During the Kentucky Technical Advisory Committee (KTAC’s) regular meeting on June 22, representatives from the national Center for Assessment updated council members on the process to set the standards for the state’s accountability system that is going into effect this fall.
Brian Gong, a senior associate with the Center for Assessment, and Chris Domaleski, its associate director, told the committee that Kentucky is in the process of standard setting for the assessments administered in spring 2022 in grades 3-8 and 10 and 11 in reading, mathematics, writing and social studies, and validating performance standards for science.
The Center for Assessment is an organization that strives to increase student learning through more meaningful educational assessment and accountability practices.
There was no statewide testing in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and less than full testing in 2021, resulting in limited assessment and no accountability reporting. Schools had more normal levels of testing this year, and in the fall of 2022, there will be assessment and accountability reporting for the first time in two years.
Senate Bill 158 (2020) made significant changes to the statewide accountability system. These updates included:
- Performance based on a combination of academic and school quality indicators and measures, known as “state indicators”;
- Requirements that a school’s indicators, overall performance, status and change be displayed on an online colored dashboard; and
- Requirements that state indicators be evaluated on “status” and “change,” and defines the terms.
Status, which represents a school’s performance for the current year, will be reported beginning in the fall of 2022. Change, which represents the school’s performance for the current year compared with the previous year, will be reported beginning in the fall of 2023.
The Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) Office of Assessment and Accountability will host an accountability standard-setting workshop on Sept. 13-14, which will establish cut scores (used to determine the score category in which a school will be placed) for status on each indicator and the overall performance rating. The Center for Assessment will facilitate the two-day workshop, which will involve a broadly representative group of panelists identified by KDE.
After developing their final recommendations for cut scores, Domaleski said the panel will then “take a step back and look at the process holistically and complete an evaluation survey on the process.” The panel will use all the info collected over the process to produce a final report to establish their recommended changes to the accountability system.
The percentile cut scores for status and change then will need to be approved by KDE and the Local Superintendents Advisory Council (LSAC). Once the full system with status and change is in place, the cut scores will remain in place for at least 6 years, unless existing cut scores no longer support meaningful differentiation of schools.
After the LSAC and KDE review and approve the recommended cut scores, they will be implemented by KDE when issuing school report cards in the fall of 2022.
In other business, the committee also discussed planned biennial studies with the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO).
