ACCOUNTING FOR PROGRESS…… ONE CHILD AT A TIME TOPICS ISTAR (Indiana Standards Tool for Alternate Reporting) Assessment System: Purpose, Functions, and.

ACCOUNTING FOR PROGRESS……

ONE CHILD AT A TIME

TOPICS

ISTAR (Indiana Standards Tool for Alternate Reporting) Assessment System:

Purpose, Functions, and Content – Sheron Cochran Technology Demonstration – Dawn McGrath

General Supervision Enhancement Grant: Outcome Measurement Tool for Children in First Steps – Dawn Downer Description of Grant Activities - Ann Ruhmkorff

ISTAR OVERVIEW

Broad Description of ISTAR Assessment

Multiple Purposes of ISTAR Why It Was Selected to Measure

Progress for Preschool Children with Disabilities

Connection to the Foundations ISTAR Content

WHAT IS ISTAR? It is a web-based standards-

referenced assessment system provided free of charge by the Department of Education, Division of Exceptional Learners.

It utilizes teacher ratings to measure the progress of students.

It is a continuous process. The child does not “take a test”.

ISTARMULTIPLE PURPOSES

Indiana’s Alternate Assessment Component under IDEIA and NCLB for grades 3-10. [Legal Basis]

Academic Assessment of Limited English Proficient Students [Legal Basis]

Supplemental Assessment May be used to measure progress of any

student in relation to grade level expectations.

Gifted and Talented Students

ISTARMULTIPLE PURPOSES

Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, schools must assess all early childhood students with disabilities using ISTAR so that the SEA can carry out its duty to collect information regarding performance goals. [Legal Basis]

Indiana’s SPP/APR must address improvement in positive social-emotional skills, acquisition and use of knowledge and skills including early language and communication, early literacy, and use of appropriate behaviors to meet their needs.

Why ISTAR Selected as Indiana’s Early Childhood Assessment

Builds on previous work Authentic assessment for ‘ALL’ children On-going assessment Provides parents and teachers with graphic

representation of the progress of the child ISTAR indicators are aligned to Foundations

for Young Children and Academic Standards Helps guide instruction Can assist the IEP team in forming IEP

goals

CONNECTION TO THE FOUNDATIONS AND ACADEMIC STANDARDS

ISTAR is a direct derivative of the Foundations for Young Children to the Indiana Academic Standards and the Indiana Academic Standards.

Extensions to the Foundations and academic standards have been included to create a continuum of access for all children beginning from birth.

ISTAR CONTENTEXTENSIONS TO

STANDARDS Extensions to the academic standards

of mathematics and English/language arts have been developed to include four levels of progress prior to kindergarten: Basic 1 (B1) Birth to two years of age Basic 2 (B2) Two to three years of age Foundations 1 (F1) Three to four years of

age Foundations 1 (F2) Four to five years of age

Birth through the highest

level of performance

ISTAR CONTENTFUNCTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT SKILLS

Functional Achievement Indicators are in 3 categories:

Physical Skills Personal Care Skills Social-Emotional Skills

ISTAR measures growth throughout life. 100% of skills represents what would be expected of a fully independent adult. It is reasonable to expect low scores for a young child in an early childhood program.

ISTAR CONTENTSeparate Speech Interface There is a separate interface designed for

speech-language pathologists (SLP). If a child receives speech services from an SLP , the child must be rated on communication skills through the separate interface.

The SLP items are grouped into four areas: social interaction, comprehension, expressive communication, and speech intelligibility.

ISTAR CONTENTSeparate Speech Interface

These areas contain assessment elements in the general “listening and speaking” standard plus additional items that are specific to SLP expertise. Students with communication disorders who receive services solely from the SLP may be rated strictly in these 4 areas.

ISTAR CONTENTPARTICIPATION

Assessments should begin as teachers/therapists become familiar with incoming students.

ISTAR assessment should be collected naturally and periodically throughout the year.

ISTAR is to be completed collaboratively if there is more than one provider.

ISTAR CONTENTSCORING

ISTAR is scored through use of a 3-point rubric (See page 30 in Handbook). Educators base these ratings on observation, work samples, portfolios, and other indicators of performance. Scores are used to measure individual and group progress.

ISTAR CONTENTWHEN DOES REPORTING

OCCUR?

Assessments are to be completed During the quarter of entrance During the quarter of exit During the quarter of each birth month If an exit or entrance assessment is

done in the quarter of the birth month, one assessment serves both purposes.

ISTARDEMONSTRATION

DAWN McGrath, Director of ISTAR/ICAN Project

View technology Establishing Accounts Maintaining Security Training, technical support, materials

www.istar.doe.state.in.us

Outcome Measurement Tool for Children in First Steps

First Steps Annual Outcome Study

ISTAR

First Steps Annual Outcome Study

Entrance Interviews Exit Interviews IFSP Current Level of Performance Crosswalk with SPP/APR Outcomes Limitations

ISTAR Measure attainment of skills linked

to state academic standards Basic 1 – birth to two years Basic 2 – two to three years Functional Skills

On-line accessibility IFSP Team reporting and review Parent Reports

Early Childhood Assessment

Enhancement of Basic 1 and Basic 2 for children birth through three years

Include developmental domains (physical, cognitive, communication, social-emotional, and adaptive) in addition to state academic standards

Early Childhood Assessment

Appropriate for children with and without developmental delay/disability Part C Child Care, Healthy Families,

Children’s Services, Early Head Start Crosswalk with SPP/APR child

outcomes

Goal Develop the Early Childhood Assessment

(ISTAR Basic 1, Basic 2 and Functional Skills) into a comprehensive system for all children - including those who are “typically developing” as well as those identified with a disability and served in

Part C.

