College- and Career-Ready Determination (CCR-D) Policy and Policy-Level Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs)

September 25, 2012

Zach Foughty, Director of College and Career Readiness, Indiana Department of Education

Judith Monsaas, Executive Director, Assessment and Evaluation, University System of Georgia

Jeff Nellhaus, Director of PARCC Assessment Development, Achieve

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Overview

• Background: PARCC Consortium and Assessment System

• Background: Initial Strategy/Draft College-Ready Determination (CRD) and Policy-Level Descriptors (PLD)

• Feedback from the field on the inclusion of Career Readiness in CRD

• Guiding principles of College and Career Readiness

• Draft College- and Career-Ready Determination

• Next Steps

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

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Assessment DesignEnglish Language Arts/Literacy & Mathematics, Grades 3-8 and High School

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

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

Summative Assessment Components

End-of-Year Assessment

•Innovative, computer-based items

Performance-BasedAssessment (PBA)

•Extended tasks•Applications of concepts and skills

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• 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

• Grades 3-8: summative assessments for each grade level

• High School ELA/Literacy: summative assessments for grades 9, 10 and 11

• High School Mathematics: summative end-of-course assessments for traditional and integrated mathematics sequences

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Background: Draft College-Ready Determination Policy

• College-Ready Determinations: The level of academic knowledge, skills, and practices students must achieve to have a high likeliness of success in entry-level credit-bearing coursework.

• Policy-Level Descriptors: The achievement/performance levels on the PARCC assessments, including the educational implications for students and general content claims at each particular achievement/performance level.

• Feedback to Date: This past summer, released draft language for the CRD and PLDs, and have received over 500 responses from K-12 and higher education stakeholders across PARCC states.

• CURRENT Draft College-Ready (CR) Determinations:– Students who earn a College-Ready Determination in ELA/literacy

will have demonstrated the academic knowledge and skills necessary to enter into and succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing courses in College English Composition and Literature, and introductory courses requiring college-level reading in a range of disciplines, such as history and the social sciences.

– Students who earn a College-Ready Determination in Mathematics will have demonstrated the academic knowledge, skills, and practices* necessary to enter into and succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing courses in College Algebra and Introductory Statistics.

*The practices referred to here are the Standards for Mathematical Practice included in the Common Core State Standards.

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Background: Draft College-Ready Determination Policy

• Students who earn a CR Determination will be exempt from having to take and pass placement tests designed to determine whether they are academically prepared to enter directly into entry-level, credit-bearing courses in English language arts and mathematics.

• The CR Determination is not intended to inform admission decisions or exempt students from taking tests designed to place them into more advanced courses than entry-level.

Background: Benefit of Earning a College-Ready Determination

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The following statement is proposed to inform standard-setting (determining cut scores for PARCC performance levels) and to conduct future studies to validate the efficacy of the CR Determinations.

– At least 75 percent of the students who earn a College-Ready Determination by performing at level 4 in ELA/ literacy should earn college credit by attaining at least a grade of C or its equivalent in College English Composition or Literature, or introductory courses in disciplines requiring college-level reading, such as history and the social sciences.

– At least 75 percent of the students who earn a PARCC College-Ready Determination by performing at Level 4 in Mathematics should earn college credit by attaining at least a grade of C or its equivalent in College Algebra or Introductory Statistics.

Background: Standard-Setting/ Validation Studies

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• PARCC states proposing 5 achievement levels for grades 3-8 and HS in ELA/literacy and mathematics– Level 4 pitched to rigor of NAEP’s proficient level– Level 4 proposed as threshold for earning the College-Ready

Determination on the designated high school assessments

• 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 the academic knowledge

and skills students performing at a given performance level are able to demonstrate at each grade level.

Background: Draft Policy-Level Performance Level Descriptors

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• Level 5: Superior command of the knowledge, skills, and practices embodied by the CCSS assessed at the grade level/ course.

