ASSESSMENT BLUEPRINT: OBSERVATIONS & REQUIREMENTS
- Development of Missouri's revised assessment system is expected to take five years. Over this period, three comprehensive, primarily performance-based, multiple-format tests for grades four, eight, and 10 and in each of the six subject areas (mathematics, communication arts, science, health/physical education, fine arts, and social studies) will be developed, field tested, refined, and implemented statewide.
- The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Assessment Section will coordinate the statewide implementation of the revised assessment system, the development and selection of appropriate assessment tools, and the training of public school teachers in administering and scoring performance assessments.
- The State Board of Education has adopted the following purposes for the Assessment System:
- improving students' acquisition of important knowledge, skills, and competencies
- monitoring the performance of Missouri's educational system
- empowering students and their families to improve their educational prospects
- supporting the teaching and learning process
- A set of questionnaires are to be developed to complement the assessment. The questionnaires will provide demographic information relating to students, teachers, and administrators and will facilitate the interpretation of assessment results and promote instructional improvement.
- The assessment must provide reliable, valid scoring processes, including guides, which incorporate standard-setting approaches and proficiency scales, and which report by individual student, classroom, building, district, and statewide. Valid and reliable proficiency levels (e.g., basic, proficient, and advanced) will be developed at each grade level and in each subject.