Colorado Student Assessment Program

Last updated

The Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) was an assessment required by the No Child Left Behind Act administered by the Unit of Student Assessment in the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). [1] The CSAP was designed to measure how well students are learning material from the Colorado Model Content Standards, the established content standards that all Colorado public school students should learn. The CSAP only tested four (mathematics, reading and writing, and science) of the thirteen subject areas in the Colorado Model Content Standards.

Contents

Administration

Starting in 3rd Grade, and continuing until 10th Grade (Sophomore year of High School), all students were expected to take their grade level's version of the CSAP, testing for which typically occurred during the Spring semester from early February to late March. All grades were tested in Reading, Writing, and Math, and only 5th, 8th, and 10th graders are tested in Science. The 3rd and 4th Grade versions of the CSAP are also available in Spanish to accommodate the high number of Spanish-speaking students in Colorado public schools who concurrently learn English. In 11th Grade (Junior year of High School) students were required to take the COACT (a Colorado specific version of the ACT) in place of the CSAP. The COACT is also administered by the Unit of Student Assessment. [1]

Assessment

CSAP was graded on a scale of four proficiency/performance levels. Level 4 is referred to as "advanced," level 3 as "proficient," level 2 as "partially proficient," and level 1 as "unsatisfactory." The Colorado Department of Education website details their standards for each level on each test, and how each score is determined. [1]

Schools are rated by the averaged CSAP scores of their students. Low-scoring schools are eligible for School Improvement Plan assistance from the Colorado Department of Education. If a school receives an unsatisfactory rating (level 1) for two consecutive years it will be recommended it be turned into a charter school—unless it had an improvement of 0.5 of a point greater from the standard deviation over the immediately preceding year's overall standardized, weighted total score. Schools with three consecutive unsatisfactory ratings will be converted into charter schools. School districts with consistently low-scoring schools can lose their accreditation. [2]

Exceptions

According to C.R.S. 22-7-409, schools are held accountable for the scores of all their students with three exceptions: (1) students transferring into the school after October 1, (2) students whose dominant language is not English for the first three years enrolled in Colorado public schools, (3) for any students taking the Colorado Student Assessment Program Alternate (CSAPA) instead of the CSAP. [3] The CSAPA was a version of the CSAP test for students who met certain eligibility requirements, primarily students with disabilities.

All School Improvement Plans must address the requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act Section 1116(a)(3)(A). [4] Schools needing additional funding can apply for a Federal Title I A School Improvement Grant. The Colorado Department of Education provides a How-To document for this purpose on their website. [5]

Funding implications

The No Child Left Behind Act has several other Federal Programs that Colorado schools can petition for aid if they qualify. In addition to the Title I A grant these programs include: Title I C - Migrant Education, Title I D - help for Neglected and delinquent children, Title II B - math and science partnership grants, Title II D - grants for changing education through technology, Title III - Language instruction for Limited-English Students, Title IV - Safe and Drug Free Schools, Title V A - Innovative Programs, Title V B - Public Charter Schools, and Title VI B - Rural Education Initiative. [6]

However, most Colorado LEAs (Local Educational Associations, e.g. Schools and School Districts) submit a Consolidated Federal Programs Application yearly which covers applications for Title I A, Title II A, Title II D, Title III, Title IV, Title V, and Title VI B programs. [7]

Funds received from these programs are distributed through the CDE to LEAs, and the amounts awarded for each State and Federal grant are published on the CDE website. [8]

Relationship to other assessments

In addition to the CSAP, Colorado is also subject to the same requirements as the rest of the United States in the No Child Left Behind Act. The Colorado Department of Education's plans to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) are published on their website. Results from the CSAP, CSAPA, and graduations rates are used to create AYP calculations for Colorado school districts. The Unit of Student Assessment also administers the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to Colorado public school students. [9]

If a school is receiving a Title I grant and does not meet all the requirements of their AYP for two consecutive years in the same content area the school must create a School Improvement Plan. The school district is also required to provide transportation for students from the school not meeting their AYP to a higher performing school in the same district. [9]

Replacement by TCAP

The Colorado Student Assessment Program ended in year 2011 due to the expiration of its contract. The CSAP testing regiment has been replaced by the Colorado TCAP, or Transitional Colorado Assessment Program. This test had similar areas and format of examination, starting in the 2012 school year.

