Here are my notes from the TETN yesterday with TEA. (Brad Vasil was the invited guest.) The comments below are in order of how they were addressed in the TETN and questions posed from the Region Service Centers.
The goal of the changes was to maintain the 50-50 split between reading and writing.
Why was it so late? They concentrated on reducing the exams
For 3-8 according to HB 743. When they finished the legislative mandate, they wanted to see if there was a way to reduce the testing burden on other areas. The whole thing was a process that began in October and involved looking at data and constructs to see if it were possible, technical considerations, no designing the new exam blueprint.
How will it be weighted? See docs posted on web. Notice that the writing multiplier (essay component) was changed from 3-2
Will there be changes in difficulty? Technically, no. But you need to remember that each test is equated statistically with p values and the raw score conversion tables change to make sure that they go up or down depending on what the p values tell about how the test compares on difficulty to previous years.
Kids will have the same amount of time to finish, but obviously we expect them to finish sooner.
What will the new questions be about? No new items will be developed in lieu of the short answer. The questions will be similar to what we have seen before...look at the items and SEs that align with the SA from released tests.
No. Teachers can't leave instructional materials up during testing.
All retesters will have to pass the new design- sans short answer.
Cost was not a consideration for the removal. Contracts are fixed cost anyway.
No estimates on what the raw score cut will be. Psychometrically, we just won't know until later.
Commentary on the post about the poet who can't answer the questions. TEA really can't comment because it is an agent of the state, but here are some data points to consider. Item analysis shows that the hardest item showed p values of 50. Other items showed that 75-80 percent of students were getting the questions correct. That does NOT mean that 100 percent that the item was valid. Just a data point. In addition, readers must be able to make decisions about the author's purpose. It is a critical skill in interpreting text. Most teachers have not contacted authors (and some of them are no longer living) about their purpose for writing a text - yet the practice is standard and essential in critical thinking and interpretation of text.
Passages not released- going forward they will make sure we get them. The problems came from the transition to ETS which is A not for profit company. Their lawyers would not allow them to publish the books in print because they could not be procured any other way and would indicate a sole source of access which could point to profit. The copyright situation did not allow them to be placed online.
No new prep materials will be developed because no new items are being developed.
Will there be more DOK 3 type questions? Hard to think of it that way psychometrically. Think less of item by item and more as keeping the test -as a whole -similar to previous exams
TEA doesn't set performance indicators. Look for info from the commissioner.
Karen Miller then reviewed some elements from these topics: Link to ppt below.
STAAR Updates –Student Assessment Division
Graduation Requirements –Foundation High School Program
Texas AP/IB Incentive Program Updates
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Review
85thTexas Legislature
Link to ppt from Karen Miller
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