As I reported to the School Board last week, the testing strategies implemented by the Federal Government under the “No Child Left Behind” legislation are being phased out over the next 2 years.  This means the NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program) testing is coming to an end.  46 states, including New Hampshire, have agreed to use what amounts to national standards developed by the states and used in common by the states to develop, deliver and assess curriculum efficacy and student achievement. 

The potential for positive changes are hopeful.  No longer will students who move from one state to another be held to a different sets of standards.  The same goes for educators and administrators who also move on occasion.  Perhaps the most profound and positive change is that testing will now be focused on an individual child’s needs and not against arbitrary goals set by state and federal officials. 

It is also a well-researched and documented fact that many students suffer from test anxiety and that standardized tests, while having some value, often do not sufficiently measure a student’s true achievement.  We were fortunate to have three staff members; Teri Gaston, Beth Drolet and Allie Jette attend training for NWEA implementation at MCS.  We were able to share the cost with two other North Country Schools and are in the midst of setting up the program at our school. 

Under our agreement with NWEA, we will have three assessment windows each year.  These assessments are given on a computer and are geared to gauge how far a student can successfully answer a series of questions.  Children who need enrichment will receive increasingly difficult questions and students who need reinforcement in a particular area will answer questions up to the point where they are able.  Reports are then generated for teachers and there are specific recommendations made for each child to their teacher.

This program is used in a vast majority of schools nationally and in NH.  We are pleased to now be poised to offer it at MCS.  Another major reason why the implementation of NWEA is so important is spelled out in the article immediately following this introduction.  Briefly, the Common Core testing regimen will be very much like NWEA and this means our students and staff will be familiar with the format that will be used in 46 states.

As always, if you wish to discuss this further, please contact my office and I will be happy to meet with you, as would Teri, Beth or Allie.  The remainder of our staff is now receiving training information through their colleagues who attended the training mentioned above.  This is a wonderful diagnostic tool that will help make our already successful RTI efforts even more effective.

Sincerely,

Tom McGuire – SAU 77 District Administrator

The Common Core Standards

Understanding the Standards and NWEA’s Role

NWEA's Common Core-aligned Assessments

NWEA has developed a set of MAP assessments aligned to the Common Core. This first release includes items aligned to the national Common Core Standards for Math, Reading and Language Usage that can be measured using multiple-choice. 

About the Common Core Standards

The Common Core Standards aim to bring consistency and rigor to content standards across the country for the first time ever. The standards align a wide range of K‐12 education content standards into a single, unified platform. Although this is a national effort, it is not a federal project. Rather, it was led by states through the associations representing governors and chief state school officers. 

The Common Core State Standards were publicly released on June 2, 2010. States have been encouraged to adopt these standards with a commitment that the Common Core will constitute a minimum of 85 percent of the state standards in covered content domains. Forty-eight states (all but Alaska and Texas), the District of Columbia and two U.S. Territories have been involved in developing the standards.

Common Core Standards are not federally mandated, and some states may choose not to adopt the standards. For those states that do adopt the standards, the federal government can provide support through a range of tiered incentives, such as providing states with greater flexibility in the use of existing federal funds, supporting a revised state accountability structure, and offering financial support for states to implement the standards.

The intent of the Common Core is to bring greater rigor to standards driving instruction and expectations in all of the adopting states, to focus curriculum and instruction on deeper student understanding of a few critically important areas rather than skimming a multitude of topics, and to provide clearer direction to educators on what American students should know and be able to do as they leave high school for college or career purposes.

The content domains currently covered by the Common Core Standards are as follows:

• Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies & Science

• Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (K‐8 section and High School section)

• College and Career Ready (CCR) standards are called out separately within these two content domains.

• There will be subsequent efforts to develop Science-only and Social Studies-only standards.

NWEA Supports the Common Core Standards

NWEA supports the concept and process that went into the creation of the Common Core Standards. The final standards were released on June 2, 2010 and have been analyzed by our Academic Services team. We support the good intentions, transparency, and high academic rigor that went into the creation of the standards. Because each state may create their own variation on the standards we do not offer state-by-state endorsements on the use of these standards. And because the standards are not federally mandated, we also respect the rights of individual states who have chosen not to adopt the Common Core Standards. 

NWEA was at the table to help develop the Common Core Standards. Members of our Academic Services team presented an analysis of a draft of the proposed standards in person to the three organizations leading and managing the standards development process (the Council of Chief State School Officers, National Governors Association, and Achieve, Inc.).

Preparing for the Transition to Common Core Standards 

NWEA has developed an initial set of Common Core-aligned MAP assessments for our partners. These assessments are aligned to the national Common Core Standards that can be measured using multiple-choice items. We will add new enhanced item types to the Common Core-aligned MAP test in the 2012-13 academic year in order to better measure some of the more complex Common Core Standards.

MAP® tests will continue to be aligned to state standards. As states officially begin to align their assessments to the Common Core, NWEA will begin to align state tests to each state's version of the Common Core as well. Common Core Standards identify the content that must constitute at least 85 percent of an adopting state's standards, so states have latitude in how they implement the additional 15 percent. States may adopt the standards in different ways.

Standards constitute only one aspect of establishing high academic expectations. The Common Core Standards aim to bring consistency and rigor to content standards across the country for the first time ever. But it takes more than alignment to help put all students on a path to success. Authentic kid-centric learning requires strong curriculum development, teacher preparation and professional development, engaged students and an effective accountability system that provides information, ideally in fall, winter and spring, to help educators improve their efforts and increase student learning. We also advocate for the use of assessments that measure growth, not grade, using a stable scale.

Preparing for the transition is part of partnership.  NWEA is prepared to help partners think through the transition from their current standards to the new Common Core Standards. We know that many will want an opportunity to "try out" a common core aligned test before their state officially adopts or aligns their curriculum to the standards to establish a benchmark. We stand ready to help with the transition by providing consulting and professional development coaching services to ensure a smooth transition.