[Assessment_Advisory_Committee] Testing Before the 66% Instructional Threshold

[HEIDE Jordan - ODE]

Hi Bill,

Great questions. To clarify, the reports we received were all from DTCs that ran participation reports and found that tests had been administered before their district’s testing window began.

Jordan Heide
503-947-5905

From: Bill Stewart [mailto:stewartw at gladstone.k12.or.us]
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 1:51 PM
To: HEIDE Jordan - ODE
Cc: assessment_advisory_committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
Subject: Re: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] Testing Before the 66% Instructional Threshold

Jordan,
The problem with the current criteria (though better than last year) is that it is interpreted locally, based on perceptions about what constitutes appropriate instructional days, especially in schools / districts with creative schedules & calendars.  It's not a surprise that some folks miss the mark on this, in some cases it would be easy to do without intention.  On the other hand, I've got to assume that something like the 4 week examples might be a case of 'operator error'...failure to attend trainings or read the manuals or, worse, doing it intentionally.
Accordingly (I KNOW I will get flak for this), may I suggest an actual start date for SBAC test window in 2017. It should be set on the lenient side (a date that works for most schools that start 'early'). I'm guessing that it might be something like the start of the first full week in March.  That would have been March 7th this year.  My suggestion would mean that ANY test given before the 7th would be invalidated and that there  would be no 'guessing' based on the school calendar, schedule or phase of the moon.
Re a cutoff for invalidation.... Yes, there probably should be, though 4 weeks leeway seems like a lot...2 weeks seems more appropriate to me.  Either way, the trick will be that it will have to be 'proven' what that particular school's start date should really have been, given their calendar and type of schedule. It could easily vary within a district.  Does ODE have the capacity / interest to do that?
Who have the reports come from?  Are they from sources that really know how to calculate the 66% date? I can imagine some sources that might have an agenda in making such a report.
This might not be what you needed...if so, my apologies.
Bill


On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 1:28 PM, HEIDE Jordan - ODE <jordan.heide at state.or.us<mailto:jordan.heide at state.or.us>> wrote:
Good afternoon,

ODE has received a few reports of students testing before the 66% instructional day threshold has been met. This testing impropriety is outlined in Section  5.2 of the Test Administration Manual where it states, “ODE may invalidate tests if school-level test windows do not meet each of the following criteria…” For those cases reported to us to date (reflecting testing four weeks, three weeks, and one week before the threshold), ODE has so far determined to treat these improprieties as “no impact,” meaning the tests stand as valid and the students are allowed to continue testing. However, we wanted to engage with you to help inform ODE’s policy to ensure a systematic, coherent, and consistent approach.  Specifically, we’d like your input on the following questions:

·         Should there be a cutoff point at which tests should be invalidated  (i.e. tests administered more than 4 weeks before the threshold is met)?
·         If a cutoff is appropriate, what is the appropriate cutoff?

Please reply with your input by the end of the day this Monday, March 14. Thank you as always for your consideration!


Jordan Heide
Administrative Specialist
Office of Assessment & Accountability
255 Capitol St NE | Salem, OR 97310 | É503-947-5905

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--
Bill Stewart
Special Projects
Gladstone SD
stewartw at gladstone.k12.or.us<mailto:stewartw at gladstone.k12.or.us>
503-805-8680 - cell
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