The Nebraska state assessment system is called STARS
– School-based Teacher-led Assessment and Reporting System. The
assessment system includes a statewide trait-based writing assessment, norm-referenced assessments
conducted annually within the grade spans of 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12, and the assessment of content
standards in reading, mathematics, science, and social studies/history.
The State Board of Education has made a commitment
that Nebraska schools must be “the best in the nation.” The
two key priorities are to “improve educational opportunities” and “improve learning” from
pre-school education through the programs of community colleges, four-year colleges and
universities, and beyond. Nebraska schools must provide
quality educational programs along with equal opportunity for all individuals to participate in
those programs in order to be “the best in the nation.”
The underlying philosophy that supports
Nebraska’s School-based Teacher-led Assessment and Reporting System emphasizes a partnership
between the local school districts, the Educational Service Units and the Nebraska Department of
Education. Keeping decisions about student performance
on standards at the local classroom level provides a balance between state level guidance and local
decision-making. Partnership and balance are the two
crucial elements in making changes in schools that will result in improved learning for all
students.
During the 2000 session, the Nebraska Legislature
passed Legislative Bill 812 that amended State Statute 79-760 (The Educational Quality
Accountability Act). This legislation established the requirements and general procedures for the
implementation of standards, assessment, and accountability reporting for public school districts in
Nebraska. The bill maintains and supports Nebraska’s School-based Teacher-led Assessment
and Reporting System (STARS).
Nebraska school districts are
required to assess rigorous content standards locally according to an outlined schedule. School
districts may use a combination of assessments to measure the standards. The assessments used include norm-referenced tests, criterion referenced assessments, or
locally developed classroom assessments. Regardless of
the assessments selected, school districts must document that their assessments meet the Six Quality
Assessment Criteria that have been established for the state of Nebraska. The assessment review process includes multiple steps.
By September 30th of each year, all school districts
are required to submit assessment plans that outline the assessment procedures to be used in their
districts that will be to measure the content standards assessed. The assessment plans are reviewed
by the Nebraska Department of Education, and feedback about their plans for assessment is provided
to local school districts. During the course of the
school year, each school district assesses its students and implements the assessment procedures
that were outlined in the assessment plan.
By June 30th of each year, school districts
are required to report the results of their students on the content standards. A secured electronic website is provided for reporting.
Districts report their student results in four levels of achievement: advanced, proficient, progressing, and beginning.
Districts
are required to complete reports that include all students including students with disabilities and
students learning the English language. Any students not included in each of the reporting forms
must be reported as “Not Assessed/Not Included in Reporting.”
After the student achievement has been reported and
calculated at the state level, statewide cut scores are established for student performance.
These mastery level determinations are facilitated by the Buros Center for Testing using the
expertise of panels of Nebraska educators from throughout the state.
The mastery levels are determined in order to correspond to the five rating classifications
that school districts will receive for each of the grade levels reported.
The five rating classifications are as follows: Exemplary,
Very Good, Good, Acceptable, but needs improvement, and Unacceptable.
School districts receive a student performance rating for each of the grade levels assessed
and reported.
The assessment used in each Nebraska school district
to measure student achievement on standards must be of high quality.
By June 30th of the each year, all Nebraska school districts are required to submit a
District Assessment Portfolio of the assessment practices and procedures used for measuring students
on standards. Included in the portfolio is a sample of
the actual assessment instruments used.
The portfolios are reviewed and evaluated in order to
determine whether or not they meet the Six Quality Assessment Criteria that have been established by
the Nebraska Department of Education with the assistance of the Buros Center for Testing.
The Six Quality Assessment Criteria are listed and described below.
The assessments used in each Nebraska school district must:
Match
and measure the standards. Districts must
determine that the assessment used measures the standards and that students have sufficient
opportunity to demonstrate their ability to meet the standard.
Provide opportunity for students to have learned the content. Districts must have examined their own local curriculum to determine that the opportunity to meet the standards exists within the local district’s curriculum and that instruction on the standards occurs at an appropriate time in relationship to assessment.
Be free of bias. Districts must examine the assessment to be sure that any of the items or tasks are free of bias and are not insensitive to any group or circumstance.
Be
written at the appropriate level. Districts must
examine the assessment items or tasks in order to determine that the expectations are appropriate
for the assessed grade level.
