1. Branch Updates and Developments
Assessment and Evaluation Branch
NB Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
2. Overview
• Communication
• Assessment Framework
• Focus – Literacy and Numeracy
• Exemptions and Accommodations
• Updates: 2013-2014 Assessment Timetable
• Numeracy
– Grade 5 English and FI
– Grade 8 English and FI
3. Overview (continued)
• Literacy:
– Grade 2 Prime, 4 FI
– Grade 7 English
– ELPA
– Grade 10 FI
– French Oral Proficiency at Grade 10
– ESLA
– Grade 12 Oral Proficiency Certificate
• Field testing
4. NB Framework for Provincial
Assessments
Assessment & Evaluation Branch
NB Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
5. NB Education Assessment and Evaluation
• The Assessment and Evaluation Branch is responsible
for administering all provincial assessments, as well as,
international and pan-Canadian assessment programs.
6. Balanced Assessment
Focus
• Determine what
learning comes next
for the learner.
Focus
• Determine how student groups are
progressing or how well a program is
working.
Focus
• Determine how schools, districts, and
the province are progressing toward
standards.
8. Making the Link
Assessment in the Classroom
• Classroom-based assessment and evaluation provides an
opportunity for in-depth analysis of students’ abilities and areas of
need. Teachers must be well versed in assessment techniques
and understand best practices for timely remediation.
• If we want to enhance learning for all students, the role of
assessment for learning takes on a much higher profile than
assessment of learning. In New Brunswick, we have the
expectation that all teachers will employ formative assessment
practices in the classroom.
9. Bringing it Together
• The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
Assessment Branch is committed to providing timely, useful
feedback on the status of teaching and learning in the Province of
New Brunswick.
• We strive to ensure our that assessments are valid and reliable
measures, and that our reporting assists policy makers and
educators to monitor student learning and programming. As part of
this process, we are guided by the NBAP Assessment Protocol.
• The focus is on Literacy, Numeracy, 21st
Century Competencies
and the mastery of higher order thinking skills.
BALANCE is the key to a comprehensive assessment system
10. Exemptions
The Provincial Assessments are compulsory for all students presently
enrolled in New Brunswick schools. The assessments are meant
to be as inclusive as possible. However, the school principal
should consider requesting exemption if:
• it is inconceivable for the student to respond with at least minimal
success.
• participation would be harmful to the student.
• students who have been identified with exceptionalities and have a
current SEP which identifies the need for exemption.
• there is a case of serious illness, bereavement or other exceptional
circumstances (application should be made to the Director of
Education Support Services as soon as the circumstance arises).
11. Exemptions
• Students are “in-or-out”: no Partial exemptions.
• ELPA
– Temporary exemption
– Permanent exemption
– Graduation requirement
Must be signed by parent/guardian, teacher, principal and director
of education support services.
13. Accommodations
There are many ways in which accommodations can be used to
support students when they are participating in a provincial
assessment:
• Universal accommodations are those strategies, technologies or
adjustments that enable a student to reach prescribed outcomes and can
be used at the teacher’s / student’s discretion. Universal accommodations
don’t necessitate an SEP or prior approval for provincial
assessments. (e.g. alternate setting, extra time, FM system etc.)
• Justifiable accommodations are documented strategies, technologies or
adjustments without which the student would not be able to access the
curriculum. These accommodations are documented within the SEP
and require prior approval to be accessed during provincial
assessments. (e.g. large print, Braille etc.)
14. Accommodations
• Accommodations are for the purpose of allowing a wide range of
students to participate in provincial assessments.
• Anything that alters the actual assessment is not an appropriate
accommodation for the purpose of the provincial assessment. The
following are not considered appropriate accommodations:
– Recorded versions of reading passages (literacy)
– Scribes for writing passages (literacy)
17. Structure
Grade 5 (7 days early June) Grade 8 (2 days early June)
Timed Basic Facts Assessment
• 1 minute timed assessment
• 15 questions as outlined in the NB
Mathematics Curriculum (WNCP)
Booklet A: Calculator (Day 1)
• 60 minutes
• 38 selected-response and,
• 1 constructed-response questions
based on the NB Mathematics
Curriculum
Part A: Selected-Response
• 60 minutes
• 42 questions based on the NB
Mathematics Curriculum.
Mental Mathematics Assessment (Day 2)
• 15 minutes
• 10 questions requiring students to
show and/or explain their mental
mathematics strategies used to
solve
Part A: Constructed-Response
• 60 minutes
• Mental Mathematics
• Constructed-Response
(Operations)
• Problem Solving
Booklet A: Non-Calculator (Day 2)
• 60 minutes
• 5 non-calculator selected-
response
• Constructed-Response
(Operations)
• Problem Solving
18. Content and Data Potential
• Test Equating to 2009 results allows for current test
results to be comparable to previous assessments.
• National Comparisons: All tests (3, 5, 8) contain
nationally normed CAT4 items as a means to compare
our students with national data produced through the
Canadian Test Centre.
• Data disaggregation: All items are tagged as measures
of the content domain (strands) and cognitive domain
(use of knowledge).
19. Content: Constructed-Response
• Context based
• Problem Solving
• Marked by Rubric
– Proficiencies assessed:
• Knowledge
• Problem Solving
• Communication
• Rationale: Goes to fundamental principles of
Mathematics: Process Standards
22. Early Literacy Assessment
• At grades 2 and 4, reading and Writing are assessed in
the program of instruction (English or French
Immersion)
• 2011-12 Pilot assessment for Reading only grade 4
French Immersion Program (Grade 3 entry)
• Reading passages teacher-selected from normed items
developed by curriculum specialists and data quality
teams with the Canadian Test Centre (CTC)
23. Early Literacy Assessment
• Writing topics are not assigned for Grade 2 and 4
students
• Reading passages teacher-selected from normed items
developed by curriculum specialists and data quality
teams with the Canadian Test Centre (CTC)
24. Secondary Literacy Assessments
Grade 7
• Reading and Writing
English Language Proficiency
Assessment/Reassessment (ELPA/R)
• Graduation requirement
25. Test Specifications - Overview
English Second Language Assessment (Grade 11)
English Second Language Reassessment (Grade 12)
The English Second Language Assessment/Reassessment (ESLA/R)
is an assessment of students’ English literacy abilities in all four
language skills.
