Maryland Assessment Group Conference

November 21, 2013

NCSC Core State Partners

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NCSC Organization Partners

Implementation in Maryland is 2015-2016 www.ncscpartners.org

Maryland’s Community of Practice

• Regional Community of Practice (CoP) Teams– Six Regional CoP

• Implement Model Curricula; provide feedback prior to the assessment implementation for refinement

• Assist with providing professional development to support teachers

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Maryland Community of Practice Teams– Northern*

• Baltimore City• Baltimore County• Harford

– Central*• Anne Arundel• Howard• Montgomery• Prince George’s

– Upper Eastern Shore*• Caroline• Cecil• Kent• Queen Anne’s• Talbot

– Lower Eastern Shore• Dorchester• Somerset• Wicomico• Worchester

– Western*• Allegany• Carroll• Frederick• Garrett• Washington

– Southern*• Calvert• Charles• St. Mary’s

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• Alt-MSA Facilitators will Co-Chair a Region

• Up to 23 CoP Team Members• Administrators, Special Educators, General Educators and

Related Service Providers– Speech Pathologist– Assistive Technology Specialist– OT, PT specialists– Teacher of Visually Impaired and Deaf/Hard of Hearing– Content Specialist – Reading/ELA, Mathematics– Regular and Special Education Teacher– Autism Specialist– Principal/AP – Comprehensive School and Special School– Non-public School Representative

Community of Practice Teams

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NCSC Professional Development Framework

NCSC Assessment Delivery

• Technology-based– Flexibility for presentation on devices/ platforms

– Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

– Accommodations built-in

– Adaptive and multi-tiered• Four Complexity Tiers: Each tier is based on student performance. As students answer questions, their performance will determine

which tier of questions they answer next.

Item Types

• Types of test items (up to 30 Items per content)

– multiple choice– Short constructed response– Performance tasks

• Line drawings vs. illustrations

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Administration of NCSC Assessment

• Testing window of approximately two months

• Approximately 1.5 to 2 hours per content area, divided between at least two sessions with flexibility to stop and resume

• Some students will qualify to take a shorter assessment based on evidence collected before and during the assessment

• A trained testing administrator familiar to the student (e.g., the student’s teacher)

Four levels of

complexity for test items

Assessment Outcomes

• Total score and performance level for each content, mathematics and ELA, which will combine reading and writing.

• Separate information for writing will be provided, such as a raw score and/or narrative description of student performance.

• At the total score level for each content area, scores will be comparable within a year and across years.

Let’s Review The Alt-MSA and NCSC Comparison Crosswalk

Document!

Maryland’s Transition Timeline to NCSC

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2012-

2013

•NCSC Produces Classroom Curriculum, Content Support, and Begins Sample Field Testing

•Maryland Establishes CoP

2013-

2014

•NCSC Develops Final Test Items/Reporting System, Completes Sample Field Testing, Sets Cut Scores, Begins Validation Studies and Development of Technical Report

•Maryland Provides Professional Development to CoP on Curriculum Resource Materials

•Maryland Develops Communication Initiative

•Maryland Shares Parent Resources on NCSC

2014-

2015

•NCSC Completes Validation Studies and Development of Technical Report/Alternate Assessment System is Pilot-Field tested/NCSC Standard Setting is held (Summer 2015)

•Maryland Provides Professional Development with Support from CoP on NCSC Curriculum Resources

•Maryland Provide Professional Development on Participation Guidelines and Resource Tools

2015-

2016

•Maryland Continues to Provide Professional Development on NCSC Curriculum Resources

•Maryland Fully Implements NCSC Assessment

What can teachers do now to prepare for the new

assessment?

Communicative and Instructional Practices

1. Embed the use of technology during instruction and assessment.

2. Provide access to communication within content-based instruction for every student.

3. Provide multiple means of research-based presentation, representation and action, and expression (UDL).

4. Provide daily, appropriate, and

individualized accommodations.

Thank You!

The contents of this presentation were developed under a grant from the Department of Education (PR/Award #: H373X100002, Project Officer, Susan.Weigert@Ed.gov). However, the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education and

no assumption of endorsement by the Federal government should be made.