chester county school district assessment plan 2019 2020

Chester County School District

ASSESSMENT PLAN

2019 – 2020

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Chester County School District Assessment Plan

Table of Contents

Page

Chester County Assessment Plan for 2019-2020 …………...................................................... 3

Test Dates 2019-2020........................................................................................................... 5

State-Required Tests .......................................................................................................... 7

Rationale for District Testing Plan ................................................................................... 11 Communication to Parents ……………………………………………………………………………………………….12

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Chester County Assessments/Testing Programs 2019-2020

Grade District Programs State Programs

PreK Curriculum Assessments PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening)

Kindergarten

F & P

MAP

Curriculum Assessments/Benchmarks

KRA (Kindergarten Readiness Assessment) ACCESS (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for

English Language Learners) W-APT - WIDA-ACCESS Placement Test

Grade 1

F & P

MAP


ACCESS (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for


Grade 2

F & P

MAP

Curriculum Assessments/

Benchmarks

ACCESS (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for


CogAT &Iowa Assessment (IA)

Grade 3

F & P

MAP


Benchmarks

SC READY – Writing, Reading, Math

Performance Task

SCNCSC/SC – Alt

ACCESS and W-APT for ESOL Program

Grade 4

F & P

MAP


Benchmarks

SC Ready – Writing, Reading, Math

SCPASS – Science

SCNCSC/SC – Alt

Performance Task


NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Pro-

gress) – Selected Schools

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Grade 5 F & P

MAP



SCPASS – Social Studies

SCNCSC/SC – Alt

Performance Task


Grade 6

F & P

MAP



SCPASS – Science

SCNCSC/SC – Alt


Grade 7

F & P

MAP


Benchmarks


SCPASS – Social Studies

SCNCSC/SC – Alt


Grade 8

F & P

MAP


Benchmarks

PSAT Option


SCPASS – Science

SCNCSC/SC – Alt




*** EOCEP, as needed

Grade 9 MAP

Curriculum Assessments


SC-Alt, as needed


Grade 10 MAP

Curriculum Assessments

Pre-ACT or PSAT


SC-Alt, as needed


Grade 11 Curriculum Assessments ACT

WorkKeys/WIN


SC-Alt, as needed


Grade 12 Curriculum Assessments ACCESS and W-APT for ESOL Program




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2019 – 2020 Test Dates

Grade Test Dates

PK PALS August 19 – October 18

March 27 – May 29

K KRA August 19 – October 18

K – 5 MAP Fall Window August 26 – September 9

K – 5 MAP Winter Window December 2 – December 13

K – 5 MAP Spring Window March 23 – April 3

K – 5 Math Benchmark Quarter 1 October 10

K – 5 Math Benchmark Quarter 2 December 12

K - 5 Math Benchmark Quarter 3 March 5

K - 5 Math Benchmark Quarter 4 April 30

6 – 8 and 9 – 10 MAP Fall Window August 27 – ELA

August 28 – Math

August 29-30 – Make-ups

6 – 8 MAP Winter Window December 9 – ELA

December 10 – Math

December 11-12 – Make-ups

9 – 10 MAP Winter Window January 13 – ELA

January 14 – Math

January 15-16 – Make-ups

1 – 8 F & P Fall Window August 19 – September 18

1 – 8 F & P Winter Window December 2 – December 20

1 – 8 F & P Spring Window April 14 – May 18

2 CogAT/IA October 25 – November 7

January 13 – 17 (Make-ups)

K – 12 Access/ELLs January 27 – March 13

3 – 5 Performance Task February 18 – March 5

March 9 – 12 (Make-ups)

