A primary goal of South Carolina’s new state educational accountability model, or the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), is to increase the percentage of high school graduates who are college and career ready and who have no need for English and math remediation as they pursue higher education.
To ensure South Carolina assessments represent true measures of college and career readiness, many year-end state assessments have undergone extensive changes to increase rigor, including the End-of-Course (EOC) tests taken upon completion of Algebra I and English I.
However, college and career preparation and even those readiness assessments are not limited to high school students.
All Aiken County students in grades three through eight take a year-end assessment in math and English. Students in grades four, six and eight take the SC PASS assessment in science, while those in grades five and seven take the Social Studies SC PASS assessment. Parent and Teacher Conferences will be held next week in all Aiken County schools, and during these meetings, families will receive a new SC READY score report displaying two new metrics to help track a student’s path towards college and career readiness. The new metrics measure a student’s Lexile and Quantile ranges.
The Lexile score measures a student’s reading ability, while a Quantile score measures a child’s readiness for mathematics instruction. Each of these measures allow growth monitoring in reading and math from elementary school through high school, ensuring that students are on a trajectory to college and career readiness by the time they graduate.
LEXILE
A Lexile score allows educators to match students with a text (or book) best aligned with their reading ability. Lexile measures also help teachers differentiate instruction and monitor growth in reading by putting students on the path to success in school, and for college and career readiness.
The Lexile measure ranges from Beginning Reader (BR) to a score of 2000 and helps ensure comprehension. For example, if a student’s Lexile measure is 650 and they are reading a text within a Lexile range of 650, that student should then comprehend a vast majority of the text. To access reading lists that align with your student’s Lexile level, visit Lexile online at https://fab.lexile.com/.
QUANTILE
The Quantile score tells educators exactly which math skills and concepts a student is comfortable with, giving the student, teachers and parents a powerful tool at school and at home. Parents can match their child with new skills and concepts and follow their progress in learning mathematics. Each South Carolina mathematics standard has a corresponding Quantile measure, or Quantile Skill and Concept (QSC). As the difficulty of the skill increases, so does the Quantile measure. A Quantile measure ranges from Emerging Mathematician (EM) to over 1600. A Quantile score of 1030 is an appropriate readiness level for Algebra l, and a Quantile of 1350 to 1400 represents College and Career readiness.
For optimal learning and growth, a child should practice mathematics within a Quantile range of 50Q above and 50Q below his or her Quantile measure. Parents may visit https://math-tools.quantiles.com/math-at-home/ and enter their child’s Quantile score range for materials and activities matching their student’s specific ability level and learning goals.
WHAT TO EXPECT AT PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES
In Aiken County, students currently in grades four through eight will receive a Lexile and Quantile range on the Individual Student Report (ISR) summarizing their results on the SC Ready assessments. Additionally, students in grades two through nine also take Reading and Math Inventory assessments each fall, winter and spring to monitor their progress and growth in these two critical areas.
“We want each student and parent to know their Lexile (reading) and Quantile (math) score,” the District’s Director of Accountability and Assessment Kate Olin commented. “We strongly believe that when parents and students are equipped with information and resources to support learning, that they will take ownership of their own education progress.”
“‘Know it and grow it,’” Olin continued.
For additional information on both the Lexile and Quantile measurements, please visit the Quantile and Lexile areas of the District website at http://acpsd.net/OAA
EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT (ESSA): WHAT IS IT?
The state of South Carolina finalized a new state educational accountability model. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into federal law on December 10, 2015, and will be fully implemented in every state during the 2017-18 academic year.
The Every Student Succeeds Act replaces the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and enhances the authority of the state and school district while reducing the overall role of the federal government. The South Carolina Department of Education submitted the state’s ESSA plan for federal review in September of this year. The South Carolina ESSA plan covers a wide range of areas, including student testing, accountability measures for each school, teacher quality, kindergarten readiness, early-childhood education and College and Career readiness.
COLLEGE AND CAREER READY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
As defined in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the state of South Carolina offers nine ways a student can demonstrate college or career readiness. Each graduating student must meet the criteria for one or more of the nine indicators below to be considered college or career ready prior to graduation.
There are five ways a student may demonstrate college readiness.
- Obtain a composite score of 20 on the ACT test; a 1020 on the SAT test.
- Score a three or higher on AP exams in English, Math, Science or Social Studies or an AP Capstone course.
- Complete at least six (6) credit hours in dual enrollment courses in an English or mathematics course or STEM course with a grade of C or higher.
- Score a four or higher on an IB assessment.
There are four ways a student may demonstrate career readiness.
- Earn a Silver level or higher WorkKeys certificate.
- Complete a sequence of three to four Career and Technical Education (CATE) courses in one of 15 different career clusters.
- Obtain a score of 31 or higher in the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), used by the Department of Defense to determine general aptitudes required for military service.
- Complete a registered apprenticeship through ApprenticeshipSC.
LINK TO DISTRICT PRESS RELEASE: 2017 PR NEW LEXILE QUANTILE METRICS