Public School Assessment Plan
2001-2002



District Information
Lead District Name Laurel-Concord Public School
Other Schools in Consortium
(if needed)
Contact Information
Name of Contact Daniel J. Hoesing
Position Superintendent
Address 5th & Wakefield St. P.O. Box 8
City Laurel
State NE
Zip Code 68745
Phone (402) 256-3133
FAX (402) 256-9465
Email Address dhoesing@esu1.org
 
A. Purpose
Describe the purposes of your district's local assessment process.
  The purpose of assessment is to insure that student learning is occurring as intended. The purpose of the school district's assessment plan is to insure that information about student academic progress is gathered in a systematic manner using multiple sources in order to: • Monitor student learning on an individual and group basis. • Report individual student progress to parents. • Inform patrons of the district about overall school performance. • Comply with the accountability requirements of the State Board of Education. • Make informed decisions about curriculum and instruction. • Provide a basis for allocation of resources. • Determine eligibility for special programs.
B. Explanation of How the Assessment Will Address the Standards
a. Standards to be assessed: (Check all that apply) learns
  Our school district has adopted the Nebraska LEARNS
  Our school district has reviewed LEARNS and aligned our own local standards/curriculum with the state standards.
  Our school district has had its local standards approved by the State Board of Education as equal to or more rigorous than the Nebraska LEARNS
 
Describe your district process for alignment with state or local standards.
1) District adoption of Nebraska L.E.A.R.N.S and alignment with local curriculum and assessment. 2) Review of instructional strategies: introduction, practice, and mastery to meet 4, 8, and 11 testing requirements. 3) Evaluation of several Norm Referenced Assessments. Terra Nova was selected with supplemental criterion referenced tests for standards not measured in the district norm referenced assessment. 4) Staff and administration attended staff development workshops (Reading Renaisance, 6 trait writing, Terra Nova Assessment) 5) Implementation of reading/writing curriculum in alignment with Nebraska L.E.A.R.N.S.
Norm Referenced Tests
a. Our district is administering the following norm referenced tests: (Check all that apply)
Iowa Test of Basic Skills Form:
California Achievement Test Form:
Stanford Achievement Test Form:
Metropolitan Achievement Test Form:
Terra Nova Form: A
Other     Form:
 
b. Our norm referenced test will be administered in the following grades:
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12  
 
c. Our norm referenced test will be administered in the following time period:
September - December   January - March   April - June  
 
d. Describe how your district selected its norm-referenced test.

The norm-referenced test was selected by a committee of elementary and secondary administrators, guidance counselors, and teachers. This committee reviewed several assessment instruments, and attended workshops prior to making a recommendation to the board of education.
e. Is your district planning to use your norm referenced assessment as part of the report on state/local standards?

Yes   No  

If yes, and your norm referenced test was not studied by the Buros Testing Center for match to standards, describe the process you used to align the test questions to the standards.

2. Criterion Referenced Assessment
a. Standards to be Assessed. (Check all that apply)
  Our criterion referenced assessment measures the standards that are not measured by NRA (according to the Buros Studies on pages 7.1- 7.9 of the STARS update of May, 2000.)
  Our criterion referenced assessment measures all of the state/local standards.
  Other (Explain)  
   
b. & c. Grades to be Assessed with Timelines.
  Our criterion referenced assessment will be administered as follows. Note: Schools are asked to report CRA administration according to the L.E.A.R.N.S reporting schedule. Please check boxes in scheduled areas below.

If school districts plan to administer CRAs other than those included in the current year's L.E.A.R.N.S reporting schedule, they may also be checked (optional).
 
