DESE Educational Assessment & Student Evaluation 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under ESSA, which accountability measure requires states to track whether English Language Learners are progressing toward language proficiency?
- Graduation rate indicator
- Academic achievement indicator
- English language proficiency indicator (Correct answer)
- School quality indicator
Correct answer: English language proficiency indicator
ESSA requires states to include an English language proficiency indicator that measures ELL students' progress toward attaining English proficiency.
Question 2: A teacher wants to assess student growth over time rather than performance at a single point. The BEST approach is to use:
- A single high-stakes summative test
- Portfolio assessment (Correct answer)
- A norm-referenced standardized test
- A single diagnostic pre-assessment
Correct answer: Portfolio assessment
Portfolio assessment collects student work samples over time, providing evidence of growth, development, and learning progress across a period.
Question 3: Which DESE assessment framework term describes the process of using multiple data points to make informed decisions about student learning?
- Triangulation (Correct answer)
- Standardization
- Normalization
- Calibration
Correct answer: Triangulation
Triangulation involves using multiple sources of assessment evidence to make more reliable and valid conclusions about student learning.
Question 4: An assessment that measures what students know before instruction begins is called a:
- Summative assessment
- Formative assessment
- Pre-assessment or diagnostic assessment (Correct answer)
- Criterion-referenced test
Correct answer: Pre-assessment or diagnostic assessment
Pre-assessments or diagnostic assessments are administered before instruction to identify prior knowledge, skills, and misconceptions.
Question 5: Which of the following BEST describes inter-rater reliability in the context of scoring open-ended assessments?
- The same rater gives consistent scores across multiple sessions
- Different raters give similar scores to the same student work (Correct answer)
- The test produces consistent results across different testing occasions
- The assessment measures what it is intended to measure
Correct answer: Different raters give similar scores to the same student work
Inter-rater reliability refers to the degree of agreement between two or more scorers evaluating the same student work.
Question 6: A teacher is developing a unit test aligned to specific learning standards. Which step should occur FIRST in backward design?
- Writing assessment questions
- Planning daily lessons
- Identifying desired results and standards (Correct answer)
- Selecting instructional materials
Correct answer: Identifying desired results and standards
In backward design (Understanding by Design), teachers first identify desired results and standards before planning assessments or instruction.
Question 7: Which measurement concept explains why a student might score differently if the same test were administered on two separate occasions without any instruction in between?
- Validity
- Standard error of measurement (Correct answer)
- Criterion contamination
- Content sampling error
Correct answer: Standard error of measurement
The standard error of measurement (SEM) reflects the amount of random error in a test score, explaining natural score variation across administrations.
DESE Educational Assessment & Student Evaluation 4
Under ESSA, which accountability measure requires states to track whether English Language Learners are progressing toward language proficiency?