Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment Pilot

1. Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment Pilot Panel Discussion: Board of Early Education and Care Meeting February 14, 2012

2. RTTT-ELC focuses on five key areas of reform: • Establishing Successful State Systems by building on the State’s existing strengths, ambitiously moving forward the state’s early learning and development agenda, and carefully coordinating programs across agencies to ensure consistency and sustainability beyond the grant; • Defining High-Quality, Accountable Programs by creating a common tiered quality rating and improvement system that is used across the state to evaluate and improve program performance and to inform families about program quality; • Promoting Early Learning and Development Outcomes for Children to develop common standards within the state and assessments that measure child outcomes, address behavioral and health needs, as well as inform, engage and support families; • Supporting A Great Early Childhood Education Workforceby providing professional development, career advancement opportunities, appropriate compensation, and a common set of standards for workforce knowledge and competencies;and • Measuring Outcomes and Progress so that data can be used to inform early learning instruction and services and to assess whether children are entering kindergarten ready to succeed in elementary school.

3. Closing the Achievement Gap: Accountability for Quality and Outcomes Teacher Quality Program Quality(QRIS) Community and Family Context Child Outcomes (formative and summative assessment)

4. The Commonwealth’s Bold Vision: Core Elements of the Early Childhood Information System • Family Engagement • Parental Consent • Core Child Level Data • Self- Assessment Data • Child Development Screening and Assessment Data • Collected through ASQ, EVT, PVT, Social and Emotional Test, Woodcock-Johnson • Interagency Data Sharing • Interagency Service Agreements (ISAs) • Key risk and protective factors • Strength and Risk Analyses • Pull and match child-level data from above data sources • Report out on child-level critical strength and risk factors • Communication • General communication to all families on general child development advice and guidance and information on community events and resources • Targeted communication to families with children having 3 or more risk factors on other state agency resources and community supports to alleviate risks

5. EEC Comprehensive Assessment Strategy Access to growth and developmental screenings and assessments for all children Norm Referenced Summative Assessment Program Environment Screening Assessments Adult/Child Interactions Estimated 450,000 children: in communities, EEC programs, and schools – including Child Find, CFCE programs

6. Screening and Assessment Types Massachusetts Early Learning and Development (MELD) assessment system • MELD is a system of screening and assessment for children from birth to third grade, including the Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment (MKEA), that aligns seamlessly with the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Screening: • Ages and Stage Questionnaire (ASQ), and Social-Emotional version (ASQ-SE) Formative Assessment: • Work Sampling System, • Teaching Strategies-GOLD • High Scope COR Diagnostic Inventories • Battelle Developmental Inventory – 2 (EI) Kindergarten Entry Assessment • The state will implement the Massachusetts Kindergarten Entry Assessment (MKEA) to produce a common statewide measure of children’s school readiness. • The state will train kindergarten teachers on the use of formative assessment as a measure of school readiness and the effective use of data to inform instruction and curriculum planning through state Readiness Centers. • The state will also conduct psychometric testing, such as item analysis, of approved assessment tools to develop a common statewide kindergarten readiness metric. Norm Referenced • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) • Woodcock-Johnson, and the Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT) • Two fine motor tests and one gross motor test to be developed QRIS • Child observation • Assessments of environmental quality • Teacher-child interactions • Formative assessments of children's learning progress

7. Community Based Informal Screening: Help Me Grow Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) Ages and Stages Questionnaire Third Edition (ASQ-3) Ages and Stages Questionnaire Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE) • Resources will be provided to 107 Coordinated Family and Community Engagement grantees, licensed and licensed exempt early education and care programs, and public schools to participate in assessment. • Help Me Grow supports parents as their child’s first teacher, through four (4) components: • Child Growth and Development Education • Resources for Pediatricians • Statewide Telephonic Access • System Data Collection • The Child Growth and Development Education component provides universal child growth and development education opportunity using evidence-based screening tools (ASQ & ASQ:SE). • Using parental consent, data can be used to measure growth overtime and linked to the child’s longitudinal record, with the option to opt-out and continue services 7

