Branch Updates and Developments

Assessment and Evaluation Branch

NB Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

Overview

• Communication• Assessment Framework• Focus – Literacy and Numeracy• Exemptions and Accommodations• Updates: 2013-2014 Assessment Timetable• Numeracy

– Grade 5 English and FI– Grade 8 English and FI

Overview (continued)

• Literacy: – Grade 2 Prime, 4 FI– Grade 7 English– ELPA– Grade 10 FI– French Oral Proficiency at Grade 10– ESLA– Grade 12 Oral Proficiency Certificate

• Field testing

NB Framework for Provincial Assessments

Assessment & Evaluation BranchNB Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

NB Education Assessment and Evaluation

• The Assessment and Evaluation Branch is responsible for administering all provincial assessments, as well as, international and pan-Canadian assessment programs.

Balanced Assessment

Focus

• Determine what

learning comes next

for the learner.

Focus

• Determine how student groups are

progressing or how well a program is

working.

Focus

• Determine how schools, districts, and

the province are progressing toward

standards.

Assessment Cycle

Making the Link

Assessment in the Classroom• Classroom-based assessment and evaluation provides an

opportunity for in-depth analysis of students’ abilities and areas of need. Teachers must be well versed in assessment techniques and understand best practices for timely remediation.

• If we want to enhance learning for all students, the role of assessment for learning takes on a much higher profile than assessment of learning. In New Brunswick, we have the expectation that all teachers will employ formative assessment practices in the classroom.

Bringing it Together• The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

Assessment Branch is committed to providing timely, useful feedback on the status of teaching and learning in the Province of New Brunswick.

• We strive to ensure our that assessments are valid and reliable measures, and that our reporting assists policy makers and educators to monitor student learning and programming. As part of this process, we are guided by the NBAP Assessment Protocol.

• The focus is on Literacy, Numeracy, 21st Century Competencies and the mastery of higher order thinking skills.

BALANCE is the key to a comprehensive assessment system

Exemptions

The Provincial Assessments are compulsory for all students presently enrolled in New Brunswick schools. The assessments are meant to be as inclusive as possible. However, the school principal should consider requesting exemption if:

• it is inconceivable for the student to respond with at least minimal success.

• participation would be harmful to the student.• students who have been identified with exceptionalities and have a

current SEP which identifies the need for exemption.• there is a case of serious illness, bereavement or other exceptional

circumstances (application should be made to the Director of Education Support Services as soon as the circumstance arises).

Exemptions

• Students are “in-or-out”: no Partial exemptions.• ELPA

– Temporary exemption– Permanent exemption

– Graduation requirement

Must be signed by parent/guardian, teacher, principal and director of education support services.

Exemptions

• “On-the-spot” exemptions are for unforeseen circumstances.

Accommodations

There are many ways in which accommodations can be used to support students when they are participating in a provincial assessment:

• Universal accommodations are those strategies, technologies or adjustments that enable a student to reach prescribed outcomes and can be used at the teacher’s / student’s discretion. Universal accommodations don’t necessitate an SEP or prior approval for provincial assessments. (e.g. alternate setting, extra time, FM system etc.)

• Justifiable accommodations are documented strategies, technologies or adjustments without which the student would not be able to access the curriculum. These accommodations are documented within the SEP and require prior approval to be accessed during provincial assessments. (e.g. large print, Braille etc.)

Accommodations

• Accommodations are for the purpose of allowing a wide range of students to participate in provincial assessments.

• Anything that alters the actual assessment is not an appropriate accommodation for the purpose of the provincial assessment. The following are not considered appropriate accommodations:

– Recorded versions of reading passages (literacy)– Scribes for writing passages (literacy)

Provincial Assessment program for Mathematics (numeracy)

Overview

• New mathematics curriculum for grades 5 and 8 led to a new assessment for 2010

StructureGrade 5 (7 days early June) Grade 8 (2 days early June)

Timed Basic Facts Assessment

• 1 minute timed assessment• 15 questions as outlined in the NB Mathematics Curriculum (WNCP)

Booklet A: Calculator (Day 1)

• 60 minutes• 38 selected-response and,• 1 constructed-response questions based on the NB Mathematics Curriculum

Part A: Selected-Response

• 60 minutes• 42 questions based on the NB Mathematics Curriculum.

Mental Mathematics Assessment (Day 2)

• 15 minutes• 10 questions requiring students to show and/or explain their mental mathematics strategies used to solve

Part A: Constructed-Response

• 60 minutes• Mental Mathematics• Constructed-Response (Operations)• Problem Solving

Booklet A: Non-Calculator (Day 2)

• 60 minutes• 5 non-calculator selected-response• Constructed-Response (Operations)• Problem Solving

Content and Data Potential• Test Equating to 2009 results allows for current test

results to be comparable to previous assessments.

• National Comparisons: All tests (3, 5, 8) contain nationally normed CAT4 items as a means to compare our students with national data produced through the Canadian Test Centre.

• Data disaggregation: All items are tagged as measures of the content domain (strands) and cognitive domain (use of knowledge).

