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State assessments to include grades 3-8 The New York State Education Department will begin assessing math and English language (ELA) skills for children in grades 3- 8 beginning in 2006. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, states are required to develop content standards for reading and math for each grade, 3-8. States are also required to develop tests to measure those contents standards. In other words, each state must establish a basic level of information that each student must learn in reading and math in elementary and middle school years. The states must also create test to determine if students are learning that material. Expanding math and ELA testing to grades 3-8 is sure to raise questions among parents and teachers. A presentation made to administrators in October 2004 attempted to answer many of those questions. Why test in grades 3 through 8? What will these tests look like? How will these tests be scored? FAQ Why test in grades 3 through 8? Testing is required by the federal government. But, more importantly, it provides schools with the opportunity to measure the effectiveness of its teaching, to measure student progress and to help determine if students are adequately prepared for the next academic level. What will these tests look like? Test format will be similar to those administered in grades 4 and 8. The content will be adjusted to meet curriculum at each grade level. Specifics are as follows: ELA The basic format for the ELA exams follows below. ELA exams will consist of three types of questions:
Math The basic format for the math assessments follows below. The assessments will consist of three types of questions:
How will these tests be scored? Like the current grade 4 and grade 8 assessments, students responses will be graded on a rubrick, a simple scale that determines whether students clearly include key components in their answers. Once the assessment is graded, the student's performance will be measured on a scale of 1 to 4: Level 1 – not meeting the standards, Level 2 – partially meeting the standards, Level 3 – meeting the standards, and Level 4 – exceeding the standards. First, the results will provide a measure of achievement in relation to federal and state standards. They will help schools track the progress of individual students on an annual basis. They will also help schools measure the success of their academic programs as they relate to meeting the assessment standards. Individual student performance will help determine which students may require additional assistance to successfully reach the standards. Parents will receive confidential reports of their child's performance. School-wide performance will be made available by the New York State Education Department in its annual School Report Card. The Greater Amsterdam School District is actively working to prepare your child for these new exams. Having administered the exam to fourth and eighth grade students for the past six years, they are ready to expand the program to grades 3, 5, 6, and 7. Teachers will tailor their teaching to be certain your child is as prepared as possible for the assessment. Students will have ample opportunity to take practice exams to familiarize themselves with the tests' format. Want more information? The New York State Education Department recently posted a document on its web site http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/3-8/intro.pdf that explains the new assessments in greater detail and includes sample questions. If you would have specific questions regarding the new assessments and your child, please contact your child's school. |
| This page is maintained by Greg Coffey, communications specialist, according to web publishing guidelines used by the Greater Amsterdam School District. © 2003-06. All rights reserved. |