The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)

AACRAO:Bridges to the Future

San Francisco

April 17, 2013

Allison Jones, Vice President of Postsecondary CollaborationAchieve

Academic Preparation and Expectations Gap

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In many states, students can earn a high school diploma without the skills necessary for success in

college and careers resulting in high remediation rates.

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What students are typically expected to know at the end of high school, as defined by

state standards, required curriculum and assessments

The knowledge and skills demanded by postsecondary and employers for successful first-year students and new

employees.

RESULT

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The Goal: College Access and Success

• Identify a set of core competencies that represent a baseline of college and career ready academic standards

• Agree upon a common definition of college and career readiness• Develop innovative assessment system aligned to the standards -

– to help ensure new standards reach every classroom. And– to provide clear signals to educators, parents and students about college

readiness prior to high school graduation• Establish a College and Career Ready Determination Assessment

accepted and used by postsecondary faculty and administrators that guarantees student placement into entry-level, credit-bearing college courses without the need for remediation.

• Provide early interventions, tools and transition courses to ensure students meet postsecondary goals.

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The Common Core State Standards Identify a Set of Core Competencies that Represent A Baseline for College and

Career Readiness

46 States + DC Have Adopted the Common Core State Standards

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* Minnesota adopted the CCSS in ELA only

Key Advances of the Common Core

MATHEMATICS

Focus, coherence and clarity: emphasis on key topics at each grade level and coherent

progression across grades

Balance between procedural fluency and understanding of concepts and skills

Promote rigor through mathematical proficiencies that foster reasoning and

understanding across discipline

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS/LITERACY

Balance of literature and informational texts; focus on text complexity

Emphasis on argument, informative/ explanatory writing, and research

Literacy standards for history, science and technical subjects

ANCHORED IN COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS6

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Claims Driving Design: ELA/Literacy

Students are on-track or ready for college and careers

Students read and comprehend a range of sufficiently complex texts

independently

Reading Literature

Reading Informational

Text

Vocabulary Interpretation

and Use

Students write effectively when using

and/or analyzing sources.

Written Expression

Conventions and

Knowledge of Language

Students build and present

knowledge through

research and the

integration, comparison,

and synthesis of ideas.

• Colleges and universities require students to – – Analyze complex text– Conduct research and apply that research to solve problems or address a particular

issue – Identify areas for research, narrow those topics and adjust research methodology

as necessary, and evaluate and synthesize primary and secondary resources as they develop and defend their own conclusions

• Standards require students to –– Conduct short, focused projects and longer term in-depth research – Identify and analyze credible information – Communicate research findings both verbally and in writing

Important to Higher Education Faculty:ELA and Literacy Standards

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Claims Driving Design: Mathematics

Students solve problems involving the major

content for their grade level with connections to

practices

Students solve problems involving the additional and supporting content for their grade level with connections to practices

Students express mathematical reasoning

by constructing mathematical arguments

and critiques

Students solve real world problems

engaging particularly in the modeling practice

Student demonstrate fluency in areas set forth

in the Standards for Content in grades 3-6

Students are on-track or ready for college and careers

• The high school mathematics standards:– Identify the mathematics that all students should study in order to be college

and career ready

– Emphasize mathematical modeling and the use of mathematics and statistics

• To analyze empirical situations,

• Understand them better, and

• Improve decisions

• The standards require students to:– Apply mathematical ways of thinking to real world issues and challenges

– Develop a depth of understanding and ability to apply mathematics to novel situations

Important to Higher Education Faculty: High School Mathematics Standards

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The PARCC Assessment System:Design and Critical Advances

What is PARCC?

innovative assessment system aligned to the Common Core State Standards provides clear signals about college and career

readiness prior to high school graduation

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Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)

