UINTA COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT #1
Weekly Newsletter-February 2018, Volume 12
2017-2018 WY-TOPP INTERIM & MODULAR SCORING FAQ
There are two kinds of scores that can be seen in the AIR Ways, item scores and scale scores. The item score indicates how many points a student earned for his or her response. For example, a student may earn 1 point for a multiple-choice item or up to 4 points for an extended response item. This score can be found when looking at student responses, but currently there is not a summary report for these raw score totals in AIR Ways. Scale scores are reported at the overall and subcategory levels in AIR Ways. The scale score factors in the difficulty of each item along with the student’s response. Reporting in this manner is necessary for an adaptive test since students are tested on the range of depth of content, but at different difficulty levels. This difference in difficulty level is why one student may have a higher total item score, or raw score, but a lower scaled score than another student on the same test. Each of the correctly answered questions of greater difficulty contribute more to that student’s scaled score. The proficiency determination is determined from the scaled score.
2. What do the Performance levels represent in AIR Ways?
The Performance levels aid in interpreting how well a student did on a Modular or Interim assessment and provide an indication of probable performance on the Summative assessment later in the year, if no interventions or additional learning takes place in between. If a student achieves a “Low” performance level, then that student is not likely to be proficient on the Summative assessment, assuming no further learning occurs before the spring summative testing window. A student achieving an “At or Approaching” performance level indicates the student is more likely to be proficient on the Summative assessment, with further instruction. If a student achieves at the “On or Above” level, the student is most likely to be proficient or advanced on the Summative assessment.
3. What is the range of scale scores for each Performance Level?
WY-TOPP proficiency cut scores will be set during standard setting in the summer of 2018. Meanwhile, WDE and AIR decided to use a temporary proficiency cut so that stakeholders can infer performance of each student for this first year of Interims and Modulars. When using a temporary proficiency cut like this, it is better to use a confidence interval to classify students’ performance level. Usually, standard error of measurement (SEM) from each student is used to create the confidence interval around the temporary proficiency cut score. This methodology is used widely in the large-scale assessment field and was also approved by Wyoming Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) members.
4. Why are some students’ performance levels not categorized similarly to their peers?
What is important to understand with the methodology of using confidence intervals based on SEM to classify students’ performance level is that SEMs can be very high at the upper and lower end of the scale, depending on the items that were administered to a student and their responses to those items. Therefore in a few instances, confidence intervals can be very large because of the student’s high SEM. In these cases the student is assigned the middle performance level, “At or Approaching.” 2 2017-18 WY-TOPP INTERIM & MODULAR SCORING FAQ While this is a mathematically correct approach, there will be a few students who have a low or high scaled score and still classified as “At or Approaching” due to their large SEM. This is also why there are not defined ranges of scaled scores for each performance level for these tests at this time. Please note that this is temporary. After standard setting in summer of 2018, all 2018-19 Interims and Modulars will be reported using the same scale and performance cut scores as the Summative assessments.
5. How will the range of scale scores for each Performance Level change after Standard Setting in the summer of 2018?
During the standard setting event, Wyoming educators and the WDE will set what will be the proficiency levels for WY-TOPP for the 2018 Summative tests and all future Interims and Modulars. After these proficiency cut scores are determined, all future WY-TOPP tests will be reported on the 4 performance levels of Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT-CLINT CHANDLER
Clint Chandler to speak at the National CPM Conference
This month, math teachers will be gathering in San Francisco, California from all over the United States to talk about best mathematical teaching practices. Clint has been invited to speak on how to get groups to work well together and about different strategies on how to find out what kids know. Clint is an amazing teacher with a lot of really great experience! We want to wish him luck and congratulate him on this exciting opportunity!
-ATTENTION ALL STAFF-
FLU SEASON IS UPON US!
With flu season running rampant, here are some things to remember to stay healthy!
1. Wash your hands! (and dry them) This includes all the kiddos in our schools. Washing your hands frequently and using hand sanitizer helps protect you from germs.
2. Avoid contact. Keeping your distance from others and staying home when you are sick helps prevent the spread of illness.
3. Cover your mouth and nose. Not only is it just polite...but it also helps prevent spreading germs.
4. Avoid touching your mouth, nose and eyes. This will help keep you from getting sick after you've touched something that may be contaminated.
5. Disinfect often. Clean the surfaces around your home, work and schools, especially when someone is sick.
6. Be healthy. Getting enough exercise, sleep and eating nutritious foods keeps us healthy and speeds our recovery when we get sick.
BIRTHDAYS!
7th-Ward Brinkerhoff, Melanie Bardsley, Pat Wilson, Leslie Gilmore
8th-Arturo Perez-Saavedra, Yvonne Maestes
10th-Mandie Hanks
11th-Jeremy Fessler
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
UCSD#1 Administration
Cheri Dunford, Supt., Board Exec. Assistant Ext. 1021
Dr. Joseph Ingalls, Assistant Superintendent K-5 Ext. 1026
Doug Rigby, Assistant Superintendent 6-12 Ext. 1025
Alicia Johnson, Instructional Services Admin. Asst. Ext. 1024
Kristine Hayduk, Human Resources Ext. 1023
Matt Williams, SPED Director Ext. 1040
Shannon Arellanes, SPED Admin. Asst. Ext. 1041
Bubba O'Neill, Activities Director Ext. 1060
Dauna Bruce, Activities Admin. Asst. Ext. 1061
Email: ajohnson@uinta1.com
Website: uinta1.com
Location: 537 10th Street, Evanston, WY, United States
Phone: 307-789-7571
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Uinta-County-School-District-1-Pathway-to-Excellence-480272945367024/
Twitter: @ucsd1