Empirical Alignment of Assessments to Standards: A New Direction for Kindergarten Entry

• In Event: Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Assessing Children's Physical, Language, and Cognitive Development and School Readiness

Abstract

This study provides results from a two-year alignment study of seven early learning assessment instruments to early learning standards in one state. The outcome was the creation of a menu of four tools from which districts can choose to implement at children’s entrance to kindergarten. The sample for this study included 1,868 student records from a combination of urban and rural districts in one upper midwestern state. A mixed method analysis was used to confirm validity of each instrument for its intended purpose including; (a) technical review of each tool using testing standards, (2) confirmatory factor anlaysis, (c) empirical alignment to standards and (d) relative difficulty of assessment items and standards.

Authors

• Megan Cox, Minnesota Department of Education

• Michael C. Rodriguez, University of Minnesota

• Katherine Edwards, Minnesota Department of Education