Assessment and Accountability Update

August 22, 2019

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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Right Assessment for the Right Purpose Guidance Document

The Oregon Department of Education worked with internal and external partners to develop a guidance document aimed at increasing educator assessment literacy within Oregon's Statewide Assessment System (OSAS), called the Right Assessment for the Right Purpose. External partners included teacher's union representation, district test coordinators, university measurement staff, and national measurement experts in formative, interim, and summative assessment contexts. Internal partners included colleagues from the Office of Student Supports and the Office of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment. The document provides definitions for critical terms in our OSAS and in other areas where Oregon students are assessed in the areas of academic achievement, behavior, or other areas as part of their instructional programs. The document also addresses current questions and appropriate uses and misuses of statewide summative assessment data. Finally, guidance is provided regarding efficient use of testing time based on an internal study that was conducted. This document does not address any concerns outside of the K-12 student assessment context, nor does it provide the final word on assessment literacy in Oregon. It is published with the intended goal of beginning conversations about assessment literacy, which we know will evolve and increase in accuracy and complexity over time. The Assessment Team will develop training materials over the coming year and expects to present the content in the manual at several COSA events. Please contact Dan Farley, Director of Assessment if you have any questions regarding the guidance document or possible training opportunities.

2018-2019 Secure Browsers - End of Support

Support for the 2018-2019 Secure Browsers will end on August 30, 2019. Any computers that are used for student testing should have the latest version of the Secure Browser installed. The latest versions of the Secure Browsers are available on the Secure Browsers page of the OSAS Portal. Beginning August 31, 2019, the new Secure Browsers will be required for testing.

Oregon ELA and Mathematics Statewide Assessment Target Reports (REPEAT)

The ODE Assessment team has released documents to support educators’ use of the Online Reporting System, Target Reports for the Oregon Statewide Assessment. These documents provide the purpose and use of Target Reports. For more information, please see the “Oregon ELA and Mathematic Statewide Assessment Target Reports” article posted in the August 15 A&A Update.

For further questions or clarifications, please contact ELA and Social Sciences Assessment Specialist Tony Bertrand or Mathematics Assessment Specialist Andrew Byerley.

TEST ADMINISTRATION

EXTENDED ASSESSMENT

Oregon Extended Assessment: “1.0 Percent Participation Cap Reporting Requirements Update” Webinar (REPEAT)

Per a review by the US Department of Education and, consequently, a required plan for addressing Oregon’s exceeding the 1.0 percent participation requirement per ESSA, ODE has revised the reporting requirements to more effectively support districts that exceed this threshold for any/all content areas. Specifically, districts will utilize the updated electronic platform to: 1) Assure ODE of their familiarity and use of the Oregon Extended Assessment Guidance; 2) Provide evidence supporting the justification(s) for exceeding the 1.0 percent participation requirement; and 3) Submit a plan for addressing any/all justifications for exceeding this requirement. More detailed information on the changes in “what” and “how” districts will report to ODE will be provided via the “Oregon 1.0 Percent Cap: Reporting Requirements Update” webinar on September 17, 2019 from 9-10:30 AM.

Contact Brad Lenhardt at 503-947-0607 with questions.

SCIENCE

OSAS Science Content Review Panel Recruitment (REPEAT)

Oregon Department of Education’s Office of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment is seeking individuals to participate in content review of new science items for the Oregon Statewide Assessment System (OSAS) Science Assessment. The purpose of content review is to ensure the high quality of items presented in the OSAS Science Assessment.

Meeting dates:

October 1-2, 2019 8:30 AM - 4 PM

The deadline for submitting an application is 5 PM Monday, September 9, 2019. Please see the recruitment letter for more information. Participants will be compensated for their time or receive substitute reimbursement as applicable.

For more information, please contact Noelle Gorbett, Science Assessment Specialist at 503-947-5928.

OSAS Science Bias and Sensitivity Review Panel Recruitment (REPEAT)

The Oregon Department of Education’s Office of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment is seeking individuals to participate in a bias and sensitivity review of new science items for the Oregon Statewide Assessment System (OSAS) Science Assessment. The purpose of the bias and sensitivity review is to ensure that Oregon statewide assessments are free from bias and stereotyping and are accessible to all Oregon students.

