Part 3

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MCAS Data from DESE

ACCESS for ELLs Data from WIDA

Screening Data from FastBridge

+ Internal Data Sources

External Data Sources

Interim assessments, benchmark assessments, end-of-unit assessments, midterms, finals ...

Comprehensive assessment histories on students available readily to teachers to inform their instruction and supports.

= Rich Student Data in Single Place

Assessment Data Tools

SchoolCity is the district's main assessment platform for entering, administering, scoring and analyzing assessment data.

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ELA, math and STE curriculum coordinators and CPS data team have met with every school leadership team to review 2019 MCAS results.
Facilitates teacher meetings (i.e. during professional learning days and department PD) to review data.
Presents assessment results to school-based coaches at the start of the year for MCAS and then 2-3 times/year during assessment cycles.

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CPS Data Team Supports Assessment Use in Departments & Schools

ANALYSIS

FACILITATION

COACHING/

CAPACITY BUILDING

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Allocated 0.5 FTE at CRLS in SY19-20 to support data use.
Provides on-site coaching & PD on SchoolCity; choice course is being developed for winter 2019.
Regularly meets with district / department leaders to review results, connecting to ongoing continuous improvement efforts & highlighting areas of success and challenge.

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What assessments are CPS students experiencing, using 3rd grade as example?

Part 3 (continued)

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Assessment Calendar for each grade

See handout

CPS Assessment Calendar

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Fall Assessment Cycle for Grade 3

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Early Fall	Mid-Fall	Late Fall
Teachers review incoming student data via SchoolCity, focusing on instructional reading levels for whole group, small group and individual reading instruction and independent reading.	Students screened in ELA and math via FastBridge �to identify students who need support. Further diagnostics may be administered to understand why. Students who are English Learners (EL) take the WIDA writing assessment.	Teachers administer an ELA Common Interim Assessment (Text-based Essay) Teachers participate in RTI/MTSS data meetings to plan supports for all students, using variety of data.
Ongoing Teachers collect data formatively: i.e., conferring notes, exit tickets, student work, talk routines and summatively: i.e. end of unit assessments and project-based learning opportunities. Additional progress monitoring measures administered by specialists and interventionists to assess if students are progressing on specific skills via intervention and support.

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Winter Assessment Cycle for Grade 3

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Early Winter	Mid-Winter	Late Winter
Teachers administer math interim assessment on SchoolCity.	EL students participate in the state mandated ACCESS testing to assess English proficiency and progress. Students are re-screened in ELA and math via FastBridge �to ensure all students are making progress.	Teachers participate in MTSS data meetings to plan for the needs of all students, using a variety of data.
Ongoing Teachers collect data formatively: i.e., conferring notes, exit tickets, student work, talk routines and summatively: i.e. end of unit assessments and project-based learning opportunities. Additional progress monitoring measures administered by specialists �and interventionists to assess if students are progressing on specific skills via intervention and support.

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Spring Assessment Cycle for Grade 3

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Early Spring, prior to MCAS testing	Early Spring	Late Spring
Students participate in a second interim math assessment via SchoolCity. Students participate in a second interim ELA assessment (text based essay)	Students participate in state-mandated MCAS testing in ELA and math.	Students re-screened in ELA and math via FastBridge to examine year-long progress. ESL and SEI students take the WIDA writing assessment. Students participate in the Benchmark Assessment System to gather data on students’ independent reading levels. This data is shared with CPS academic camps. Teachers participate in MTSS data meetings to plan supports for all students and to ensure all students made progress.
Ongoing Teachers collect data formatively: i.e., conferring notes, exit tickets, student work, talk routines and summatively: i.e. end of unit assessments and project-based learning opportunities. Additional progress monitoring measures administered by specialists and interventionists to assess if students are progressing on specific skills via intervention and support.

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Baldwin

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Student Growth and the Importance of Data

Data informs various conversations about students and instruction
Using multiple data sources wisely and in multiple ways
Taking a deeper dive with performance assessments, interviews
District support in asking questions, understanding trends (always considering demographic groups)

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How is CPS improving its assessment strategy?