Subject Area Grades Month
K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Reading, Listening, Speaking April
Math
Science
Social Studies/ History
  Other (Explain)
   

d. Describe the process your district used in developing or selecting your criterion referenced assessment.
  Laurel-Concord Public School has adopted the Nebraska Supplemental Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics Test, developed by CTB McGraw-Hill, as a supplement to locally generated and teacher generated criterion referenced assessments. The process used in selecting and developing our criterion referenced assessments included: 1) Gathering testing materials at each grade level; 2) Selecting grade level criteria to meet content based curriculum in alignment with local and state standards; 3) Supplementing local curriculum with additional criteria referenced assessment where needed.
2e. Criterion Referenced Assessment Quality Criteria Indicator Checklist and Documentation
The purpose of this checklist is to provide direction for quality assessment and can be used as a self assessment of assessment quality for what you propose to do, have done, or are currently doing.

The assessment quality procedures may take place during the school year and may still be under development at the time the assessment plan is filed. If the assessment quality procedures are still under development describe the planned procedures.
                        
Quality Criterion One: The assessments reflect the state of local standards. This criterion asks for the methods that will be used to decide what standards will be covered in the assessment and that the coverage of the standards is adequate (i.e., there are enough items or tasks to provide a valid inference about the extent that the standard has been achieved. (Choose one or more)
Yes  No  A panel of qualified teachers or other educators from the district has judged or will judge assessments to be (a) matched to the standard and (b) adequate to cover the standard.
Briefly describe the panel:
A teacher from each assessment level along with members from the assessment committee made up of regular education teachers, special education and title 1 teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators will review district assessments.
Yes  No  An outside group has judged or will judge the assessment to be (a) matched to the standard and (b) adequate to cover the standard.
Briefly describe the outside group:
Yes  No  Other (Describe):
                        
Quality Criterion Two: Students have an opportunity to learn the content. The intent of this criteria is to have a method to examine how the content in the assessment is included in the instruction students receive before the assessment is conducted. (Choose one or more)
Yes  No  Representative panels of teachers from the grade and content area have examined or will examine the curriculum to determine that students have the opportunity to learn the content prior to test adminstration.
Yes  No  A survey has been or will be conducted of grade and/or content appropriate teachers to determine where the test content is addressed in lesson plans.
Yes  No  Representative samples of classroom assessments have been or will be examined to determine that the test content has been taught.
Yes  No  Lesson plans have been or will be examined or collected to determine that test content has been taught.
Yes  No  Other (Describe):
                          
Quality Criterion Three: The assessments are free from bias. The intent of this criterion is to have a method to examine the assessments to ensure that they are free from bias or offensive language/situations. A test item or task is free from bias or offensive language/situations if (a) understanding the content of the item or task is not based on the students' socioeconomic, racial, cultural, or ethnic background, and (b) the content of the item or task is not likely to be offensive to students. (Choose one or more)
Yes  No  The criterion referenced assessment writers have participated or will participate in an orientation regarding test bias.
Describe the process:
All teachers in the district have completed course work in "Human Relations" training as required by the state of Nebraska. Committee chairs and classroom teachers have been sent to workshops for improving test writing skills. The district is also in the process of purchasing a test bank to assist with locally generated criterion test assessment.
Yes  No  A panel of educators representing various socioeconomic, racial and ethic groups has reviewed or will review drafts of the assessments.
Briefly describe the panel:
Yes  No  A statistical analysis has been conducted or will be conducted to determine that the items do not demonstrate bias.
Yes  No  Other (Describe):
                          
Quality Criterion Four: The level is appropriate for students. The intent of this criterion is to describe how the district will determine the developmental appropriateness of its assessments. Developmental appropriateness includes (a) the appropriateness of the cognitive requirements, and 9b) the reading level. (Choose one or more)
Yes  No  A panel(s) of grade and/or content level teachers has examined and evaluated or will examine and evaluate the assessments from a developmental perspective.
Briefly describe the panel:
A teacher from each assessment level along with members from the assessment committee made up of regular education teachers, special education and title 1 teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators will examine and evaluate district assessments from a development perspective.
Yes  No  Outside specialists in reading, cognitive psychology, or other similar areas have examined and evaluated or will examine and evaluate the assessment instruments from a developmental perspective.
Briefly describe the specialists:
Yes  No  Readability analysis have been or will be conducted on the assessments.
Yes  No  Other (Describe):
                          