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PARCC Assessment Priorities

1. Determine whether students are college- and career-ready or on track

2. Provide actionable data to inform instruction, interventions and professional development

3. Measure the full range of student performance, including the performance of high and low performing students

4. Assess the full range of the Common Core Standards, including standards that are difficult to measure

5. Incorporate innovative approaches throughout the system

6. Compare performance across states and internationally

7. Provide data for accountability, including measures of growth

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Assessment DesignEnglish Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics, Grades 3-11

End-of-Year Assessment

• Innovative, computer-based items• Required

Performance-BasedAssessment (PBA)• Extended tasks• Applications of

concepts and skills• Required

Diagnostic Assessment• Early indicator of

student knowledge and skills to inform instruction, supports, and PD• Non-summative

2 Optional Assessments/Flexible Administration

Mid-Year Assessment• Performance-based• Emphasis on hard-

to-measure standards• Potentially

summative

Speaking And Listening Assessment• Locally scored• Non-summative, required

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Non-Summative Assessment Components

Summative assessment for accountability

Non-Summative assessment

Early Assessment• Early indicator of

student knowledge and skills to inform instruction, supports, and PD

Flexible

Mid-Year Assessment• Performance-based• Emphasis on hard to

measure standards• Potentially

summative

– Diagnostic Assessment designed to be an indicator of student knowledge and skills so that instruction, supports and professional development can be tailored to meet student needs

– Mid-Year Assessment comprised of performance-based items and tasks, with an emphasis on hard-to-measure standards. After study, individual states may consider including as a summative component

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Summative Assessment Components

End-of-Year Assessment

• Innovative, computer-based items

Performance-BasedAssessment (PBA)

• Extended tasks• Applications of concepts

and skills

Summative assessment for accountability

Non-Summative assessment

• Performance-Based Assessment (PBA) administered as close to the end of the school year as possible. The ELA/literacy PBA will focus on writing effectively when analyzing text. The mathematics PBA will focus on applying skills, concepts, and understandings to solve multi-step problems requiring abstract reasoning, precision, perseverance, and strategic use of tools

• End-of-Year Assessment (EOY) administered after approx. 90% of the school year. The ELA/literacy EOY will focus on reading comprehension. The math EOY will be comprised of innovative, machine-scorable items

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The PARCC Assessment System:Student Access and Technology

PARCC is committed to the following principles:• Use Universal Design principles to create accessible assessments

throughout every stage and component of the assessment

• Minimize/eliminate features of the assessment that are irrelevant to what is being measured, so that all students can more accurately demonstrate their knowledge and skills

• Measure the full range of complexity of the standards

• Use technology to make all components of the assessment as accessible as possible

• Conduct bias and sensitivity reviews of all PARCC items

Promoting Student Access

Leveraging Technology

• TEIs present assessment items and capture student responses in a way that cannot be accomplished with paper and pencil

• Enable scalable and cost-efficient delivery and scoring of cognitively complex tasks e.g., simulation, multimedia constructed response

Technology-Enhanced Items

• Single platform for accessing summative and non-summative assessments, diagnostic tools, practice tests, curricular and PD resources will be available throughout the school year.

Common Technology

Platform

• Adherence to recognized technology standards will allow for supports and accessibility information to be embedded in digital test items.

Student Accessibility

Profiles• Online testing supports finer-grained data collection on student

abilities and student interactions with assessments.• Automated scoring enables more timely results that allow

assessments to inform instruction.

Scoring, Reporting,and Analysis

The PARCC Assessment System:Prototype Items

ELA Prototype Item: Grade 7 Research Simulation Task

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High School Illustrative Sample Item

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Seeing Structure in a Quadratic Equation

Aligns to the Standards and Reflects Good Practice

High School Illustrative Item Key Features and Assessment AdvancesThe given equation is quadratic equation with two solutions. The task does not clue the student that the equation is quadratic or that it has two solutions; students must recognize the nature of the equation from its structure. Notice that the terms 6x – 4 and 3x – 2 differ only by an overall factor of two. So the given equation has the structure

where Q is 3x – 2. The equation Q2 - 2Q is easily solved by factoring as Q(Q-2) = 0, hence Q = 0 or Q = 2. Remembering that Q is 3x – 2, we have

.These two equations yield the solutions and .