Some teachers and parents found the required testing to be overly burdensome for students. As guest Denver Post opinion columnist Brian Kurz argued [10] students spend more time taking CSAP then law students do taking the BAR exam. The replacement TCAP met a similar fate as many districts and families have grown weary of over-testing students.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No Child Left Behind Act</span> 2002 United States education reform law; repealed 2015

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was a 2002 U.S. Act of Congress promoted by the presidency of George W. Bush. It reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It mandated standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. To receive federal school funding, states had to create and give assessments to all students at select grade levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elementary and Secondary Education Act</span> 1965 US law

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 11, 1965. Part of Johnson's "War on Poverty", the act has been one of the most far-reaching laws affecting education passed by the United States Congress, and was reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Assessment of Educational Progress</span> Assessment

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects. NAEP is a congressionally mandated project administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the United States Department of Education. The first national administration of NAEP occurred in 1969. The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) is an independent, bipartisan board that sets policy for NAEP and is responsible for developing the framework and test specifications.The National Assessment Governing Board, whose members are appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Education, includes governors, state legislators, local and state school officials, educators, business representatives, and members of the general public. Congress created the 26-member Governing Board in 1988.

The Standards of Learning (SOL) is a public school standardized testing program in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It sets forth learning and achievement expectations for core subjects for grades K-12 in Virginia's Public Schools. The standards represent what many teachers, school administrators, parents, and business and community leaders believe schools should teach and students should learn. The Virginia Department of Education, schools, and school systems routinely receive essential feedback on the effectiveness of implementation and address effective instructional strategies and best practices. The Standards of Learning is supportive of the No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law by then-President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. They address student achievement in four critical areas: (1) English, (2) mathematics, (3) science, and (4) history/social studies. Students are assessed in English and mathematics in grades 3-8 and upon completion of certain high school level courses. Science and history SOL are administered in grades 4, 5, and 8 and at the end of completing high school courses in these respective subjects.

The California State Board of Education is the governing and policy-making body of the California Department of Education. The State Board of Education sets K-12 education policy in the areas of standards, instructional materials, assessment, and accountability. The State Board of Education adopts textbooks for grades K-8, adopts regulations to implement legislation, and has authority to grant waivers of the Education Code. Content standards are designed to encourage the highest achievement of every student, by defining the knowledge, concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each grade level. The State Board of Education has eleven members, including one student member, all appointed by the governor of California. The student member is selected from a group of three students nominated by the board. Those are picked from the delegation of the Student Advisory Board on Education, a conference run by the California Association of Student Councils.

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) was a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allowed the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country was performing academically according to results on standardized tests. As defined by National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), AYP was "the amount of annual achievement growth to be expected by students in a particular school, district, or state in the U.S. federal accountability system, No Child Left Behind (NCLB)." AYP has been identified as one of the sources of controversy surrounding George W. Bush administration's Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Private schools were not required to make AYP.

The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), known until February 2014 as the Measurement of Academic Performance and Progress (MAPP), measures the performance of students undergoing primary and secondary education in California. In October 2013, it replaced the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program.

The Colorado ACT (COACT) is a specific version of the ACT made for Colorado students. It is used instead of the CSAP to test the progress of 11th Grade students in the state.

In an educational setting, standards-based assessment is assessment that relies on the evaluation of student understanding with respect to agreed-upon standards, also known as "outcomes". The standards set the criteria for the successful demonstration of the understanding of a concept or skill.

The English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act - formerly known as the Bilingual Education Act - is a federal grant program described in Title III Part A of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was reauthorized as the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 and again as the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. This section is specifically targeted to benefit Limited English Proficient (LEP) children and immigrant youth. The statute states that LEP students must not only attain English proficiency but simultaneously meet the same academic standards as their English-speaking peers in all content areas. Federal funding is provided to assist State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in meeting these requirements. In 2011, ESEA Title III awards were granted to 56 SEAs and the average award given to an individual SEA was $12,158,046.

