Pennsylvania System of School Assessment PSSA

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Pennsylvania System of School Assessment(PSSA)

• Dr. Peterson
• 2009-2010

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What is the PSSA?

• The PSSA is a state assessment in Mathematics,
  Reading, Writing, and Science given on an annual
  basis to Pennsylvania public school students to
  measure students achievement of the Pennsylvania
  Academic Content Standards.

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Who Must Take the PSSA?

• All public school students in the designated
  grades for each test.
• Reading- Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11
• Writing- Grades 5, 8, 11
• Mathematics- Grades 3-8 11
• Science- Grades 4, 8, 11
• Private school students may participate if the
  private school volunteers to participate.
• Home-schooled students may also volunteer to
  participate.

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Must Special Education Students Participate in
the Assessment?

• Yes, all students are required to participate.
• Students who have significant disabilities
  participate in an alternative assessment (PASA).
• Special education students participating in the
  regular assessment are to be provided with
  accommodations as outlined in both the students
  IEP and the PSSA Accommodations Guidelines that
  can be found on the PDE website.

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PASA Eligibility Requirements

• Criteria for Determining Who Should Take the
  PASA   
• The student is in grade 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 11
  and
• The student has a very severe cognitive
  disability and
• The student requires very intensive instruction
  to learn and
• The student requires very extensive adaptations
  and supports in order to perform and/or
  participate meaningfully and productively in the
  everyday life activities of integrated school,
  home, community, and work environments and
• The student requires very substantial
  modification of the general education curriculum
  and
• The student's participation in the general
  education curriculum differs very substantially
  in form and/or substance form that of most other
  students (i.e., requires modified objectives,
  materials, and/or activities).
• If all of the above criteria are met, it would be
  appropriate for the IEP team to decide that the
  student should take the PASA. If the criteria are
  not met, the student should be assigned to take
  the PSSA with or without accommodations.

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PSSA

• Reading Assessment
• Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11
• Multiple-Choice
• Open-Ended
• Item-specific Scoring Guidelines

• Writing Assessment
• Grades 5, 8, 11
• Multiple-Choice
• Writing Prompts
• Mode-specific Scoring Guidelines for composition
• Conventions scored separately

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PSSA

• Math Assessment
• Based on 2005 Assessment Anchors
• Grades 3, 5, 8, and 11 First time Grades 4, 6
  and 7 were tested
• Cut scores for Performance Levels set for Grades
  4, 6 and 7 based on 2006 PSSA
• Criterion Referenced
• Based on the 2007 Assessment Anchors
• 5 Reporting Categories
• Numbers and Operations
• Measurement
• Geometry
• Algebra
• Data Analysis

• Science Assessment
• Grades 4, 8, 11
• Includes multiple-choice and open-ended questions
• Field test includes approximately 20-25 questions
• 2008 Science assessment will include a total of
  66 -72 points, ranging from 50-60 questions.
• 2008 Testing Blueprint

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2009-2010PSSA Testing Window
2009 2010  
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PSSA Spring 2010 Window
 
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Can a Parent or Guardian Review the Assessment?

• Parents or guardians may arrange with their
  school to review the PSSA prior to the
  administration of the assessment to assure that
  there are no conflicts with religious beliefs.

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Can a Parent or Guardian Opt His/Her Child Out of
the PSSA?

• After review of the PSSA, if a parent or guardian
  chooses to opt his/her child out of the
  participation in the PSSA because of a conflict
  in religious belief, the parent or guardian may
  make such request in writing to the
  superintendent.

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Must LEP/ELL students participate?

• LEP students in their first year of enrollment in
  U.S schools have the option of taking the reading
  assessment.
• If students choose to participate their
  performance level results will not be included in
  the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) calculations
  for the school/district.
• All LEP students are still required to take the
  Stanford English Proficiency Assessment (SELP),
  and all LEP students are still required to
  participate in the Mathematics assessment, with
  accommodations as appropriate.
• There is now an ELL assessment called ACCESS that
  these students must take as well.

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Do children have to perform at a certain level on
the PSSA in order to graduate?

• Pennsylvania law requires that students be at
  least proficient in Mathematics, Reading, and
  Writing in order to graduate.
• The state allows each school district to
  determine how a child demonstrates their
  proficiency.
• If a school district chooses the PSSA as the
  instrument to demonstrate proficiency, a child
  will be accountable to the graduation
  requirements of that school district.