Unlike traditional multiple-choice tests, the technology in this task prevents guessing and working backwards. The format somewhat resembles the Japanese University Entrance Examinations format (see innovations in ITN Appendix F). A further enhancement is that the item format does not immediately indicate the number of solutions.

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Timeline: Key PARCC Milestones

2012

2013

2014

2015

Summer: Item prototypes released

Fall: Technology Guidance for PARCC Assessments Version 2.0 released

Fall: College and Career Ready Assessments identified

Winter: School Readiness Planning Guide released

Spring: Item tryouts

Summer: PARCC Accommodations Manual released

Spring: Field testing

Winter/Spring: Summative PARCC Assessments

Summer: Standard setting

The PARCC Assessment System:College and Career Readiness

• Two College and Career Ready Determinations:– English language arts/literacy– Mathematics

• Students who receive a CCRD will have demonstrated the academic knowledge, skills, and practices necessary to enter directly into and succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing courses at public postsecondary institutions without the need for remediation.

• Students who achieve the CCRD will be guaranteed exemption from remedial course work in that content area.

• The PARCC Governing Board and ACCR approved the final policies during a special October 25, 2012 session.

• Policies are located at www.parcconline.org/parcc-assessment-policies

Background: College- and Career-Ready Determination (CCRD) Policy

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Background: Policy-Level Performance Level Descriptors

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• PARCC states will use 5 achievement levels for grades 3-8 and HS in ELA/literacy and mathematics

• Each of the proposed performance levels includes:– Policy claims, which describe educational implications for students at a

particular performance level.– General content claims, which describe academic knowledge and skills

students across grade levels performing at a given performance level are able to demonstrate.

• Level 4 will be the threshold for earning the College and Career Ready Determinations on the designated high school assessments

The following statement was approved for use to inform standard-setting (determining cut scores for PARCC performance levels) and to conduct future studies to validate the efficacy of the CCR Determinations.

– Students who earn a PARCC College- and Career-Ready Determination by performing at a Level 4 in Mathematics and enroll in College Algebra, Introductory Statistics, and technical courses requiring an equivalent level of mathematics have approximately a 0.75 probability of earning college credit by attaining at least a grade of C or its equivalent in those courses.

– Students who earn a PARCC College- and Career-Ready Determination by performing at a Level 4 in ELA/literacy and enroll in College English Composition, Literature, and technical courses requiring college-level reading and writing have approximately a 0.75 probability of earning college credit by attaining at least a grade of C or its equivalent in those courses.

Standard-Setting/Validation Studies of the CCRD

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A College and Career Ready Determination on the PARCC assessments indicate:

• Mastery of the core competencies in the Common Core State Standards identified by postsecondary education faculty as prerequisites for and key to success in entry-level, credit-bearing courses in English and mathematics

• Readiness for placement into entry-level, credit-bearing courses in ELA and mathematics

A College and Career Ready Determination will not:

• Determine admission to college or university

• Replace college/university tests to place students into higher level mathematics and English courses

• Address non-traditional students who delay enrollment

CCRD: Placement NOT Admission

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PARCC Assessment Priorities from the Postsecondary Perspective

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1. Assess the full range of the Common Core Standards.

2. Guarantee students placement into entry-level, credit-bearing courses in ELA and Mathematics without remediation by developing a College and Career Ready Determination recognized by postsecondary institutions.

3. Provide clear signals to students about college and career readiness prior to high school graduation.

4. Incorporate these indicators into a system of tools and transition courses, aligned to the PARCC assessments, to support students in meeting postsecondary goals.

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Ensure the CCRD is embraced by postsecondary faculty and administrators by continuing to validate the assessment

through targeted research and evaluation.

• PARCC research strategy is to collect evidence to inform, establish, and evaluate the success of methods, practices and processes to ensure that necessary conditions and outcomes are satisfied to ensure the assessment system is implemented with fidelity.

