CAROL MCGRAW 2012-02-17 21:55:49
At school, everyone is talking about TCAP. - Is it a new rap star, a cool hat, a phone app?
- No, it’s a new name for an old test.
- It’s the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program.
CSAP in other words, is toast!
The TCAP tests being given this month and in March to third through 10th graders, will determine how close students are to grade level in their academic achievement and indicate how well districts are doing in teaching students.
When students sit down to take the TCAP tests in the next few days or weeks, the procedure will be the same as always, and the tests will look pretty much like the old ones. But there will be some differences, officials say.
In 2010, the Colorado Department of Education created and adopted new academic standards that are more rigorous and require students to apply what they’ve learned, explains Jo O’Brien, Colorado’s commissioner for assessments, research and evaluation.
However, instead of changing all at once, the state is taking a couple of years to transition instruction from old standards to new ones. The change is expected to be complete by 2014.
At that time, the tests will look different. CDE hasn’t come up with a name for them yet.
The big difference in the TCAP tests is that only information that is common to both the old CSAPS and the new academic standards will be tested. Information that won’t be part of the new standards will no longer be tested.
“Some types of CSAP questions won’t be on the TCAP because it will no longer be measured,” O’Brien said.
The two years of transition are vital, officials say.
“You just can’t suddenly swap them out one for the other,” O’Brien said. “The districts have adopted the standards and the job for the next two years is to decide how to teach them and put them into practice. That’s what is nice about having TCAP. It helps everybody have time to get ready.”
The job is “huge and very exciting,” O’Brien said.
The region’s largest district, Colorado Springs School District 11 – which has about 30,000 students – started preliminary planning last year. It went to a well-known expert for help – Larry Ainsworth of the Englewood-based Leadership and Learning Center, and author of “Rigorous Curriculum Design.”
The district appointed 100 teachers to work on the changes. Starting in April, they will work after school, on weekends and at other times to get the district up to speed.
Those teachers are divided into design teams in various subject areas such as math, language arts, science and social studies. The team members must learn the new requirements and then create unit guides that all district teachers will use, explained Jeanice Swift, assistant superintendent of instruction, curriculum and students services.
“There’s a lot of work, it’s not a straight shot from old to new, particularly in math. In some areas whole levels are changing, such as having algebra in eighth grade,” Swift said.
One major change built into the standards is that students must not only know information, but be able to apply it in a variety of settings and work in groups as part of the state’s emphasis on 21st century skills.
Many districts, especially smaller, rural districts, are combining resources to do similar work.
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Original Article : http://www.gazette.com/articles/school-133743-gone-testing.html