4, 8, 12 NAEP TBD

Determined by Age and

Grade

SC Alt March 9 – April 24

3 – 8 SC Ready May 1 – May 29

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4 – 8 SCPASS May 1 – May 29

Algebra 1, English 1-Reading

and Writing, Biology 1, US

History and the Constitution,

English 2 Field Test –

Reading and Writing

EOCEP December 2 – 20

May 8 – May 29

10 PSAT October 16

11 ACT February 25

11 SAT March 4

11 Ready to Work (R2W) March 30

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State Required Tests

PALS Section 59-155-150 of the South Carolina Read to Succeed Act requires that each student in a public four-year old kindergarten program complete a readiness assessment during the forty-fifth day of the school year and during the last 45 days of the school year. Chester County School District chose Phonological Awareness Liter-acy Screening (PALS) to meet this requirement. Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) The KRA is a developmentally appropriate instrument that measures a child’s school readiness across multiple domains. Understanding a child’s school readiness helps kindergarten teachers best meet the child’s needs, and it helps schools, families, communities and policy makers know how best to support young children as they enter the K-12 environment. The KRA determines each child’s readiness level from an evaluation of four domains: Social Foundations, Language/Literacy, Mathematics, and Physical Well-Being. The KRA provides a snapshot of students’ abilities at the beginning of the school year. The KRA includes selected-response items (multiple-choice), performance tasks, and observation items. The test consists of 50 items; each item is scored using a rubric. Teachers interact directly with the child for the selected-response and the performance task items. Observations can take place in a variety of naturally occurring settings. For the observation items, teachers can observe students individually, in small groups, or as a whole class. Observation items are scored using a rubric that includes specific criteria at three levels of proficiency: Proficient, In Progress, or Not Yet Evi-dent. Administered during the first 45 days of the school year. SC READY

SC READY is the state-mandated grades 3 – 8 ELA and Mathematics assessment. The ELA portion includes a reading and writing section. The overall performance levels will be reported as Does Not Meet Expectations, Approaches Expectations, Meets Expectations, or Exceeds Expectations. The testing window is the last twenty days as determined by the district’s instructional calendar.

SCPASS The SCDE began the administration of the South Carolina Palmetto Assessment of State Standards in the spring of 2009. These tests are mandatory. For Science the overall performance levels will be reported as Does Not Meet Expectations, Approaches Expectations, Meets Expectations, or Exceeds Expectations. For So-cial Studies, the overall performance levels will be reported as Not Met, Met, or Exemplary. The testing win-dow is the last twenty days as determined by the district’s instructional calendar. EOCEP State-mandated EOCEP tests establish a common standard of achievement for all schools. This is a mechanism that could be used to check on possible grade inflation. In fall 2003, EOCEP scores began counting as 20% of the student’s grades.

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Performance Task Performance task assessments were developed as one of several options for the South Carolina Gifted and Tal-ented Identification Program. SCDE requires that this assessment be offered to students who have demon-strated strong performance in certain areas as an additional opportunity to qualify for the program. ACCESS ACCESS for ELLs (Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners) is a secure large-scale English language proficiency assessment given to Kindergarten through 12th graders who have been identified as English language learners (ELLs). It is given annually in WIDA (World-Class Instructional Design & Assessment) Consortium member states to monitor students' progress in acquiring aca-demic English. ACCESS for ELLs test items are based on the WIDA's five English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards: • Social & Instructional Language • Language of Language Arts • Language of Mathematics • Language of Science • Language of Social Studies Tests are divided into five grade-level clusters: • Kindergarten • Grades 1-2 • Grades 3-5 • Grades 6-8 • Grades 9-12 Student results are reported in three ways: as raw scores, scale scores, and English language proficiency (ELP) levels. Scores are reported for each of the four language domains and in several composites as follows: • Listening • Speaking • Reading • Writing • Oral Language • Literacy • Comprehension • Overall The WIDA-ACCESS Placement Test (W-APT) is an English language proficiency screening test given to incoming students who may be designated as English language learners (ELLs). It assists educators with programmatic placement decisions such as identification and placement of ELLs. The W-APT is one component of WIDA's comprehensive assessment system. W-APT test items are based on the WIDA's five English Language Profi-ciency (ELP) standards and five grade-level clusters listed above. Each form of the test assesses the four lan-guage domains of Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.

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NAEP The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a national testing program that provides no indi-vidual student scores, but it does offer a technically sound measure of academic achievement that permits comparison of results for different regions of the country and for different states. Known as “The Nation’s Re-port Card,” NAEP has conducted assessments periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, U.S. his-tory, civics, geography, and the arts since 1969. The “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) federal legislation, enacted in January 2002, requires participation of sampled schools in biennial assessment of mathematics and English language arts at Grades 4 and 8. WorkKeys

State law requires that students in their third year of high school take at least three assessments from the ACT WorkKeys series: Locating Information, Reading for Information and Applied Mathematics. ACT WorkKeys is a series of tests measuring foundational and soft skills and offers specialized assessments, as well. Students can earn a score of 0 -7 on Reading for Information and Applied Mathematics. On Locating Information, students can score between 0 – 6. Students scoring above a 3 on all three assessments can receive a National Career Readiness Certificate, which is a portable career-readiness credential that is used by many employers to screen applicants. The certificate is awarded on the basis of the lowest score for one of the three components. The ACT and SAT (College Entrance Assessments) State law requires students in their third year of high school to take The ACT or SAT. Test scores reflect what students have learned throughout high school. Scores can be sent to colleges and universities for the purpose of meeting entrance requirements. CogAT

