Seminar Recap: An Arizona First - The New Galileo Digital Curriculum Platform in Action

Thanks to all who attended, this informative and timely seminar was a big success. The event, which was co-hosted by Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) and ATI, provided a first-hand look at how Arizona educators are taking the lead in utilizing the teacher-friendly innovations of the new Galileo Digital Curriculum Platform. Attendees viewed presentations from the cohosts and engaged in the "Arizona Round Table Discussion" that included education leaders from CUSD, Crane Elementary School District, and Maricopa Unified School District. The round table participants provided their reasons for adopting the new platform along with discussing their experiences, successes, and next steps. 

Access to the presentation materials is now available. We invite you to view and share them with colleagues. For answers to any questions about using the Galileo Digital Curriculum Platform in your district or charter, email us or call 1.800.367.4762.

ATI’s Dr. Sarah Callahan Estrada kicks off the seminar with her presentation, “Technology Supporting Arizona Educators in the Digital Age.” 

CUSD presenters share their experiences of implementing the Galileo Digital Curriculum Platform.

ATI’s Item Writers Develop Numerous, High-Quality Items to Meet Your District Assessment Needs

Approximately 800 new high-quality items are added to Galileo item banks every month. This fete is accomplished by our experienced, in-house Assessment and Instructional Design team. The team of item development experts use ATI’s multi-stage process which is based in research and reflects industry best practices. The process takes into account principles of Universal Design and has been carefully designed to produce high-quality items including selected-response, technology enhanced, and constructed-response items as well as performance-based and project-based assessments. The item development process includes the development of item specifications, item construction, item review with certification, and field testing of items including empirical validation of item quality using Item Response Theory. 

ATI Multi-Stage Item Development Process
Stage 1: Item Specifications 
The first step in ATI item development is to review the standard and the component skill to be assessed. This skill is the starting point for developing an online list of item specifications defining the characteristics of a class of items to be written. Item specifications indicate the defining characteristics of the item class, the rationale for the class, and the required characteristics for each item component. Specifications might also address such factors as the cognitive complexity intended for items included in the specification class, the appropriateness of vocabulary, and Lexile® measure requirements related to readability levels. Item specifications may also be designed to align very closely to guidelines and released items from statewide assessments and assessment consortia (e.g., Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers [PARCC], Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium [SBAC]). The value of creating specifications as a guide for the item development process is recognized as a critical part of a process documenting that assessments are reliable and valid indicators of the ability they are intended to measure (Haladyna, 2004). Their structure and specificity also afford many advantages for ensuring that item specifications may be readily evaluated for purposes of mapping items to new or changed standards. 

Stage 2: Item Construction
After specifications have been written, items are constructed corresponding to the specifications using the online Bank Builder utility. Bank Builder includes features that promote item quality. For example, images constructed using Bank Builder conform to size and resolution standards that yield items that are visually suited to online and offline administration. Similarly, fonts available in Bank Builder are chosen to work across platforms, for readability both onscreen and in printed material. 

Stage 3: Item Review and Certification
The initial review process for item specifications, items, and item families occurs in-house and is composed of ATI review of the item specification, ATI review of the item (and passage/text if applicable), revision (if needed), and finally item certification. The item review process continues once a certified item is made available for use in an assessment. Items placed in district designed assessments are subjected to review by each member of the district’s review team during the test review process. The district may suggest item changes, if desired. The combination of a multi-material (specification, item, and item family) multi-step internal review accompanied by continuous external review by educators provides a rigorous approach to evaluation producing assessments that meet local needs and that are highly effective in forecasting and guiding instruction toward standards mastery.

Stage 4: Field Testing Items
ATI through Galileo supports multiple approaches to field testing items based on the specific goals for the field test. As one option, ATI through Galileo supports the development and administration of field test assessments including the desired field test items. As another option, Galileo supports the inclusion of new items on district assessments as soon as they are developed (i.e., within the same school year). This approach accommodates district needs related to the rapid development and delivery of new items in response to statewide assessment changes (e.g., deployment of new item types) and district feedback/requests (e.g., wording or formatting changes to more closely match instruction). Regardless of the approach, ATI can conduct IRT analyses to evaluate the characteristics of field tested items (e.g., discrimination, difficulty, pseudo guessing [where applicable]).

Access the Multi-Grade TE Items Sample for a look at some of the items that have made the cut. 

Schedule an overview to learn how Galileo can meet your specific district/charter assessment needs. 

Haladyna, T.M. (2004). Developing and validating multiple-choice test items. Mahwah, NJ. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

The Clear Choice: The Galileo K-12 Online Instructional Improvement and Effectiveness System

Districts and charters across the country have identified Galileo K-12 Online as their clear choice for a high-quality, standards-based, and research supported instructional improvement and effectiveness system. The system provides an array of curriculum, assessment, instructional effectiveness, and reporting tools. Use of Galileo facilitates advancements in teaching strategies, assessments, and implementation of instructional effectiveness initiatives. ATI offers educators key technology and services including:

• Standards-aligned item banks for teachers including a large array of technology enhanced (TE) item types
• Multiple types of classroom and district assessments to both support and measure student learning
• IRT-based Developmental Level (DL) scale scores that go beyond raw scores.
• Dashboards for all:
•  Teacher Dashboard linking actionable data to instruction
•  Admin Dashboard supporting effective leadership
•  Student/Parent Dashboard portal increasing engagement and learning
• Support for intervention/enrichment activities for all students
• Staff experienced in education, content development, measurement, evaluation research, software programming, and web design

Experience Galileo for yourself. Learn first-hand about Galileo K-12 Online: 

• Visit the Assessment Technology Incorporated website.
• Participate in an online demonstration.
• Check out the variety of resources available including videos, webisodes, webinars, and  Dialogs.
• Contact a friendly ATI Field Services Coordinator.