Meeting dates:

October 3-4, 2019 8:30 AM - 4 PM

For more information, please contact Noelle Gorbett, Science Assessment Specialist at 503-947-5928.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS

2019-20 Essential Skills and Local Performance Assessment Manual

The 2019-20 Essential Skills and Local Performance Assessment Manual is available as of Friday, August 16, 2019. The 2019-20 Essential Skills and Local Performance Assessment Manual describes the requirements for Essential Skills assessment options, including requirements regarding development, administration, and scoring of assessments.

For more information, please see the “2019-2020 Essential Skills and Local Performance Manual” article posted in the August 15 A&A Update.

For further questions or clarifications, please contact ELA and Social Sciences Assessment Specialist Tony Bertrand at 503-947-5830 or Mathematics Assessment Specialist Andrew Byerley at 503-947-5832.

ACCOUNTABILITY & REPORTING

Informal Accountability Webinars

ODE has begun hosting webinars starting Tuesday, June 25 from 2 to 3 PM PDT with a focus on accountability-related topics such as validations, indicator calculations, report card usage, and more. These webinars will take place on the last Tuesday of every month with an on-going open call to submit questions and topics of interest for the agenda. This could include sharing accountability-related practices (or research) being used (or implemented) in schools and districts.

A monthly reminder to submit agenda items and questions will be provided in the A&A Update prior to the webinar’s scheduled date. If you have a topic that you would like to add to the agenda, please submit it through our “Informal Accountability Webinar Open Call Agenda form" or via email. The general format for the webinars is provided below:

ODE accountability related information (15 minutes)
- Review upcoming dates and deadlines via Assessment and Accountability Checklist
- Frequently Asked Accountability Questions:
  - 2018-19 school identifications
  - RC Technical Manual release date
Respond to questions or agenda items submitted (none submitted as of 8/21/2019)
Open call to submit topics for next meeting (2 minutes)
Adjourn

Please note that the webinar length will be flexible depending on content, with a minimum of 5-10 minutes up to a maximum of one hour. When you register to participate, you will automatically be registered for all webinar dates in the series (for convenience). You are encouraged but not required to attend every webinar. Here are the webinar dates (all times are 2-3 PM Pacific time):

Tue, Aug 27, 2019
Tue, Sep 24, 2019
Tue, Oct 29, 2019
Tue, Nov 26, 2019
Tue, Dec 31, 2019
Tue, Jan 28, 2020
Tue, Feb 25, 2020
Tue, Mar 31, 2020
Tue, Apr 28, 2020
Tue, May 26, 2020

If you have any questions or comments about this webinar series, please reach out to Surbhi Singh at 503-947-5905.

Student Centered Staging and Third Period Cumulative ADM to Close for Final 2018-19 Processing (REPEAT)

Student Centered Staging will be closed for editing 2018-19 test records on August 23 at 5 PM for final report processing. Secure Assessment Reports for 2018-19 will also be unavailable during this time.

Third Period Cumulative ADM will close on August 23 at 11:59 PM for final accountability report processing. No changes will be allowed after this date.

Student Centered Staging 2018-19 records will re-open by 9 AM on Tuesday, August 27. All subjects will be read-only (i.e., downloadable but not editable) at that time.

If you have questions, please contact your Regional ESD Partner.

School and District Accountability Appeals Due to ODE on August 22, 2019 (REPEAT)

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) will consider appeals regarding accountability data displayed on the 2018-19 school and district report cards. The deadline for appeals due to ODE has been extended to Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 5 PM. More information about submitting appeals is available on the Accountability Policy webpage.

Reminder: The 2018-19 Preliminary Report Card Accountability Details reports and new At-A-Glance reports are available in the Achievement Data Insight (ADI) application for district preview.

REMINDER: Validations Closing on August 23, 2019 (REPEAT)

The following validations will close on August 23, and no changes will be allowed beyond that date. Make sure that you review your data thoroughly before that deadline, and contact the data owner using the “Ask A Question” feature if you have questions or need to make corrections. All of these validations are located in the Achievement Data Insight (ADI) Application.

Student Enrollment
Not Chronically Absent (Regular Attenders)
Student Mobility
Staff Turnover
English Language Arts Student Performance
Mathematics Student Performance
On Track to English Language Proficiency (ELP)

These validations contain data that will appear on the school and district At-A-Glance Profiles and Accountability Details, as well as other accountability reports. If you do not have access to ADI, or cannot see one of the tiles you should be reviewing, contact your district security administrator immediately. Permissions to these validations must be granted separately for each validation. Training on the use of the ADI, and on several of the validations, is available on the Video Training - 2018-2019 webpage.