Update on PSAT requirement for Fall 2014

UPDATE:  Following is helpful information in planning assessment timelines for 2014.2015

Last fall, Ohio schools were informed that they would be required to give PSAT assessments to high school sophomores beginning in October 2014. The Ohio Department of Education will not require that the PSAT be given in October 2014.

Currently House Bill 193 is pending in the Ohio legislature. This legislation may affect Ohio graduation and testing requirements. As a result, the department has chosen to postpone the PSAT to avoid any potential graduation or testing conflicts. When we have a clear picture of what graduation and testing requirements will be, we will share that with you.

We realize that this is a significant change for districts and appreciate your continued patience as we work through a changing system. Our goal is to ensure that we develop an assessment program that gives us a full and accurate picture of our students’ knowledge and skills, while avoiding unnecessary or duplicate testing.

2014-2015 Testing Schedule Released

Here is what we have been waiting for:   Testing dates for 2014-2015.  Now, if we only knew for sure what we would be taking:)

2014-2015 Testing Dates

The 2014-2015 testing dates are below. The Next Generation Assessments are in the spring. The Ohio Graduation Tests are in the fall and the spring, with an optional administration in the summer. The Ohio Achievement Assessment grade 3, reading only, is in the fall and spring. The Next Generation Assessments replace grade 3 math and grades 4-8 Ohio Achievement Assessments. The Ohio Test of English Language Acquisition and the Alternate Assessment for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities are in the spring.

Next Generation Assessments

MATH AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS FOR GRADES 3-8 AND HIGH SCHOOL

• Performance–Based Assessment: Feb. 16 through March 20, 2015
• End of Course Exam: April 13 through May 15, 2015

*Districts will only have 20 consecutive school days for testing within the five-week testing period provided. Districts can decide when, during their 20 consecutive school day window, testing will take place.

SCIENCE (GRADES 5, 8 AND HIGH SCHOOL), SOCIAL STUDIES (GRADES 4, 6 AND HIGH SCHOOL)

• Performance–Based Assessment: March 2 through March 13, 2015
• End of Course Exam: May 4 through May 15, 2015

Ohio Graduation Tests (OGT)

• Fall Administration: Monday, Oct. 27 through Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014
  (Data file ready for download on Dec. 15, 2014; reports due Jan. 8, 2015)

• Spring Administration: Monday, March 16 through Sunday, March 29, 2015
  (Data file ready for download on May, 18, 2015; reports due May 28, 2015)

• Summer Administration (Optional): Monday, June 15 through Sunday, June 28, 2015
  (Data file ready for download on Aug. 3, 2015; reports due Aug. 25, 2015)

*Current law requires students to take the OGT for an Ohio high school diploma.

Ohio Achievement Assessments (OAA)

• Fall Administration: Grade 3 Reading – Monday, Oct. 6 through Friday, Oct. 10, 2014
  (Data file ready for download on Nov. 21, 2014; reports due Dec. 5, 2014)

• Spring Administration: Grade 3 Reading – Monday, April 20 through Friday, May 1, 2015
  (Data file ready for download on June 15, 2015; reports due July 1, 2015)

Ohio Test of English Language Acquisition (OTELA)

• Spring Administration: Monday, Jan. 12 through Friday, March 6, 2015
  (Data file ready for download on May 6, 2015; reports due May 14, 2015)

​Alternate Assessment for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (AASCD)

• Spring Administration: Monday, Feb. 23 through Friday, April 17, 2015
  (Printed family report and label reports due May 29, 2015)

3rd Grade Reading Guarantee Presentation

Mechanicsburg was fortunate enough to have an audience with the State Board of Education on February 10, 2014.  The district shared best practices in reading instruction and intervention.  The state board was complimentary of the work that we do in Mechanicsburg on the behalf of our students.  We are proud of our successes but more pleased with the attitude the "good is never good enough".  Check out our presentation below.  

Mechanicsburg Presentation to the State Board of Education

The age old cursive debate!

Do you teach cursive writing?  Do you expose students to cursive but save critical instruction time for the core content areas?  Is cursive still a priority when you consider instruction in your district?

The Office of Curriculum and Assessment is preparing for the next State Board meeting in February, and they need your assistance. Below is a screenshot of the cursive writing statement that has been placed in the grades three and four Model Curriculum; please review the statement and the resources and provide feedback via the link by responding to the stance ODE has taken on cursive writing. Please feel free to share this poll with teachers and curriculum directors as appropriate. If responses could be sent no later than Friday, February 7^th, that would be a huge help.  Thank you for your support regardless of where you fall on this subject matter!

Please review the statement and the resources and provide feedback via the link by responding to the stance ODE has taken on cursive writing. Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T7XNTQM

Calamity Day Update

Dear Mechanicsburg Staff, Students, and Community Members:

As you know, the district has currently used a total of eight calamity days.  

