NEW JERSEY ASSESSMENT OF SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE (NJ ASK) - STANDARD SETTING FOR GRADES 3-4, MATHEMATICS AND LANGUAGE ARTS LITERACY

Willa Spicer, Deputy Commissioner

Timothy Peters, Director, Office of State Assessments

July 15, 2009 New Jersey Department of Education

2

OVERVIEW

New Jersey set challenging new achievement standards for grades 5 through 8 in 2008;

These standards were part of a larger initiative to raise expectations at all grade levels so that students are better prepared for college and careers;

The department seeks to address achievement gaps by identifying students in need of instructional support early in their academic careers, when they are best able to profit from that support;

3

OVERVIEW, cont.

The NJ ASK tests in grades 3 and 4 were redesigned in 2008-2009 to increase the rigor and variety of the test questions and to increase the total number of possible points;

As with the changes to the NJ ASK 5-8 test designs last year, these changes reflect a desire for more information about student achievement and for more challenging content;

4

OVERVIEW, cont.

This raising of expectations for student achievement is consistent with the department’s wider focus on preparing NJ students for the demands of the 21st century world in which they will be competing;

As we stated last year at this time, raising the bar for student achievement will challenge many of our old assumptions about student and school performance;

More students will start out in the partially proficient category - this is common in the first year of any testing program;

5

OVERVIEW, cont.

Raising the bar will motivate us all to focus on student learning before students approach graduation, before they are in danger of not graduating, before it is too late to address their needs;

We are asking the State Board to adopt these new standards today, by resolution.

6

Setting Standards: The Process Combines use of expert judges (NJ

teachers) with quantitative methods of measurement science;

Iterative, deliberative process over several days (June 23-26, 2009);

Culminates in recommendations by teacher panels to department senior staff, which may adjust them to assure articulation across grade levels and compatibility with state policy goals.

7

Setting Standards: The Process Teacher panelists take the actual tests and score the results;

Teachers review and discuss performance level descriptors (PLDs), previously developed by separate panels of NJ teachers and DOE content specialists;

Panelists use the “Bookmark” procedure 3 rounds Use of ordered item booklets – easiest to most difficult items Discussion between rounds Consideration of impact data before final round

8

Setting Standards: Panelists

65 NJ Educators Ethnically Diverse Included Bilingual or Multilingual

Panelists All Regions; all DFGs

9

Validation

NJDOE senior staff review panel recommendations Comparisons to previous years Cross-grade adjustments

Final cut scores established and submitted to State Board

LAL Cut Scores &Percent Correct

   Proficient Advanced

TotalPoints

   

RawScore

%Correct

RawScore

%Correct

 

2008LAL 3 16 40 28 70 40

LAL 4 19 44 30 70 43

2009LAL 3 25 50 36 72 50 

LAL 4 32 54 45 76 59 

LAL Percent Proficient

  N Part.Prof. Prof.

Adv.Prof.

Prof. orAbove2009

Prof. orAbove2008

EnglishLAL 3 31,651 37 57  6 63 86.0

EnglishLAL 4 30,104  36 57 7 64 82.6

SpanishLAL 3 573  75 24 1 25 N/A

SpanishLAL 4 602  83 17 0 17 N/A

 

All LAL 3 32,224  38 56 6 62 86.0

All LAL 4 30,706  37 56 7 63 82.6

LAL Percent Proficientor Above by Race    Grade 3  Grade 4

Asian2009 77.6 80.3

2008 94.8 92.5

AfricanAmerican

2009 38.9 39.2

2008 73.7 66.9

Hispanic2009 50.4 49.0

2008 77.5 72.9

White2009 72.2 73.3

2008 91.6 89.2

LAL Percent Proficientor Above by Status    Grade 3 Grade 4 

LEP2009 30.1 32.6

2008 59.8 52.5

SpecialEducation

2009 35.9 35.1

2008 61.5 54.9

EconomicallyDisadvantaged

2009 42.5 43.7

2008 74.2 68.6

Math Cut Scores &Percent Correct   

Proficient Advanced ProficientTotal Points

   

RawScore

%Correct

RawScore

%Correct

 

2008

Math 314.0 42 25.5 77 33

Math 418.0 42 31.5 73 43

2009

Math 3  26 52   40 80 50 

Math 425  50   39 78 50 

Math Percent Proficient

  NPart.Prof. Prof.

Adv.Prof.

Prof. orAbove2009

Prof. orAbove2008

Math 3 31,870  25 43 32 75 86.7

Math 4 31,541  26 46 28 74 84.8

Math Percent Proficientor Above by Race

    Grade 3 Grade 4 

Asian2009 91.0 89.0

2008 95.5 94.7

AfricanAmerican

2009 50.7 50.6

2008 71.7 68.0

Hispanic2009 66.5 63.7

2008 78.9 75.7

White2009 83.9 81.9

2008 93.1 91.6

Math Percent Proficientor Above by Status    Grade 3 Grade 4 

LEP2009 53.6 50.0

2008 65.3 56.7

SpecialEducation

2009 59.1 55.3

2008 72.5 65.4

EconomicallyDisadvantaged

2009 58.2 57.8

2008 75.4 71.8

18

Questions?

THANK YOU!