September+2014


 * || ** Welcome to a New School Year! ** ||

**September 2 **
After a successful Field Test last Spring, PARCC and ISBE are updating the assessment to reflect what we learned. Please review the document below for an update from ISBE with an overview of Illinois Assessments for the 2014-2015 school year.



After the field test, it was determined that portions of the assessment were too lengthy. Below is a detailed list of the modifications to assessment length for the FY15 assessment. Following an initial review of the PARCC field test and the overall test design by a group of PARCC state experts, the PARCC states will reduce the number of passages and items in the English Language Arts/Literacy End-of-Year test. The modest changes remain true to the objective of providing equally strong information on performances by struggling, average, and strong readers. The range of standards measured will remain the same. Only the number of items included to measure those standards will change. This in turn reduces the amount of time spent on testing and lowers testing costs, while maintaining the quality of the assessments and their ability to inform instruction and to provide reliable information on the performance of all students. In Grades 3-5, the revised test will have two fewer passage sets for students to read and 13 fewer test questions. In Grades 6-11, the revised test will have one fewer passage set, resulting in four fewer questions. The revisions to the test design are summarized below. //*All tests will still include some field test questions. // The impact on testing time will depend on an ongoing review of field test data on how long students spent on the test items. It is clear, however, that this will result in fewer questions and shorten the test. “High quality assessments go hand-in-hand with high quality instruction based, on high quality standards,” said Laura Slover, the Chief Executive Officer of the PARCC nonprofit. “You cannot have one without the other. The PARCC states see quality assessments as a //part// of instruction, not a //break// from instruction.” She said the PARCC assessments should contain enough items to accurately measure the breadth of student understanding, but not more items than are necessary. “The PARCC assessment system is a new way of testing that reduces time spent on ‘test prep,’ because the only way to prepare for these more sophisticated assessments is through good teaching and learning all year long," Slover said. "The PARCC states are making decisions about test design, including length and testing time, based on thorough review and on the data from the field tests.”
 * September 11 **
 * Grade 3 – 5 English Language Arts/Literacy end-of-year* **
 * **Revised **
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 short literary passage with 5 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 long informational passage with 8 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Total: 2 passage sets, 13 items
 * **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Original **
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 short literary passage with 5 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 long informational passage with 8 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 “Paired” passage set with 8 questions (paired passage set comprised of two short literary passages, two short informational passages, or a literary and an informational passage)
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 short informational passage with 5 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Total: 4 passage sets, 26 items
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Grade 6 – 11 English Language Arts/Literacy end-of-year* **
 * **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Revised **
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 short literary passage with 5 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 “paired” passage set with 6 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">(paired passage set comprised of two short literary passages, two short informational passages, or a literary and an informational passage)
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 short informational passage with 5 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 long informational passage with 6 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Total: 4 passage sets, 22 items
 * **<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Original **
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 short literary passage with 4 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 “paired” passage set with 6 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">(paired passage set comprised of two short literary passages, two short informational passages, or a literary and an informational passage)
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">2 short informational passages with 5 questions each
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1 long informational passage with 6 questions
 * o <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Total: 5 passage sets, 26 items


 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">September 16 **

**<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt;">PARCC ELA/Literacy Rubrics (Updated and Refined) **

<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> The PARCC ELA/literacy Rubrics have been updated to reflect lessons learned from the extensive PARCC field test. These rubrics are included in the available materials to help support a stronger understanding of what the Prose Constructed Response items are asking students to know and be able to do. <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Updates include:   **
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;">Score points for the Conventions trait were reduced from 4 score points to 3 points. Educators saw that there was not enough difference between student responses to have both a score point of 4 and a score point of 3 and apply the rubric with reliability.
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;">PARCC created a separate rubric for scoring of narrative writing. The narrative criteria for Written Expression was separated so that both teachers and scorers could easily apply the correct criteria.
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;">PARCC added an additional bullet for score point 1 in Written Expression. During the review of the field test items, educators saw responses that were well-developed and text-based, but not clearly tied to the prompt. Language was added to score point 1 to recognize the writing ability demonstrated in this type of response.
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;">While the criteria themselves did not change, the descriptors for some score points were refined to clearly delineate the lines between score points and to ensure clarity of the criteria.

September 25, 2014
<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">September 25 ** <span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Professional Development Modules

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">**<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 14pt;">Top Educator Resources Guide **

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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">PARCC is developing online training modules to help teachers,school leaders, and school site testing coordinators understand the new PARCC assessment system and put the high quality assessments to work for them and their students. The tools will help educators learn how to read results from the assessments,make inferences about the results and identify <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">learning gaps.

The first two are completed – PARCC Common Assessments Overview and the PARCC Accessibility System. Future topics include introductions to the PARCC Mid-Year Assessment, PARCC Diagnostic Assessment, and the PARCC Speaking and Listening Assessment. <span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Educator Leader Cadre Portal

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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">PARCC’s Educator Leader Cadre meet throughout the year to build expertise in the Common Core and PARCC by engaging in deep analysis of the CCSS and aligned materials such as the PARCC Model Content Frameworks, sample items, assessment blueprints and more. <span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The ELC portal is a collection of resources from the ELC meetings, such as presentations, videos, and instructional toolsrelated to curriculum tools, instruction, diverse student populations, and more. Educators can use these resources to build their own expertise.

<span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Model Content Frameworks

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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Model Content Frameworks are voluntary resources meant to beused as a companion to the Common Core State Standards to helpeducators and those developing aligned curricula and instructional materials.

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The MCFs help clarify the standards by illustrating how keycontent shifts from grade to grade. They also serve as an example of how teachers and curriculum writers may frame instructionusing the standards across the academic year.

<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 12pt;">MCFs are neither a curriculum nor a replacement to the standards. Rather, they are to be used as a companion to the standards, and as a lens through which to analyze and build local curricula.

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Next week’s PARCC Byte will list additional resources.