Showing posts with label Common Core. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Common Core. Show all posts
Monday, April 8, 2013
PARCC Massachusetts Web Site Now Live
The PARCC Massachusetts Web site (through the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education) is now live at http://www.mass.edu/parcc. The site provides a variety of links, documents, and resources related to the PARCC assessments, Common Core, and College and Career Readiness.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Coming soon -- Edwin!
Happy New Year! Most of you have heard that ESE will soon be releasing Edwin, an "integrated suite of cutting-edge tools and resources to promote best practices in classroom instruction and assessments." Edwin will have two major components: Edwin Analytics and Edwin Teaching and Learning.
Edwin Analytics will be a suite of analysis tools, including the Massachusetts Early Warning Indicator System (EWIS), college and career readiness reports, and the Education Data Warehouse, all available through the security portal. According to the information provided on this week's EDW conference call, we should start to see minor branding and interface changes to the EDW/portal within the next month, with some more major user interface changes and additional tools in the spring (eventually with teacher-level access to reports!)
Edwin Teaching & Learning will provide online curriculum and assessment tools for educators aligned to the 2011 MA Curriculum Frameworks in English Language Arts and Literacy and Mathematics, which incorporate the Common Core State Standards. Massachusetts is working toward procuring an instructional improvement system (IIS) with Ohio and we look forward to hearing the vendor selection in the near future.
Opportunities to pilot new Edwin resources as they are developed will be provided to districts who have been participating in identifying requirements for the system as well as those who have identified project 5a (Teaching and Learning System) in their RTTT applications. For more information, please contact edwin@doe.mass.edu.
Stay tuned for additional information on the launch of Edwin in the coming weeks. For additional information about Edwin, including an extensive FAQ, visit http://www.doe.mass.edu/edwin/.
Edwin Analytics will be a suite of analysis tools, including the Massachusetts Early Warning Indicator System (EWIS), college and career readiness reports, and the Education Data Warehouse, all available through the security portal. According to the information provided on this week's EDW conference call, we should start to see minor branding and interface changes to the EDW/portal within the next month, with some more major user interface changes and additional tools in the spring (eventually with teacher-level access to reports!)
Edwin Teaching & Learning will provide online curriculum and assessment tools for educators aligned to the 2011 MA Curriculum Frameworks in English Language Arts and Literacy and Mathematics, which incorporate the Common Core State Standards. Massachusetts is working toward procuring an instructional improvement system (IIS) with Ohio and we look forward to hearing the vendor selection in the near future.
Opportunities to pilot new Edwin resources as they are developed will be provided to districts who have been participating in identifying requirements for the system as well as those who have identified project 5a (Teaching and Learning System) in their RTTT applications. For more information, please contact edwin@doe.mass.edu.
Stay tuned for additional information on the launch of Edwin in the coming weeks. For additional information about Edwin, including an extensive FAQ, visit http://www.doe.mass.edu/edwin/.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Item and Task Prototypes from PARCC
As we take the time to examine the preliminary 2012 MCAS results, we also know that next-generation assessments will be coming our way in the next few years. Today, PARCC released samples which represent the types of items and tasks that may appear on state assessments in the future.
According to the release, 'The prototypes are a first step in demonstrating what is possible with new assessment technology that captures students' application of knowledge and skills that are essential to success in the 21st century," said Massachusetts Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester, chair of the PARCC Governing Board. "The prototypes are illustrative of the next-generation PARCC assessment system that reflects the Common Core State Standards."
Please visit the "Item and Task Prototypes" area of the PARCC web site for background information as well as sample ELA and Math tasks and items.
According to the release, 'The prototypes are a first step in demonstrating what is possible with new assessment technology that captures students' application of knowledge and skills that are essential to success in the 21st century," said Massachusetts Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester, chair of the PARCC Governing Board. "The prototypes are illustrative of the next-generation PARCC assessment system that reflects the Common Core State Standards."
