Wisconsin Assessment Letter dated June 4, 2008
June 4, 2008
The Honorable Elizabeth Burmaster
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
P. O. Box 7841
125 South Webster Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53707
Dear Superintendent Burmaster:
Thank you for submitting Wisconsin’s assessment materials for peer review under the standards and assessment requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). We appreciate the efforts required to prepare for the latest peer review that occurred in April 2008.
Based on the recommendations of the peer reviewers and the evidence you have provided to date, the status of Wisconsin’s standards and assessment system is Approval Expected. This status indicates that the evidence submitted to date suggests that Wisconsin has administered a reading, mathematics and science assessment system in grades 3-8 and high school in 2007-08 that is fully compliant with the applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, but that, due to the nature of assessment development, certain elements of Wisconsin’s system are not yet complete.
Wisconsin must provide the Department with all of the evidence needed to satisfy the remaining requirements, as indicated in the enclosure to this letter, before administering its assessments for the 2008-09 school year. Please note that, because there are elements of Wisconsin’s system that are not yet complete, a condition on Wisconsin’s Title I, Part A grant award will continue until Wisconsin submits the required evidence and receives full approval of its standards and assessment system.
The Department remains committed to working with Wisconsin to help it meet the requirements of NCLB. Toward that end, let me reiterate my earlier offer of technical assistance to you. If you have any additional questions, would like to discuss this further, or want to request technical assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Sue Rigney (Sue.Rigney@ed.gov) or Abigail Potts (Abigail.Potts@ed.gov) of my staff.
Sincerely,
Kerri L. Briggs, Ph.D.
Enclosure
cc: Governor Jim Doyle
Lynette Russell
SUMMARY OF ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE THAT WISCONSIN MUST SUBMIT TO MEET ESEA REQUIREMENTS FOR THE WISCONSIN ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
2.0 – ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS
- Documentation of the final cut scores for the alternate academic achievement standards and formal approval/adoption by the state.
- Documentation showing participation of diverse stakeholders in the final standards-setting activity for the alternate academic achievement standards.
4.0 – TECHNICAL QUALITY
- Evidence related to Section 4.1 of the Peer Review Guidance for the alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards, including documentation of validity as described in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA/APA/NCME, 1999).
- Documentation of the standards-setting process for the alternate academic achievement standards.
- Evidence of the reliability of the alternate assessment.
- Clear criteria for the administration, scoring, analysis and reporting of the alternate assessment.
- A description of the state system for monitoring and improving the alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards over time.
5.0 – ALIGNMENT
- A post-alignment study, including a description of the process the state will use to maintain alignment of the alternate assessment over time.
7.0 – REPORTING
- An actual individual student report for the alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards.
