When Governor Kasich signed the budget on June 30, two significant changes to Ohio’s assessment system became law. First, safe harbor was extended through the 2016 17 school year; second, PARCC ceased to be Ohio's state test. Soon after the ink was dry, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) announced that the state would use tests developed in consultation with AIR for all subjects during the 2015–16 school year. (AIR provided Ohio’s science and social studies assessments in 2014–15 and also developed Ohio’s former tests—the OAA and OGT.)
Throughout the month of July, questions loomed surrounding what these tests would look like, how they would be administered, and when teachers and school leaders would receive preparation resources. Not all of those questions have been answered, but some have. Let’s take a look at what we know so far.
Test features
For many people, one of the most attractive aspects of the new ELA and math assessments is that they are shorter than PARCC tests. While PARCC tests are (depending on subject and grade level) around four or five hours each, the state tests that Ohio students will take this year will last approximately three hours for each subject. In addition, both the math and ELA tests will be divided into two parts so that districts can choose to give one 180-minute test or two ninety-minute tests in each subject.
While Ohio will use a fixed-form test in 2015–16—the format used by PARCC and earlier with the OAAs and OGTs—an intriguing aspect of AIR is that they have experience developing adaptive assessments. AIR characterizes an adaptive test as one that adjusts to a student’s responses. Students who are doing well are given harder items, and students who are struggling are given easier items. (Other widely used K–12 tests, such as NWEA MAP and STAR, are also adaptive.) By adjusting the difficulty level of questions, the tests could be shorter and might ascertain students’ strengths and weaknesses with greater accuracy. This year, because of the extremely short turnaround time between budget passage and the start of the school year, Ohio has chosen not to undertake an adaptive assessment. However, officials from ODE have said that they are keeping adaptive testing in mind for future years. (To be clear, opting for a fixed-form test instead of an adaptive one doesn’t mean that all tests must be paper-and-pencil affairs; districts can give a fixed-form test online.)
As for whether the tests will be administered online or in paper-and-pencil format, that’s up to districts (as it was last year). If districts administer tests online, the ELA and math tests will use the same testing platform as last spring’s science and social studies tests. This is likely music to the ears of districts that spent much of last year upset that students were forced to use two different platforms instead of one.
In terms of test preparation resources, blueprints and sample test items for the social studies and science tests are already available. ODE is in the process of creating testing blueprints for the math and ELA tests, and also plans to have them available by September. Sample test items will be available by October.
Testing windows
The new tests will be administered only once, at the end of the year (unlike PARCC’s mandate of two administrations, which caused some grief last year).[1] To provide flexibility, ODE has given districts the ability to select either the same dates for all tests or one set of dates for ELA and a different set for other content areas (math, science, and social studies). If districts do opt for two sets, the dates are allowed to overlap. Although ODE has blocked off long testing windows (in some cases up to thirty days) to give districts additional flexibility, districts are only able to select ten consecutive days for paper tests or fifteen consecutive days for online tests. They cannot use ODE’s entire testing window. Here’s what the windows look like:
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It’s important to remember that a testing window is just a time frame during which the test can take place. So even though the online testing window for ELA lasts from April 4 to April 29, that doesn’t mean a student is testing all day on each of those days. It means that schools have the choice to give the ELA test (which, remember, is only about three hours long) on any day within the allowed time frame and within the ten- or fifteen-day window they’ve selected for their districts. In theory, a seventh grader could take her online ELA test on April 25, her paper-and-pencil math test on May 2, and then be done with state testing for the year. A fourth grader, even though he must also take a social studies test, could have a similar schedule: social studies on April 18, ELA on April 25, and math on May 2. Three hours on each of those days (not the whole day) and he’s done.
In addition to granting flexibility for districts, ODE decided to push the ELA testing earlier because of the nature of the assessments. ELA tests include writing portions that must be graded by hand, which means they take longer to process. In order to follow state law, which now requires that test results be returned within forty-five days or by June 30 (whichever comes first), the ELA testing window had to end prior to the math, science, and social studies window for the ELA tests to be graded in time.
Test questions
Because of the short turnaround between the budget adoption and the start of the school year, ODE didn’t have the option to work with educators to create an Ohio test from scratch. As a result, this year’s tests will include questions from an item bank that has already been field-tested in other states. However, the items selected to appear on Ohio’s tests will be approved by review committees made up of Ohio educators. (The committees began meeting on August 17 and will continue meeting through September). In other words, the online and paper tests administered to Buckeye students in the spring will be built by ODE and AIR, but they are based on sets of questions approved by review committees. (For more information, check out ODE’s road map of the process).
In 2017, Ohio will begin field-testing questions written by Ohio educators. The goal is to develop item banks created by Ohio educators, which will then be used to create tests. In the years to come, when ODE says these tests will be Ohio-made, they will mean Ohio-made.
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This year’s tests will undoubtedly encounter some bumps in the road. Luckily, because ODE has worked with AIR for many years—and because many districts and schools are already familiar with AIR’s online testing platform—the new state tests should have a smoother transition period than schools faced last year. But in order to earn the confidence of Buckeye families and educators, ODE must make sure that test preparation materials and resources, as well as guidance around accommodations, are timely and clear. Perhaps most importantly, a high bar for achievement must be set—questions that measure critical thinking (instead of test-bubbling ability) and rigorous cut scores are non-negotiable if ODE is committed to ending Ohio’s proficiency illusion.
[1] The only tests that will be given in the first semester of 2015-16 are tests associated with third grade reading (December) and tests given to high school students on a block schedule.
