End of Grade Testing & Thinking Skills

North Carolina provides national leadership in addressing the issue of higher order thinking skills. An end of grade testing program provides on-going feedback on the state's success in building this activity into the activities of every classroom. Several sections from the state's pamphlet on their testing program are included below. The five levels of higher order thinking skills are built in to every content area at every grade level, including computer literacy strands.

NORTH CAROLINA END-OF-GRADE TESTING PROGRAM (p.1)
End-of-Grade Open-Ended Testing (p.3)

Source: North Carolina End-of-Grade Testing Program pamphlet. (1992-93). Testing Section, Division of Accountability Services, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

If you have questions or suggestions about this file, contact me at the email address below.

Houghton@wcuvax1.wcu.edu

NORTH CAROLINA END-OF-GRADE TESTING PROGRAM (p.1)

This booklet provides parents, educators, administrators, and supervisors with background information on the open-ended and multiple choice tests, explanation of scoring and reporting, sample scoring guide for selected released sample items, and results of selected field test items. The new student reports of performance on the End-of-Grade Tests are included as well.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE END-OF-GRADE TESTS

During this decade and for many decades to come, North Carolina students will need to move far beyond the mastery of basic skills to the mastery of higher level skills. The curriculum and tests used in the past were designed before technology reshaped the world. A global marketplace has emerged, and only those individuals that are adequately prepared will be successful.

The term "higher level skills" refers to the thinking and problem solving strategies that enable people to access, sort, and digest enormous amounts of information. It refers to the skills required to solve complex problems and to make informed choices and decisions. It also refers to advanced communication skills that enable individuals to express and share what they know and to work well with others. (Refer to Appendix A for information regarding higher level thinking skills.)

The revised Standard Course of Study is the state-adopted curriculum requested by the General Assembly that defines what children are expected to know and do at every grade level. With its close connection to national curricula and to standards in other industrialized nations, the Standard Course of Study is designed to help students compete in a changing, complex world.

The new End-of Grade Tests are closely aligned to the higher standards of North Carolina's Standard Course of Study and reflect national standards for student performance and the educational requirements in other industrialized nations. The tests also place increased emphasis on higher level thinking and application skills that move students beyond knowledge and recall to application and problem-solving.

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End-of-Grade Open-Ended Testing (p.3)

In May, 1991, the Department of Public Instruction field tested approximately six hundred open-ended items each in reading, mathematics, and social studies. The items were field tested in grades three through eight to be used as a part of the End-ofGrade Tests that replaced the California Achievement Tests this year.

The field-test items were written by advisory gorups composed of teachers, administrators, university representatives, North Carolina State Department of Education Curriculum Specialists from each of the particular content areas and representatives from the Division of Accountability Services. Alternative assessments were sampled from other states, such as Massachusetts and Maine. The advisory groups reviewed items before field testing occurred.

After the field test the advisory groups met, established standards, and developed general and specific scoring rubrics for some of the items. A rubric is the standard used for scoring items. General rubrics for the reading, math, and social studies open-ended items are located in Appendix B of this booklet. These rubrics and sample (anchor) papers were used to train readers when the student responses were scored. The rubrics developed to score the items and the anchor papers chosen to demonstrate a particular score point were representative of the standards set in reading, mathematics, and social studies.

The following is a brief outline of what may be expected in the open-ended test items:

Open-ended test questions tend to be broader, requiring integration of knowledge and/or skills from more than one curricular goal, objective, strand, or discipline.
Open-ended test questions tend to focus on higher-level thinking skills rather than recall and acquisition of facts. They tend to require analysis, explanation, interpretation, evaluation, or comparison and contrast.
Open-ended test questions require students to write out their thoughts rather than choose the correct answer from among several choice.
Some open-ended test questions are repeated across grade levels so that the development of thinking and analytic skills can be evaluated.
Most open-ended test questions require responses that truly are open, i.e., several different student responses may be correct with the quality of the response judged by student explanations.

This section of the booklet contains the curriculum skills and general rubrics for the open-ended reading, math, and social studies test items. Released open-ended items, sample responses, and scores are located in Appendix B. This booklet does not contain any scores from the science open-ended items since they are not completely developed. The entire End-of-Grade testing program is scheduled for full implementation in 1994.

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Houghton@wcuvax1.wcu.edu