A new approach to interim assessments
Are my students on track to meet end-of-year goals? How will they perform on the summative assessment? Where do we need to focus our attention during instruction? Are there students who are ready for more challenging topics? These are all questions educators ask themselves on a regular basis, and schools and districts typically turn to interim assessments to provide the answers.
Pearson is excited to announce a new approach to interim assessment, the Pearson Review of Progress & Learning (PRoPL)
What is an interim assessment?
The interim assessment is designed to evaluate students’ knowledge and skills relative to academic goals and inform decisions at both the classroom and school or district levels (Perie, M. et al., 2007). Unlike a formative assessment, which measures specific standards, interims are meant to measure a broad range of standards several times throughout the academic year. Often the goal of the interim is to measure current-year growth and make a prediction of the end-of-year summative assessment results.
PRoPL’s key design features
PRoPL’s unique design accurately measures student performance and progress toward the end of year accountability measure. Developed by Pearson’s leading measurement experts with decades of experience creating summative assessments, PRoPL provides information that administrators and teachers can trust when making decisions.
1. Only on-grade items are used to calculate the prediction to summative scores.
PRoPL measures student progress towards end of year proficiency goals using only on-grade-level passages and items. We know that to meet proficiency goals, students will only be exposed to on-grade-level content on the summative, so this helps to establish a stronger link between the two measures.
2. A common blueprint across measures provides information about student growth.
PRoPL uses a common blueprint two to three times per year to compare student progress throughout the school year. This blueprint is based on a typical state assessment summative design, creating more coherence between the results from the interim to the summative assessment.
3. Written to summative content requirements
PRoPL’s assessment content was developed following Pearson’s summative content development processes so that it conforms to the same rigor. The results are scores that tell a consistent story of student performance. Interim assessments that consist of content written to summative standards and quality, including a variety of item response types and full-length passages on the reading assessments, offer a more accurate view of student progress toward the end-of-year summative assessment.
4. Off-grade items support measuring student growth
An extended item section where a student will either see easier or harder items determined by responses in the on-grade section helps to provide additional information about student progress. This section is not used to predict the summative assessment, but rather provide information to parents and educators on student understanding of supporting content or more challenging content, equipping teachers with additional information to support instruction.
PRoPL encompasses all four of these principles in its design with the primary goal of evaluating student performance at several checkpoints during the year to provide educators, district leaders, and caregivers with better, more actionable information. By providing more accurate information, educators and caregivers are empowered to make the best decisions to support student learning.
Learn more about how the Pearson Review of Progress and Learning can provide you with accurate and actionable results to improve student learning.
Reference
Perie, Marianne, et al. "The Role of Interim Assessments in a Comprehensive Assessment System: A Policy Brief." Aspen Institute (2007).