2016-2017 AIR Updates

Post date: Oct 5, 2016 1:39:32 PM

From the Ohio Department of Education:

October 4, 2016

Practice Tests and Scoring Guides for High School and Grade 3

Half-length practice tests for the high school end of course exams are now available in the Test Portal.

Accompanying the release of the practice tests are scoring guides. They include the item type, the content standard and content statement assessed, an answer key (for some item types) and the number of points associated with each item. They also include the guidelines for scoring (i.e., scoring rubrics), sample responses and notes on scoring and rationales that describe why response options are correct or incorrect.

Practice Tests and Scoring Guides for Grades 4-8

Half-length practices tests for English Language Arts in grades 4-8 will be available in late January 2017.

Practice Tests and Scoring Guides for High School

Half-length practice tests for the high school end of course exams are now available in the Test Portal.
Accompanying the release of the practice tests are scoring guides. They include the item type, the content standard and content statement assessed, an answer key (for some item types) and the number of points associated with each item. They also include the guidelines for scoring (i.e., scoring rubrics), sample responses and notes on scoring and rationales that describe why response options are correct or incorrect.

From Julie Dudones:

October 19, 2016

This morning I attended a meeting at the Summit County ESC, and the consultants provided key updates regarding the ELA, math, and social studies state tests. Please read carefully if you are teaching a content area that is tested, even if it isn't tested at your grade level.

Regarding the ELA tests:

Per the ELA Outreach Consultant at ODE, "There are no current plans or future plans to add narrative [writing] to the assessments in any shape or form. I can say that with absolute certainty."

This has a few implications for our ELA classes:

1) Students will be asked to read narratives as part of how their fiction standards are being assessed.

2) There will still be two writing pieces on the ELA tests this year: Informative and Opinion/Argument are both on the table. Per our ESC consultant, the state is being vague on this. Students could be asked to write one of each type of essay, or they could be asked to write two of one type of essay. This may vary by grade level, which is what happened last year.

3)Teachers should still be teaching all three types of writing included in the standards: narrative, informative and opinion (K-5)/argument (6-12).

4) If narrative writing were to be added, this could not take place until 2018-2019 at the earliest due to the way question types are implemented in testing.

Regarding the math tests:

About 3% of students seemed to have been affected by having partial errors related to the how they typed their answers last year.

This has a few implications for our math classes:

1) Students need to be practicing using a computer for entering/creating answers. This can be through Khan Academy, using Equation Editor in Word or Google docs, Assistments, etc.

2) When you are practicing with students, please try to help them make sure they don't accidentally mark another spot in a graphing area for those types of questions. This will cause them to lose partial credit.

3) Students need to make sure to double-check what they have typed - for example, the hyphen (-) is next to the zero. If a student accidentally hits the hyphen after typing a zero, the system thinks they are making the number a negative. If the student puts an answer with a decimal point, then puts a period (.) at the end the system will see this as a second decimal point and the students could lose partial points for that.

Regarding the social studies tests:

The students may be asked to write a historical narrative as part of an extended response, i.e. telling the story of a historical event while keeping the facts in mind. As such, ELA and math teachers working together will be very beneficial to students.

As has been mentioned previously, students are also going to be asked to read charts, graphs, maps, etc. as well as interpret them. Working with math teachers will also help students in this area.

I will continue to share information as I receive updates.

Practice Tests and Scoring Guides for Grades 3-8

Half-length practice tests for Mathematics in grades 3-8 will be available in late January 2017.

Please see the links below for the most recent information regarding Ohio's State Tests.

Two reminders based on questions I have been asked:

*The ELA test is in March this year and it will include two essays - either informational, narrative or opinion (K-5)/ argument (6-10).

*The math blueprints show all standards that may be assessed, including critical areas of focus (in green).

Ohio's State Test Documents Updated

Several documents have recently been updated in the Test Portal for the upcoming school year. Many of these documents like the reference sheets have updated headers only. The blueprints have updated headers and hyperlinks for more information on Modeling and Reasoning. All other information on the test blueprints and reference sheets remains the same.

Other resources like the Calculator Guidance documents have been expanded to included information for elementary and middle school. Calculators are still prohibited across grades 3-5 unless the student qualifies for a calculator as an accommodation. Grades 6 and 7 will still contain a non-calculator and a calculator section. All test items at grade 8 and above will allow for the use of a calculator.

Calculator Guidance

American Institutes for Research State Test Practice Sites

November 21, 2016 From Julie Dudones

*All students taking the ELA AIR assessment in grades 6 and up will be allowed 15 extra minutes for both Part I and Part II beginning in Spring 2017.

