Benefits of a Comprehensive Assessment System

A well-designed comprehensive assessment system includes different types of assessments to serve the needs of students from preschool to grade 12. The Galileo K-12 Online next generation comprehensive assessment system is part of a fully integrated, standards-based instructional improvement system, offering comprehensive instructional and assessment tools.

Comprehensive assessment system benefits:

• Changes the way assessments are used in education by providing increased information to guide instructional decision-making.
• Places results from a variety of assessments on a common scale. The use of a common scale makes is possible to directly compare results from different assessments, offering a more complete picture of academic accomplishments.
• Increases assessment efficiency. In the Galileo K-12 Online comprehensive assessment system, a technology platform common across assessment types is developed to facilitate implementation of the system. The platform includes artificial intelligence routines that guide the construction, review, publication, security, scheduling, administration, and scoring of tests, plus psychometric analyses, reporting, and the provision of actionable decision options.
• Provides system monitoring tools making it possible to guide system implementation. These tools include information regarding when tests have been constructed, reviewed, revised, and delivered. Monitoring information also provides data on the extent to which different types of assessment are used. This information can be used to guide a customized assessment plan.

Galileo K-12 Online assessments and reports accurately forecast student performance on statewide assessments.

Galileo K-12 Online assessments are reliable and provide consistent estimates of student ability.


Galileo K-12 Online reports indicate whether adequate growth rates were achieved within each district, school, or classroom.


Galileo K-12 Online Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analysis and reports support Instructional Effectiveness initiatives.


Experience Galileo K-12 Online during an online overview and see how it provides a better way to address your goal of raising student achievement. To register, visit the Assessment Technology Incorporated website (ati-online.com), call 1.877.442.5453, email GalileoInfo@ati-online.com, or visit us at the following events:

• Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE) 12th Annual Winter Leadership Conference February 2 and 3 at the Westin Hotel, Westminster, Colorado.
• Colorado League of Charter Schools (CLCS) 18th Annual Conference February 23 and 24 at the Omni Interlocken Resort, Broomfield, Colorado.
• California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) 19th Annual Conference February 27-March 1 at the Sacramento Convention Center, Sacramento, California.
• Watch for details about the upcoming Common Core webinar to be hosted by WestEd and Assessment Technology Incorporated on February 29.

Colorado Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award Winners

Congratulations to several Galileo K-12 Online users for their recent accolades – having schools within their districts awarded the Colorado Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award for exceptional student growth.

“On the school performance framework that is used by the state to evaluate schools, these schools ‘exceed’ expectations on the indicator related to longitudinal academic growth and ‘meet or exceed' expectations on the indicator related to academic growth gaps,” said the Colorado Department of Education website.

ATI is proud to be the partner of so many schools across the nation who have worked to raise student achievement and we are pleased to see these schools being recognized for their accomplishments.

A Time Saver for K-2 Teachers: The Early Benchmark Literacy Assessment Series

As an experienced kindergarten teacher, searching for ways to maximize instructional teaching time with my students was one of my foremost goals. My students were formally tested three times a year and this was a very time consuming task as each child needed to be tested individually. With budget cuts, paraprofessional assistance was not offered, and that left the assessing up to me, the teacher. There was also the added dilemma of how to manage 25-30 other five year olds while testing individuals, not to mention the loss of quality instructional time. During each testing period, it generally took a minimum of 10 minutes to assess each child for language arts alone. In a classroom of 25 students, this meant over 250 quality instructional minutes lost, three times a year.

The Galileo Early Literacy Benchmark Assessment Series (ELBAS) tests offers an effective way to get literacy testing done in a short period of time. In a computer lab situation, the entire class can be tested on standards based objectives in 30-45 minutes. In a classroom environment, one or two students can be testing independently while the teacher continues to teach. The test responses are automatically recorded and scored online and are available to the teacher to help guide instruction. There is no loss of instructional time and the potential for frustrating interruptions and behavioral issues are no longer an issue. The ELBAS tests are offered for grades K-2 and inform teachers if their students are on track to pass state testing benchmarks by the end of grade 3. The ELBAS tests are a positive experience for students and teachers alike, help streamline assessment, and offer a wonderful time-saving solution for teachers during assessment periods. In addition, ATI can analyze the assessments and provide Developmental Levels to show growth over the course of the year.