Chester County School District administers the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) to 2nd grade students. CogAT measures general thinking and problem-solving skills that students have learned through in-school and out-of-school experiences. It indicates how well the students can use these skills to solve verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal problems. Information from CogAT supplements teacher observations about what students are able to do. As a result, teachers are better able to employ methods and materials that will provide optimal learning conditions for each student. Iowa Assessments (IA)

Chester County Administers the Iowa Assessments to 2nd grade students. The following areas are tested: Reading Picture Stories, Reading Sentences, Reading Stories, Math Concepts, and Math Problem Solving. PSAT and Pre-ACT

PSAT or Pre-ACT is offered to all students in their second year of high school. The assessments are used to pre-dict student performance and for practice. Some students may choose to take the PSAT in earlier grades, as well. SC ALT

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SC Alt is an alternate assessment on Alternate Achievement Standards (AA-AAS). Students with significant cognitive disabilities are assessed against alternate achievement standards as they are unable to participate in the general assessment program even with appropriate accommodations. As many students who participate in alternate assessments are non-graded, these students are assessed on grade-level content based on their age commensurate with the ages of students who are typically in the tested grades. ASSESSMENTS TO SUPPORT INSTRUCTION Classroom teachers should provide periodic assessments in all of subject areas to monitor consistency of in-struction and provide timely feedback to students on their achievement. The District encourages teachers at all grade levels to collaborate on common assessments, quizzes, tests, and benchmarks.

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Rationale for District Assessment Plan

Rationale for diagnostic assessment in English language arts (F & P)

Reading Running Records offer an evaluative approach to assessment that has been widely used by reading educators. Teachers can analyze a “running record” of students’ individual oral reading to determine what strategies they are employing as they attempt to read unfamiliar text, and teachers can evaluate responses to questions about the text to estimate how well students comprehend what they read. Classroom teachers are encouraged to use this approach with selected students at kindergarten readers and above. Rationale for aptitude testing at Grade 2 and for selected students at Grades 3 through 5

The regulations for Gifted and Talented programs require that the District offer multiple opportunities for stu-dents to demonstrate the necessary skills to qualify. Norm-referenced cognitive skills testing are necessary for the district to offer the required assessment opportunities. Psychologists now know that academic aptitude can change over time, depending upon a student’s experiences. Rationale for computer-adaptive achievement testing at Grades K through 9 (MAP)

Giving norm-referenced tests at these grades provides a nationally comparable achievement indicator that will track student progress; help to track trends in curriculum and instruction; and provide multiple measures to aid in placement decisions or in identification of students for various programs. The computer-adaptive norm-referenced testing system offers several advantages. Testing time is reduced because item presentation is cus-tomized based upon the student’s answers. Test results can be produced rapidly. One type of score is corre-lated to a continuum of learning, which can help teachers identify the specific skills that individual students are ready to learn. Lexile scores, which are available in several norm-referenced testing programs, can be used to match reading materials to students’ achievement levels. Information about Lexile scores is available at www.lexile.com Rationale for offering PSAT as an option

PSAT can be used to predict scores on the SAT. PSAT emphasizes the concepts of higher-order thinking. PSAT is designed for administration to college-bound students. Offering the PSAT option would allow any college-bound students who are interested in taking the PSAT to predict likely achievement on the SAT. Any tenth-graders who are considering college would have data that could help them determine how they can expect to perform on the SAT. Rationale for Assessments to Support Instruction

Classroom teachers should provide periodic assessments in all of subject areas to monitor consistency of in-struction and provide timely feedback to students on their achievement. The District encourages teachers at all grade levels to collaborate on common assessments, quizzes, tests, and benchmarks. Teachers are able to use this data to identify strengths and weaknesses in student achievement and collaborate on instructional strategies for improvement.

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Communication to Parents All assessments and student performance levels are discussed with parents during parent/teacher confer-ences. Standardized Individual Student Reports (ISR) are sent home to parents after they are received from the contractors. Performances on classroom formative and summative assessments are communicated through weekly folders and/or Parent Portal.

chester county school district assessment plan 2019 2020

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