Northwest Evaluation Association (2016). Linking the Pennsylvania PSSA Assessments to NWEA MAP Tests. Northwest Evaluation AssociationâÑ¢ (NWEAâÑ¢) is committed to providing partners with useful tools to help make inferences from the Measures of Academic Progress¬Æ (MAP¬Æ) interim assessment scores. Recently, NWEA completed a concordance study to connect the scales of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) reading and math with those of the MAP Reading and MAP for Mathematics assessments. This report presents the 3rd through 8th grade cut scores on MAP reading and mathematics scales that correspond to the benchmarks on the PSSA reading and math tests. Information about the consistency rate of classification based on the estimated MAP cut scores is also provided, along with a series of tables that predict the probability of receiving a Level 3 (i.e.,"Proficient") or higher performance designation on the PSSA assessments, based on the observed MAP scores taken during the same school year. A detailed description of the data and analysis method used in this study is provided in the Appendix.   [More]  Descriptors: Scores, Inferences, Academic Achievement, Achievement Tests

Northwest Evaluation Association (2016). Linking the New York State NYSTP Assessments to NWEA MAP Tests. Northwest Evaluation AssociationâÑ¢ (NWEAâÑ¢) is committed to providing partners with useful tools to help make inferences from the Measures of Academic Progress¬Æ (MAP¬Æ) interim assessment scores. Recently, NWEA completed a concordance study to connect the scales of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) reading and math with those of the MAP Reading and MAP for Mathematics assessments. This report presents the 3rd through 8th grade cut scores on MAP reading and mathematics scales that correspond to the benchmarks on the NYSTP reading and math tests. Information about the consistency rate of classification based on the estimated MAP cut scores is also provided, along with a series of tables that predict the probability of receiving a Level 3 (i.e.,"Proficient") or higher performance designation on the NYSTP assessments, based on the observed MAP scores taken during the same school year. A detailed description of the data and analysis method used in this study is provided in the Appendix.   [More]  Descriptors: Scores, Inferences, Academic Achievement, Achievement Tests

Northwest Evaluation Association (2016). Linking the Alaska AMP Assessments to NWEA MAP Tests. Northwest Evaluation AssociationâÑ¢ (NWEAâÑ¢) is committed to providing partners with useful tools to help make inferences from the Measures of Academic Progress¬Æ (MAP¬Æ) interim assessment scores. One important tool is the concordance table between MAP and state summative assessments. Concordance tables have been used for decades to relate scores on different tests measuring similar but distinct constructs. These tables, typically derived from statistical linking procedures, provide a direct link between scores on different tests and serve various purposes. Aside from describing how a score on one test relates to performance on another test, they can also be used to identify benchmark scores on one test corresponding to performance categories on another test, or to maintain continuity of scores on a test after the test is redesigned or changed. Concordance tables are helpful for educators, parents, administrators, researchers, and policy makers to evaluate and formulate academic standing and growth. Recently, NWEA completed a concordance study to connect the scales of the Alaska Measures of Progress (AMP) English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics assessments with those of the MAP Reading and MAP for Mathematics assessments. This report presents the 3rd through 10th grade cut scores on MAP reading and mathematics scales that correspond to the benchmarks on the AMP ELA and math tests. Information about the consistency rate of classification based on the estimated MAP cut scores is also provided, along with a series of tables that predict the probability of receiving a Level 3 (i.e., "Proficient") or higher performance designation on the AMP assessments, based on the observed MAP scores taken during the same school year. A detailed description of the data and analysis method used in this study is provided in the Appendix.   [More]  Descriptors: Scores, Inferences, Academic Achievement, Achievement Tests

Hutchison, Amy; Colwell, Jamie (2016). Preservice Teachers' Use of the Technology Integration Planning Cycle to Integrate iPads into Literacy Instruction, Journal of Research on Technology in Education. The purpose of this case study was to examine preservice teachers' use of the Technology Integration Planning Cycle (TIPC; Hutchison & Woodward, 2014) to integrate iPads into literacy instruction. Analysis revealed two findings related to using the TIPC to plan instruction: (a) Though the TIPC provides a structured approach to planning that guides teachers in using their Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK), the preservice teachers still used a technocentric approach to planning instruction and did not fully engage in all elements of the planning cycle; (2) even with the structured planning approach, preservice teachers had difficulty aligning their lesson content with the instructional goals of the lesson; and (3) preservice teachers rely on recommendations from their university classes when selecting apps to use in instruction, rather than independently seeking out resources. The implications of this research suggest the need to support preservice teachers in developing a professional learning network; the importance of a structured approach to planning technology integration to support preservice teachers; and considerations for helping preservice teachers develop their TPACK.   [More]  Descriptors: Preservice Teachers, Technology Integration, Handheld Devices, Literacy Education

