Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/116561
IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK IN DEPTH LOOK Arizona's PARCC Assessment Plan The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a consortium of states working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math anchored in what it takes to be ready for college and careers. These new K-12 assessments will build a pathway to college and career readiness by the end of high school, mark students' progress toward this goal from 3rd grade up, and provide teachers with timely information to inform instruction and provide student support. The PARCC assessments will be ready for Arizona to administer during the 2014-2015 school year. AIMS/PARCC Transition Information In an effort to foster the successful transition to Arizona's Common Core Standards and the PARCC assessment, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) is providing the following information regarding the Spring 2013 and 2014 AIMS assessments and the changes that are necessary to effectively transition to the PARCC assessment. Changes to the Spring 2013 and 2014 AIMS Assessments Although the AIMS assessment will remain the same concerning the blueprints and format, the passages and items will have several changes as outlined below. The focus of the AIMS test will be to move closer to the expectations of the PARCC assessment. The PARCC Vision Arizona and other PARCC states have committed to building a K-12 assessment system that: •Builds a pathway to college and career readiness for all students, •Created high-quality assessments that measure the full range of the Common Core State Standards, •Supports educators in the classroom, •Makes better use of technology in assessments, and •Advances accountability at all levels. Summer.13advo.indd 14 Passages • In order to prepare for the expected rigor of the PARCC passages, the AIMS passages will contain an increase in text complexity as well as higher Lexile levels. The language used will have sophisticated text, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Items • Many of the AIMS items are written at the Concept level, allowing for multiple Performance Objectives within a Concept to be addressed in a single item. • The item's complexity will be raised through selecting items at the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels of 2 and 3. Please see Webb's Depth of Knowledge Levels (Table 1) and Hess' Cognitive Rigor Matrix (Table 2) at the end of this document. • To further support the transition from the AIMS assessment to the PARCC assessment, the test items 14 Summer 2013 x AEA Advocate 3/18/13 12:03 PM