Friday, January 24, 2014

Proposed Changes to State Assessments!

Good afternoon,

While not yet approved by state legislature, DESE is proposing some pretty significant changes to the state assessment plan.  The bullets below highlight some of the proposed changes which would commence with the 2014-15 school year.  Click here to view a 13 minute video which offers additional details of their proposal along with rationales for changes. 

Changes being proposed for the 14-15 school year:
  • MAP in 3rd-8th grades:  
    • 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th grade students would only be given a 30 minute ELA assessment and a 30 minute math assessment, both selected-response.  These significantly shorter tests would still be used for school and district accountability.
    • 5th and 8th grades students would continue to take the science assessment and the more extensive ELA and math assessments (~4 hours/assessment).
    • The ELA and math assessments would be aligned with the Common Core State Standards and administered online.
    • School districts would be given full access to interim and formative web-based assessment resources for ELA and math for grades 3-8.  
  • Changes to MAP in 8-12th grades:
    • The number of required high school EOC exams would decrease from 11 to 4 and would include English II, Biology 1, Algebra (or Algebra II for students taking Algebra in middle school), and US Government.
    • End of Course exams would be aligned with the Common Core State Standards and administered online.
    • In lieu of the End of High School Exams which were scheduled to be administered at 11th grade, every 11th grade student would be given the ACT. 
We will keep you abreast of any proposed changes and please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions
John