Be
reliable and consistently scored. Districts must
document that they can have confidence in the results of the assessment, that assessment results
have produced an appropriate level of reliability, .70 or higher.
Have
appropriate mastery levels. Districts must describe the systematic way they have determined
achievement performance levels for the assessment, including both professional judgment and actual
student results.
The Nebraska
Department of Education works with the Buros Center for Testing in order to review the District
Assessment Portfolios and to evaluate how well each district’s assessment system meets the Six
Quality Assessment Criteria. The evaluation process has
two levels. The first level consists of a National
Advisory Panel of well- known assessment experts who give guidance to the entire portfolio review
process. This group of eight individuals, four from out
of the state of Nebraska and four from within Nebraska assist in the training of the portfolio
reviewers, provide guidance to the assessment review process, and make the final determination of
model assessment practices within the state.
The second level
of evaluation is the review of the portfolios themselves. Portfolio
reviewers from both within the state of Nebraska and from outside of the state are contracted to
complete the portfolio examinations. These
portfolio reviewers are assessment experts who examine the district portfolios and determine the
quality of the assessment processes and procedures used within each school district. The criteria for the review are the Six Quality Assessment Criteria.
After a training session conducted by the Buros Center for Testing, the reviewers evaluate
the portfolios each year from July 1-September 1st. School districts receive feedback on their assessment procedures as a result of the portfolio
review in addition to suggestions about how their local assessment processes can be improved. This feedback along with a rating of the quality of the assessment is sent to the school
districts in October of the year following the portfolio submission. Districts receive a rating for each portfolio submitted:
Exemplary, Very Good, Good, Acceptable but needs improvement, or Unacceptable.
As the portfolio
reviewers are examining the District Assessment Portfolios that include the assessment processes and
procedures for Nebraska schools, they have also been instructed to identify potential model
assessment practices. These practices that are
“illustrative of model practice” are identified within all sizes and circumstances of school
districts: large, medium, small, urban, and rural. The model practices identified are appropriate for replication in other school districts
within the state of Nebraska.
In the fall, prior to the release of the portfolio
feedback information, the National Advisory Panel convenes to review the model assessment practices
that have been identified by the portfolio reviewers. The
panel determines the most promising of those practices and makes the final selection, selecting four
model practices for each of the Six Quality Assessment Criteria. The Nebraska Department of Education notifies the Nebraska school districts of
this model assessment recognition and disseminates the model assessment information to Nebraska
school districts.
Nebraska students
in grades 4, 8, and 11 participate in a trait-based statewide writing assessment as outlined in the
schedule that follows:
2000-2001 Statewide Writing Assessment Pilot Implementation – Gr. 4, 8, 11
2001-2002
Narrative writing – Grade 4
2002-2003
Descriptive writing - Grade 8
2003-2004
Persuasive writing – Grade 11
Students
demonstrate their writing skills in response to a prompt that has been designed and selected for
their appropriate grade levels. The Nebraska Department of Education convenes panels of teachers annually
who develop, refine, and pilot the prompts with students prior to their statewide implementation.
Students in the three grade levels respond to prompts in different modes of writing as
outlined above.
The statewide
writing assessments are scored by Nebraska teachers who are trained in trait based writing at three
different locations within the state. At each of the
geographically representative scoring sites, a random sample of writing assessments is also scored,
and the results examined and analyzed by the Buros Center for Testing. The same sample is also scored out of the state by an independent and externally contracted
test maker. All of the results are compiled and used by
the Buros Center for Testing as they facilitate a standard-setting process in order to establish a
proficiency level that can be used to determine whether or not a student has mastered the writing
standards. Once that mastery level has been statistically determined, Nebraska school
districts receive both electronic and written reports about the achievement of their students on the
writing standards.
In addition to measuring their students on academic content standards in reading, writing, and mathematics, Nebraska school districts have assessed students with several national tests. These external tests have served to validate the results of students on state standards. A norm-referenced test is administered at least once in the elementary grades, once in the middle grades, and once in the high school. Additionally, districts have participated in other national assessments including the National Assessment of Educational Progress, (NAEP) and the American College Test (ACT). In all of these assessments, Nebraska students continue to score well, adding evidence to further support the success of Nebraska students on content standards.
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