Overview

Roseville City School District in the Sacramento, CA area embraced standards-based assessment and reporting at the middle school level over five years ago. Their educators are dedicated to ensuring that all learners have access to high-quality learning experiences and are given opportunities to demonstrate their learning at the highest levels. Eich Middle School, one of the four middle schools in the district, is an IB program and offers programming to support students in becoming global citizens who are inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring. The district has done significant work alongside educators to develop essential standards in all subject areas and design high-quality aligned assessments that accurately reflect student learning. All four middle schools in RCSD use the same grading levels and reporting system.

Technology Tools Used for Assessment and Reporting

Roseville City Schools use the Otus Platform to assess and provide feedback on standards day-to-day. Powerschool is used to generate end of trimester report cards.

Outcomes: What is assessed?

Roseville City Schools has developed essential standards for each subject area and grade level that define the outcomes that will be assessed each year. Teaching and learning happens at the level of the standard but reporting is summarized at the level of the domain.

In addition to defining the essential standards, Roseville educators have created common rubrics and summative assessments that support a shared understanding of expectations for each level of the proficiency scale. In the common assessment example below, notice that each question is tied to a specific level of the proficiency scale, working towards an opportunity for learners to demonstrate both proficiency and mastery of the essential standard.  

Levels of Proficiency: How is Progress Marked?

In the Middle School, an 8-level numerical scale is used for marking progress on essential standards, in line with the IB model. These numerical levels are mapped to a 4-level proficiency scale that defines meeting the standard and not yet meeting the standard.

At Roseville, mastery is not defined as next level work or performance on something that it was not taught. It is considered to be an application of learning with more consistency or at a greater depth, precision or originality.  Their stance is that everyone needs to be taught and given the opportunity to reach this level. Much work is done with faculty to ensure assessments include opportunities for reaching the mastery level.

In Elementary School, a 3-level proficiency scale is used:

• Proficient

• Approaching

• Beginning

Learning Behaviors in Middle School are assessed on a 3-level scale of frequency:

• Rarely

• Sometimes

• Consistently

At the elementary level, a separate checklist for K-2 and 3-5 is provided to learners to define proficiency in each of the behaviors.

Reporting: How is Progress Documented?

Students receive trimester Report Cards that are generated in Powerschool.

In the Middle school, subject area and individual domains per subject area have a final score. In addition, Learning Behaviors are reported per subject area or course.

Below is an example of the report for middle school students in ELA and Math:

For Elementary school, proficiency level scores are provided at the domain level of the standards in Language Arts and Math and at the subject level for Physical Education. In Social Studies and Science, students receive scores of Participation or Non-Participation. In addition, an overall score for the learner on the Learning Behaviors per trimester is reported.

How Outcomes are Assessed and How Final Scores on the Report Are Calculated

At Roseville, attention has been spent on distinguishing formative assessment and summative assessment opportunities. Educators can track formative scores and feedback coming from homework, quizzes or other informal assessments in Otus, their assessment platform, in a way that does not contribute towards a final score on the Report Card.

They define a summative assessment as an opportunity in which the learner has had the chance to practice, receive feedback and had the chance to improve their learning and work.

All summative assessments on individual essential standards given in Otus are averaged to provide a final domain score each trimester, with the flexibility for educators to override the calculation. For example, if an educator assesses a standard on identifying the main idea in literature in December and then assess it again in January, those scores will be averaged. All scores within the domain of Reading Literature are averaged to provide a Reading Literature domain score on the report. All domain scores are then averaged to provide a final subject area or course level score. Educators do have the ability in Otus to override a final score calculation to account for anything a mathematical average may overlook. Training was provided to help educators look at recency and consistency when determining a final grade.

At Roseville, educators tested out different calculations of scores within Otus and landed on mean, or average, for many reasons. For example, when they tested mode they found that, in an 8-level system, a student who got a 2 often early in the semester but later in the semester did really well and got an 8 would get a final score of a 2 instead of the average which would be higher. A decaying average, that weighs the most recent score, was also considered but it was found to be complex to understand therefore explain to students and families.

Sharing with Families

Trimester reports, daily access to feedback and progress in Otus. This handbook is provided to students and families to clarify grading at Roseville’s middle schools.

Crediting, Promotion and Admission to Secondary/Post-Secondary

There is no translation to grades or a traditional transcript for elementary or middle school students. 

Learn more about Learner-Centered Collaborative's approach to partnerships here