Equity: The Dance Between Practice, Policy, and Politics CCSSO - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Equity: The Dance Between Practice, Policy, and Politics

CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment June 2019

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Panel Participants

Laura Pinsonneault Wisconsin Department of Education

laura.pinsonneault@dpi.wi.gov

Andy Middlestead Michigan Department of Education

middlesteada@michigan.gov

Shelley Loving-Ryder Virginia Department of Education

shelley.loving-ryder@doe.virginia.gov

Chad Buckendahl ACS Ventures, LLC

cbuckendahl@acsventures.com

Pat Roschewski Data Recognition Corporation (DRC)

proschewski@datarecognitioncorp.com

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Providing equity for all educators and students means State Directors spend much time influencing, implementing, and delivering the educational policies required in their states. Therefore, Directors of Assessment and Accountability engage in the “Dance” between Practice, Policy, and Politics.

Among the many dance steps are the following:

• Rethinking the work of educators
• Clearly establishing the purposes of assessment and accountability
• Creating conditions for educator and student success
• Providing proven strategies for educator and student improvement
• Protecting educators from being distracted by other (or too many) Rethinking

the work of educators

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Equity: The Dance Between Practice, Policy, and Politics

CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment June 2019 Andy Middlestead Michigan Department of Education middlesteada@michigan.gov

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A Michigan Perspective …

The “dance” between policy, practice, and politics … Three constants in the life of an assessment and accountability director … 1) CHANGE 2) “Expert” policy makers 3) CHANGE

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A Michigan Perspective …

How can you, or how has Michigan, promoted the work and importance of its educators amongst these things?  Involvement in the item and test development process from beginning to end!

 Item writing  Item reviews  Data reviews  Standard setting  Rangefinding  Focus groups about reporting

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A Michigan Perspective … With the constant of change, and politics, how has our team shared information purposely to protect our educators from distractions or too many initiatives?  Clear, concise, regular communication!  Be aware of who your audience is! (it’s usually not an assessment expert like yourself)

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OEAA strives to keep

YOU informed!

 Published every Thursday  Contains important updates, training info, deadlines, etc.  Delivered to email addresses and posted to M-STEP webpage

Stay Informed

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• Began with conversations related

to the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015)

• Requested by parents and other

education stakeholders

• Initiated by State Board of

Education policy (2017)

• Has been architected, designed,

tested, and is now implemented

www.MISchoolData.org/ParentDashboard

Michigan Parent Dashboard for School Transparency

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• Provides one easy location where parents

and caregivers can view building-level data they say are important to them

• Offers a more balanced picture of school

quality, since it contains information about more than just test scores

• Shows the performance of every public

school in Michigan, including public school academies

An Easy-to-Use Parent Dashboard

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• Quickly find a school, learn about it, view its

performance, and drill in for more detail

• Compare a school’s performance over 3 years

to peer schools and the state of Michigan

• Find answers to common questions within each

page, or through Help or Contact pages

• Easily share and print information from any page
• Learn more about overall state of Michigan

performance on similar indicators

Dashboard Features

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Equity: The Dance Between Practice, Policy, and Politics

CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment June 2019 Laura Pinsonneault Wisconsin Department of Education laura.pinsonneault@dpi.wi.gov

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Wisconsin’s Equity Dance

Promoting Equity

• Equity is the stated mission of the Department of Public

Instruction.

• The State Superintendent established an Equity Council.
• We are telling the story of achievement gaps in our state.

We are talking about racial achievement gaps.

• We actively check our accountability work in regards to its

role in informing equity work in schools and districts.

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Wisconsin’s Equity Dance

Conditions and Strategies to Support Equity

• We are aligning efforts to focus on equity:

– Continuous improvement through an equity lens; – Equitable, multi-level systems of support; and – IDEA and ESSA identifications and supports focused

• n equity.
• We designed ESSA reports with school leaders in mind.
• We held coordinated (with staff from across the agency)

technical assistance calls when ESSA and IDEA reports were released.

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There have been complications … but it’s okay!

Questions of Authority

• State Superintendent running for Governor
• Complicated relationships

Separate State and Federal Accountability

• Decision to have separate systems involved many stakeholders, including

policymakers and politicians

• Required clarity of specific purpose for each accountability system

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Virginia Is for Learners

The Future of Education in Virginia

CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment June 2019 Shelley Loving-Ryder Virginia Department of Education shelley.loving-ryder@doe.virginia.gov

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What Is Virginia Is For Learners?

• Virginia Is for Learners is Virginia’s commitment to make

sure every public school student is ready to thrive after graduation—to be “life ready.”

• Virginia is transforming its educational approach to combine

a strong knowledge of facts and figures with the real world skills it takes to apply those skills successfully in a modern economy.

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A Successful Graduate Will …

• Achieve and apply academic

and technical knowledge;

• Demonstrate workplace skills,

qualities, and behaviors;

• Build connections and value

interactions with others as a responsible and responsive citizen; and

• Align knowledge, skills, and personal

interests with career opportunities.

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What Will Careers in the Future Require?

• Today’s students need to be prepared for the careers of the
• future. Those careers will be characterized by change.

Workers will need to be: – adaptable and agile as they are asked to respond quickly to unanticipated changes – lifelong learners as jobs continually evolve to meet changing demands or to incorporate new innovations

• Adapted from the National Assessment Governing Board’s

report on postsecondary preparedness found at https://www.nagb.gov/focus-areas/postsecondary- preparedness.html

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Preparing Students for the Future

• Focus on using and applying

knowledge and skills

• Accessing information; evaluating

sources

• Need for ongoing learning to live

in an ever-changing world— lifelong learning

• Embracing change—providing

strategies for positive impact

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Local Balanced Assessment Plans

School districts create local “balanced assessment plans” that include performance assessments. Required for the following content areas in which state assessments were replaced with “local alternative assessments” by legislation.

• Grade 3 Science
• Grade 3 History
• Grade 5 Writing
• United States History to 1865
• United States History: 1865 to the Present

Intent is to support application of knowledge and skills

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Purpose of Balanced Assessment Plans

• Support student success by providing opportunities to apply

knowledge and skills

• Support assessment FOR learning—encourage teachers to

see themselves as “assessors”

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Virginia Is for Learners …

Ensuring that instruction and assessment practices prepare Virginia students for the future

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Equity: The Dance Between Practice, Policy, and Politics

CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment June 2019 Chad Buckendahl ACS Ventures, LLC cbuckendahl@acsventures.com

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So You Think You Can Dance?

• Prioritizing competing interests and stakeholders
• Cross-disciplinary thinking
• Validation framework that considers operational, policy, and

innovation needs

• Transferable skills and change management

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Questions and Answers