[Assessment_Advisory_Committee] Assessment Advisory: Opt-Out Form Feedback

[Don Staples]

If it is not too late ...

The title on in the footer, 2015-16 Notice for Oregon's Summative Tests, is
more accurate than that actual title at the top. If the purpose is to meet
the notification requirement - it should be more plain at the top.

On the side that the parent signs, I encourage a quicker cut to the point
approach by moving the paragraph below the subjects chart to just below the
Description of Rights. One person who reviewed this for me felt like the
flow of the from was trying to bury the message. I would reduce the first
sentence of that paragraph to, "It is preferred that you submit this form
no later than January 9, 2016."  This also leaves it open for the school
district to determine if forms will initially go to the school office or
the district office.

Since it will be extremly rare for a high school junior to be 18 by
January, can the rights box be headed as Parent Rights instead of
Description of Rights?

Other Side:
Not sure what to do with the Testing Windows box. The February 9 test date
is going to cause lots of confusion since my district will not be starting
Smarter Balanced tests until late March - early April.

*I also disagree with the answer to how long the test take. Our credibility
will be hurt if we say it takes about the same amount of time as previous
state test. That is only true at best for students who took OAKS multiple
times.*

The last bullet under what the state tests do:  Why does it include high
performing schools when the it ends with receiving the supports to
improve?  That does not make sense to me.

A thought for the future when seeking input. I appreciate the list of
groups that had a chance to review the document. I recommend that that
school district communication specialists be givin these opportunities as a
collective group to provide feedback when ODE is working on a document
because they are a helpful bridge between the community/parents and the
educators.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback.
Don Staples
Newberg SD


On Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 1:33 PM, CARTER Holly <holly.carter at state.or.us>
wrote:

> Hi All,
>
>
>
> As communicated in a numbered memo released on September 10th, ODE will
> be publishing a combined Opt-Out form and 30-day notice for districts to
> access on November 9th. To date, ODE has shared drafts of the form with
> parent focus groups and partners such as  OEA, the Chief Education Office,
> OSBA, Stand for Children, and the Chalkboard Project. Based on feedback
> from these groups, ODE has made several revisions in order to address
> concerns about the language, accessibility, format, and content. These
> changes include, but are not limited to:
>
> ·         Removing redundant or ineffective phrases, like college- and
> career-readiness
>
> ·         Simplifying page 1 text
>
> ·         Providing additional information about state tests
>
> ·         Encouraging parents to talk to their child’s teachers and
> school principals
>
> ·         Providing links to resources and acknowledging House Bill 2655
>
> ·         Moving away from overselling the results of Smarter Balanced
>
> ·         Broadening the language for opting out to include Smarter
> Balanced ELA and math tests and the extended assessments
>
> ·         Remove and soften the language on page 2 about when
> parents/adult students should return the form
>
> ·         Add the qualifier “may” to the bolded statement above the
> parent signature
>
>
>
> Before finalizing the form for publication, we wanted one last opportunity
> to gather feedback. We value your input, and *request that you please
> send* *any feedback to Meg Koch **(meg.koch at state.or.us
> <meg.koch at state.or.us>) no later than end of day next Wednesday, November 4*.
> Once finalized, we will disseminate the form to schools and districts
> November 9 as planned. In our message to schools, we will include
> additional resources to assist them in communicating with parents and
> students.
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
>
>
> *Holly Carter*
> Interim Director of Assessment
>
> Office of Learning | Inst., Stand., Asmt, &Acc. Unit | Oregon Department
> of Education
>
> Phone: 503.947.5739 | Fax: 503.378.5156 | *holly.carter at state.or.us
>
> _____________________________________________________
> Assessment_Advisory_Committee mailing list
> Assessment_Advisory_Committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us
>
> http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/assessment_advisory_committee
> Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for
> content.
> Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s)
> or the sender of the message, by phone or email.
> Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800.
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/assessment_advisory_committee/attachments/20151104/57fe5964/attachment.html>