FROM THE ATTACHMENT *These English Language Arts tests (grades 6-8, ELA I and ELA II) will have two writing prompts as described in the Ohio Blueprint. Students need adequate time to organize and support their responses with facts from the reading passages. The testing time noted above for these ELA tests are divided into two sessions of 1 hour and 45 minutes each. Students needing additional time to complete the test may be allowed, at each district’s discretion, 30 additional minutes (15 minutes per session for a total of two hours per session). Not all students will need this additional time and, in some sessions, no students will need this time. Schools also should provide students with disabilities additional time as needed, according to their individualized education programs. 10/25/16)

January 4, 2017 From Julie Dudones

Please use the links on this page to help students practice with the AIR Math Calculators:

http://oh.portal.airast.org/ocba/resources/?section=1-student-practice-resources

Scroll down to Math Calculators and choose the appropriate calculators for your grade level.

Please incorporate practice with this calculator so that your students are familiar with it and comfortable with it. Below are the calculator guidance PDFs from the Ohio State Testing Portal page.

2016-2017 Calculator Guidance.pdf

Calculator Policies.pdf

*January 5th addition: Students are still allowed to use handheld calculators as long as they follow the Math Calculator Policy available at the same link.

Test Blueprints

Reference Sheets

Release of Spring 2016 Test Items

A partial release of items from the Spring 2016 Ohio State Tests are now available in the Test Portal for Grades 3-8 Mathematics and Grades 4-8 English Language Arts. These item give educators insight into the kinds of questions students experienced, and they are a useful tool to inform classroom instruction. Both teachers and parents may use this resource to help students know what to expect.

Included in this release are the learning standard associated with each test item, the scoring rubrics, and item annotations show what is required to score at each performance level. Examples of student responses are also available to illustrate actual work and the corresponding points earned on the student examples.

Half-length practice tests will be available in the coming months. Practice tests for the end-of-course exams and Grade 3 English Language Arts will be available in late September. Practice Tests for Grades 3-8 Mathematics and Grades 4-8 English Language Arts will be available in late January 2017. A partial release of items from the end of course exams and Grade 3 English Language Arts will be published in late January 2017.

Release Test Items By Other States

Below are other states with released online test items aligned to standards similar to Ohio’s Learning Standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts. Many of these states use a test environment and item types similar to the test portal used on Ohio’s State Tests.

Released items by other states were approved by educators outside of Ohio. Test items released by other states may not reflect the level of depth, conceptual understanding, or rigor of Ohio’s State Tests.

January 20, 2017

The manuals for the spring 2017 Ohio's State Tests administration are now available for download from the Administration Manuals and Guidance Documents page of the portal.

Test coordinators and test administrators must review the Test Administration Manual(TAM) prior to the spring 2017 administration. The TAM includes key information regarding scheduling, test security, student Pre-ID and test eligibility, staff responsibilities, test status requests and other important policies and procedures. The TAM information is applicable for all spring 2017 Ohio’s State Tests and is applicable to online and paper testers.

The TAM also includes a series of appendices that can be downloaded as part of the TAM or as separate documents.

Appendix A: Test Security Provisions
Appendix B: Oral Translation and Human Read-Aloud for Online Testing
Appendix C: Calculator Policies
Appendix D: Troubleshooting for Online Testing
Appendix E: Breach Administrations
Appendix F: Summary of Additional Resources
Appendix G: Non-Disclosure Agreement for Translators
Appendix H: Test Incident Guidance Document
Appendix I: Guidance for Special Testing Scenarios
Appendix J: Test Coordinator Checklist
Appendix K: Test Administrator Checklist
Appendix L: Online Testing Highlights and Script

Half-Length Practice Tests- ELA

A half-length practice test for Grades 4-8 is now available in the Test Portal. Previously, in fall 2016, half-length practice test for high school end-of-course exams for English Language Arts were released in the Test Portal. These items give educators and parents insight into the kinds of questions students will experience on the spring 2017 Ohio State Tests. Teachers can also use the half-length practice tests as a tool to inform classroom instruction.

Included in this release are the learning standards associated with each test item, the scoring rubrics, and item annotations that show what is required to score at each performance level. Examples of student responses are also available to illustrate actual work and the corresponding points earned on the student examples.

HALF-LENGTH PRACTICE TESTS

Click the links below to find the grade 3 and high school practice tests that were released in the Fall.

Partial Release of Items for grade 3 can be found here.

Half-Length Practice Tests- MATH

A half-length practice test for Grades 3-8 and partial release of the spring 2016 items from the high school end of course exams for mathematics are now available in the Test Portal. Previously, in fall 2016, half-length practice test for high school end of course exams for mathematics were released in the [ohiostatetests.org]Test Portal. These items give educators and parents insight into the kinds of questions students will experience on the spring 2017 Ohio State Tests. Teachers can also use the half-length practice tests as a tool to inform classroom instruction.

Practice tests for grades 6 and 7 have been split into non-calculator and calculator segments to reflect an operational test. Once students begin the calculator segment of the grades 6 and 7 practice tests, they cannot return to the non-calculator segment of the practice test.