The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) is a standardized test administered in public schools in the state of Pennsylvania. Students in grades 3-8 are assessed in English language arts skills and mathematics. Students in grades 4 and 8 are also assessed in skills relating to natural science, including the field of data interpretation and analysis. Since 2013, high school students have taken the Keystone Exam in place of the PSSA for their standardized testing. The PSSA's were made by a company in New Jersey. The PSSA is written, owned and administered by Pearson Education. There are reporting categories for each subject which list eligible content to be tested in each grade. Assessment Anchors specify what is considered eligible content for each grade level tested. A Proficient or Advanced level is needed to be able to qualify as passing the PSSA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literacy in the United States</span>

The most recent comprehensive data on adult literacy in the United States come from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) study conducted in stages from 2012 to 2017 by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). English literacy test results from 2014 suggest that 21% of U.S. adults ages 16 to 65 score at or below PIAAC literacy level 1, meaning they have difficulty "[completing] tasks that require comparing and contrasting information, paraphrasing, or making low-level inferences." Included in that 21% is the 4.2% of respondents who were unable to be assessed due to language barriers, cognitive disability, or physical disability. A 2020 study by the Gallup analysis company funded by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy estimated that getting all U.S. adults to at least PIAAC literacy level 3 proficiency would raise American's incomes by $2.2 trillion.

Education in Virginia addresses the needs of students from pre-kindergarten through adult education. Virginia's educational system consistently ranks in the top ten states on the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress, with Virginia students outperforming the average in almost all subject areas and grade levels tested. The 2010 Quality Counts report ranked Virginia's K–12 education fourth best in the country. All school divisions must adhere to educational standards set forth by the Virginia Department of Education, which maintains an assessment and accreditation regime known as the Standards of Learning to ensure accountability. In 2008, 81% of high school students graduated on-time after four years. The 1984 Virginia Assembly stated that, "Education is the cornerstone upon which Virginia's future rests."

The Lexile Framework for Reading is an educational tool that uses a measure called a Lexile to match readers with reading resources such as books and articles. Readers and texts are assigned a Lexile score, where lower scores reflect easier readability for texts and lower reading ability for readers. Lexile scores are assigned based on individual words and sentence length, rather than qualitative analysis of the content. Thus, Lexile scores do not reflect multiple levels of textual meaning or the maturity of the content. The United States Common Core State Standards recommend the use of alternative, qualitative methods to select books for grade 6 and above. In the U.S., Lexile measures are reported annually from reading programs and assessments. According to LightSail Education, about half of U.S. students in grades 3-12 receive a Lexile measure each year. The Georgia Department of Education provides resources for using Lexile measures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centennial High School (Compton, California)</span> Public high school in Compton, California

Centennial High School is a public high school in Compton, California, operating as part of the Compton Unified School District.

The education system in Mississippi consists of elementary, middle, and high schools as well as boarding schools, public and private schools, and colleges and universities.

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a consortium that includes the Department of Defense Educational Activity and the Bureau of Indian Education. Consortium members work to create and deploy a standard set of K–12 assessments in Mathematics and English, based on the Common Core State Standards.

The racial achievement gap in the United States refers to disparities in educational achievement between differing ethnic/racial groups. It manifests itself in a variety of ways: African-American and Hispanic students are more likely to earn lower grades, score lower on standardized tests, drop out of high school, and they are less likely to enter and complete college than whites, while whites score lower than Asian Americans.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Welcome to the Unit of Student Assessment". September 10, 2007. Archived from the original on August 4, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ Colorado State Board of Education: Department of Education (December 9, 2004). "1 Colorado Code of Regulations 301-52" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 29, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2016.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ↑ Unit of Student Assessment (September 7, 2007). "Colorado Law Pertaining to State Assessments". Archived from the original on April 5, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  4. ↑ Colorado Department of Education. "No Child Left Behind - School Improvement". Archived from the original on February 29, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  5. ↑ Colorado Department of Education: Office of Special Services (September 12, 2005). "Title I School Improvement Grant: A Simple Explanation and How-To" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2006. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  6. ↑ Colorado Department of Education. "NCLB Federal Programs". Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  7. ↑ Colorado Department of Education. "Consolidated Federal Programs Application" . Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  8. ↑ Colorado Department of Education (September 25, 2007). "State & Federal rants Allocations" . Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Colorado Department of Education (2005). "Adequate Yearly Progress". Archived from the original on June 19, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  10. ↑ "When in doubt, just pick "C"". March 11, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.