Morris, Pamela A.; Mattera, Shira K.; Maier, Michelle F. (2016). Making Pre-K Count: Improving Math Instruction in New York City, MDRC. In the context of a persistent achievement lag among low-income children despite substantial investments in early education, policymakers and practitioners continue to seek ways to improve the quality of children's preschool experiences. The Making Pre-K Count study addresses whether strengthening prekindergarten (pre-K) instruction in math, hypothesized to be a "linchpin" skill in children's development, can improve children's short- and longer-term learning. Specifically, the study rigorously evaluated the effect of an evidence-based math curriculum called Building Blocks along with ongoing training and in-classroom coaching, relative to the typical pre-K experience. Making Pre-K Count took place in 69 pre-K sites and over 170 classrooms across New York City. Thirty-five of the pre-K sites were assigned to receive the math curriculum, training, and coaching over two years (the "BB-MPC" group), while the other 34 were assigned to continue their typical programming (as the "pre-K-as-usual" group). Outcomes for children were assessed in the second year of the study, after teachers were familiar with the program. Over the course of the study, the typical pre-K experience in New York City was changing rapidly, with a new focus on the Common Core math standards and a major expansion into universal pre-K. This initial report provides early results on teachers and children at the end of pre-K during the second year of Making Pre-K Count implementation. Two appendices are included: (1) Baseline Equivalence of Teachers, Parents, and Children Across Program and Control Groups; and (2) Analysis Model.   [More]  Descriptors: Preschool Education, Mathematics Instruction, Mathematics Curriculum, Coaching (Performance)

Deck, Anita; Grubbs, Michael E. (2016). Landfills: Engineering Design for Waste Control, Technology and Engineering Teacher. It is becoming increasingly important to consider the waste humans produce and options for reducing the impact it has on the environment. Allowing students the opportunities to research potential solutions and present their ideas results in an educated citizenry that considers consequences of technological advances. Throughout the course of a two-week summer camp, teachers guided students as they considered alternative sources of energy. The integrative STEM Education activity described herein was used as part of a lesson in a professional development experience conducted at Virginia Tech by the Virginia Institute for Science Teaching and Achievement (VISTA). The challenge presented to students was to design and build a product that can be used in everyday life from items typically found in a landfill. The product must: (1) be useful (not an artistic sculpture, decoration, etc.); (2) consist of at least four different items from the landfill used in a way not originally intended; (3) consist of at least two bonding materials (e.g., tape, string, nail, twist ties); and (4) have at least one moving part integral to the function of the product. The rubric used to asses the students' performance and to serve as a self-assessment for each group's progress in designing a solution is provided.   [More]  Descriptors: Environmental Education, STEM Education, Engineering Education, Design

Anderson, Meredith B. L. (2016). Building Better Narratives in Black Education, Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute, UNCF. "Building Better Narratives in Black Education" fundamentally changes the narrative and face of education reform to meaningfully include Black voices, leaders and initiatives that truly have equity and Black student success at the core. This is imperative as there is an education crisis for Black students in the United States. Recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results indicate that only seven percent of Black students performed at or above proficient on the 12th grade math exam in 2015, compared with 32 percent of White students. African American students are less likely to meet ACT college readiness benchmarks than any other racial group and often lag behind on various indicators on the primary and secondary levels. However, far too often the narrative has stopped there. While it is important to deconstruct and analyze inequities in the educational system, we have to move from solely deficit-based narratives to decisions to strengthen policies and conversations that fundamentally change the state of education for African American students. It's time to build a better, more actionable narrative that represents the promise of education to drive equity. UNCF, Education Post, and the National Urban League each collected data on African Americans' perspective on significant K-12 education issues, and this report synthesizes salient themes from these various data. Grounded in the lived experiences of the African American community, "Building Better Narratives in Black Education" provides tangible approaches to fundamentally shift the narrative concerning Black educational reform in order to better engage communities and reformers around an equitable K-12 education system. Sections about the contributors and the methodology are appended.   [More]  Descriptors: African American Education, Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education, African American Community

Amendum, Steven J.; Conradi, Kristin; Liebfreund, Meghan D. (2016). The Push for More Challenging Texts: An Analysis of Early Readers' Rate, Accuracy, and Comprehension, Reading Psychology. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between the challenge level of text and early readers' reading comprehension. This relationship was also examined with consideration to students' word recognition accuracy and reading rate. Participants included 636 students, in Grades 1-3, in a southeastern state. Results suggest that students reading texts well above their actual grade levels, even with sufficient accuracy scores, scored significantly lower on comprehension than students reading texts at their actual grade level. This result also held regardless of students' reading rates. Findings signal the importance of considering text level during instruction and suggest some caution is warranted when pushing students into texts well above their grade levels.   [More]  Descriptors: Accuracy, Reading Comprehension, Correlation, Scores