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Four Levels of Performance

• Advanced
• Superior academic performance
• In-depth understanding
• Exemplary display of the skills in the content
  standards
• Proficient
• Satisfactory academic performance
• Solid understanding
• Adequate display of the skills in the content
  standards

• Basic
• Marginal academic performance
• Partial understanding
• Limited display of skills included in the content
  standards
• Below Basic
• Inadequate academic performance
• Little understanding
• Minimal display of the skills in the content
  standards

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PSSA Grade 3 Reading
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Reading Grades 48 11 Test Format
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PSSA Writing

• Grades 5, 8, 11
• Multiple-Choice
• Writing Prompts narrative, persuasive, and
  informational
• Mode-specific Scoring Guidelines for composition
  (next slide)
• Conventions scored separately
• Emphasis on Persuasive and Informational Writing
  at Grades 8 and 11.
• Grades 8 and 11 will include only the persuasive
  and informational modes
• 5th grade writing assessment will require
  students to respond to two of the three modes
  (narrative, informational, persuasive). Each
  year PDE will select two of the three modes for
  use in the test.

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PSSA Writing

• Mode-Specific Scoring Guidelines
• Specific mode will be assessed focus, content,
  organization, and style
• 4 pt. Mode-specific scoring
• 4 pt. Conventions scoring
• Conventions will be scored with a separate
  scoring guideline.
• Eighty percent of the students total score will
  relate to the first scoring guideline and 20
  will relate to the combined score of the
  conventions of the writing scoring guideline and
  the multiple-choice revising and editing items.

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PSSA Writing
Approximate times. All students are entitled to
extra time as needed.
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PSSA Writing Guidelines

• Student are NOT permitted to
• use a dictionary, thesaurus, or spell- and
  grammar-checker for the writing assessment.
• use any pre-printed graphic organizer.

• Students ARE permitted to
• use highlighter pens during the testing session
  to highlight text in the writing passages and
  items.
• draw graphic organizers (e.g., webs or venn
  diagrams, etc.) on a blank sheet of scratch
  paper.
• Use an original copy of the mode-specific PSSA
  Scoring Guideline.

• Teachers may not display visual cues during
  testing (e.g., editing charts, word wall lists,
  revision posters, etc.).

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PSSA Mathematics
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PSSA Mathematics

• New Reporting Categories The Anchors are
  organized into five reporting categories. These
  categories are similar to the five NCTM (National
  Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Standards and
  the five NAEP (National Assessment of Educational
  Progress) Reporting Categories. PA Standard
  Statements were examined and most were placed in
  the appropriate Reporting Categories. Some of
  the specific Standards Statements cut across
  different Reporting Categories (e.g., 2.11-
  Concepts of Calculus, which occurs in different
  categories rather than being a separate category,
  2.4 Reasoning and Connections, 2.5 Problem
  solving and Communications).

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PSSA Mathematics Guidelines

• Calculator Usage in the Assessment Calculators
  are not permitted on the Grade 3 PSSA, but are
  permitted in all other grades. Except for the
  items in the non-calculator component, students
  are permitted to use calculators throughout the
  assessment. A major reason for this is that the
  majority of the items and tasks have been
  developed with a strong emphasis upon
  problem-solving applications. For such tasks,
  the calculator truly is a tool. The calculations
  required are typically not ones that involve
  large numbers. Rather, what is important is the
  students ability to make proper decisions about
  operations and procedures. The calculator
  assists students in carrying out those decisions,
  but is of secondary importance in solving such
  problems. All tasks can be solved without the
  use of a calculator. However, certain grade 11
  tasks are much more difficult if a calculator is
  not available.
• The Use of Rulers in the Assessment Grade 3-6
  students are required to use rulers to measure
  lines or figures presented in the test. Small
  rulers are included in the assessment booklets
  for students to use.
• Reference Sheets Reference Sheets are provided
  for the Grade 7, 8 and Grade 11. These include
  formula and conversion tables that may be needed.
• The Use of Other Tools in the Assessment
  Students are not permitted to use Mathematics
  books, dictionaries, palm pilots, or reference
  materials of any kind when they are responding to
  PSSA Mathematics items.
• Highlighters Students may use highlighter pens
  during the test sessions to highlight text in the
  Reading passages or text in the Mathematics
  items. However, students must mark their
  responses to questions using a No. 2 pencil.

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PSSA Mathematics

• Small Mistakes on OpenEnded Responses
• The following list shows some of the ways
  students lose points when their openended
  responses are scored. Students should regularly
  check over their responses, both in the classroom
  and on the PSSA, to make sure they have not made
  mistakes in dealing with the following
• 1. Labeling Errors
• Category Correct Incorrect
• Money 5 or .05 .05 and .05
• 5 or 5 dollars 5
• Area 6 ft2 or 6 sq ft 62ft
• Volume 6 cu ft or 6 ft3 63ft
• Time 6 hrs 30 min or 630 6.3 hrs and
• 
  630 hours

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2008 Science Test Blueprint
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(No Transcript)
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PSSA Science Guidelines

• Students are NOT permitted to use science books,
  dictionaries, PDAs, or reference materials of any
  kind.
• Students MAY USE highlighters to highlight text .
• Students MUST USE a 2 pencil to mark their
  response to each question.