Aligning Georgia’s Testing
Program to the Georgia
Performance Standards
Kathy Cox
State Superintendent of Schools
GPS Day 3 Training
Melissa Fincher
Alignment Schedule
o Test alignment will follow the GPS
implementation schedule…as students are
taught the GPS in each content area and
grade, the test will be aligned
o 2005 – 2006 School Year
o Reading/ELA
o Math
o Science
Grades 1 – 8; high school
Grade 6
Grades 6 – 7; high school
Three Phases of Alignment
1. Item alignment
2. Form alignment
3. Performance (expectation) alignment
How is alignment judged?
o Georgia educators are critical
participants in the alignment process
o Every proposed item is reviewed and
approved by a committee of Georgia
educators
o Items are either accepted, edited, or
rejected
o Individual comments are collected
How is alignment judged?
o Items are field tested with representative
groups of Georgia students
o This spring, field test items will be embedded
in operational tests
o Field test items will not contribute to a student’s
score
o Item performance statistics are reviewed by
psychometricians, GDOE, and Georgia educators
o The content of the item is reviewed in concert with
how the item performed (i.e., item statistics)
o Items can be rejected at this point
o Any item that is revised MUST be re-field tested
How is alignment judged?
o Accepted field test items are banked
o Test forms are developed by
selecting items according to the test
blueprint to provide
o a range of content coverage
o an opportunity for all students to
demonstrate their level of
achievement/understanding
How is alignment judged?
o Performance expectations are reviewed to
reflect content and achievement
expectations inherent in the curriculum
o Performance Level Descriptions developed to
reflect the content and student performance
o Cut-scores are determined based on
performance expectations of Georgia educators
Which tests will be aligned to
the GPS?
o All state criterion-referenced tests
will be reviewed for alignment
o CRCT
o EOCT
o GHSGT
o Writing Assessments
o GAA
When will the new tests be
administered?
o Winter 2005
o EOCT
o Spring 2006
o CRCT
o EOCT
o GHSGT**
GHSGT – ELA & Science
o Spring 2006 and 2007
o Test based on transitional blueprint, reflecting
both QCC and GPS
o Opportunity to learn
o Re-testers will continue to take QCC version
o Spring 2008
o Full GPS test
o First group of 11th graders to have full GPS
instruction
o Clear opportunity to marry the pass and proficient
standards
When will the new tests be
administered?
o Review of the alignment of the
Writing Assessments is in process
o Redevelopment of the GAA is being
planned
How will information be
communicated?
o Test Content Descriptions will be
revised
o Posted on DOE website May 2005
o Sample items will be posted
o Item Bank aligned in content areas
and grades rolled out
o Fall 2005
Content Descriptions
o Content Standard
o What you want them to know and do
o Performance Standard
o How well you want them to be able to do it
How will the tests be different?
o The tests will have the same general
look and feel to them
o The tests will reflect the
expectations inherent in the
curriculum
o Students will demonstrate a deeper,
richer understanding
Example: Deeper Understanding
Which word below acts as an
adjective?
Could you please hand me that box
of computer paper?
A.
B.
C.
D.
please
hand
box
computer
Don’t the tests need to be
performance based to align to
the GPS?
o No, not necessarily
o The group of items that comprise a
test form can be and will be
reflective of performance
expectations…it all has to do with
alignment
Selected-response items can assess
higher-order thinking skills.
Constructed-response items do
not always measure higher-order
thinking skills.
Performance measures access narrower
content coverage with greater depth.
They tend to provide more diagnostic
and formative information.
Traditional measures access greater
content coverage with less depth.
They tend to provide more placement
and summative information.
Selected-Response Items
o Reasons for
o better content
sampling
o higher reliability
o greater efficiency
o objectivity
o measurability
o ease in scoring
o Reasons Against
o too often measure only
trivial learning
o inappropriate for some
targets
o more susceptible to
guessing
Constructed-Response Items
o Reasons for
o
o
o
o
greater depth
more diagnostic
integrate content
lead to student
self-assessment
o easier to assess
complex skills and
concepts
o Reasons against
o less content
sampled
o scoring requires
human judgment
o require more time
for all
How Classroom Assessments Differ
from Mandated Assessments
o state assessments are intended for
accountability purposes – how well
student in schools are learning state
standards; only a “snapshot” of a
content domain is necessary
How Classroom Assessments Differ
from Mandated Assessments
o teachers typically need several
samples of performance on each
student for classroom decisions
What are you testing?
o Product
othe end result (summative)
o Process
osteps along the way (formative)
Learning Targets
Process
Content
Application/Analysis/
Synthesis/Evaluation
Questions/Concerns
Melissa Fincher
Assistant Director of Testing
[email protected]
404.651.9405