WESTEST
2 Alignment Study to CSOs
|
Purpose: The West Virginia Department of Education was
required to conduct an external alignment study of the West Virginia curriculum
standards and assessments in three content areas – language arts, mathematics,
and science for seven grade levels – grade 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
The external alignment
study addressed both quantitatively and qualitatively the comprehensiveness of
tests in terms of gaps and weaknesses, emphasis and depth of knowledge as well
as thinking skill distribution to ensure the alignment of content and
performance descriptors with the assessment.
Background: Alignment is frequently used to describe the
state of an education system. For
purposes of the study, alignment is defined as the degree which standards and
assessments in education systems are in agreement and serve in conjunction with
one another to guide the system toward students learning what they are expected
to know and to do.
The alignment process
produced the following information:
·
Degree the
standards and assessments are in agreement on four criteria: categorical concurrence, depth-of-knowledge
consistency, range-of-knowledge correspondence, and balance of representation
·
Item coding of
depth-of-knowledge and standards by individual reviewers
·
A report on the
reliability among reviewers
·
Explicit
statement if standards and assessments are in alignment or not aligned and what
action was needed to make the standards and assessments aligned
The first phase of the
study was conducted in September 17-19, 2008, using forms from the WESTEST
2 Field Test. Norman Webb of the
Wisconsin Center for Education Research provided expertise as external reviewers. Twelve nationally recognized content
specialists (four per content area) provided expertise as external
reviewers. Twelve West Virginia (four
per content area) educators provided expertise, understanding, and knowledge of
West Virginia’s Content Standards and Objectives and Performance
Descriptors. The internal reviewers
represented retired teachers, county curriculum coordinators, and classroom
teachers from all grade spans across the state.
The second phase of the
study was conducted January 26-29, 2009, using internal and external reviewers
of each content area. The reviewers used
the WESTEST
2 Operational Forms for the
second phase of the study. A final
report will be submitted to the United States Department of Education.
Impact: The Phase I report narrative interpreted the
data and results of the study and was used to strengthen the alignment of the
operational forms of the test. The
report discussed the quality of the items based on any identification of source
of challenge and other comments made by the reviewers. The study identified issues and recommended
actions needed to reach alignment. The
Phase II study was used to verify that the standards and the assessment are in
alignment and meet the Title I requirements.
Norm Webb Alignment Report
of WV CSOs and WESTEST 2
·
Reading
and English Language Arts
·
Science
Please visit http://wvde.state.wv.us/oaa/filecabinet.html#westest2
for additional information.