Results in class, spring 2009

              RESULTS IN CLASS
SPECIAL EDITION
Oklahoma State Department of Education
www.sde.state.ok.uSf
SPRING 2009
Next steps in state ACE law Page 2
Workshops, Conferences and Opportunities Page 3
Upcoming Events; State testing windows Page 4
Help keep our schools safe.
1-877-SAFE-CALL ext. OKI
1-877-723-3225 ext. 651
Results 2009
by State Superintendent
Sandy Garrett
As your state superintendent, an educator, a parent and a taxpayer,
I support making instructional decisions based on the very best data.
Yet, Oklahoma now has mandated 44 state and/or federal tests for schools
and, more specifically teachers, to administer each year — including
those especially designed for students with disabilities.
It takes some four to six weeks for most schools to complete testing —
thus, taking away from those too few and precious instructional days in
our school year.
1 believe that Oklahoma is over the top here! That said, 1 also believe
that certain state and local tests are very important in order to know just
how each child (and school) is progressing to inform teachers and
parents, and to adjust instruction according to the needs reflected in
those test results. We should consider focusing and testing only the basic
areas of instruction at the state level, and let the responsibility for some
tests rest with local teachers and schools.
Because of Oklahoma's mandate for online testing in Grades 7, 8,
and for the end-of-instruction exams, many Oklahoma schools must
displace classes conducted in computer labs and/or move classroom
computers to the gym and/or other places to conduct testing. No funds
have been provided from the state for "online" testing.
The importance of Oklahoman's end-of-instruction tests starting with
this year's freshmen class, and for all who follow, cannot be understated
(see page 2 for an Achieving Classroom Excellence update). Clearly, the
stakes are high in all states that deny a diploma based on testing.
No state funding has been appropriated for the administration of
student assessments in our schools; not for the required site and district
See "Results 2009,"page 4
Measure/Status/Date
Topic
■SB1111   • 2/17/09
Creates new agency to conduct student
testing; deletes social studies from OSTP
■SB421    • 2/9/09
Allows district board to determine when to
administer end-of-instruction tests
■SB497   • 2/4/09
Providing for reporting of business and industry-
recognized endorsements attained on transcripts
■SB676   • 2/18/09
High school graduation; setting curricular
standards; requiring phase-in of testing
■SB867   • 2/23/09
Delaying until 2010-11 the requirement to
pass end-of-instruction tests for graduation
■ HB1303 • 2/19/09
Modifying testing window dates
■ HB1511 • 2/19/09
End-of-instruction test; adds computer science
■ HB1867 • 2/19/09
Prohibits schools from requiring counselors
to coordinate student tests
What you need to know about the
Oklahoma School Testing Program
■ Passed committee; pending House floor
•Passed committee; pending Senate floor
Since enactment of the Oklahoma Education
Improvement Act of 1985, educators have administered state-mandated student achievement tests
in the Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP).
Today, the Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests
(OCCT) are administered statewide to students
in Grades 3-8, and after specific high school
courses are completed. Students who should
not take the OCCT, even with accommodations
as determined by their IEP may participate in the
state's Modified or Alternate Portfolio assessments.
State tests show parents and educators how
much students are learning in relation to the
grade-level content in the Priority Academic
Student Skills (PASS) - the state's core curriculum. They assist in determining strengths and
weaknesses, and the results are used as guides
for improving future course planning.
State tests also help determine whether a
school makes adequate yearly progress (AYP),
a requirement under the federal No Child Left
Behind Act.
The OCCTs are criterion-referenced assessments. Student achievement is compared to
performance standards established by the State
Board of Education. These are reported in four
specific performance levels defined for each
test (advanced, satisfactory, limited knowledge
and unsatisfactory). Grade-level proficiency is
the percentage of students scoring at the satisfactory plus advanced levels.
Performance standards (or cut scores) for
each test are set by a committee of educators,
content experts, curriculum specialists, and
other education stakeholders who come to a
consensus based upon their evaluation of the
curriculum standards, the assessments, and
performance-level descriptors. The standard-
setting committees' recommendations are made
to the State Board of Education.
► Oversight
The state technical advisory committee,
called the Oklahoma Testing and Accountability
Oversight Team, is made up of six national
experts in the fields of large-scale assessment
and educational research. They assist in the
development and implementation of the OSTP
assessments and standard-setting process. This
team oversees the work of testing contractors
and provides input to the State Board of
Education on any technical or statistical considerations related to assessment or accountability policies (see sidebar, right).
► Accountability
Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
(NCLB), all states are required to have state
academic standards, testing and accountability
measures that meet federal requirements for
monitoring the yearly progress of schools.
Students must be tested annually on reading
and mathematics in Grades 3-8 to help identify
achievement gaps among racial/ethnic, migrant,
high-poverty and other student groups.
In Oklahoma, the Academic Performance
Index (API) measures the progress of schools
based on test scores, attendance, dropouts and
graduation rates, ACT scores and participation,
Advanced Placement (AP) credit, and college
remediation rates in reading and mathematics.
Schools that do not make AYP for two consecutive years are placed on the federal school
improvement list.
The Oklahoma Testing
and Accountability Oversight
Team members
■ Lauress L. Wise
(March 2003) Comm. Member &
Chair President, Human Resources
Research Organization; Ph.D. in
Mathematical Psychology from the
University of California, Berkeley
■ Howard C. Mitzel
(March 2003) Co-founder and President,
Pacific Metrics; Ph.D. in Research
Methodology and Quantitative Psychology,
University of Chicago
■ Phoebe C. Winter
(January 2004) Research director, Center
for the Study of Assessment Validity and
Evaluation, College of Education, University
of Maryland; Ph.D. in Psychology:
Measurement, Evaluation and Applied
Statistics, Columbia University, New York
■ John M. Keene
(March 2003) Owner of Assessment and
Evaluation Services, a large-scale testing
program consulting firm. Ph.D. in
Educational Psychology from Indiana
University
■ Robert A. Terry
(March 2003) Professor of psychology
at the University of Oklahoma and active
member of the American Educational
Research Association review panel. Ph.D.
in Quantitative Psychology, University
of North Carolina at Chapei Hill
■ Kathy McKean
(March 2003) Director of the Oklahoma
Technical Assistance Center (OTAC); Ph.D.
in Applied Behavioral Studies: Educational
Research and Measurement, Oklahoma
State University
► Additional information available online at <www.sde.state.ok.us>