8. Benefits of ASQ • Ongoing monitoring of development: ASQ uses 21age-specific ASQ questionnaires to watch for and catch developmental delays in 5 domains; communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal-social. And there are 8 age-specific questionnaires to watch for social-emotional delays that may not be detected in a single screening. • Easy to use: ASQ is well-regarded as parent friendly and easy to use; the questionnaires are color-coded by age, written at a 4th–6th-grade reading level, and accompanied bysimple illustrations to enhance understanding • Makes the most of parents' expert knowledge: ASQ calls for the involvement of parents as partners in their child's development, assessment, and intervention • Saves time & money: The ASQ questionnaires take 10–15 minutes for parents to complete and 2–3 minutes to score. ASQ is a one-time purchase, the materials in the user's guides can be reproduced as many times as needed • Resource for families and early educators: Using the ASQ tool(s), families and educators can use their observation of children to set goalsfor individual instruction

9. MKEA Participating Districts

10. Goals Of Pilot Project • Identify Districts’ project Teams; • Develop of Memoranda of Understanding; • Identify the assessment tool that will be used; • Identify and define Teams the unique needs to customize the supports needed over the course of this project ; • Resources Available: • Substitutes • Purchase of the selected formative assessment tools and cost for online participation • Professional Development for Kindergarten and Preschool teachers • Use of tool • Use of Data • Identifying the level and type of professional development support needed regarding the utilization of the development tool and the data; • Develop your timelines and project goals for implementation September 2012.

11. Overview of the Assessment Tools

12. Issues Raised by Participants Technology: • Opportunity to view/train online components of each tool before making decision: • Potential need to purchase computers/laptops for teachers to do online reporting Funding: • Will online license be “attached” to number of children; this may affect cost in large classes • Is there a budget limit? • Can funding be used to purchase computers, cameras or other electronic devises? • Is this effort funded for the whole four years or is it a point in time project? Professional Development: • Consider importance of time and training needed for this project to be effective • Consider implications of MKEA on Teacher Evaluations  • Consider Smart Goals for teachers   • Clarify that programs will not be asked to switch tool later   Timelines: • Allow flexibility with proposed timelines/plans • Do all teachers need to be involved by September or can we stagger implementation? • Timeline is a concern. Some Kindergarten classrooms have up to 30 plus students. They already do math/reading assessments and screening. Programmatic: • Does this include preK – K substantially separate classrooms? • How does this work with required assessments used for Special Education? • Need to help districts determine which assessment tool best fits into their practice • It’s harder to do Work Sampling in the public schools. Are there ways to better incorporate it?  • How can assessments be blended so they are not just adding another tool for teachers to use

13. Timelines March 2, 2012 • Identify Professional Development Needs • Create a plan for Professional Development and submit for review • Identify need for resources including substitutes for implementation and make a request to EEC March 15, 2012 • Hold a webinar for teachers on the three tools before March 15th • Choose Assessment • Conduct District Wide Kick-Off meeting for Project with PreK-Grade 3 staff April 15, 2012 • Professional Development Plans approved May 1, 2012 • Identify Locations to use assessment June 30,2012 • All teachers have access to the tool • Teacher, classrooms and specific schools have been identified for implementation • Information is reported to EEC

14. MKEA Investments • Early Learning Challenge Funds • “Measuring Growth through the Massachusetts Early Learning and Development Assessment System (Birth to Grade Three)” • $4.5M total over four years • $1.9M for assessment kits and license • $820K of this for substitute teachers • “Measuring Growth by Developing a Common Metric for Kindergarten Entry Assessment” • $575K/two years (January-December 2013) • $325K Year One • $250K Year Two • State Funds – $200K to support MKEA in FY12 Supplemental Budget

15. Panelist Discussion • Overview of your school/district • School plans for participation in the MKEA • Perspectives on the opportunity to participate • Any fears/concerns about participating

