Friends:
Recently, a number of parents have asked about testing policies. These parents had children who were officially enrolled in one grade but were taking one or more classes at a higher grade level. They said their children were being required to take the Oregon state tests at their enrolled grade level when the parents felt that it would make more sense for them to be tested at the level of the classes they were actually taking.
I checked with officials at the ODE and here is what they told me about this:
Generally, the state requires that students take the test at their enrolled grade level. However, if a student is receiving instruction at a higher grade level, the student may take the test at the higher grade level. The state refers to this as a "targeted assessment". The state allows districts to establish a policy as to when a student should take a targeted assessment.
Some districts may allow teachers to decide whether to administer a targeted assessment.
Depending on district policy, students who use the online assessment system may take one or more tests in their enrolled grade and/or 1 or more tests in the grade of instruction. However, students can not take more than 3 total tests in a content area.
This might be important as part of all information you gather to help address the question as to whether a student is testing high enough for TAG identification, since they are supposed to be compared with same-aged classmates on a normed test to be identified for TAG by academic ability.
If a sixth-grade student takes the sixth-grade test and gains a score that is the same number as the average score for tenth grade, that means the sixth grader scored as well as an average tenth grader would taking the sixth grade test. It does NOT mean the sixth grader knows the material on the tenth grade test.
The OAKS includes as broad a range of questions as possible but all questions on the test for a given grade level are based on the standards for that grade level. Students must be "receiving instruction" in the grade level they are being tested on.
There is one exception: students in eighth grade who take an advanced Class must take the eighth grade assessment, even if they also take the high school level assessment. The eighth grade assessment is used for determining how many students had met the eighth-grade state standards. This is required by the Federal government. If the student's score on the high school level assessment meets the high school achievement standard, the student's score is "banked" for the student and will be reported in the student's grade 10 year. Targeting up to a high school level assessment is not an option for students until they are enrolled in the eighth grade.
Questions about these policies can be sent to Holly Edwards,
holly.edwards@... .
The state is interested in compiling a "frequently asked questions" sheet on this topic.
I hope this is helpful.
Thanks are due to the ODE staff who helped compile this information.
Margaret