Quality Criterion Five: There is consistency in scoring. The intent of this criterion is to describe how the district will determine the extent that the assessment scores are consistent and, to the extent feasible, free from random error. There should be procedures for both objectively scored assessments (e.g., assessments that include only selected response questions) and for assessments that are scored more subjectively (e.g., writing samples or other constructed response items or tasks). (Choose one or more)
Yes  No  Reliability has been or will be checked (a) by retests, (b) alternate forms of the assessment, or (c) an internal consistency reliability process.
Identify method:
A) retests B) alternate forms of assessment C) internal consistency reliability process
Yes  No  A panel has screened and pre-tested or will screen and pre-test the clarity and adequacy of the scoring rubric.
Briefly describe the panel:
A teacher from each assessment level along with members from the assessment committee made up of regular education teachers, special education and title 1 teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators will screen and pre-test the clarity and adequacy of the scoring rubric where appropriate.
Yes  No  The scorers have been or will be trained through the use of "marker" papers pre-scored by qualified teachers.
Briefly describe training process:
Yes  No  Sample papers have been or will be double scored to estimate the percent of scorer agreement.
Yes  No  Other (Describe):
                          
Quality Criterion Six: Mastery levels are appropriate. The intent of this criterion is to describe how the district will determine the procedures used to make "mastery" decision (i.e., meeting or not meeting standards) about students based on the students' performance on assessments. (Choose one or more)
Yes  No  A panel of educators has examined or will examine the assessment tasks or items and determined the level of performance required to achieve mastery by taking the difficulty of the items into account. Levels are based on local decision-making.
Briefly describe the panel:
A teacher from each assessment level along with members from the assessment committee made up of regular education teachers, special education and title 1 teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators will examine the assessment tasks or items and determine the level of performance required to achieve mastery.
Yes  No  Students were classified or will be classified as "masters", "non masters", or "borderline" and the scores obtained by students in the various classifications were/are used to determine the score needed for mastery. These classifications were/are decisions made by the local school district.
Briefly describe the panel:
A teacher from each assessment level along with members from the assessment committee made up of regular education teachers, special education and title 1 teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators will review student performance and based on test results classify these scores as beginning, progressing, proficient, or advanced.
Yes  No  Other:
3. Accommodations for Students with Special Needs
Describe how your district's assessment process will provide for and include students with special needs.
All students (including students with disabilities) will participate in district-wide assessments designed to measure student progress with regard to state standards unless an IEP team determines that: 1. Such participation is not appropriate without reasonable accommodations. 2. Such assessment is not appropriate and an alternative form of assessment is determined. 3. Special accommodations or alternative forms of assessments are not appropriate for certain students in this situation. Reasonable or special accommodations will be consistent with accommodations outlined in the IEP for each student's instructional program and may include such things as the following: • Having a student use a test designed for a different grade level based upon recommendations from administration of a locator test. • Orally reading the test aloud to a student (except reading assessment). • Not placing any time restrictions upon a student. • Assisting a student in marking the answer sheet.
C. Procedures for Other Assessments/Information Sources
1. Primary Grade Progress
  In our primary grades we assess student achievement with (Check all that apply):
Checklists   Running records   Anecdotal records   Written observations   Other  
  Other (Explain).
 
2. Statewide Writing Assessment (per the L.E.A.R.N.S schedule as required by LB 812, See Nebraska Reporting Schedule)
  Our district participates annually in statewide writing assessment.
  If your district uses a local scoring option, describe the local scoring process and its validation.
 
 
  Our district is measuring notetaking skills (Reading/Writing standards 4.2.5 and 8.2.5) through a locally developed assessment.
3. National Assessment of Educational Progress
  Our district participates in the National Assessment of Educational Progress when selected.
  Other (Explain).
 

