ATI understands the importance of administering the right assessment at the right time. In that regard, our Educational Management Services (EMS) team works closely with educators to design and deliver customized benchmark assessments that are reliable and valid and aligned to local and state standards.
Customized Benchmark Assessments in 6 Steps
Let’s take a closer look at creating customized benchmark assessments. To maximize the assessment development process, EMS works with educators across the following steps:
Step 1: Contact the ATI EMS team prior to, or at the start of the year, to begin the assessment planning process. This is when roles and responsibilities are identified with district staff regarding the planning, construction, and review process.
Step 2: Define the assessment goals using the Galileo Assessment Planner. The planner also supports requests for TE items.
Step 3: Our EMS team reviews the Assessment Planner to confirm all the information needed to get started is provided.
Step 4: Our EMS team develops the Benchmark draft. During this step, Galileo technology ensures that items are not repeated across assessments throughout the year and balances the number of questions per text. Also, Item Response Theory makes It possible to determine the reliability and difficulty of each assessment in advance.
Step 5: EMS conducts a guided review of the benchmark draft with your district staff. This gives you the opportunity to request changes in the draft, such as replacing an item type.
Step 6: After we’ve made the finishing touches, ATI delivers the final benchmark assessment to your district.
Assessment Planner: Key Technology Driving the Process
In creating customized assessments, ATI has developed a tool for educators within Galileo called the Assessment Planner. The Galileo Assessment Planner is an easy-to-use, point-and-click interface that lets educators participate in the design of customized benchmark assessments.
Using the Assessment Planner, educators can quickly create an assessment plan that spans multiple grades and subjects; determine the timing and number of assessments within a grade and subject; set the standards to be measured; choose the desired number of items for measuring each standard across each benchmark; and specify the type of items needed.
Additionally, the Assessment Planner allows educators to provide comments to EMS regarding specific benchmark needs. This could range from a certain item type, like Technology Enhanced items, to certain concepts within a math standard, like addition or subtraction.
During the planning process, EMS provides valuable recommendations for educators to follow. This includes the recommended length and content coverage in the planned assessments, the appropriate number of assessments to be administered throughout the year, and the best timeline for delivering each assessment. With EMS recommendations, educators can lay the foundation for a reliable and valid assessment¬¬ and smooth testing schedule.
Reliable and Valid Assessments Aligned to Local and State Standards
Our unique process in creating customized benchmark assessments maximizes collaboration with your district and helps EMS to build reliable and valid assessments aligned to your local and state standards. Of course, quality requires time so it is important that you allow for a two-week delivery window for pre-made assessments and a six-week window for assessments aligned to district curriculum.
ATI’s customized benchmark assessments provide valuable data about student standards mastery, achievement, and growth throughout the year, all of which help educators to improve instructional effectiveness and student learning.
Check out the Galileo Help Files for resources including this guide: Assessment Planner and Test, or Contact our EMS team today to learn more about our customized benchmark assessments.
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