Information Update Bulletin 03.04

August 2003

TO:	District Administrators, CESA Administrators, CCDEB Administrators, Directors of Special Education and Pupil Services, and Other Interested Parties
FROM:	Carolyn Stanford Taylor, Assistant State Superintendent Division for Learning Support: Equity and Advocacy
SUBJECT:	Guidelines for Complying with the Wisconsin Alternate Assessment for Students with Disabilities--Part 3

This bulletin is the third in a series of bulletins describing the guidelines for complying with the Wisconsin Alternate Assessment for Students with Disabilities (WAA). The first bulletin (Bulletin No. 02.03) described the WAA Participation Checklist. This checklist is a required document to be used by Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams when making decisions about a student's participation in the WAA. The second bulletin (Bulletin No. 02.07) described the WAA Rating Scale. This bulletin clarifies the changes made to the WAA Rating Scale for the 2003-04 school year.

Once the IEP team has decided the student will participate in the WAA, the WAA will be completed by an individual or individuals who have first-hand information of the student's IEP goals, objectives or benchmarks, educational curriculum, knowledge and skills. This will be completed during the months of September, October, and November until the close of the testing window or when testing has been completed in the school district.

The WAA is part of the Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS) and is designed to assess the educational performance of students with disabilities who cannot meaningfully participate in the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) even with accommodations. The WAA, which is a checklist completed by teachers, focuses on the knowledge and skills that are aligned with Wisconsin Model Academic Standards in reading, language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. These knowledge and skills are considered to be prerequisite to the majority of content assessed by the WKCE.

Changes for the 2003-04 school year are as follows:

• Cut scores have been established and now are being used to determine a student's overall level of performance in each of the five content areas.
• The names of the summary performance levels have been changed from PS Level 1 to PS Minimal (Level 1), PS Level 2 to PS Basic (Level 2), PS Level 3 to PS Proficient (Level 3), and PS Level 4 to PS Advanced (Level 4). These changes are designed to facilitate better communication about a student's level of functioning and to be more compatible with the results categories of the WKCE.
• The procedure for determining the reliability of the assessment has been streamlined so only the overall performance level decision is scrutinized by a second rater. Specifically, a second rater who knows the student now needs only to (1) review the evidence collected for IEP aligned items and examine the proficiency ratings for the aligned items, (2) examine the ratings for all other items, (3) double-check the accuracy of the Individualized Proficiency Total Score, and then (4) determine the appropriate Overall Performance Level. If the second rater's decision about the Overall Performance Level matches the first rater's decision or is within acceptable ranges, as defined by the WAA reliability chart, a Performance Level for a given content area can be reported. If the agreement between the two raters is unacceptable, then the disagreement must be resolved using another rater.
• For the 2003-04 school year, oral language will not be assessed. The Language Arts section will continue to include writing. Since writing is assessed on the Language Arts scale, it will be given the same PS Level as Language Arts on the Overall Performance Level Score Summary.
• The department will not require the district to retain the evidence collected as part of the assessment. The completed WAA Rating Scale must be retained for audit purposes pursuant to records law. For information about records, please see Information Update Bulletin No. 98.02 at http://dpi.wi.gov/sped/bulindex.html.

As in the past, the department will not send the WAA Rating Scale for each student participating in the WAA. It is the district's responsibility to copy a sufficient number of WAA Rating Scales for each student in fourth, eighth, and tenth grades who will be participating in the WAA. A copy of the WAA Rating Scale is attached for your use. Once completed, the prerequisite skill levels for each content area assessed will be entered on the back cover of the WKCE test book. This information will be sent along with all test books to CTB McGraw Hill. Reports on the results of the WAA will be sent to the district along with the reports of the WKCE.

The department will continue to provide training opportunities to assist educators, administrators, and parents in understanding how to conduct and use the results of the WAA. If your district has not been involved or scheduled for training, please contact your CESA Regional Services Network (RSN) Coordinator or CESA Assessment Coordinator for information. Finally, the WAA Participation Checklist, the updated WAA Rating Scale, the updated WAA PowerPoint Presentation, and an updated Frequently Asked Questions document are available on our website at: http://dpi.wi.gov/sped/assessmt.html.

Questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Special Education Team at (608)266-1781.

mks

Enclosure - [Editorial Note: The WAA Rating Scale enclosed with this bulletin is not the most recent version. It was revised in January 2005 to be used on a grade level basis. To access the grade-level rating scale, go to dpi.wi.gov/sped/assmt-waa.html.]

For questions about this information, contact Sandra A. Berndt (608) 266-1785

Last updated on 2/22/2008 1:21:23 PM