• To set college-ready performance standards on the high school assessments, PARCC will use evidence from research such as:—Concurrent validity studies

• Compare performance on PARCC with ACT/SAT/COMPASS/Accuplacer—Predictive validity studies• Connect success of students on PARCC to performance in first-year courses

—Judgment studies • Rate importance of CCSS standards and test items in comparison with first-year course

content—Alignment studies• Examine relationship between first course content and content PARCC measures

Research Strategy for Validation of CCRD

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Local and state engagement in the development, acceptance, and adoption of the PARCC assessments

Development and Adoption of the PARCC Assessments

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• Requires creation of state mechanisms and infrastructures to facilitate postsecondary input into PARCC’s work and postsecondary adoption of the PARCC CCRD as an indicator of college readiness:

—Governance Plan

—State Specific Action Plan

—Collaborative Platforms/Mechanisms of Communication

Development and Adoption of the PARCC Assessments

• Align first-year courses with CCSS– Analyze consistency in the definition of 1st-year, credit bearing courses in

mathematics courses across colleges and states (range is from intermediate algebra to calculus)

• Establish consistent policies across postsecondary systems in your state about:– Placement– College readiness standards– College credit articulation– Align teacher preparation and alternative certification programs with

content and pedagogy of the CCSS

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Aligning Teacher Preparation Programs

• To strengthen alignment between pre-service and in-service training, higher education and K-12 can collaborate to create professional development around the standards by:

— Involving higher education faculty members in the fields of arts and sciences, mathematics, and education in the development of professional development modules

— Designing modules might include tasks, lesson plans, and standards mapping exercises

— Coordinating development of these modules allows for the possibility of faculty at partner institutions of higher education to administer or teach the modules to their K-12 peers

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• Teacher educators should look to the Common Core State Standards to signal what their own students should know and be able to do to succeed as effective teachers

• Alignment between teacher preparation programs and professional development for in-service teachers is integral to create continuity of student and teacher expectations.

• Higher education institutions might consider encouraging faculty participation in professional development activities through a stipend, course release time, or other positive incentives and recognition.

Professional Development for College of Education Faculty

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Tools and transition courses

Develop Cross-Sector Interventions

• In collaboration with K-12 counterparts:— Determine the use of the PARCC assessment in identifying struggling

students

— Develop a system to support identified students during their senior year

— Build unified State Longitudinal Data Systems and define common metrics to link K12 and postsecondary student performance

• Support students through cross-sector intervention:— Dual enrollment/Early College

— Transition/bridge courses

— Remediation reform

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Southern Regional Education Board Transitional Course Project

• SREB has collaborated with PARCC to welcome state teams:– To work with 14 participating states to develop 12th grade

transition courses based on the CCSS,– To field test model the model 12th grade transition courses,– To ensure that state and local educators remain involved in the

process of developing aligned interventions, and– To work with state policy-makers to develop policies that support

the statewide implementation of these courses.

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Importance to Postsecondary Education

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Benefits of CCSS to Higher Education

• Better information about the preparation of incoming students

- Better use of 12th grade

• Improved preparation of incoming students – from all states

- Increased academic rigor in entry-level, credit-bearing courses

• Reduced remediation rates

- Increased funding may be redirected to support credit-bearing courses

• Increased degree attainment rates

- Increased capacity – colleges can admit more students

• Better options for academic interventions to ensure students remain on-track to college readiness

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Resources Available

“Connecting the Dots”, written by PARCC Higher Education Leadership Team members, and December 2012 CHANGE Magazine article “The Common Core State Standards: A Vital Tool for Higher Education”, written by Allison Jones of PARCC and Jaci King of SBAC, are available at www.parcconline.org.

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Resources To Come

Higher education-focused message card that describes key messages on the front…

…and gives stakeholders more information about PARCC and the role of and benefits to higher education on the back.

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Allison Jonesajones@achieve.org

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careerswww.parcconline.org

www.achieve.org/PARCC