Half-Length Practice Tests
A half-length practice test for Grades 4-8 is now available in the Test
Portal. Previously,
in fall 2016, half-length practice test for high school end-of-course exams for
English Language Arts were released in the Test Portal. These items give
educators and parents insight into the kinds of questions students will
experience on the spring 2017 Ohio State Tests. Teachers can also use the
half-length practice tests as a tool to inform classroom instruction.
Included in this release are the learning
standards associated with each test item, the scoring rubrics, and item
annotations that show what is required to score at each performance level.
Examples of student responses are also available to illustrate actual work and
the corresponding points earned on the student examples.
HALF-LENGTH PRACTICE TESTS
Click the links below to find the grade
3 and high school practice tests that were released in the Fall.
Partial Release of Items for grade 3 can be found here.
All Call for State Assessment Committees
The Ohio Department of Education is now accepting applications for participants to serve on assessment committees. Ohio’s educators, content specialists, parents, community members, and other stakeholders play a vital role in creating valid and reliable assessments by serving on these committees.
CONTENT ADVISORY COMMITTEES
Content advisory committees review and evaluate test questions and related test materials to ensure that each question is a valid and appropriate measure of the Ohio Learning Standards for that particular content area and grade level. These committees review all test questions to advise the Department on whether each question is aligned with Ohio’s Learning Standards, contains appropriate grade-level content, has the appropriate level of difficulty for the grade level, has correct and accurate content, and is clearly written.
RANGEFINDING COMMITTEES
Every test has an ongoing rangefinding committee that meets after test questions undergo field testing. The committee members review scoring guidelines for test questions that are open-ended and require written responses or questions that use a rubric or set of parameters to score the question. These committees establish the range of acceptable responses, including no credit, partial credit, and complete credit. They use sample student responses to help determine the range. Committee members will meet in late spring on dates that will be announced at a later time.
For more information about each committee’s work and to apply to participate, click here.
These committees meet on an ongoing basis to review new test questions as they are developed. Committee members serve for multiple test development cycles before having to move off the committee to allow others to serve. The number and frequency of meetings depends on the volume of new test item development, but typically these committees meet once or twice annually for two or three days per meeting.
These meetings will be held in Columbus, Ohio.
Please note the following:
- Meeting participants who are more than 45 miles from the meeting location, hotel accommodations will be provided.
- All eligible meeting participants will have the cost of substitute teachers directly reimbursed to school districts.
- All meeting participants will receive reimbursement for mileage within the state of Ohio ($.52 cents per mile).
- Meeting participants will receive a stipend of $75 per day if they will not receive payment from their employers for the dates of the meeting.
- Participants will receive expense forms and reimbursement guidelines at the meeting.
Those who are interested in participating on one of the test stakeholder committees or wish to nominate someone else may complete this application.
Be sure to specify content area and grade level of interest on the application.
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