Part 3 (continued)

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Current Efforts

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Assessments �in Multi-Tiered System of Supports

Review of Dyslexia Screeners
Building capacity to use formative assessment as part of instructional routines
Exploring interview-based math screeners

Expanding Authentic Assessments

Partnership with Democratic Knowledge Project to create 8th grade Civics course
Continued thought-partnership with Center for Collaborative Education - technical assistance for Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Educational Assessment (MCIEA)

Explore solutions for gaps in assessment strategy: Curriculum and Instruction Advisory Group

Building on collaboration to use Assessment Vision and Principles to review assessment portfolio and �identify specific opportunities for improvement

DESE Kaleidoscope Initiative

The pilot will give individual schools and entire districts the chance to rethink classroom instruction and assessments around deeper learning.

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Closing

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There are a range of perspectives �on assessment across CPS

We know some educators feel tensions between MCAS and performance-based authentic assessments

CPS assessment portfolio continues to evolve as we respond to feedback and refine our tools

1

2

3

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CEA Member Perspective

Part 4

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Questions & Discussion

Part 5

Looking ahead: 11/19 Presentation on 2019 MCAS results

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CPS Assessment System & Practices

Vision & Principles

Developed in collaboration with the CEA advisory committee on curriculum and instruction

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Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of student understanding �to inform instructional decisions. Assessments support the work of effective educators in continually observing, probing, investigating, analyzing and responding to their students' thinking and performance. The most instructionally powerful assessments are daily formative assessments aligned to instructional objectives.

https://www.cpsd.us/cms/One.aspx?portalId=3042869&pageId=49520071

At times, common district and state assessments are used to determine how all students are performing on cumulative subject matter and how student demographic groups are progressing relative to all students, as well as to provide information about curricular gaps and professional learning needs.

See handout

CPS Assessment Principles

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Appendix

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Building Equity Bridges findings:

Barriers to Equity

Inequitable School and Classroom Experiences
Lack of Focus on Relationships
Existing Structures and Practices Perpetuate Inequities
Lack of Coherence has Disproportionate and Inequitable Impacts
Educators of Color are not Being Valued, Centered, and Supported
Whiteness, Privilege, and Bias
Power in Decision-Making is Inequitably Distributed
Equity Work has Lacked Commitment, Coherence, and Accountability
Youth are Not Centered

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Next Generation MCAS Performance Levels

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A student who performed at this level exceeded grade-level expectations by demonstrating mastery of the subject matter.

A student who performed at this level met grade-level expectations and is academically on track to succeed in the current grade in this subject.

A student who performed at this level partially met grade-level expectations in this subject. �The school, in consultation �with the student's parent/guardian, should consider whether the student needs additional academic assistance to succeed in this subject.

A student who performed at this �level did not meet grade-level expectations in this subject. The school, in consultation with the student's parent/guardian, should determine the coordinated academic assistance and/or additional instruction the student needs to succeed in this subject.

Exceeding Expectations (530-560)

Meeting Expectations (500-529)

Partially Meeting Expectations (470-499)

Not Meeting Expectations (440-469)

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Next Generation MCAS Overview

	Grades 3-8 ELA	Grades �3-8 Math	Grades �5 & 8 STE	Grade 10 ELA	Grade 10 Math	HS STE
Tested New Curriculum Frameworks	✔ 2017	✔ 2017	✔ 2019	✔ 2019	✔ 2019	2020
Tested �Online in All Grades	✔ 2019	✔ 2019	✔ 2019	✔ 2019	✔ 2019	✔ 2019

In spring 2019, DESE administered Next Generation MCAS tests for �grades 3-8 in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math for the third year.
In spring 2019, DESE administered Next Generation MCAS tests for �grades 5 and 8 in Science, Technology & Engineering (STE) and �High School ELA & Math for the first year.
In spring 2020, DESE will administer Next Generation MCAS tests �for High School STE.

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2019 Parent/Guardian Report

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Screeners

FastBridge is CPS's system for K-8 ELA and math screeners: Quick assessments of all students at multiple points in the school year for the purpose of identifying which students might need additional instruction to meet grade-level learning goals.