ISSUE 2015 JANUARY PARENT EDITION 1

EDICIÓN DE PADRES 2

Curriculum Chronicle Overview: •Grades 3 – 8 Georgia Milestones will include:

–End of Grade (EOG) in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies •High School Georgia Milestones will include:

–End of Course (EOC) in 9th Grade Literature & Composition, Ameri-can Literature & Composition, Coordinate Algebra, Analytic Geometry, Physical Science, Biology, US History, and Economics

Georgia Milestones Assessment Update New information on the state tests The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) has launched a Georgia Mile-stones webpage which can be found at http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-

and-Assessment/Assessment/Pages/Georgia-

Milestones-Assessment-System.aspx

At this site, you will find a short video that ex-

plains the new assessments. Additional resources

on this webpage can be found on the right side

with links for the following:

Allowable Accommodations Chart: English

Learners

Allowable Accommodations Chart: Stu-

dents with Disabilities

Georgia Milestones Content Weights

Georgia Milestones Content Weights EOG

Georgia Milestones Content Weights EOC

Georgia Milestones Calculator Policy

Georgia Milestones EOC Assessment

Guides

Georgia Milestones EOC Resources

Georgia Milestones Test Blueprints

Online Testing Capacity Calculator (v. 1.1)

Parents' Guide to New Tests in Georgia

Georgia Milestones Parent Question &

Answer Brochure

Technology Guidelines (v. 1.1)

Eliciting Evidence of Student Learning

Additional information from GaDOE to note:

The “Parents’ Guide to New Tests in Georgia”

mentions that the new assessments “will address

longstanding concerns that parents, educators,

and employers have had about current state

assessments – namely that they measure stu-

dents’ ability to memorize facts, rather than their

critical thinking and knowledge application

skills.” This statement highlights a very im-

portant change between what the previous state

assessments tested and what the new ones will

test.

The GaDOE also has a requirement that each

year the district must have more and more stu-

dents take the test online. In Marietta City

Schools, all students will test online this year for

grade 3-12. The state has data to show that

students actually do better on online tests

than students using paper and pencil tests.

How to Help at Home?

Across all subject areas: Help students... ■ read a lot of stories and informational articles, retell key points, and make comparisons between two books or articles. ■ make a persuasive argument to support their answers to ques-tions about a story or text. ■ determine the meaning of unknown words in text. Math ■ understand and use important math ideas, including number sense, algebraic thinking, geometry, and data analysis. ■ use math facts and reasoning skills to solve real-world prob-lems. ■ make mathematical arguments.

FIP Additional Information Formative Instructional Practices (FIP) has added modules to support educators of

special education, gifted and ELL students.

Highlights of GaDOE GMAS Presentations for ELA, SS, Math, and Science? The presentations that you will find in the previous section will show samples of the type of ques-tions that students will encounter. Those slides are followed by a sample rubric for scoring items and exemplar items with com-mentary. More practice level items, rubrics, and exemplars can be found at the teacher level on the Online Assessment System (OAS). Please visit the OAS webpage at: http://www.gadoe.org/

Curriculum-Instruction-and-

Assessment/Assessment/Pages/OAS-

Resources.aspx

There you can find directions for accessing the Formative Item Bank (FIB) to get items for grades 3-12 that may be used for instruc-tional purposes. The nature of the items are as follows: Math and ELA Open-ended Scaffolded Extended Responses Selected Response Focused more on Depth of

Knowledge levels 3 and 4 Note: Georgia Milestones EOC Assessment Guides are available now and Georgia Milestones EOG Assessment Guides will be re-leased once completed.

New FIP Modules

The final three (3) course mod-ules have been added to the FIP Portal. These new modules are known as “Reaching Every Stu-dent.” The new content supports use of formative instructional practices with special student populations. The new courses are listed below. Reaching Every Student (RES) Formative Instructional

Practices: Reaching Stu-dents with Disabilities

Formative Instructional Practices: Reaching Eng-lish Language Learners

Formative Instructional Practices: Reaching Gifted Students

Nine new courses were added to the portal to support a quality implementation of the state-mandated content standards. These options are referred to as “FIP in Action modules.” The FIP in Action content supports ELA and mathematics specifi-cally for elementary, middle and high school grade bands, and also the work of Professional Learning Communities (PLC).

The FIP in Action Modules are: Creating Clear Learning

Targets for ELA in Ele-mentary School

Creating Clear Learning Targets for ELA in Middle School

Creating Clear Learning Targets for ELA in High School

Creating Clear Learning Targets for Math in Ele-mentary School

Creating Clear Learning Targets for Math in Middle School

Creating Clear Learning Targets for Math in High School

Non-Core: Creating Clear Learning Targets in Physi-cal Education

Advancing FIP through Professional Learning Teams

FIP in Action: ELA Grade 6 Argumentative Writing

To learn more about FIP, please use the following link: http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Pages/

RESOURCES: Directions to Access FIP

Step 1 Teachers need to secure the school-specific access code from the principal. If you are district office staff, secure the dis-trict specific access code from the district’s Assess-ment Director Step 2 Have your work email address and FIP access code available to create an account. Enter the Url below into your browser and launch it to create a new account. https://portal.battelleforkids.org/

Georgia/Core/BFKlogin.aspx?sfl

ang=en

Step 3 Click,“Create” a New Account.” Enter your email address and access code, and click, “Continue.” Step 4 Enter your demo-graphic information and type a password of a minimum of 5 characters in length including one upper case and one lower case letter. Press, “Continue.” Step 5 Agree to the “Terms for Use.” Click “My Learning” to begin learning modules.