Timeline

Three-Year Project Schedule

The Project Schedule was developed in 2011 and was intended to be flexible enough to make necessary adjustments throughout the three years of the grant period.  Some of those adjustments have included:

• revision of the Review Process
• Florida Department of Education's delay in providing the Item Bank Platform
• revision of the dates for Item Try-outs and Field Testing

Review Process

The Project found that the first-year Review Process was beneficial to the Writers and Reviewers because there were on-going opportunities to collaborate on the revision of items.  However, this circular process delayed the development of items.  During the second-year, the Project incorporated a more linear Review Process.  This process began when the Item Writer submitted an item.  The item was assigned to a Content Reviewer 1, where the item was accepted, accepted with revisions or rejected.  The accepted item was advanced to a Content Reviewer 2, where the item was accepted, accepted with revisions or rejected.  The accepted item was advanced to the Leadershp Team, where the item was accepted, accepted with revisions or rejected.  Once the item completed the Review Process, it was advanced for review by the Florida Department of Education.

Item Bank Platform

Although an Item Bank Platform was expected in the Fall 2011, the Florida Department of Education provided the platform (Pearson - Equella) in the Fall 2012, with full implementation in 2013.  This Project used the American Institutes for Research Item Bank Platform, which was provided at no cost to the Project.

The Project placed the Reviewers' accepted items into the FDOE/Pearson Equella Item Bank Platform by hand, one-by-one, which provided another review level for the Project.  After the Leadership Team accepted an item, it was reviewed once more before being moved into the FDOE/Pearson Equella platform.

Item Try-outs and Field Testing

The original schedule planned for testing to begin in the Spring of 2013.  The FDOE delayed Item Try-outs until November 2013, due to implementation of the FDOE/Pearson Item Delivery Platform (SchoolNet).  The following information was provided to the the three Item Try-out School Districts: Osceola, Pinellas and Polk.

Item Try-out Information to School Districts

Florida Department of Education’s Hard-to-Measure Content Projects Item Try-outs will be held Monday, November 4, 2013 through Friday, November 22, 2013. 

PURPOSE
Item Try-outs are planned to assure clarity of the instructions for administering and taking the test as well as for intended time allowances.  The purpose for the Item Try-outs is fourfold:

1. to determine whether the students can handle the computer delivery of this unique assessment;
2. to determine whether students respond appropriately to the various item types:  Selected Response (multiple choice), Short Answer, Extended Response (Essay) and Performance Tasks;
3. to determine whether the scorers understand and can use the scoring rubric for Short Answer, Extended Response (Essay) and Performance Tasks; and
4. to determine whether the administration instructions are clear and provide adequate information to administer each item type.

The Try-outs are considered a “dress rehearsal” for the Field Test.
 

DATES and TIME FOR ASSESSMENT

The Florida Department of Education’s Hard-to-Measure Content Projects Item Try-outs will be held during
Monday, November 4, 2013 through Friday, November 22, 2013.
 
Tests for item Try-outs will be short enough to be administered in a standard class period – no longer than
20 minutes in elementary and 40 minutes in secondary, with 10 minutes for instructions. 
 
Performance Tasks are to be captured for individual students at a time convenient for the teacher and student.
 

SECURE SYSTEMS TESTER MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Provide a computer lab or some other method by which students may participate in this computer-based assessment experience.

	WINDOWS	MAC
Processor / Computer	1.0 GHz or faster processor	Intel Core Duo 1.83 GHz or faster processor
Operating System	Microsoft Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista or Windows 7	Apple Mac OS X 10.4.8 or above
Memory	512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)	256 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
Available Disk Space	80 MB	80 MB
Display	XGA (1024 x 768 pixel) resolution	XGA (1024 x 768 pixel) resolution
Software	Microsoft.net Framework 2.0
Sound equipment	Headphone set for each student	Headphone set for each student
Playback	Sampling rate – 48K;  Bit rate – 24 bit	Sampling rate – 48K;  Bit rate – 24 bit
Recording of Performance Tasks	Digital recorder (whatever is available at the school)	Digital recorder

 

FDOE DEADLINE

Thursday, September 12, 2013 – return the attached DOE’s HtM Item Try-Outs Users document to Project Manager Mary Grace Gordon via e-mail at Performing.Arts.Assessment@tampabay.rr.com, with the following information:
County/School

• Role (Test site administrator, IT Resource Contact, and Teachers)
• Name – First, Last
• E-mail address
• Course # and Course Name
• Number of Classes
• Number of Students
• Attach completed FDOE Security Agreement – scanned and attached for school personnel listed above
• Attach completed Pearson Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) – scanned and attached for school personnel listed above

 

TRAINING provided by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) for review at school personnel’s convenience

• LEA/School IT Resource training – October 11-17, 2013
• Classroom Enrollment Tool (CET) training – October 16, 2013
• Test Coordinator/Administrator training – October 21 -23, 2013 (approximately one hour, participate on one day)
• Teacher training – October 23-30, 2013 (approximately one hour, participate on one day, two trainings offered after hours; on-demand recorded training)
• Student training – October 28 – November 1, 2013 (recorded module, teacher guided)

The item try-outs will determine the HtM projects’ next steps.  As you are aware, four years ago, Florida was awarded $700 million in Race to the Top funds by the United States Department of Education.  Half of the total award was provided to participating public school districts while the remainder was divided among several projects managed by the Florida Department of Education.  The seven District-Developed Assessments for Hard-to-Measure Content (HtM) projects represent one of over 60 state-level projects.  As part of the responsibilities listed in this last year of this federal award, Florida is testing its item bank and test platform, as well as the assessment items developed by teachers participating with the various HtM projects.  We are conducting item try-outs this fall and field testing in the spring in preparation for these course-specific assessment items being made available, through the IBTP (Item Bank Test Platform), during the 2014-15 school year. 
 
The Project will provide assistance with the following:

• Performance Task Release forms for parental/guardian consent
• Feedback/survey forms for teachers and students
• Scoring procedures

Issues may occur when using the IBTP, such as those listed below.  You may contact the Florida Department of Education for the following issues:

• Misplaced logins
• Unable to login
• System issues
• Recorded training
• Need to reschedule from one live training to another

Send an e-mail to FLDOE-RTTTA@fldoe.org
 
Thank you for assisting us as we prepare for the release of the IBTP and its contents to Florida’s public school districts.

Field Testing

 In March 2014, the Florida Department of Education plans to Field Test the items.

Three-Year Project Schedule prepared in 2011

NOTE: This information was developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U. S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.