Aspen students meet expectations on test
The Aspen Times
The 2014-15 results are in for the Aspen School District’s new standardized testing, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessment.
Though Aspen School District Assistant Superintendent Tom Heald said students’ assessment results met the school district’s expectations, he also said, “This was our baseline year, meaning we don’t have anything to compare the results against.”
Aspen School District transitioned to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers from the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program earlier this year.
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers is working to develop a modern assessment that replaces state standardized tests.
Colorado was one of 11 states to participate in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers during the 2014-15 academic year.
Arkansas, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio and Rhode Island also have transitioned to the national assessment.
Heald said the goal of a national assessment versus statewide testing is to be able to compare Colorado with other states using a similar assessment.
“Prior to last year, states couldn’t be compared to states across the country because they were all using different assessments,” Heald said.
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers consists of two assessments — a performance-based assessment in March and an end-of-year assessment in May — and tests students on English, language arts and math.
Heald said the assessment ranks students’ college level of proficiency using three categories: approach, meet and exceed.
The Aspen School District exceeded both state and national benchmarks for college readiness in 13 of the 16 areas that the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career assesses.
Heald defined “college readiness” as a student’s ability to score a letter grade of a C or higher in a freshman-level college math, English or language arts course.
Unlike Aspen School District’s previous paper assessments, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers is online, which Heald said presented a number of technical issues, including difficulty logging on to the test and accessing its drop-down menus tabs.
Heald said the school district needs a few more years to determine the accuracy of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessment.