Please visit the "Item and Task Prototypes" area of the PARCC web site for background information as well as sample ELA and Math tasks and items.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
PARCC Assessment Update
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) recently released a solicitation for the development of items for its next-generation K-12 assessments in English and math.
The solicitation's summary document and FAQ provide us with a glimpse into what these assessments will look like, including more information about:
The solicitation's summary document and FAQ provide us with a glimpse into what these assessments will look like, including more information about:
- Diagnostic assessments in reading, writing and mathematics.
- Mid-year assessments in ELA/literacy and mathematics.
- Performance-based assessments in ELA/literacy and mathematics.
- End-of-year assessments in ELA/literacy and mathematics.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Data Update from the Curriculum Summit
This week, I had the opportunity to attend the state's Third Annual Summit on Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Marlborough, so I thought I'd share what I heard and learned here on the blog.
Commissioner Mitchell Chester kicked off the Summit with an overview of successes and challenges in Massachusetts' public schools. He spoke with excitement about the opportunities that lie ahead for us in terms of funding (RTTT and other sources), next-generation assessments (the multi-state PARCC group), and new ways of looking at student performance (the growth model).
I attended a morning session focused on the Massachusetts System of Tiered Instruction - "a data driven prevention, early detection, and support system with the aim of providing high-quality core educational experiences for all students and targeted interventions to struggling students who experience learning and/or behavioral challenges." We heard from two school districts (Pittsfield and Winchendon) who have implemented this model for math and literacy, respectively. Even in these "best-practice" examples, the ongoing challenges related to data were evident - WHAT data to examine, HOW to utilize it (and by WHOM), and WHERE to keep it. But the more we can share and collaborate on these challenges, the closer we can come to addressing them.
Our lunch speaker was Julia Phelps, Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She spoke about the new Common Core State Standards and engaged the audience in thinking about the process for transitioning to these new standards over the next few years. In terms of changes to MCAS, her main points were that the spring 2011 MCAS will be based on the existing Frameworks, and the spring 2012 MCAS will be based primarily on the intersection between the existing Frameworks and the new Common Core. It is clear that MUCH more information will be coming out to support districts during this transition, so stay tuned.
The final session I attended was Creating Formative Assessments for Mathematics using Released MCAS Items which reminded us of the wealth of test questions available through ESE, and provided some ideas for using these as a "dipstick" for measuring student understanding.
Please note that the PowerPoint presentations and other materials from the Summit will be posted on the ESE's Summit Web page in the upcoming weeks.
Commissioner Mitchell Chester kicked off the Summit with an overview of successes and challenges in Massachusetts' public schools. He spoke with excitement about the opportunities that lie ahead for us in terms of funding (RTTT and other sources), next-generation assessments (the multi-state PARCC group), and new ways of looking at student performance (the growth model).
I attended a morning session focused on the Massachusetts System of Tiered Instruction - "a data driven prevention, early detection, and support system with the aim of providing high-quality core educational experiences for all students and targeted interventions to struggling students who experience learning and/or behavioral challenges." We heard from two school districts (Pittsfield and Winchendon) who have implemented this model for math and literacy, respectively. Even in these "best-practice" examples, the ongoing challenges related to data were evident - WHAT data to examine, HOW to utilize it (and by WHOM), and WHERE to keep it. But the more we can share and collaborate on these challenges, the closer we can come to addressing them.
Our lunch speaker was Julia Phelps, Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She spoke about the new Common Core State Standards and engaged the audience in thinking about the process for transitioning to these new standards over the next few years. In terms of changes to MCAS, her main points were that the spring 2011 MCAS will be based on the existing Frameworks, and the spring 2012 MCAS will be based primarily on the intersection between the existing Frameworks and the new Common Core. It is clear that MUCH more information will be coming out to support districts during this transition, so stay tuned.
The final session I attended was Creating Formative Assessments for Mathematics using Released MCAS Items which reminded us of the wealth of test questions available through ESE, and provided some ideas for using these as a "dipstick" for measuring student understanding.
Please note that the PowerPoint presentations and other materials from the Summit will be posted on the ESE's Summit Web page in the upcoming weeks.
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