Skip to main content

FW: Upcoming OSPI Science Assessment Webinars

Register to participate

SPI Science

Upcoming Science Webinars


The Assessment Development office is hosting two webinars in January to support the release of the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS) Training Tests and the Test & Item Specifications documents. The webinars will be recorded and be available through your district test coordinator.

Date/Time: Wednesday, January 10, 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Title: How to Work with the WCAS Training Tests

Description: Walk through the new science training tests and learn important information for teachers and students to focus on as they use the training tests.

January 10th Registration

Date/Time: Wednesday, January 24, 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Title: Science Test and Item Specifications Release

Description: Review of information contained in the WCAS Test and Item Specifications documents.

January 24th Registration

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

The WCAS Training Tests are scheduled to go live on the WCAP Portal on Thursday, December 21 and the initial WCAS Test & Item Specifications documents are scheduled to be posted to the Science Assessment webpage by Friday, December 29.
This email was sent to kim.klinke@systemsbiology.org using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction · 600 Washington St. S.E. · Olympia, WA 98504
ovDelivery logo

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

OSPI Bulletin 065-23: Learning Standards Review Update

Summary:  This bulletin provides an update to the information about the learning standards review project addressed by Superintendent Reykdal’s letter to district superintendents dated February 14, 2023. It includes current information about the reviews of the Washington state learning standards for English/Language Arts, mathematics, and science. It also includes a timeline for the review process. Key Audiences:  Educational Service District Superintendents, School District Superintendents, School District Business Managers, School District Curriculum Directors OSPI's Bulletin re: Math, ELA, Science: [ PDF ] Science Updates: [ PDF ]
Read more

[STATE-LEVEL] ASSESSMENT SHOULD NOT DRIVE INSTRUCTION

Regional Science Coordinators are developing an online orientation class for the new Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS). We have involved OSPI’s Science Assessment lead, Dawn Cope and OSPI’s Director of K-12 Science, Ellen Ebert, in the process as well as Lois Sherwood from WSTA. In our first planning meeting, I wanted to hear the most important message from each person at the [virtual] table. Dawn Cope of the assessment department was the first to speak up and quite pointedly said, “assessment does not drive instruction.” That pretty much spoke for the rest of us. What does that mean for teachers in Washington State where we’ve spend the last 13 years writing “powerful classroom assessments” that mirrored the content and format of the WASL and the MSP? Assessment systems serve specific purposes . They are developed to provide specific kinds of data for those purposes. And an assessment developed at the state level to inform state-wide decisions does not l...
Read more

Three-Dimensional Nature of the new Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS)

The new science assessment does NOT privilege content above practice or crosscutting concepts. We have heard from two different parts of the region that someone who self-identifies as an NGSS-assessment-item-writer has returned to their district and erroneously reported to supervisors and colleagues that the new NGSS-aligned assessment’s (WCAS) items focus solely on one of the three dimension of NGSS (namely, the Disciplinary Core Ideas, most closely related to our previous notions of “content”). This is idea represents a serious misunderstanding that could derail a district’s transition efforts around NGSS. Not being an item-writer myself, I reached out to OSPI. Dawn Cope of OSPI’s Science Assessment Team responded with wonder that anyone could come away from item writing with that idea and, explained that all the training materials and the process used reflect the 3-dimensional nature of the NGSS. She shared all the training items for me to examine so I could try and see wher...
Read more