Hastings, Kathryn (2016). Leveled Reading and Engagement with Complex Texts, Reading Improvement. The benefits of engaging with age-appropriate reading materials in classroom settings are numerous. For example, students' comprehension is developed as they acquire new vocabulary and concepts. The Common Core requires all students have daily opportunities to engage with "complex text" regardless of students' decoding levels. However, current leveled reading practices espouse using texts at students' instructional or independent level. As a result, some readers with decoding issues progress through school lacking opportunities to engage with challenging text appropriate to their age and cognitive level. Consequently, this becomes a social justice issue as it promotes disengagement in learning and increases school dropout rates. Hence, this article examines research on leveled reading practices using the framework of "the dual commitments" (Raphael, Florio-Ruane, George, Highfield & Hasty, 2004) to provide two researched-based strategies that support students with decoding issues access to age appropriate texts.   [More]  Descriptors: Reading Materials, Learner Engagement, Common Core State Standards, Decoding (Reading)

Hurford, David P.; Fender, Alex C.; Swigart, Courtney C.; Hurford, Thomas E.; Hoover, Brogan B.; Butts, Shanise R.; Cullers, Kayla R.; Boux, Jordan L.; Wehner, Stephanie J.; Hevel, Jordan K.; Renner, Lauren P.; Overton, Keith B.; Dumler, Julie D.; Wilber, Laura M. (2016). Pre-Service Teachers Are Competent in Phonological Processing Skills: How to Teach the Science of Reading, Reading Psychology. Approximately 20% of students experience reading failure each year. One of the difficulties associated with this large percentage is that it has been documented that pre-service teachers may not be receiving the most appropriate training regarding reading acquisition. The present study sought to determine if pre-service teachers were proficient in phonological processing skills and thus capable of learning concepts for which these skills are prerequisite. One-hundred sixty-four participants (85 pre-service teachers and 79 non-education majors) were administered the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP). The results indicated that pre-service teachers' phonological processing skills were sufficiently developed and not significantly different from non-education majors or from the CTOPP's normative sample. These students have the ability to learn the concepts related to the science of reading. Components of an appropriate curriculum for pre-service teachers such that they can acquire this knowledge are discussed.   [More]  Descriptors: Preservice Teachers, Phonology, Phonological Awareness, Reading Skills

Northwest Evaluation Association (2016). Linking the Kansas KAP Assessments to NWEA MAP Tests. Northwest Evaluation AssociationâÑ¢ (NWEAâÑ¢) is committed to providing partners with useful tools to help make inferences from the Measures of Academic Progress¬Æ (MAP¬Æ) interim assessment scores. One important tool is the concordance table between MAP and state summative assessments. Concordance tables have been used for decades to relate scores on different tests measuring similar but distinct constructs. These tables, typically derived from statistical linking procedures, provide a direct link between scores on different tests and serve various purposes. Aside from describing how a score on one test relates to performance on another test, they can also be used to identify benchmark scores on one test corresponding to performance categories on another test, or to maintain continuity of scores on a test after the test is redesigned or changed. Concordance tables are helpful for educators, parents, administrators, researchers, and policy makers to evaluate and formulate academic standing and growth. Recently, NWEA completed a concordance study to connect the scales of the Kansas Assessment Program (KAP) English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics with those of the MAP Reading and MAP for Mathematics assessments. In this report, presented are the 3rd through 8th and 10th grade cut scores on MAP reading and mathematics scales that correspond to the benchmarks on the KAP ELA and math tests. Information about the consistency rate of classification based on the estimated MAP cut scores is also provided, along with a series of tables that predict the probability of receiving a Level 3 (i.e., "Proficient") or higher performance designation on the KAP assessments, based on the observed MAP scores taken during the same school year. A detailed description of the data and analysis method used in this study is provided in the Appendix.   [More]  Descriptors: Scores, Inferences, Academic Achievement, Achievement Tests