Now Live: New Admin Dashboard replacing School Performance Dashboard

Galileo dashboards, including the newly released Admin Dashboard, provide all stakeholders access to intervention tools that assist in improving student achievement. The Admin Dashboard, one of the exciting recent innovations from ATI, contains all of the functionality of the School Performance Dashboard it replaces. It also offers one-click accessibility, responsive design, efficiency, integration, smart technology, and convenience. These features support ease-of-use and accessibility from a variety of devices ensuring that tasks can be easily completed at any time and from any location. The Admin Dashboard supports the monitoring of student growth and achievement along with providing intervention activities at the school- and district-level. 

 Quick access to intervention tools are found in Galileo Admin Dashboard.

Learn more about the Galileo dashboards by scheduling a Galileo Overview. Contact one of our friendly Field Services Coordinators to experience Galileo for yourself.

Save the Date for our Fall Seminar! An Arizona First: The New Galileo Digital Curriculum Platform in Action

Join us Monday, November 14 at 1:00 pm in the Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) Boardroom for an exciting, complimentary seminar providing a first-hand look at how Arizona educators are taking the lead in utilizing the unique innovations of the new Galileo Digital Curriculum Platform. The seminar, co-hosted by CUSD and ATI, is part of a continuing series bringing educators together to share insights about the integration of research, technology innovations, and educational practice to empower all stakeholders. The seminar will include presentations from CUSD and ATI as well as an “Arizona Round Table Discussion” including education leaders from Chandler Unified School District, Crane Elementary School District, and Maricopa Unified School District. Round table participants will discuss their reasons for adopting this new platform along with discussing their experiences, successes, and next steps.

During the seminar, ATI will provide an overview of the Galileo Digital Curriculum Platform which readily handles the District/Charter inclusion and modification of their existing and new curriculum content. Users have quick access through the platform to curriculum content consisting of Instructional Units defining curriculum scope and sequence and offering a variety of resources. Each Unit is designed to hold a series of online Instructional Dialogs enabling the development/delivery of instruction and assessment. Curriculums within the platform may include multimedia content, technology-enhanced lessons, and formative assessments. The platform, offered through Galileo for no additional cost, provides intuitive technology including search features as well as on-demand access to instruction and assessment resources such as those from ATI, EngageNY, and KHAN ACADEMY® supporting the integration of instruction and assessment as a natural part of the teaching and learning process.

The seminar will conclude with a questions and answers session. Light refreshments will be served.

Register today to join us for this enlightening seminar. 
Learn more  

Expansion of Technology Enhanced Items

To assist Assessment Technology Incorporated (ATI) district and charter school partners in preparing students for statewide assessments incorporating item types using online technology, ATI is continuing to expand our offering of  technology-enhanced (TE) items. ATI is producing TE items for use in secure district-wide assessments as well as content for formative uses that can be included in instructional materials, quizzes and class tests to allow students and instructors to become familiar with these new item types.

The item types available include

• multi-part items that engage students in supporting and explaining answers
• selectable text items that support close reading and analysis of text
• sequencing items that demonstrate knowledge of sequential and procedural elements
• short answer items that allow students to type in a response that is automatically scored
• observational items that enable teachers to score observed performances or demonstrated skills
• expanded selected-response items that measure students abilities to recognize multiple correct answers or approaches to solve a problem
• customized TE items that incorporate manipulation, graphing, grouping, audio components and other forms of interactivity including:
• interactive coordinate planes
• interactive linear and volume measurement
• interactive classifying
• interactive ordering
• interactive graphing and charts
• interactive labeling
• audio items for early grades
• Maze passage items
• dropdown editing

ATI TE item types include items modeled on released item examples, and innovative designs from our professional staff of experienced item writers. Our writing staff has added 14,000 TE items to the bank and continues to add 400 TE items per month to promote student proficiency with these item types.
For a demonstration of these item types please contact ATI Field Services.

New Teacher Dashboard Now Live, Admin Dashboard Coming Soon

All stakeholders have access from Galileo Dashboards to intervention tools that assist in improving student achievement. ATI is in the process of making a number of exciting enhancements to the Galileo K-12 application including to the Teacher Dashboard and Admin Dashboard (formerly the School Performance Dashboard). These enhancements benefit users by offering one-click accessibility, responsive design, efficiency, integration, smart technology, and convenience. 

Many educators are looking for a quick method to access enrichment and remediation activities. The new Teacher Dashboard, now available to all districts, makes it easier than ever for teachers to access actionable assessment information along with recommendations for student groupings, targeted standards for differentiated instruction, and links to standards-based instructional materials (e.g., Instructional Dialogs, materials from KHAN ACADEMY®). This can easily be done via recommendations in the Instruction Performance Tracker and the Intervention Alert Reports. As shown in the following screen shot, both reports are accessed via drill-downs from the Teacher Dashboard. 

View a brief tutorial covering the new Teacher Dashboard also access it and other videos from YouTube.
View a 30 minute webinar on Galileo's enhanced interfaces.

Teacher Dashboard - click to enlarge

Revisions to the Admin Dashboard are nearly complete and will be released soon. The Admin Dashboard supports the evaluation of student growth and achievement, along with intervention activities at the school- and district-level. The Admin Dashboard will include similar enhancements found in the Teacher Dashboard to help improve the ease-of-use and accessibility from a variety of devices. The following screen shot offers a peek inside the new Admin Dashboard. 

Admin Dashboard - click to enlarge

Contact a friendly field services coordinator for a demo or further information.