Georgia Milestones Assessment: Implications for Instruction

Kelley Webb, Humanities Program SpecialistStephanie Haga, STEM Program Specialist

What will the assessment look like in ELA?• Write Score Sample Items (7th Grade)• OAS Items (becoming GOFAR in SLDS)• Engage NY: Just Released Test Items (Grades 3-8)• Georgia DOE Assessment Guides (Grades 9-11)

Georgia Milestones

Consolidation of English Language Arts• English Language Arts and reading will be combined and a

writing component added for every grade level and course within the ELA assessment

• One overall ELA score and proficiency designation • Reporting categories below the overall content area will be

reported similar to the domains on the CRCT• Cannot make proficiency claims at the lower level reporting

categories

Georgia Milestones

Criterion Referenced and Norm Referenced Items:• students will receive 2 scores: *criterion referenced score (55 total points) *norm referenced score (20 total points)• some norm-referenced items (10) will count as criterion-

referenced items as well

Georgia MilestonesELACriterion-Referenced

Total Number of Items: 44 / Total Number of Points: 55

Breakdown by Item Type:– 40 Selected Response (worth 1 point each; 10 of which are aligned NRT)– 2 Constructed Response (2 points each)

– 1 Constructed or Extended Response (worth 4 points): literary prose– 1 Extended Response (worth 7 points): informative/explanatory or

argument/opinion

Norm-Referenced– Total Number of Items: 20 (10 of which contribute to CR score)

Embedded Field Test– Total field test items: 6 Total number of items taken by

each student: 60

Writing at Every Grade Level

All students will encounter a constructed-response item allowing for narrative

prose, in response to text, within the 1st or 2nd test section.

Georgia Milestones

Writing at Every Grade Level

Extended Response Writing Section:

• Writing prompts will be informative/explanatory or opinion/argumentative depending on the grade level. Students could encounter either genre.

Georgia Milestones

Content Area

Test Section Minimum Time Per Section

Maximum Time Per Section

ELA 1 and 2 60 minutes 70 minutes

ELA(writing only)

3 70 minutes 90 minutes

Administration Times

Georgia MilestonesScratch PaperBlank scratch paper, including notebook paper, should be provided to students taking Milestones regardless of the administration mode:

ELA: Section 3 onlyMathematics: All sections

Write Score ExampleBlueprint very similar to ELA Georgia Milestones Assessment:• selected response (multiple choice)• constructed response• extended response

Sample Assessment

Grade 3 Informational Task

Sample Assessment

Grade 7 Informational Task

What will students struggle with on the upcoming Georgia Milestones? Why?

What?• complex texts• text-dependent questions• written response• citing evidence• analyzing and synthesizing information from two or more texts• writing/typing online

Why?• lack of student exposure to complex texts using close reading strategies• lower level comprehension questions (Who? What? Where?)• lack of teacher experience and training with literary analysis• lack of teacher knowledge of Common Core standards• lack of student experience with written response to text-dependent questions

How do we prepare our teachers and students for these assessments?

• provide teachers with sample assessment items• model lessons that integrate reading and writing and cover multiple

standards• provide examples of complex texts (variety of literary, informational, and

digital texts) and assist teachers with selection of these texts• model close reading strategies, text analysis strategies, and text-

dependent questioning • assist teachers with planning units and lessons that integrate reading

and writing

Assessment ResourcesPerformance Based Assessments found in Fulton Connect• Grades: 2, 5, 8, 9-10• Genre: Argument/Opinion• Types of assessment: constructed and extended response• Location: Fulton Connect• Purposes: both instructional and assessmentFormative Item Bank found in Fulton Connect• Grades: all• Types of assessment: selected and constructed response• Location: Fulton Connect• Purpose: assessment• coming soon!!!

Assessment Resources• Write Score Sample Items (3rd Grade)• OAS Items (becoming GOFAR in SLDS)• Journeys Performance Assessments (Reading Complex Text)• Engage NY: Just Released Test Items• Georgia Milestones Blueprints

How do we prepare our teachers and students for these assessments?• provide teachers with sample assessment items

Model Lessons• Reading and Writing Project VideosIntroduce a Text-Based Debate: StrayModeled Reading Lesson with Mary Ehrenworth: Pilgrims • Sample lessons from Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study, Craft Lessons, Mentor Texts• Sample lessons from Write Score• Elementary schools: CST professional development/Edmodo Group

How do we prepare our teachers and students for these assessments?• model lessons that integrate reading and writing and cover multiple standards

How do we prepare students for the online writing assessments?• provide opportunities to “write” on computers

in and out of class• keyboarding skills• student and parent awareness• access to computers

Opportunities to “write” on computers• writing station during literacy stations at the

computers (laptops, iPads, etc.)• collaborative group responses typed on computers• in-class assignments and responses posted on

Edmodo or kid blogs• allow students to type homework assignments on

computers at home as an option• computer lab “special” time used to to practice typing, blog, etc.

Keyboarding SkillsResources to help teach students keyboarding skills:• Dance Mat Typing: http://

www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3c6tfr• Typing Instructor:http://www.typinginstructor.biz/arcade/wildwest/wildwest.swf• Typing Web: www.typingweb.com• Type to Learn$795 lifetime subscription, web-basedhttp://ttl4.sunburst.com/

What will the assessment look like in Math?• Examples on upcoming slides• OAS Items (becoming GOFAR in SLDS)• Engage NY: Just Released Test Items

5th Grade Constructed Response Ex

5th Grade Constructed Response Ex

5th Grade Constructed Response Ex

5th Grade Constructed Response Ex

5th Grade Constructed Response Ex

Instructional ImplicationsStudent-Focused Classroom vs. Teacher-Focused Classroom

• Students need to be the ones doing the math, not just copying procedures.

• Students need to think and reason in mathematics

“Too often, mathematics instruction gives students the erroneous notion that learning math is all about learning procedures, rather than making sense of ideas.” Marilyn Burns

• build conceptual understanding starting with the concrete use of manipulatives

• scaffold students to higher levels of thinking

• incorporate the Standards for Mathematical Practice into every lesson through writing and student dialogue

Instructional Implications

• presenting concepts through the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (C-R-A) model

• teaching vocabulary• building context and background knowledge• modeling the problem solving process with

challenging problems using gradual release• using graphic organizers

Scaffolding

Standards for Mathematical Practice

1. make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

2. reason abstractly and quantitatively3. construct viable arguments and critique the

reasoning of others4. model with mathematics5. use appropriate tools strategically6. attend to precision7. look for and make use of structure8. look for and express regularity in repeated

reasoning

Incorporate these standards into every lesson through:• student dialogue in partners, groups, and whole class• number sense routines• math talks

Videos of Math Talks

Professional Development Books:Number Sense Routines (Grades K-3) by Jessica ShumwayNumber Talks: Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies (Grades K-5) by Sherry Parrish

SMP

Math ResourcesVideo Model Lessons: Standards of Mathematical Practice by Grade Level

Teacher Resources: Standards of Mathematical Practice Resources by Grade Level

“Our challenge as teachers is not to find better ways to explain to our students what we want them to learn, but rather to find better ways to ask our students to make sense of what they’re learning for themselves.” -Marilyn Burns