• Level 4: Solid command …• Level 3: Partial command …• Level 2: Limited command …• Level 1: Very Limited command …

General Definition of Each Level

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Draft PLDs for Reporting Results of Assessments

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College-Ready Grades 9 and 10 Grades 3-8

Level 5

• Superior command of the knowledge and skills contained in the CCSS assessed• Academically well prepared to engage

successfully in entry-level credit bearing courses in…• Exempt from having to take and pass

placement tests designed to determine whether they are prepared for entry-level, credit bearing courses without need for remediation

• Superior command…• Academically well prepared to engage successfully

in further studies in the content area• On-track to becoming academically prepared to

engage successfully in entry-level, credit bearing courses in …

• Superior command• Academically well

prepared to engage successfully in further studies in the content area

Level 4

• Solid command …• Academically prepared …• Exempt …

• Solid command …• Academically prepared …• On-track …

• Solid command• Academically prepared

Level 3

• Partial command …•Will likely need academic support to engage

successfully in entry-level, credit-bearing courses• Not exempt …

• Partial command …•Will likely need academic support to engage

successfully in further studies …•Will likely need academic support to become

prepared to engage successfully in entry-level ….

• Partial command•Will likely need academic

support to engage successfully

Level 2

• Limited command …•Will need academic support …• Not exempt …

• Limited command…•Will need academic support to engage successfully

in further studies …•Will need academic support to become prepared

to engage successfully in entry-level …

• Limited command•Will need academic

support

Level 1

• Very limited command …•Will need extensive academic support …• Not exempt …

• Very limited command …•Will need extensive academic support to engage

successfully in further studies …•Will need extensive academic support to become

prepared to engage successfully in entry-level …

• Very limited command•Will need extensive

academic support

• Focusing only on College Readiness in the CRD policy inadvertently gave the impression that, as compared to college readiness, career readiness requires mastery of different or less rigorous academic standards or may require a lower level of performance on the same academic standards

• Feedback from PARCC’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), technical college leaders, partner organizations, and several states underscores the need to refine the CRD policy by incorporating additional language that is inclusive of career readiness

• PARCC needs a College- and Career-Ready Determination (CCR-D)

Feedback Has Demonstrated the Urgency of Incorporating Career Readiness

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• Achieve: “…we found an important convergence around the core knowledge and skills that both colleges and employers…require. Students who meet these standards therefore will be prepared for success, whatever path they choose to pursue after high school.”

• ACT: “…it is reasonable to conclude that the expectations of students who choose to enter workforce training programs for jobs that are likely to offer both a wage sufficient to support a small family and potential career advancement should be no different from the expectations of students who choose to enter college after high school graduation.”

• ACTE identifies academic skills (as articulated by the CCSS and applied in context) as one of the three “puzzle pieces” of career readiness (in addition to technical skills and employability/life skills).

Research To Consider

Sources: Achieve, 2004, Ready or Not: Creating a High School Diploma that Counts, www.achieve.org/files/ReadyorNot.pdf ; ACT, 2006, Ready for College and Ready for Work – Same or Different? www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/ReadinessBrief.pdf; ACTE, 2010, What is “Career Ready?” www.acteonline.org/uploadedFiles/Publications_and_Online_Media/files/Career_Readiness_Paper.pdf

• PARCC will establish equivalent determinations or levels for “college-ready” and “career-ready,” as the academic mastery established through the CCSS are one and the same.

• CCR determinations will focus squarely on the academic preparation as articulated in the CCSS needed for careers, not on the other key elements of career readiness.

• CCR determinations will focus on middle and high skills careers with a family-sustaining wage and pathways for career advancement (i.e., careers rather than jobs), the majority of which require some postsecondary education, although not necessarily a four-year degree.

• Any CCR Determination will need to be able to be validated.

