Request to Waive Testing of New State Assessments - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education)

Request to Waive Testing of New State Assessments - State Board of Education (CA Dept of Education):

NOTICE OF REQUEST TO WAIVE FEDERAL TITLE I, PART A OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT FOR FLEXIBILITY IN ASSESSMENT ADMINISTRATION ALIGNED WITH COLLEGE- AND CAREER- READY STANDARDS FOR THE 2013–14 SCHOOL YEAR ONLY

WAIVE

Request for public comment on California’s request to waive academic assessments and accountability from states that participate in field testing of new state assessments during the 2013–14 school year.

Notice is hereby given that California is requesting the U.S. Department of Education (ED) waive Title I, Part A requirements (Section 111[b][2] and [3] of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The purpose of this public notice is to notify you of the opportunity to submit written public comment on the waiver request to the ED regarding the requirement of states to implement yearly student academic assessments in mathematics, and reading or language arts for specified grades/grade spans. This one-year Title I waiver pertains to how California students participate in the Smarter Balanced field tests. In addition, this waiver seeks participating schools to retain their federal accountability designations for an additional year during which the same targeted interventions (if in Program Improvement) would have to continue.

All comments regarding the request for waiver must be submitted to Jeff Breshears by e-mail at TitleI@cde.ca.gov, by phone at 916-319-0303; or mailed and received at the following address by close of business at 5 p.m. on December 2, 2013, and addressed to:

Improvement and Accountability Division
California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Suite 6208
Sacramento, CA 95814

The waiver request can be found at the following URL: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/pn/pn/.

• Letter to Deborah Delisle, Assistant Secretary Office of Elementary and Secondary Education is athttp://www.cde.ca.gov/be/pn/pn/testingletterwaiver2013.asp
• List of California Open or Pending Schools Offering Grades Three Through Eight in 2013–14 is athttp://www.cde.ca.gov/be/pn/pn/documents/caschools2013-14.xls

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces Release of
More Than $106 Million to Schools Under Proposition 39

SACRAMENTO—More than $106 million—the first round of funding under voter-approved Proposition 39—is going to school districts next week to help them begin planning new energy efficiency projects around the state, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced today.

"Energy efficiency projects in our schools will help create jobs, protect our environment, save money, and create teachable moments for students all at the same time," Torlakson said. "With Proposition 39, voters made it clear that they see support for education and the environment—and the intersection of the two—as a direct investment in the future of California."

Voters passed the California Clean Energy Jobs Act (Proposition 39) last November. It allocates revenue to local educational agencies to support energy efficiency and alternative energy projects, along with related improvements and repairs that contribute to reduced operating costs and improved health and safety conditions in public schools. Proposition 39 will direct about $2.5 billion in new revenues over five years to fund projects by California's K-12 public schools, charter schools, county offices of education, and community colleges. Specific requirements for how the funds will be allocated are outlined in Senate Bill 73 .

This first round of funding is specifically dedicated to planning, and the complete list of recipients and amounts can be found on the California Department of Education's funding results for the Prop 39 grant Web page. There will be a second application period for planning funds early next year. For additional details, visit the CDE's California Clean Energy Jobs Act Web page or the California Energy Commission's The California Clean Energy Jobs Act  Web page.

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Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

State Expands Field Tests of New Common Core-Aligned Assessments

California Submits Waiver Application to Federal Government to Avoid "Double Testing" Students

SACRAMENTO—State officials are expanding an upcoming field test of modern, computer-based assessments so that hundreds of thousands of students may test in both math and English-language arts, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said today.

California is also applying for a "double testing" waiver from the federal government, which would allow students to avoid wasting valuable learning time by taking both the field test and a separate end-of-year state test. Assembly Bill 484, which Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., signed into law last month, ended most of the California Standards Tests and other assessments that had comprised the state's Standardized Testing and Reporting program (STAR) for the past 15 years.

"This move to up-to-date new assessments marks a major step forward in California's work to ensure that every student graduates equipped to succeed in college and careers," Torlakson said. "These field tests simply make good sense, and expanding them to include both subjects for most students makes even better sense—in contrast to ‘double testing' students, which makes little sense at all."

Field tests serve as "tests of the tests," allowing experts to gauge the accuracy and reliability of individual test items before finalizing the assessments for full-scale use. As such, no field test scores will be produced or reported. AB 484 requires field testing students in only one subject area, either math or English-language arts, but Torlakson informed local educational agencies (LEAs) this week that the vast majority of students will be tested in both subjects this spring.

In California, all students in grade three through eight and grade eleven as well as small sample of grade nine and ten students will participate in the Smarter Balanced field test. Originally, those students would have taken either mathematics or English-language arts. After hearing from LEAs of their interest to field test both content areas, California worked with its contractor Educational Test Service (ETS) as well as the Smarter Balanced contractor, American Institute for Research, to develop a California solution to include both content areas.

"Expanding the field test for hundreds of thousands of students to take both sets of assessments will mean more hands-on experience for them and their teachers, as well as more opportunity to identify any technological needs," said Mike Kirst, president of the State Board of Education. "All of that means that California will be starting from a solidly built foundation when these assessments become operational next school year—and that's good for our students, our schools, and our state."

Ninety-five percent of the students will take a sampling of test items for both content areas, plus one performance task from one content area. The remaining five percent of students will focus on one subject or the other. The field test will take place between March 18 and June 6, 2014. The new assessment system goes operational in the 2014-15 school year.

The new assessments will be computer-based, allowing for a much broader range of test questions than the multiple-choice exams given under STAR. They will emphasize critical thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving, modeling the kind of teaching and learning needed to prepare all students for the demands of college and the modern workplace.

Part of the assessment system, developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, also will be computer adaptive, so that a student's prior responses affect the difficulty of subsequent questions, allowing a far more precise measurement of student skills and knowledge than the former tests. The Smarter Balanced assessments are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. These state-developed standards, which California and 45 other states have voluntarily adopted over the past few years, are designed to provide all students with the deeper learning, critical thinking, and other skills they need to prepare for college and a career. The Smarter Balanced assessments were designed to meet federal- and state-level accountability requirements and provide teachers and parents with timely and accurate information to measure student performance and progress.

"As I have said, I believe everyone—from educators to parents and from Sacramento to Washington—shares the same goal: a modern assessment and accountability system that supports teaching and learning in the classroom and prepares every child for a bright future," Torlakson said.

For more information, visit the California Department of Education's Web page on the Smarter Balanced field test.

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Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100