Develop one assessment tool that could be aligned with all reporting requirements:

Indiana Part C Outcomes Indiana’s academic standards SPP/APR child outcomes

Indiana GSEG ProposalPriority A: Outcome Measures

Focus Area One: Developing or enhancing Part B State outcomes indicators and methods to collect and analyze Part B outcome indicator

Focus Area Two: Developing or enhancing Part C State outcome indicators and methods to collect and analyze Part C outcome indicators

Indiana GSEG Proposal The GSEG project will allow Indiana

to develop a comprehensive statewide assessment that will serve multiple accountability purposes: State pre-academic, academic and

functional skills standards Part C assessment domains – social-

emotional, cognitive, physical, communication and self-help

Indiana GSEG Proposal Serve as Indiana’s accountability

measure for reporting State performance Plan (SPP) and Annual Performance Report (APR) requirements:

Social-emotional skills Acquisition and use of knowledge and

skills Use of appropriate behaviors to meet

their needs

Table 1: Description of Indiana’s Proposed Statewide Assessment System

Early Childhood Assessment ISTAR ISTEP+

Current Status To be aligned, normed, and validated as a result of GSEG

Already developed

and validated

Already developed and

validated

SPP/APR Targets Social-Emotional Skills, Use of

knowledge, and Appropriate Behaviors

Meeting AYP Targets

Meeting AYP Targets

Assessment Domains

Social-Emotional, Cognitive, Physical Development, Self-

Help and Communication

and Literacy

English/Language

Art, Mathematics,

Functional

English/Language Art, Mathematics

Age Range Birth-5 Kdgn and Relevant

NCLB Grades

Kdgn Relevant NCLB Grades

Content Pre-academic, Academic, and

Functional skills

Academic and Functional

skills

Academic skills

Target Group Typically Developing and Children with Disabilities

Students with Disabilities

Typically Developing

and Students with

Disabilities

Objective 1 - Alignment Activities

Identify and align Part C and Part B-619 performance indicators with items and domains of the Early Childhood Assessment within the context of the Indiana academic standards, SPP/APR, and Part C assessment requirements.

Objective 2 - Assessment and Validation Activities

Establish norms for typically developing children and children with disabilities.

Demonstrate reliability and validity of the Early Childhood Assessment in relation to Part C and Part B-619 performance indicators related to state academic standards and SPP/APR of outcomes.

Objective 2 - Assessment and Validation Activities Focus on addressing SPP/APR performance

indicators intended to measure: The extent which schools facilitate parent

involvement as a means of improving services and results for children with disabilities (Part B-619)

Families participating in Part C who report that early intervention services have helped the family know rights, effectively communicate their child’s needs, and have helped their children develop and learn

Objective 3 - Reporting Activities

Implementation of a web-based reporting system capable of monitoring the progress of infants, toddlers and children with disabilities in critical SPP/APR performance indicator areas as well as within the context of state academic standards and Part C assessment requirements.

This objective builds upon the state’s current comprehensive system of web-based monitoring and reporting.

Objective 4 - Training Activities

Conduct statewide training and professional development efforts necessary to ensure that project objectives related to alignment, assessment and validation, and reporting activities are implemented and embedded into local improvement and accountability efforts.

Plans for Implementation

Assemble Project Advisory Group. Stakeholders representing Part B and

C service providers, special education and related services personnel, Part C ICC, state assessment and standardization specialists, Institute of Higher Education, parents of children and youth with disabilities, advocates and others

Plans for Implementation - Alignment

Alignment based on the methods of alignment analyses developed by Norman Webb (Webb, 1999)

Table 2: Description of Indiana’s Alignment Activities

SPP/APR Requirements

Positive social-emotional skills Acquisition and use of

knowledge and skills Use of appropriate behaviors

Indiana Academic Standards

English/Language Arts (Word Recognition, Comprehension, Literacy, Writing, Listening,

Speaking) Mathematics (Number Sense, Computation,

Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, Data Analysis,

Problem Solving) Speech (Social Interaction,

Comprehension, Expressive Communication, Intelligibility)

Part C Assessment Domains

Social/Emotional Cognitive Physical Development Self-Help Communication and

Literacy

Plan of implementation – Assessment & Validation

Recruit 30-40 qualified early childhood educators to administer instruments and collect assessment data

Stratified sample – 350 typically developing children and 350 infants, toddlers and children with disabilities served in Part c and Part B-619 programs (N=700)

Plan of implementation – Assessment & Validation Administer child assessments (Early

Childhood Assessment and others - TBD) Collect NCSEAM Parent Surveys – expected

sample size – 1000 families Analysis of data to assess the overall

integrity of the Early Childhood Assessment with regard to identifying which items or clusters of items best measure academic standards, Part C developmental domains and SPP/APR performance indicators

Plans for Implementation - Reporting Activities

Training activities associated with efforts to report information to various audiences (public reporting, academic standards, SPP/APR)

On-line assessments over secure internet

Generating graphs and custom reports

Plans for Implementation - Training

Part C and Part B-619 provider/educator trainings Assessment training Report Training On-going technical assistance

Evaluation

University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration (ICI) to conduct evaluation activities in two key areas Performance Measurement Impact Measurement