[MEA] Maine Through Year and Maine Science Assessments Updates

[Averill, Krista]

Good afternoon,

Please see the attached slides for updates on the Maine Through Year Assessment and Maine Science Assessments shared during today's Assessment Team Office Hours. (If you would like to attend future office hours, please register using this link<https://networkmaine.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMlde2upj8pE9KIRpEuP2n2vmlZXDmWQ0JU#/registration>.)

In addition, today a question arose regarding the information contained on slide 14 (attached). Please see the complete response below:

Can you provide clarification regarding the guidance on slide 14? Would there be impacts to validity of scores if students are reading passages solely for the purpose of locating the answer?

A large set of questions is created by NWEA for each set of paired passages, with some questions in the set applying only to the first passage, some applying only to the second passage, and some applying to both passages.

During our review of the Spring 2024 computer-adaptive forms, the Maine DOE Assessment Team identified occasions in which the questions selected by the computer-adaptive engine from the set were all about only one of the two passages.

The guidance on slide 19 is intended to prevent students from reading a passage about which there are no questions on the assessment. It is not intended as a test-taking strategy, for example suggesting that students skim the passage only to seek the answer to the question rather than reading thoroughly for comprehension.

Within the question, the passage it refers to is identified by its title.

Because this issue was identified by Maine DOE (rather than by the assessment vendor) and is consistent with the constraint-based engine that selects all questions, a "fix" before the opening of the spring administration window is not possible. Post-administration, Maine DOE has requested statistics around what percentage of paired passages were presented with questions pertaining to only one passage. Paired passages only appear on the spring administrations of the Through Year Assessment.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Krista
________________________________________
Krista Averill (she/her/hers)
Assessment Coordinator
Office of Federal Programs
Maine Department of Education
23 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0023
Email: krista.averill at maine.gov<mailto:krista.averill at maine.gov>
Phone: 207-215-6528
Maine DOE<http://www.maine.gov/doe> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/MaineDepartmentofEducation1/> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/mdoenews> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/mainedepted/?hl=en> | Maine DOE Newsroom<https://mainedoenews.net/>
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