Understand the
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Understand the Target |
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Standards-based reform has changed the way schools are held accountable, what teachers are expected to teach and to whom, and what students are expected to learn. The state content standards identify what students are expected to know and be able to do. It is probably obvious, though not always practiced, that classroom instruction and assessment must be aligned with the state content standards if a school wishes to attain state standards. It is critical for staff to understand the AYP goal, the state content standards, the state assessments used to measure AYP, and how to recognize proficient student work at their grade level if they are going to fully understand their target. In a NASSP Bulletin article, "The Principal's Leadership Role in Assessment," author Richard Stiggins asserts, "To assess student achievement accurately, teachers and administrators must understand the achievement targets their students are to master. They cannot assess (let alone teach) achievement that has not been defined".
Understand the AYP Target Understand the State Content Standard Indicators Recognize Proficient Performance Understand State Assessments Resources Understand the AYP Target Schools are judged on whether they meet the state's AYP target. The AYP target for all schools is set by the state and based primarily on the percentage of students achieving proficiency on the state's assessments on reading and mathematics content standard indicators. To meet the AYP target, all students and eight subgroups (students with disabilities, ESL students, students on the free and reduced meals program, and the five racial/ethnic groups) must meet or exceed the AYP target each year. The federal guidelines for AYP require every state to set a baseline in one of two ways from the 2002 state assessment data. Wherever the states set their baseline, the ultimate goal is to get 100% of their students to proficiency on the state's reading and mathematics content standards by 2014. Once baseline is established by states, schools are responsible for making even progress toward the 100% target every three years --- 2005, 2008, 2011, and 2014. [top] Understand the State Content Standard Indicators At first glance many state content standards are not easy to decipher. Principals and school leaders need to be comfortable explaining to staff, parents, or other stakeholders how to read them. The content standards are broad statements of expected student knowledge. Each content standard has associated with it specific statements of more focused expectations. These are referred to as indicators of a content standard. Instructional objectives and assessments are created at the indicator level. For example, "Students will use a variety of strategies to understand what they read (construct meaning)" is a reading comprehension content standard --- a broad statement of expected student knowledge. Within this standard, there are a number of indicators. One of them is "Use comprehension strategies to check for understanding" which is further delineated with several objective statements which describe more discrete behavior:
Teachers need to be able to explain both the knowledge domain of the content standard (the what students are to know) as well as the cognitive domain of the standard (the what students are expected to do with what they know). The verb in the indicator usually signals the cognitive domain. It is important to understand that content standard indicators being assessed at a specific grade are frequently pre-requisite learnings for a content standard indicator being assessed at a later grade. Therefore, it is critical that school staff understand the target for their grade in the context of what needs to happen before and after that grade for a student to attain proficiency on content standards being assessed. Many states have placed their standards online and attempted to provide assistance in understanding the intent of the indicators and how to teach them. National organizations have also provided assistance in understanding, teaching and assessing their national standards, many of which are contained in state content standards. [top] Recognize Proficient Performance The NCLB requires that states set student performance standards on their assessments. These standards define what students know and are able to do with what they know at least three levels: basic, proficient, and advanced. The AYP target is stated in terms of the percent of students performing at the proficient and advanced levels. Said another way, the performance levels describe what proficient student work looks like. However, often the performance level descriptions are so broadly stated that teachers come to different criteria for defining what constitutes proficient performance. Thus, it is not enough for teachers individually to define proficiency. Rather cross-grade level teams must come to a consensus of what are the characteristics of proficient work and how to recognize it in their students. Some states release samples of test items, scoring rubrics, and student responses to illustrate what student performance looks like at each proficiency level. Teachers need to recognize proficient performance in day-to-day classroom activities and assignments that are consistent with the state's assessments. Teachers can judge their student's classwork according to the same rubric that the state uses to assess whether students have demonstrated proficiency on the state tests. [top] Understand State Assessments Teachers and students need to see what the test looks like and how it assesses and scores a particular indicator. Other stakeholders need to see that the assessment is a reasonable expectation for student performance. Using a web site to provide online information to the public about state assessments is a strategy that has several advantages:
[top] Resources for Understanding the Target Understanding the AYP Target Online Technical Assistance  [top] Resources for Understanding State Content Standards Online Technical Assistance Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, produced by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, describe what mathematics students should learn and provide guidelines for teaching mathematics, as well as for assessing student progress. Illuminations http://illuminations.nctm.org/ is a web site based on the NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics that provides interactive, multimedia math investigations, resources, Internet-based lessons, and video vignettes to promote math learning.     Online Articles Stiggins, Richard J. 2001. "The Principal's Leadership Role in Assessment." NASSP Bulletin (January 2001): 13-26. [top] Resources for Recognizing Proficient Performance Online Technical Assistance The School Improvement in Maryland Web site provides support for teachers and students in practice scoring actual test items from previous high school assessments. A tutorial discusses how the rubric is used for scoring sample student responses.
[top] Resources for Understanding State Assessments Online Technical Assistance   School Improvement in Maryland Web: What do the assessments look like? School Improvement in Maryland Web: What will the mathematics test look like? School Improvement in Maryland Web: What can you tell us about the new assessments? |
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| How Have States Implemented AYP? |
| How Have States Designed Their Accountability Systems? |
| How Do States Report Progress? |
| How Do States Provide Technical Assistance to Districts and Schools? |
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