The ESLA/R is a requirement for students attending the Concord
Colleges of Sino-Canada who wish to obtain a New Brunswick High
School Diploma.
The ESLA/R is a criteria - standards based assessment where
students are required to meet targets appropriate to two years of non-
immersion English language instruction. Students in the Concord
Colleges apply for acceptance to post-secondary English institutions.
26. ESLA Reading Test Specifications
Book A --- Reading --- 90 minutes
7-9 Reading Passages
45-50 Number of items
28. Reading-Listening; Test difficulty
and equating
• Unlike Writing and Oral Interviews, reading and
listening are scored according to ‘cut points’.
• As the reading passages and items change, we
need to ensure that the overall difficulty of the
reading assessment is the same year over year
– so that one cohort is being assessed on the
same difficulty level as all other cohorts from
previous administrations.
• So…how do we do this?
31. Writing Test Specifications
Time allotment:
Exercise I 60 minutes
Exercise II 60 minutes
The Writing component should be administered as
either the first or last component. For Writing, students
will answer directly in Booklet C.
The Writing component consists of two writing
activities: Exercise I and Exercise II.
Writing prompts are provided on a separate sheet.
32. Marking the Writing Piece…
Writing is assessed using the Writing
Achievement Standards – ESLA.
In order for a piece of writing to be deemed
Appropriate Achievement or Strong Achievement
it must possess all of the writing traits listed for
that category.
34. Listening Test Specs
Time allotment: 30 minutes
Each booklet contains an information label with the student’s Chinese and
English names as well as an identification number. Test administrators must
ensure that each student receives the appropriate booklet.
Test administrators will read the items to the students using Instructions for
Administrators of the Listening Assessment. It is hoped that technology
support will be available to allow for a playback device (MP3) to play an audio
file over a classroom sound system.
Students will respond to all Listening items directly in their booklet by circling
either letter A, B, C, or D – whichever corresponds with the best response.
Book B - Listening consists of two components:
Part I - Answering Questions (Items 1-20)
Part II - Understanding Statements (Items 21-40)
35. Helpful hints for listening…
• Practice the “who, what, when, where, why” line
of questions with the appropriate response.
• Warm-up activity to begin each class.
37. OPI’s
Time allotment: 20- 25 minutes
Interviews will be scheduled at thirty-minute
intervals: the interview itself will be 15 - 25
minutes in duration. The interviewer will use the
remaining time to determine and record the
student's oral proficiency level and to prepare for
the next interview.
39. ORALINTERVIEW
STANDARDS
LEVEL CRITERIA
UNRATEABLE Can provide no intelligible answers including name
*Talks in own native language
NOVICE * Repeat/rephrase questions often
Speaks in isolated words and phrases
Not able to participate in conversations
Some memorized material and ability to use it
* Very limited vocabulary
BASIC
Survival
Interviewer works
hard to keep a
conversation going
Can survive in a second language
Can say a lot of simple things; buy basic food items, provide
personal information, standard social exchange, school directions
* Can get into, through and out of a situation
Reactive, answering but not asking many questions – will ask if
prompted
Fluency slow, strained, except for routine expressions
Pronunciation errors frequent / intelligible to someone who is
used to ESL
BASIC PLUS
Some give and take in
conversations
Can participate in short conversations, descriptions, narrations
Shows more independence, spontaneity, asks questions but may
require prompts to do so
INTERMEDIATE
More reciprocity -
The interview begins
to have a more
conversational feel.
Can provide information
Provide autobiographical information in some detail
Give directions, accurate instructions, in area of personal
experience or interest
Describe / tell using past, present and future tenses
Speak confidently, hesitates, uses paraphrases and fillers
Pronunciation intelligible, often faulty
Vocabulary sufficient to speak confidently
41. English Second Language
Assessment / Reassessment
• 4 Components
• Resembles the format of TOEFL except at a
high school level
ORAL
READING Weighted Equally
WRITING
LISTENING
42. OVERALL CALCULATION OF
ESLA/R
Oral = H2*10
(Numeric oral value multiplied by 10)
Listening = L2*2.50 (20 + 20 = 40 items)
(Listening score multiplied by 2.50)
Overall score = SUM(I2,K2,M2,P2)/4 .
(overall score adding the four weighted scores, then dividing by 4.
Oral Ratings: ('U'=0) ('N'=3) ('B'=4) ('B+'=5) ('I'=6) ('I+'=7) ('A'=8) ('A+'=9)
('S'=10)
Writing Ratings: (DNW=*), ( BAA=1), (AA=2), and (SA=3)
cut point 43
0 - 43 Unsuccessful
This is standards based as opposed to norm based where the bell curve would decide the ‘pass’ based upon percentile ranking. This means that we expect all students to meet the minimum requirement for the ESLA/R. Like the drivers licence analogy – must meet a minimum standard in all of the areas tested to be successful.
This is standards based as opposed to norm based where the bell curve would decide the ‘pass’ based upon percentile ranking. This means that we expect all students to meet the minimum requirement for the ESLA/R. Like the drivers licence analogy – must meet a minimum standard in all of the areas tested to be successful.