Click here to see more information about the early literacy assessments.

-Laura Babcock, Educational Management Services Coordinator

Testing Activity Report

Galileo K-12 Online includes a number of useful administrative reports designed for such tasks as checking demographic data for errors and monitoring user activity. One of the administrative reports available in Galileo K-12 Online that may be particularly useful this time of year is the Testing Activity Report. This report can be run at the district or school level and can assist administrators in monitoring the extent to which scheduled benchmark or formative assessments have been taken.

To use the Testing Activity Report, the administrator selects a timeframe for assessments he or she wishes to monitor. A key feature is that you can select whether to display all tests administered during the selected time period, only benchmark tests, or only formative tests.

The resulting report lists all the selected assessments scheduled during the chosen time period, the number of students scheduled to take the tests, and the number who have done so.

If the Testing Activity Report is generated at the school level, another useful feature is that administrators can drill-down to get a list of classes and the percent of completion for each. With this information, administrators can identify potential problems and work with their staff toward a solution.

Producing Significant Positive Changes in Children’s Cognitive Functioning

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As early as 1991, research findings from a study undertaken by John R. Bergan, founder and current President of ATI, indicated that a brief, two-month implementation of an intervention in which assessment information was gathered to guide instruction had a direct effect on the acquisition of basic math and reading skills. The acquisition of these skills had a significant effect on promotion to the first grade and on referral to and placement in special education. In the control condition, one in every 3.69 children was referred for possible placement in special education. In the intervention condition, only one out of every 17 children was referred. In the control condition, approximately one out of every five children was placed in special education. In the intervention condition, only one out of every 71 children was placed in special education. Gathering assessment information to guide instruction continues to drive the design of the Galileo K-12 Online Instructional Improvement System.



Current independent research funded by recipients of a federal grant administered by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and implemented by MAGI Services demonstrated strong evidence that the benchmark pilot project was a success. The Galileo K-12 Online assessments were shown to provide teachers with a tool to inform and shape their instruction with the goal of increased student mastery of learning standards. Read Full Paper

Other success stories can be found on our website at ati-online.com. Contact your Field Services Coordinator with your success stories. We would be privileged to share them in subsequent blogs.

*J.R. Bergan, I.E. Sladeczek, R.D. Schwarz, American Educational Research Journal (Volume 28, Number 3 - Fall 1991). pp. 683-714, © 1991 by American Educational Research Association. Reprinted by Permission of SAGE Publications.

Computerized Adaptive Testing…a better way with Galileo K-12 Online

Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) is a form of assessment in which administered items are selected based on the ability levels of the students. Initial item selection is typically based on the assumption that the test taker is of average ability; subsequently selected items are based on ability estimates obtained from preceding responses. This approach optimizes precision by increasing the selection of items that are neither too easy nor too difficult. CAT is efficient and quickly identifies gaps in student learning.

Even better is the fact that ATI automates the construction of computerized adaptive tests. Tests are generated by ATI from an Assessment Planner that defines the item pool to be used in selecting items for the adaptive assessment. Automated construction provides ATI the capability to generate customized computerized adaptive tests to meet unique district needs.

The Galileo Computerized Adaptive Testing Pilot is an integral part of ATI’s next generation comprehensive assessment system and is completely integrated into ATI’s Galileo K-12 Online Instructional Improvement System. Adaptive assessments serve many purposes including guiding instruction, monitoring progress, screening, and assisting in placement decisions.

Integration within Galileo ensures that teaching staff and administrators have easy and rapid access to the full range of innovative assessment, reporting, curriculum, and measurement tools provided all within one system. ATI’s comprehensive assessment system is part of our ongoing commitment to continuous innovation so that school districts and charter schools can continuously build their own capacity to lead change in ways that enhance the quality and impact of education on our nation’s children and youth.