Northwest Evaluation Association (2016). Linking the Nebraska NeSA Assessments to NWEA MAP Tests. Northwest Evaluation AssociationâÑ¢ (NWEAâÑ¢) is committed to providing partners with useful tools to help make inferences from the Measures of Academic Progress¬Æ (MAP¬Æ) interim assessment scores. One important tool is the concordance table between MAP and state summative assessments. Concordance tables have been used for decades to relate scores on different tests measuring similar but distinct constructs. These tables, typically derived from statistical linking procedures, provide a direct link between scores on different tests and serve various purposes. Aside from describing how a score on one test relates to performance on another test, they can also be used to identify benchmark scores on one test corresponding to performance categories on another test, or to maintain continuity of scores on a test after the test is redesigned or changed. Concordance tables are helpful for educators, parents, administrators, researchers, and policy makers to evaluate and formulate academic standing and growth. Recently, NWEA completed a concordance study to connect the scales of the Nebraska State Accountability (NeSA) reading and math tests with those of the MAP Reading and MAP for Mathematics assessments. In this report, presented are the 3rd through 8th grade cut scores on MAP reading and mathematics scales that correspond to the benchmarks on the NeSA reading and math tests. Information about the consistency rate of classification based on the estimated MAP cut scores is also provided, along with a series of tables that predict the probability of receiving a Level 2 (i.e., "Proficient") or higher performance designation on the NeSA assessments, based on the observed MAP scores taken during the same school year. A detailed description of the data and analysis method used in this study is provided in the Appendix.   [More]  Descriptors: Scores, Inferences, Academic Achievement, Achievement Tests

VanTassel-Baska, Joyce; Johnsen, Susan K. (2016). From the Classroom: Implementing the Common Core in English Language Arts and in Mathematics: Practitioners' Perspectives, Gifted Child Today. At the 61st National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, two practitioner panels responded to questions about implementing the Common Core in English language arts (ELA) and in mathematics. After listening to their responses, the authors felt that the "Gifted Child Today" readers would enjoy hearing their perspectives–how they have differentiated the common core for gifted students, resources and support that they have found helpful, and their challenges. The ideas that the teachers share in the commentaries provided in this article constitute important "on the ground" observations about competent and pragmatic ways to apply the new Common Core Standards in Language Arts to gifted education curriculum. Their perceptions about general strategies they employ, such as self differentiation for the higher-level standards and compacting for the lower level standards, provide an important blueprint for practitioners to consider.   [More]  Descriptors: Common Core State Standards, Language Arts, Mathematics, Mathematics Achievement

Stokes, Patricia D. (2016). Thinking in Patterns to Solve Multiplication, Division, and Fraction Problems in Second Grade, Journal of Mathematics Education at Teachers College. Experts think in patterns and structures using the specific "language" of their domains. For mathematicians, these patterns and structures are represented by numbers, symbols and their relationships (Stokes, 2014a). To determine whether elementary students in the United States could learn to think in mathematical patterns to solve addition and subtraction, a pilot curriculum using an Asian model of base-10 counting was introduced in kindergarten and first grade. Children in the pilot program, like their Asian counterparts, did not appear to have any difficulty with the concept of place value. They also did not have significant difficulties with single- and double-digit addition and subtraction as is often the case with American students (Stokes, 2010, 2013, 2014a, 2014b). To continue the pattern-based process in second grade, a Multi-Operation Chart was designed to make the relationships between multiplication, division and fractions clear. Testing at the end of the school year showed that students not only met, but exceeded the Standards set by the Common Core standards for second grade. Medians and modes for correct single- and double-digit multiplication, single-digit division and fractions were 100%. Educational implications are offered and discussed.   [More]  Descriptors: Problem Solving, Expertise, Grade 2, Elementary School Mathematics

Northwest Evaluation Association (2016). Linking the Arizona AZMERIT Assessments to NWEA MAP Tests. Northwest Evaluation AssociationâÑ¢ (NWEAâÑ¢) is committed to providing partners with useful tools to help make inferences from the Measures of Academic Progress¬Æ (MAP¬Æ) interim assessment scores. One important tool is the concordance table between MAP and state summative assessments. Concordance tables have been used for decades to relate scores on different tests measuring similar but distinct constructs. These tables, typically derived from statistical linking procedures, provide a direct link between scores on different tests and serve various purposes. Aside from describing how a score on one test relates to performance on another test, they can also be used to identify benchmark scores on one test corresponding to performance categories on another test, or to maintain continuity of scores on a test after the test is redesigned or changed. Concordance tables are helpful for educators, parents, administrators, researchers, and policy makers to evaluate and formulate academic standing and growth. Recently, NWEA completed a concordance study to connect the scales of the Arizona's Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching (AZMERIT) English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics with those of the MAP Reading and MAP for Mathematics assessments. In this report, presented are the 3rd through 8th grade cut scores on MAP reading and mathematics scales that correspond to the benchmarks on the AZMERIT ELA and math tests. Information about the consistency rate of classification based on the estimated MAP cut scores is also provided, along with a series of tables that predict the probability of receiving a Level 3 (i.e., "Proficient") or higher performance designation on the AZMERIT assessments, based on the observed MAP scores taken during the same school year. A detailed description of the data and analysis method used in this study is provided in the Appendix.   [More]  Descriptors: Scores, Inferences, Academic Achievement, Achievement Tests