4. Voluntary Assessments Our district administers other voluntary assessments as follows.
                    Grades
  Explore 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
  P.L.A.N. 9 10 11 12
  ACT 9 10 11 12
  S.A.T. 9 10 11 12
  ASVAB 9 10 11 12
  Other (Identify).
  6 7 8 9 10 11 12
  6 7 8 9 10 11 12
 
5. Assessments in Subject Areas Not Addressed in L.E.A.R.N.S (Optional)
  Arts
Business
Family and Consumer Science
Foreign Language
Health and Physical Education
Technology
Vocational Education
Other
Area: Reading/Writing Grade: 4

Directions: Review each of the standards below and select the assessment method or methods that apply in your district. After you have made your selections you must click the "Save Changes" button at the bottom of the page to record the information. If you leave this page without saving changes the new information will not be updated.

Number Standard Nationally Normed Locally Developed Teacher State wide Writing Assessment
4.1.1 By the end of the fourth grade, students will draw on a variety of strategies to read and understand unfamiliar words and phrases.
4.1.2 By the end of the fourth grade, students will acquire and use correctly an advanced reading vocabulary.
4.1.3 By the end of the fourth grade, students will identify the basic facts and essential ideas in what they have read or viewed.
4.1.4 By the end of the fourth grade, students will locate, access, and evaluate resources to identify appropriate information.
4.1.5 By the end of the fourth grade, students will identify characteristics of different types of text.
4.1.6 By the end of the fourth grade, students will identify and apply knowledge of the structure, elements, and meaning of fiction and provide evidence from the text to support their answers.
4.1.7 By the end of the fourth grade, students will identify and apply knowledge of the structure, elements, and meaning of nonfiction or informational material and provide evidence form the text to support their understandings.
4.1.8 By the end of the fourth grade, students will identify similar ideas across a variety of narratives and stories.
4.2.1 By the end of the fourth grade, students will identify, describe, and apply knowledge of the structure of the English language and standard English conventions for sentence structure, usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
4.2.2 By the end of the fourth grade, students will write compositions with a clear focus, logically related ideas, and adequate supporting detail.
4.2.3 By the end of the fourth grade students will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, word choice (vocabulary), voice, sentence fluency and standard English conventions after revising and editing their compositions.
4.2.4 By the end of the fourth grade, students will use a variety of forms to write for different audiences and purposes.
4.2.5 By the end of the fourth grade, students will use self-generated questions, note taking, summarizing and outlining to enhance learning.
4.3.1 By the end of the fourth grade, students will pose questions and contribute their own information or ideas in group discussions in order to acquire new knowledge.
4.3.2 By the end of the fourth grade, students will make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and information to be conveyed.
4.4.1 By the end of the fourth grade, students will gain information or complete tasks by listening.
Area: Reading/Writing Grade: 8
Number Standard Nationally Normed Locally Developed Teacher State wide Writing Assessment
8.1.1 By the end of the eighth grade, students will identify the basic facts and essential ideas in what they have read or viewed.
8.1.2 By the end of the eighth grade, students will locate, access, and evaluate resources to identify appropriate information.
8.1.3 By the end of the eighth grad, students will identify characteristics of different types of text.
8.1.4 By the end of the eighth grad, students will identify the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
8.1.5 By the end of the eighth grade, students will identify and apply knowledge of the structure, elements, and meaning of nonfiction or informational material and provide evidence from th text to support their understanding.
8.1.6 By the end of the eighth grade, students will identify similar ideas across a variety of narratives and stories.
8.1.7 By the end of the eighth grade students will interpret the meaning of literary works, nonfiction, films, and media by using different analytic techniques.
8.2.1 By the end of the eighth grade, students will identify, describe, and apply knowledge of the structure of the English language and standard English conventions for sentence structure, usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
8.2.2 By the end of the eighth grade, students will write compositions with a clear focus, logically related ideas, and adequate supporting detail.
8.2.3 By the end of the eighth grade, students will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, word choice, voice, sentence fluency, and standard English conventions after revising and their compositions.
8.2.4 By the end of the eighth grade, students will use a variety of forms to write for different audiences and purposes.
8.2.5 By the end of the eighth grade, students will use self-generated questions, note taking, summarizing, and outlining to enhance learning.
8.3.1 By the end of the eighth grade, students will pose questions and contribute their own information or ideas in class discussions in order to acquire new knowledge.