ATI's approach to Computerized Adaptive Testing is discussed in greater depth in Composition of a Comprehensive Assessment System.

Experience Galileo during an online overview and see how it provides a better way to address the goal of raising student achievement. You can visit the Assessment Technology Incorporated website (ati-online.com), participate in an online overview by registering either through the website or by calling 1.877.442.5453 to speak with a Field Services Coordinator, or visit us at the
• Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) 71st Annual Conference December 8 through 11 at the Broadmoor Hotel, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
• Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA)/ Arizona School Administrators (ASA) 54th Annual Conference December 15 through 16 at the Biltmore Conference Center, Phoenix, Arizona.

Data Access Protection By Cloud-Based Service Providers

In an earlier post, I discussed some key benefits of cloud-based services, or Software as a Service (SaaS). While the benefits are significant, there are risks that must be considered when making decisions about SaaS.
To approach these risks and some of the questions prospective users of cloud-based services might ask, it is easiest to break the risks down into categories. In today’s post, I’ll take a look at two key questions potential SaaS users might have about data access control and protection:

1. How can data be kept safe from unauthorized access? Whether a cloud-based service is used for student information systems (SIS), instructional improvement systems (IIS), data warehousing or more than one, ensuring the protection of sensitive student data is taken seriously by educators and the vendors providing these services. Effective implementation of security measures in the following areas provides protection for externally-stored student data on par with the security achieved by housing data on internal servers:
• Security Hardware: Security hardware includes firewalls that filter network traffic to (and from) application and data servers and inspect each packet for a threat, dropping traffic when a threat is present. Another effective type of security hardware is load balancers or cache engines that offload direct access to application servers and prevent operating system exploits.
• Security Software: The baseline of any effective secure software environment includes up-to-date operating systems on all application and data servers. Microsoft revealed in the first half of 2011, less than one percent of the exploits discovered took advantage of a “zero day vulnerability” (one that had not yet been patched by the vendor). This means over 99 percent of the attacks were preventable merely by maintaining well-patched operating systems and software. Also falling in the category of security software is the antivirus and computer security software suite. Finally, effective use of change management software can help SaaS Information Technology (IT) staff informed about any attempts to alter the application server environment without their knowledge.
• Secure Network Architecture: A well-designed network for any application-hosting environment includes segregation of application and data servers. This can be achieved by physically segmenting traffic or using a combination of segmentation and security hardware.
• Data Encryption: Encrypting the transport of data from the service vendor to the client system is critical. The current best practice for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Transport Level Security (TLS) is to employ a minimum of 128-bit encryption.
• Physical Security: An easily overlooked security concern is the physical environment of the service provider. Are application and data servers housed within a secure environment, and is access to the environment regulated by the vendor? Physical controls include personnel monitoring, multi-factor access authentication, external monitoring and other types of surveillance.


2. How can SaaS vendors prevent authorized users from accessing data they shouldn’t? It’s an easy problem to develop. Energy is focused on keeping the bad guys out, but once credentials are provided to trusted users, controls over proper access are overlooked. Even with proper physical and network controls, IT personnel are often leery of relinquishing data access control to an external system. This is because the outsourced services often effectively bypass the security controls implemented internally, at least to some degree. Two primary types of external security models may be implemented:
   • Hierarchical - Such as the user account structure employed by Galileo Online IIS. Users are allowed access to increasing levels of information dependent upon the scope of the user account.
   • Access-based - A flatter model such as that employed by Google Documents. Discrete permissions are assigned to individual data objects on a per-user, or per-group, basis.
   
   User privileges can be managed effectively and in some cases there is even benefit to a separate permissions structure because individual changes can be managed by the users of the system instead of having to rely on technical staff to implement changes.

Do you have other concerns about data access protection that haven’t been covered? In a future post I’ll consider another risk area presented by use of cloud-based services and address how vendors are overcoming those challenges to create safe, effective environments for their clients.