Content: Constructed-Response• Context based

• Problem Solving

• Marked by Rubric– Proficiencies assessed:

• Knowledge• Problem Solving• Communication

• Rationale: Goes to fundamental principles of Mathematics: Process Standards

Reporting

• Competencies

• Rubric

• Selected-Response

• Constructed Response

NB Provincial Assessment Program for Literacy

Early Literacy Assessment

• At grades 2 and 4, reading and Writing are assessed in the program of instruction (English or French Immersion)

• 2011-12 Pilot assessment for Reading only grade 4 French Immersion Program (Grade 3 entry)

• Reading passages teacher-selected from normed items developed by curriculum specialists and data quality teams with the Canadian Test Centre (CTC)

Early Literacy Assessment

• Writing topics are not assigned for Grade 2 and 4 students

• Reading passages teacher-selected from normed items developed by curriculum specialists and data quality teams with the Canadian Test Centre (CTC)

Secondary Literacy Assessments

Grade 7 • Reading and Writing

English Language Proficiency Assessment/Reassessment (ELPA/R)

• Graduation requirement

Test Specifications - OverviewEnglish Second Language Assessment (Grade 11)English Second Language Reassessment (Grade 12)

The English Second Language Assessment/Reassessment (ESLA/R) is an assessment of students’ English literacy abilities in all four language skills.

The ESLA/R is a requirement for students attending the Concord Colleges of Sino-Canada who wish to obtain a New Brunswick High School Diploma.

The ESLA/R is a criteria - standards based assessment where students are required to meet targets appropriate to two years of non-immersion English language instruction. Students in the Concord Colleges apply for acceptance to post-secondary English institutions.

ESLA Reading Test Specifications

Book A --- Reading --- 90 minutes

7-9 Reading Passages

45-50 Number of items

Responding to Reading

Reading-Listening; Test difficulty and equating• Unlike Writing and Oral Interviews, reading and

listening are scored according to ‘cut points’.• As the reading passages and items change, we

need to ensure that the overall difficulty of the reading assessment is the same year over year – so that one cohort is being assessed on the same difficulty level as all other cohorts from previous administrations.

• So…how do we do this?

Test equating and cut point setting

ESLA/R WRITING

Writing Test Specifications

Time allotment: Exercise I 60 minutesExercise II 60 minutes

The Writing component should be administered as either the first or last component. For Writing, students will answer directly in Booklet C. The Writing component consists of two writing activities: Exercise I and Exercise II.Writing prompts are provided on a separate sheet.

Marking the Writing Piece…

Writing is assessed using the Writing Achievement Standards – ESLA.

In order for a piece of writing to be deemed Appropriate Achievement or Strong Achievement it must possess all of the writing traits listed for that category.

ESLA/R LISTENING

Listening Test Specs

Time allotment: 30 minutes

 

Each booklet contains an information label with the student’s Chinese and English names as well as an identification number. Test administrators must ensure that each student receives the appropriate booklet.

 

Test administrators will read the items to the students using Instructions for Administrators of the Listening Assessment. It is hoped that technology support will be available to allow for a playback device (MP3) to play an audio file over a classroom sound system.

Students will respond to all Listening items directly in their booklet by circling either letter A, B, C, or D – whichever corresponds with the best response.

Book B - Listening consists of two components:

Part I - Answering Questions (Items 1-20)

Part II - Understanding Statements (Items 21-40)

Helpful hints for listening…

• Practice the “who, what, when, where, why” line of questions with the appropriate response.

• Warm-up activity to begin each class.

ESLA/R ORAL

OPI’s

Time allotment: 20- 25 minutes

 

Interviews will be scheduled at thirty-minute intervals: the interview itself will be 15 - 25 minutes in duration. The interviewer will use the remaining time to determine and record the student's oral proficiency level and to prepare for the next interview.

FOCUS AREA ; ORAL INTERVIEWS AND WRITING

OR

AL

INT

ER

VIE

W

ST

AN

DA

RD

S

LEVEL CRITERIA UNRATEABLE Can provide no intelligible answers including name

*Talks in own native language

NOVICE * Repeat/rephrase questions often Speaks in isolated words and phrases Not able to participate in conversations Some memorized material and ability to use it * Very limited vocabulary

BASIC

Survival Interviewer works hard to keep a conversation going

Can survive in a second language Can say a lot of simple things; buy basic food items, provide personal information, standard social exchange, school directions * Can get into, through and out of a situation Reactive, answering but not asking many questions – will ask if prompted Fluency slow, strained, except for routine expressions Pronunciation errors frequent / intelligible to someone who is used to ESL

BASIC PLUS

Some give and take in conversations

Can participate in short conversations, descriptions, narrations Shows more independence, spontaneity, asks questions but may require prompts to do so

INTERMEDIATE

More reciprocity - The interview begins to have a more conversational feel.

Can provide information Provide autobiographical information in some detail Give directions, accurate instructions, in area of personal experience or interest Describe / tell using past, present and future tenses Speak confidently, hesitates, uses paraphrases and fillers Pronunciation intelligible, often faulty Vocabulary sufficient to speak confidently

WR

ITIN

G S

TA

ND

AR

DS

English Second Language Assessment / Reassessment• 4 Components• Resembles the format of TOEFL except at a

high school level

ORAL

READING Weighted Equally

WRITING

LISTENING

OVERALL CALCULATION OF ESLA/ROral = H2*10

(Numeric oral value multiplied by 10)

Listening = L2*2.50 (20 + 20 = 40 items)

(Listening score multiplied by 2.50)

Overall score = SUM(I2,K2,M2,P2)/4 .

(overall score adding the four weighted scores, then dividing by 4.

Oral Ratings: ('U'=0) ('N'=3) ('B'=4) ('B+'=5) ('I'=6) ('I+'=7) ('A'=8) ('A+'=9) ('S'=10)

Writing Ratings: (DNW=*), ( BAA=1), (AA=2), and (SA=3)

cut point 43

0 - 43 Unsuccessful

QUESTIONS?