The state of Ohio allows all districts to close for up to five calamity days per school year, which do not have to be made up. If school is closed for more than five days, the state requires those days to be made up in some way.

According to the Mechanicsburg Exempted Village School District calendar, we have 3 calamity days built into the board approved calendar.  Those dates are March 21st, 24th, and 25th. We will be in session on the 21st, and 24th as of today, January 29th.  

Additionally, in order to increase instructional time with students we are canceling the teacher professional development day scheduled for February 14th, 2014. This day will become a “regular” student in session school day.  Adding this day of school will give us a full week of instruction with students (hopefully) and one additional built in make up day (3/25) before the end of the school year, as it seems we are in for what they say is a very “snowy” February.  The teacher professional development day will be placed at the end of the school year, as the state has approved us for 3 waiver days and those are considered to be part of the total number of student days required.  Additional adjustments in the calendar may be necessary as we move through this “exceptional” winter season.  

With the potential for 4 make up days ( 2/14, 3/21, 3/24, 3/25) during the school calendar, the district is not currently seeking emergency “blizzard bag” approval from the department of education.  If this position changes, we will provide each family with log in information or hard copies of work to be completed at home during a calamity day.  

In addition, it is being reported  that Governor Kasich has asked law-makers to consider adding additional calamity days for each district.  Therefore, it is important to understand that our plan to make up school days will continue to unfold as we hear more from state legislatures.  We will keep you posted as we are provided more information, which may be available as early as week’s end.

Please refer to the district website, https://twitter.com/DanielleMProhas, and one call announcements for more information.  

Sincerely,

Dan Kaffenbarger

Danielle Prohaska

Updates to Student Growth Measures

Many of us are half way through our 1st year using student growth measures.  As you take time to reflect on practices and refine your processes and thinking around SGMs, please see the information below.  

The ODE recently posted documents to assist and guide districts in decision making around student growth measures.  As always, would love to discuss this further with anyone that is interested!
  
Guiding Questions to Inform District Conversations with Approved Vendors provides a list of questions for administrators to consider when making decisions about purchasing approved vendor assessments that can be used to determine growth scores. This document was written to guide and support administrators in evaluating the alignment of the assessment to district and school goals. This document is located athttp://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Teaching/Educator-Evaluation-System/Ohio-s-Teacher-Evaluation-System/Student-Growth-Measures/Approved-List-of-Assessments/12-6-13_Guiding-Questions-to-Inform-District-Conversations-with-Approved-Vendors.pdf.aspx

Districts can find recommendations surrounding the use of shared attribution here:http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Teaching/Educator-Evaluation-System/Ohio-s-Teacher-Evaluation-System/Student-Growth-Measures/Shared-Attribution

Assessment Literacy FAQs (updated 1/16/14) are available at this link:
http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Teaching/Educator-Evaluation-System/How-to-Design-and-Select-Quality-Assessments/Assessment-Literacy-FAQs-updated-1-16-2014

A sample district level SLO for vocabulary acquisition in all curricular areas has been posted here:
http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Teaching/Educator-Evaluation-System/Ohio-s-Teacher-Evaluation-System/Student-Growth-Measures/Student-Learning-Objective-Examples/Sample-Student-Learning-Objectives/Student-Learning-Objectives-District-Level-Example/District-Level-Vocabulary-Acquisition-SLO.pdf.aspx

An Unlikely Journey Part 2

I found my way to the school setting as a speech language pathologist.  After losing many patients in acute and long term care facilities, I decided that I needed more reward in my profession.  I thank Judy Saylor for my first opportunity as a speech pathologist for Madison Champaign ESC.  

I entered my new position in August of 2001 and found out quickly that both districts were desperately seeking programs that provided structure and support for services rather than isolated treatment for struggling students.  I was one therapist in 2 districts with 80+ students on caseload.  I had no professional peers to plan with during the day.  No experience writing Individualized IEPs in such a large volume.  With few resources and no school experience, I should have failed.  But as you know, I obviously didn't cave under the pressure.  But why?  I can reflect back now and pinpoint a few things:

1. Listening - I listened to every teacher, administrator, and parent who had concerns or needs that my program could address.
2. Perspective - rather than looking at each classroom individually, I stepped back and looked at the overall system.  How could I build a system of support that would benefit the whole rather than just a few grades.  
3. Collaboration - I worked with any educator that would take me, pushing into various classrooms to see how I could support classroom learning and generalize strategies to support students all day long.
4. Questioning - I was not afraid to ask questions, seek clarification, call others, and ask for honest feedback.  I did not pretend to know it all but I was committed to learning all I could to be a valuable resource for teachers, students, and families.