16. Appendix

17. Issues Raised by Participants Technology: • Opportunity to view/train online components of each tool before making decision: • The 3 tools are available on-line for a 30 day free trial. • Potential need to purchase computers/laptops for teachers to do online reporting • Computers cannot be purchased as part of this project; however software can be purchased if a computer within the school requires an upgrade to access the web-based tool. Funding: • Will online license be “attached” to number of children; considering classrooms have had increase in children they have enrolled, this may affect cost of license purchase • EEC will fund all tools and licenses required to complete the assessment on children, even if the classroom size increases year-to-year. • Is there a budget limit? • Yes, there is a budget limit. This will be determined after school districts submit their professional development plans and EEC evaluates the overall costs. At this time, EEC requests that schools districts submit budgets based on what they project that they will need for professional development costs. • Can funding be used to purchase computers, cameras or other electronic devises? • Computers cannot be purchased as part of this project; however software can be purchased if a computer within the school requires an upgrade to access the web-based tool. • Is this effort funded for the whole four years or is it a point in time project? • Yes

18. Issues Raised by Participants Professional Development: • Consider importance of time and training needed for this project to be effective • EEC recognizes that importance of professional development and estimates that initially 4 days of training will be required and then on-going training needed to support this effort. • Consider implications of MKEA on Teacher Evaluations • At this time, EEC considers this project separate from the teacher evaluation process. • Consider Smart Goals for teachers • EEC will contact ESE for guidance and input regarding the development of SMART Goals, however at this time EEC views this project as separate from the teacher evaluation process. • Clarify that programs will not be asked to switch tool later to have all programs use same tool • EEC expects that programs will be able to stay with whichever tool they chose and common metrics is planned to be developed across the 3 tools to gather measurement of success with a Kindergarten Entry Assessment. • Question on P.D. over summer or non public school work hours.  Including payment for staff attending • EEC expects to cover the costs associated professional development for teachers, whether this cost is related to substitutes for classrooms during the school year or providing a stipend during the summer months for teachers who receive training in the tool during the non public school work hours.

19. Issues Raised by Participants Timelines: • Allow flexibility with proposed timelines/plans • Due to measuring the effectiveness of assessing high needs children, EEC expects that implementation of using the assessment tool will be at the beginning of the school year in September 2012. The Kindergarten Entry Assessment is most effective when done three times a year; fall, winter and spring. EEC recognizes the time commitment involved in assessing all children three times a year, therefore we would expect that assessments are completed twice a year(fall and spring) and strongly encourage completing a third assessment in the winter. • In large districts, do all teachers need to be involved by September or can we stagger implementation? • All classrooms need to be involved in the implementation. • Timeline is a concern. Some Kindergarten classrooms have up to 30 plus students. They already do math/reading assessments and screening. Time is an issue. • Assessments should be completed within the first 6 weeks of school so that information is available at the parent/teacher conferences in November. EEC believes that parents and guardians of children are an important component of the children’s learning environment and using the results from an assessment tool will create a dialogue with a parent or guardian that will enhance the classroom experience for both the teacher and child.

20. Issues Raised by Participants Programmatic: • Does this include preK - k subs substantially separate classrooms? • Yes, all children need to be included. • How does this work with required assessments used for Special Education? • The tool can be used to provide supporting documentation for the 3 domains collected in indicator 7, child outcomes. • What guidance can be given to help districts determine what assessments best fit into their practice. Are they currently using the right tools? • This is an individual school district’s choice and EEC recommends that school districts investigate the free 30 day on-line trial of the tools to determine which best meets their practice. • It’s harder to do Work Sampling in the public schools. Are there ways to better incorporate it? • Work sampling is just one of the tools a school can consider and decide to use. The other tools, High Scope COR or Teaching Strategies GOLD, may be better suited to a school districts needs. • How can assessments be blended so that they are not just adding another tool for teachers to use • EEC recommends that the assessment tools are not blended and that teachers consider using the assessment tool identified in the Kindergarten Entry Assessment as the sole source of information about the child.