8.3.2 By the end of the eighth grade, students will make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and information to be conveyed
8.4.1 Apply listening skills in a variety of settings.
8.4.2 Students will adapt and apply listening strategies to the setting.
Area: Reading/Writing Grade: 12
Number Standard Nationally Normed Locally Developed Teacher State wide Writing Assessment
12.1.1 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will identify the basic facts and essential ideas in what they have read or viewed.
12.1.2 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will locate, access, and evaluate resources to identify appropriate information.
12.1.3 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of characteristics of different types of text.
12.1.4 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will identify, analyze, and apply theme in literature and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
12.1.5 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
12.1.6 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will read, identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure, elements, and meaning of nonfiction or informational material and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding .
12.1.7 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will read literature written in English including fiction, poetry, drama, and literary nonfiction prose.
12.1.8 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will interpret the meaning of literary works, nonfiction, films, and media by using different analytic techniques.
12.2.1 By the end of the twelfth grade student will identify describe, and apply knowledge of the structure of the English Language and standard English conventions for sentence structure, usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
12.2.2 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will write compositions with a clear focus, logically related ideas, and adequate supporting detail.
12.2.3 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will demonstrate improvement in organization, content, word choice, voice, sentence fluency, and standard English conventions after revising and editing their compositions.
12.2.4 Students will use a variety of forms to write for different audiences and purposes.
12.2.5 Students will use self-generated questions, note-taking, summarizing, and outlining to enhance learning.
12.3.1 By the end of the twelfth grade, students will pose questions and contribute their won information or ideas in group discussions in order to acquire new knowledge.
12.3.2 BY the end of the twelfth grade, students will make oral presentations that demonstrate appropriate consideration of audience, purpose, and information to be conveyed.
12.4.1 Apply listening skills for a variety of purposes.
Area: Mathematics Grade: 4
Number Standard Nationally Normed Locally Developed Teacher
4.1.1 By the end of fourth grade, students will demonstrate place value of whole numbers through the millions and decimals to the hundredth place.
4.1.2 By the end of fourth grade, students will write and illustrate equivalences of whole numbers in expanded form, decimals, and fractions.
4.1.3 By the end of fourth grade, students will describe and apply relationships between whole numbers, decimals, and fractions by order, comparison, and operation.
4.1.4 By the end of fourth grade, students will identify examples of positive and negative numbers and zero.
4.1.5 By the end of fourth grade, students will make change and count out in amounts up to $20.00.
4.2.1 By the end of fourth grade, students will estimate, add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers without and with calculators and solve word problems.
4.2.2 By the end of fourth grade, students will estimate, add, and subtract decimals without and with calculators and solve word problems.
4.2.3 By the end of fourth grade, students will estimate, add, and subtract fractions with like denominators without calculators and solve word problems.
4.3.1 By the end of fourth grade, students will estimate, measure, and solve word problems using metric units for linear measure, area, mass/weight, capacity, and temperature.
4.3.2 By the end of fourth grade, students will estimate, measure, and solve word problems using standard units for linear measure, area, mass/weight, capacity, and temperature.
4.3.3 By the end of fourth grade, students will tell and write correct time to the minute using an analog clock.
4.3.4 By the end of fourth grade, students will measure and determine the perimeter of a many-sided figure without a formula using standard and metric units of measure.
4.4.1 By the end of fourth grade, students will identify, describe, and create two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes.
4.4.2 By the end of fourth grade, students will identify and draw points, lines, line segments, rays, and angles.
4.4.3 By the end of fourth grade, students will identify, analyze, and compare two-dimensional geometric figures using congruence, symmetry, similarity, and simple transformations.
4.5.1 By the end of fourth grade, students will collect organize, record, and interpret data and describe the findings.
4.6.1 By the end of fourth grade, students will use and interpret variables and mathematical symbols to write and solve one-step equations.
4.6.2 By the end of fourth grade, students will identify, describe, and extend arithmetic patterns, using concrete materials and tables.
Area: Mathematics