Guiding Principles of College- and Career-Ready Determinations

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• The CCR Determination WILL:– Focus on core, academic foundations in English/Literacy and mathematics

– Engage the full breadth of postsecondary education and training programs – that lead to a successful (middle or high skills) career – by including them in PARCC’s outreach, higher education policies, and validation studies

• The CCR Determination WILL NOT:– Address important technical and employability/life skills critical for career

success

– Address important college-ready life skills critical for postsecondary success

– Address other important academic content outside of the CCSS important for college and career readiness

– Provide a determination that necessarily can be used by students entering directly into on-the-job training, apprenticeships or other privately-provided technical education and training16

What the College- and Career-Ready Determination Will/Will Not Do

A student who is determined to be College- and Career-Ready by PARCC has:•Demonstrated the academic knowledge, skills, and practices in ELA/Literacy and mathematics necessary to enter directly into and succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing courses in those content areas in programs leading to a credential or degree (aligned to the student’s career aspirations), from two-and four-year* public institutions of higher education.

* This is inclusive of any public postsecondary institution awarding degrees and/or credentials that are aligned with entry into middle and high skills jobs (i.e. programs that are typically at least one year in length), including public technical colleges/institutions.

Draft College- and Career-Ready Determination

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• PARCC intends to make two College- and Career-Ready (CCR) Determinations, one for each content area:– Students who earn a College- and Career-Ready Determination in

ELA/literacy will have demonstrated the academic knowledge and skills necessary to enter into and succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing courses in College English Composition and Literature, and introductory courses requiring college-level reading in a range of disciplines, such as history, the social sciences, and technical subjects.

– Students who earn a College- and Career-Ready Determination in Mathematics will have demonstrated the academic knowledge, skills, and practices* necessary to enter into and succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing courses in College Algebra, Introductory Statistics and technical subjects requiring an equivalent level of mathematics.

*The practices referred to here are the Standards for Mathematical Practice included in the Common Core State Standards.18

Draft Content-Specific College- and Career-Ready Determinations

Draft PLDs for Reporting Results of Assessments, incorporating Career Readiness

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College-Ready Grades 9 and 10 Grades 3-8

Level 4

• Solid command of the knowledge and skills contained in the CCSS assessed• Academically prepared to engage

successfully in entry-level credit bearing courses in College English Composition and Literature, and introductory courses requiring college-level reading in a range of disciplines, such as history, the social sciences, and technical subjects• Exempt from having to take and pass

placement tests designed to determine whether they are prepared for entry-level, credit bearing courses without need for remediation

• Solid command…• Academically prepared to engage

successfully in further studies in the content area• On-track to becoming academically

prepared to engage successfully in entry-level, credit bearing courses in …

• Solid command• Academically prepared to engage

successfully in further studies in the content area

Level 3

• Partial command …•Will likely need academic support to engage

successfully in entry-level, credit-bearing courses• Not exempt …

• Partial command …•Will likely need academic support to

engage successfully in further studies …•Will likely need academic support to

become prepared to engage successfully in entry-level ….

• Partial command•Will likely need academic support

to engage successfully in…

Level 2

• Limited command …•Will need academic support …• Not exempt …

• Limited command…•Will need academic support to engage

successfully in further studies …•Will need academic support to become

prepared to engage successfully in entry-level …

• Limited command•Will need academic support to

engage successfully in…

• PARCC will continue to actively engage leaders and educators from technical colleges, secondary and postsecondary CTE, and the business community around this new draft CCR Determination.

• State and local leaders will provide feedback at www.parcconline.org/crd-pld-survey by October 3, 2012

• The PARCC Governing Board and Advisory Committee on College Readiness will consider this issue at their next meeting on October 25th

Next Steps

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• Questions and feedback on key elements of the CCR-D:– Does it target the appropriate characteristics of

postsecondary programs to which it will apply?– Does it target the appropriate postsecondary

institutions to which it will apply?– Does it target the appropriate entry-level, credit-

bearing courses to which it will apply in ELA/literacy and mathematics?

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Discussion