The following questions came up at the training yesterday and today for Experienced Teachers. (Actually, some of them were raised on both days.) Responses are provided below. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Kelly
Cues & Prompts
1. If student is given a reinforcer (e.g., to increase attending skills and focusing on the task) is it considered a prompt, thereby impacting the independence score? There may be 2 scenarios to this:
given a reinforcer at the completion of the task
given a reinforcer throughout the task (e.g., - after each question/item the student completes)
Response: a reinforcer (such as a food item, a sticker, etc.) is not considered a prompt and does not affect the Level of Independence performance calculation.
2. Student is prompted to refocus (attend....). Is this only considered a prompt on tasks where "attending is being measured" OR on all tasks, even those that do not measure attending? Please include in your reply info so that the teachers will clearly understand how this impacts the independence score.
Response: redirecting or refocusing a student is considered a cue or prompt (page 22 of the NYSAA Administration Manual in the ‘Distinguishing Between Cues, Prompts, and Test Accommodations’). A prompt to refocus does have an impact on the Level of Independence calculation regardless of the AGLI that the student is being assessed on. 3. Math Strategies - Pg. 22 says that prompts include "manipulatives or strategies that change the construct of what is being assessed. For example, use of calculators or arithmetic tables for AGLIs that are assessing computation and do not state or allow for the use of a strategy/"
· What if the student implements the strategies on their own? (e.g., draws a number line, counting points or tic marks on their paper)? Would this impact the independence score and if yes, how would the teacher determine the score?
Response: if the student implements his/her own strategy then the teacher is not providing a cue or a prompt to the student. It would be good practice for the teacher to indicate a notation on the evidence that the number line or marks were independently drawn by the student and were not provided by the teacher, so as not to cause confusion to an outside reviewer. The Level of Independence would not be impacted. A student drawn number line, counting marks is not done by the teacher and therefore is not altering the construct of what is being assessed. If a student independently gets a calculator or arithmetic table to complete an assessment task, this does alter the construct of what is being assessed and the teacher would need to direct the student to complete the assessment task without the calculator or arithmetic table.
Math - Strategies, but NOT relating to cues & prompts
1. Grade 5 Math - the AGLIs in the Operations section for calculations all include the use of strategies. There are NO AGLis without strategies.
What if the student does not need to use strategies to add, subtract, etc. ? (Therefore, no strategies would be shown in the VE).
Response: There are a couple of AGLIs that would work, particularly those that indicate one or more strategies. For example, AGLI 13104 ‘add, subtract, and/or multiply whole numbers using one or more strategies’ might be an appropriate AGLI if the student is using a mental strategy to solve a particular computation. Strategy as defined in the mathematics glossary include “informal written or mental…” which may be applicable to this student.
2. Grade 4 - 13106 AGLI - The student will add and/or subtract one-digit numbers. (no mention of strategies, giving the impression that they are not allowed based on pg. 22 discussed above.)
SAT 13106 - The student will solve simple one-digit addition and/or subtraction problems using a set of concrete objects. (which is a strategy)
Please clarify as this is confusing.
Response: using a set of concrete objects does not alter the construct of what is being assessed. The information on page 22 of the NYSAA Administration Manual is referring to a strategy that alters the construct of what is being assessed, such as a calculator or arithmetic tables.
3. Guided Practice 4 C Nathanial - AGLi is to solve one-step equations using any of the four operations.
The first two items are: 1+1+1 and 5-1+2
Are these 1 or 2 step equations?
Response: the two indicated are two step equations.
If they are 2, is it a "higher level" skill which "connects" OR is the accuracy/independence recalculated based on the remaining 3 items?
Response: the verifying evidence for this student meets the verb and direct object for this AGLI and assessment task (items 3, 4, 5 are one step equations) and is also showing additional work (two step equations in items 1 and 2). The teacher may choose to calculate the performance on only the one step equations or on the worksheet as a whole. If he/she is choosing not to include the two step equations as part of the performance calculation, then it is recommended that a notation be included on the worksheet regarding this, so it is clear to an outside reviewer how the Level of Accuracy and the Level of Independence was calculated.
General Questions
1. Do word banks need to contain distractors?
Response: it would be best practice for a word bank to contain distractors as it would provide the best picture of the student demonstrating his/her knowledge, skills, and understanding related to the AGLI. There is nothing in the administration guidelines that require the use of distractors when presenting the student with a word bank.
2. Are all tasks required to have the "by" statement? (Most of the training examples had them - however teachers sometimes make errors in their "by" statement which impacts connections where the VE would have otherwise connected to the task if the "by" statement had been omitted.
Response: no, tasks do not need to contain a “by” statement. Refer teachers to pages 11-14 of the NYSAA Administration Manual (Step 5 Select an Assessment Task for each AGLI). The Sample Assessment Tasks are written with best practice in mind and are focusing the scope of how to assess a particular AGLI. As stressed in the trainings, it is important for a teacher to modify a Sample Assessment Task if he/she is going to assess the student a little differently than what is outlined in the Sample Assessment Task, typically it is the “by” statement that should be modified.
