Transforming Statewide High School Assessment Systems: - Achieve

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Table 7: A Snapshot of Statewide Admissions Test Administration, Development andCost Issues in Select StatesColorado Illinois Maine MichiganTest and GradeColorado ACT –11thPrairie StateAchievementExamination – 11thMaine High School Assessment– 11thMichigan Merit Examination– 11thYear of FirstAdministrationSubjects TestedDid the statemodify oraugmentcontent?2001 2001 2006 2007• ACT Reading• ACT English• ACT Math• ACT ScienceNo• ACT Reading• WorkKeysReading forInformation• ACT English• ACT Writing• ACT Math• WorkKeysApplied Math• ACT Scienceand statedevelopeditemsIllinois developeda 45-questionmultiple-choicescience test toaugment the ACTscience exam.• SAT Critical Reading• SAT Writing• SAT Math and augmentedmath items• State-developed scienceassessmentMaine augments the SAT Mathwith 18 items (mainly in dataanalysis) to align the test withstate standards. Maine alsoadministers a state-developedscience assessment.• ACT Reading• WorkKeys Reading forInformation• ACT English• ACT Writing• ACT Math• WorkKeys Applied Math andLocating Information• State-developed math items• ACT Science and statedevelopeditems• WorkKeys LocatingInformation and statedevelopedsocial studies itemsMichigan augments the ACT andWorkKeys with state-developeditems in mathematics, science andsocial studies that more fully alignthe test to state standards.Testing Time190 minuteson one day370 minutesover two days• SAT: 240 minuteson regular Saturdayadministration• Mathematics and scienceaugmentation:165 minuteson one day460 minutesover three daysAre otherstatewide highschool testsadministered orin development?9th and 10thgrade studentsare assessed withthe end-of-gradeColorado StudentAssessmentProgram.NoMaine is developingperformance-based assessmentsto measure 21st-century skills.Michigan passed legislationrequiring that the state developend-of-course assessments inrequired high school courses/creditareas.Transforming Statewide High School Assessment Systems: A Guide for State Policymakers 22
Should States Use College Placement Tests as theCollege and Career Readiness Anchor Assessments?Like the ACT and SAT, placement tests are a known quantity in higher education circles, though they are much less well-knownor understood by students, high school faculty and the general public. Placement tests are usually used after students entercollege to assess whether students possess the knowledge and skills in reading, writing and mathematics necessary to gain accessto entry-level, credit-bearing courses. Students who fare poorly on placement tests are assumed to have gaps in their preparationand are advised—and often required—to take one or more remedial courses to learn (or relearn) important material consideredprerequisite for credit-bearing courses. The most common placement tests given nationally are COMPASS and ACCUPLACER.Many institutions also develop their own placement tests.Some states (including Idaho, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington) are making college placement testsavailable for students to take voluntarily, sometimes at no cost, in high school. These exams can provide information to high schoolstudents about their readiness for credit-bearing, first-year college courses and allow teachers to work with students in their senioryear to address learning gaps.However, Achieve does not recommend substituting or using placement tests as the anchor assessments, which need to becomprehensive measures of college and career readiness, in the high school accountability system. Most of the college placementtests reviewed by Achieve are too narrowly focused on a subset of knowledge and skills. In mathematics and reading in particular,they reflect relatively low levels of rigor. If states were to incorporate existing placement tests into their formal high schoolaccountability systems, this might inadvertently lead to a narrowing and watering down of the high school curriculum.Should States Measure Career Readiness Distinctly from College Readiness?Some state policymakers are interested in knowing whether and how to incorporate into the statewide assessment systemadditional tests—beyond the anchor assessments that measure academic preparation for success after high school—that areexplicitly designed to measure readiness for specific industries or general “workplace readiness.”There are literally thousands of certifications (and accompanying assessments) available in the United States. The certificationsvary substantially in purpose, in what they cover, in the nature of their requirements and in how they are used. The category ofindustry certification, which includes any program designed to identify the skills and knowledge needed in a specific industry orjob function, is by far the largest. A much smaller group of certifications, known as work or career readiness certifications, capturesgeneric proficiencies and skills that are applicable to many occupations.General Work ReadinessCredentials of general work or career readiness are designed to show employers that individuals have gained “soft skills”—thosequalities and habits of mind such as work ethic, organizational skills, punctuality and self-discipline—as well as general ortechnical skills (such as basic information retrieval skills). Work readiness programs vary, but all are intended to certify thatstudents are “career-ready,” without respect to particular occupations.Transforming Statewide High School Assessment Systems: A Guide for State Policymakers 23
Page 1 and 2: Transforming StatewideHigh School A
Page 3: Table of ContentsWhy States Need To
Page 6 and 7: A New Vision for the High School As
Page 8 and 9: Table 1: Common Elements of a Colle
Page 10 and 11: Interim assessment is the term we s
Page 12 and 13: The American Diploma Project Benchm
Page 14 and 15: In many ways, this is the most stra
Page 16 and 17: Advantages of End-of-Course TestsEO
Page 18 and 19: New York’s Regents Exams: Serving
Page 21: Challenges with Admissions TestsThe
Page 25 and 26: Core Principle Two:Making Tests Mat
Page 27 and 28: For those going directly to the wor
Page 29 and 30: Making College and Career Readiness
Page 31 and 32: In mathematics, California requires
Page 33 and 34: Valuing Constructed-Response Items
Page 35 and 36: States can follow these rules of th
Page 37 and 38: Although the graduation policies in
Page 39 and 40: will produce and report test result
Page 41 and 42: Core Principle Four:Streamlining Te
Page 43 and 44: Table 8: The More States Collaborat
Page 45 and 46: Core Principle Two: Making Tests Ma
Page 47 and 48: Can higher education reduce the num
Page 49 and 50: Table 9: Steps and Options to Addre
Page 51 and 52: Step 3: Developsupports forstudents
Page 53 and 54: AcknowledgementsAchieve would like
Page 55 and 56: 16Math A and B will be phased out a

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