Evaluate test items have been updated for Missouri schools. A summary of these changes, as well as a rationale for these revisions and an outline of the impact of the changes are explained below.
Summary of Updates
The Evaluate test for grades 3-8 for English Language Arts and Mathematics for Missouri schools has been updated to better align with the K-12 Priority Missouri Learning Standards. According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, “Priority standards serve as a solid frame upon which specific teaching and learning decisions are built…Being proficient in the big ideas highlighted in the priority standards is crucial to mastery of the Missouri Learning Standards.” Existing test items have been revised, and new test items have been created, to assess student proficiency of the priority standards. For all monthly tests, at least 75% of test items align to the priority standards.
In addition, test developers have used the Missouri MAP Grade-Level Blueprint as guidance for making sure that students see an appropriate sample of supporting standards. Throughout the school year, students will see test questions that align to both priority and supporting Missouri Learning Standards but will see items aligned to priority standards more frequently. The data the Evaluate test provides will allow teachers to plan targeted instruction to drive student mastery.
Rationale for Updates
The decision to update the Evaluate English Language Arts and Mathematics tests for grades 3-8 for Missouri schools is based on user feedback that the test needed to better align with the Missouri Learning Standards and, specifically, that more of the test should focus on the priority standards in each grade. As such, existing items that did not align with the Missouri Learning Standards, and selected items that addressed supporting standards, were revised or replaced to align to priority standards. All supporting standards are still tested over the course of the full-year testing cycle.
Impact of Updates
The basic format of the Evaluate tests for grades 3-8 in both English Language Arts and Mathematics will remain largely unchanged. Each month’s test is still 25 questions, including some multi-part questions. Students will continue to see a variety of question types, including multiple-choice, multiple answer, fill-in-the-blank, drag-and-drop, and graphing questions. Teachers will continue to receive data on students’ performance on all tested standards.
These updates will affect how often certain standards are assessed. Priority standards are assessed more frequently, so students may see questions aligned to these standards multiple times on the monthly assessments and sometimes multiple times on the same test. Students will still see test items that align to supporting standards, but they will see them less frequently. The updates also mean that there are no longer “matching months” in which the same skills are assessed using different questions. To have all supporting standards covered over the course of a year while also emphasizing testing on content aligned to the priority standards, the standards on each monthly test will vary.