North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)

Critical Component Practice Profile

critical component: Assessment

The core elements of assessment include: comprehensive and efficient, valid and reliable, and adequate capacity.

Assessment: comprehensive and efficient
The assessment system is balanced, culturally appropriate and includes multiple sources.
CC: A1 / Expected
Implementation / Acceptable
Variation / Unacceptable
Variation
District-wide/school-wide assessment system (behavior/social-emotional & academics) that is uniformly utilized across elementary and secondary settings and includes:
·  Universal screening
·  Progress monitoring (Discrete skills and general outcome measures)
·  Common formative assessment
·  Diagnostic/functional
·  Common Core benchmark assessments
·  Summative assessment data / Assessment system includes all of these areas but is not uniform across all schools within elementary and secondary settings. *District-wide data cannot be examined using same metric. / Assessment system lacks any one of these data sources.
District-wide/school-wide assessment system is designed to measure critical areas of literacy, math and behavior/social-emotional while eliminating redundancy of assessments and is uniformly utilized across elementary and secondary settings. / Assessment system includes all critical areas of literacy, math and behavior/social-emotional but is not uniform across all schools within elementary and secondary settings. District-wide data cannot be examined using same metric. / Redundancy in district-wide assessments (more than two measuring the same critical area) across critical areas of literacy, math and behavior/social-emotional.
District-wide assessment system is designed to disaggregate data by subgroups and is uniformly utilized across elementary and secondary settings. / Assessment system includes disaggregated data by subgroups but is not uniform across all schools within elementary and secondary settings. District-wide data cannot be examined using same metric. / District-wide assessment system does not disaggregate data by subgroups.
Assessment: Valid and ReliablE
CC: A2 / Expected
Implementation / Acceptable
Variation / Unacceptable
Variation
District-wide assessment tools meet the following standards:
●  Demonstrates technical adequacy for intended use across subgroups
●  Peer-reviewed (as appropriate)
A district-wide team (with psychometric training/skills) reviews technical adequacy. / Assessment tools demonstrate technical adequacy, but are not reviewed by a district-wide panel that has psychometric training/skills. / Assessments tools do not demonstrate technical adequacy.
When data are interpreted with norms, national and local norms (when appropriate) will be considered.
For norm-referenced or standardized assessments, the interpretation reference to the relevant normative group performance.
This does not include qualitative data that may be gathered for problem solving. / Standardized assessment tools are normed nationally but not locally. Assessment tools provide a criterion score (criterion-reference) but do not have a norm group for a performance reference. The criterion score has demonstrated predictive validity based on large-scale research. / Assessment tools have no norm group on which to base district, school and individual student performance or any type of criterion score that has demonstrable predictive validity.
A district-wide team will schedule on-going training, coaching and fidelity checks in the following areas of assessment:
●  Administration
●  Scoring and Inter-rater reliability (as appropriate)
●  Summarization
●  Interpretation / Select staff members are trained to administer, score and interpret as a team, and fidelity checks occur for each area of assessment (administration, scoring, summarization and interpretation).
Team members have achieved minimum criteria for inter-rater reliability with a team member who has psychometric training/skills (as appropriate). / The staff responsible for administering, scoring and interpreting assessments receives information but no formal training. No coaching or fidelity checks occur.
Formative assessment data are utilized for instructional decision making, not for teacher evaluation purposes. / The assessment tools are used for decision making to improve instruction, not for staff evaluation. / Assessment tools are being used for purposes other than problem solving. Data collected is used for teacher evaluation.
Assessment: Adequate Capacity for Assessment System
CC: A3 / Expected
Implementation / Acceptable
Variation / Unacceptable
Variation
A district-wide team documents each assessment tool and describes the purpose, utility, and people responsible for collecting, summarizing and analyzing each. / A district-wide team has aligned assessment tools with intended purposes, but has not clearly documented. / The district has not appropriately matched data sources with the intended purpose(s).
A district-wide team has established capacity for all schools to engage in universal screening and score assessments within an acceptable window of time (within two weeks or as defined by publisher). / All schools within the district are able to assess all students within an acceptable window of time, as outlined by the assessment guidelines, but the scoring and summarization are not complete by the end of that window (but is completed within three weeks of the original screening date). / Schools within the district assess only select students/student groups for universal screening due to insufficient capacity.
A district-wide team has developed a schedule for collecting, summarizing and analyzing district level data at the beginning of each school year. / A district-wide team is collecting, summarizing, and analyzing district level data, but has not clearly documented the assessment plan in a schedule. / District level assessment plans for collecting, summarizing, and analyzing district level data are not scheduled for the school year.
A district-wide team ensures behavioral & academic district level data are continuously collected, summarized, and analyzed to support problem solving for all assessment data collected. / A district-wide team collects, summarizes, and analyzes behavioral and academic district level data to support problem solving, but not at regularly occurring intervals or not for all assessment data collected. / District level data are collected but not summarized and analyzed or used for problem solving for the district.
A district-wide team ensures sufficient capacity to consistently administer and use information from diagnostic/functional assessments and/or processes for literacy, math and behavior/social-emotional skills. / A district-wide team has established limited capacity within the district to administer and use diagnostic and functional assessments and/or processes for literacy, math and behavior/social-emotional skills. / A district-wide team has not developed capacity to administer diagnostic and functional assessments and/or processes for literacy, math and behavior/social-emotional skills.
A district-wide team has ensured that every school includes team members who have been trained or coached about current best practices regarding progress monitoring (including the number of data points and fidelity) that can make decisions about progress monitoring for literacy, math and behavior/social-emotional skills. / A district-wide team has not established capacity to train team members at each school, but district supports are being provided while school capacity is being developed. / Neither school nor district capacity is being developed to support progress monitoring.
A district-wide team has established capacity at each school to support the effective use of progress monitoring data that includes the use of brief, repeatable and psychometrically sound measures that provide meaningful information as to the status of student progress in targeted areas. / A district-wide team has not established capacity at each school, but district supports are being provided while school capacity is being developed. / Neither school nor district capacity is being developed to support progress monitoring.
A district-wide team has established district level and school level capacity to summarize and interpret student progress monitoring data relative to both rate of improvement and overall level of performance.
The frequency of progress monitoring of learners receiving supplemental and intensive instruction in academics and/or behavior is documented, followed, and based upon research. / A district-wide team has not established capacity at each school, but district supports are being provided while school capacity is being developed. / Neither school nor district capacity is being developed to support graphic and clear depictions of student progress.

*District-wide should be interpreted as “school-wide” when being applied to a Charter School Setting.

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