Montana Alternative Student Testing Pilot Program

Welcome to the Montana Alternative Student Testing Pilot Program!

The OPI is now recruiting districts to join the pilot for the 2023-2024 School Year!

Grades 3-8 are invited to participate in ELA and Math through-year testing!

The OPI is seeking a Field Test Flexibility Waiver for the '23-'24 School year. According to US Department of Education (USED), a Field Test Flexibility waiver is a one-year waiver granted to state education agencies (SEAs) that are changing their assessment systems and want double-testing flexibility and identification flexibility. As required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the OPI must provide public notice and give an opportunity for public input on a waiver request. To submit public comment, please take this survey or email essainput@mt.gov.

Field Test Flexibility Waiver FAQ More Information

If you are interested in being a part of this groundbreaking assessment pilot, please email samantha.walsh@mt.gov or call 406-438-0523.

The Montana OPI is working to develop an improved assessment system that will accurately reflect the needs of our students, teachers, and administrators while providing useful flexibility in terms of test administration. The vision of the Montana Alternative Student Testing (MAST) Pilot is to implement “through year” assessments across the state that can eventually replace the traditional end-of-year state summative assessments and satisfy federal testing requirements.

The Through-Year Assessment design benefits students, teachers, parents, and administrators by providing actionable data at the beginning of the school year and by providing a meaningful model of student growth over the academic school year (i.e., with-in year so teachers can act as opposed to between years). Another goal for the design feature is to allow districts to flexibly align testing with local scope and sequence offering coherence with the taught curriculum.

Pilot Design, Development, and Delivery

About the MAST Pilot Program

Proposed Waiver for Field Testing Flexibility

Read the Waiver

Read the Cover Letter

Proposed federal waiver for field testing flexibility of state assessment requirements now available for public comment.

Dear Partners in Education,

The Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) is seeking public comment on a Field Test Flexibility waiver. As required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the OPI must provide public notice and give an opportunity for public input on a waiver request. According to US Department of Education (USED), a Field Test Flexibility waiver is a one-year waiver granted to state education agencies (SEAs) that are changing their assessment systems and want double-testing flexibility and identification flexibility.

Approval of this waiver will support OPI’s Montana Alternative Student Testing Pilot Program (MAST) that better equips educators with the data they need to personalize high-quality education for all students. This Field Test Flexibility waiver will eliminate an undue burden on students, teachers, and district leaders by preventing double-testing and ensuring identification flexibility. It will advance student academic achievement by enabling the OPI to design and develop a more balanced assessment system that centers around student learning and provides additional support for educators.

With approval, Montana would be the first state to gain approval for the reading/language arts and mathematics multiple state interim assessments that result in a single summative score that provide valid, reliable, and transparent information on student achievement. The OPI assures that an operational multiple state interim assessments will be administered statewide in grades 3 through 8 to all students who take the general reading/language arts and mathematics assessment during the 2024-2025 school year. Following the final Spring administration in 2025, standards-setting will occur. The results will be publicly reported, disaggregated by student groups, shared with parents and educators, and feed into the Federal accountability system.

The waivers will only be applicable to districts and schools participating in the MAST pilot program during the 2023-2024 school year, and parents will be notified of their child’s participation in the field test. Non-participating districts and schools will continue to administer the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC) for Grade 3-8 in Spring of 2024. Accountability provisions and reporting for non-participating districts and schools will not be changed.

Key Takeaways

To ensure students, teachers, and district leaders are not overburdened with double testing, OPI is submitting a field test flexibility waiver to the USED.
The OPI will ensure that all students in 3^rd to 8^th grade who do not take a field test in Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics will take the current SBAC assessment.
Precedent for the approval of these field-testing flexibility waivers was established under the No Child Left Behind Act by States transitioning to Smarter Balanced and PARCC assessments.
Parents of students in each school participating in the field test will be notified of the school’s participation, including by ensuring that the notification to parents includes a discussion of the implications of the school’s participation in the field test and a notification of whether the parents’ child will participate in the field test.
The waivers would allow the OPI and participating school districts to gather data to establish the validity and reliability of the field tests during the 2023-2024 school year, prior to publicly reporting student test results.
Schools that participate in the field test will maintain the federal school identification determined in Fall of 2023 based on data collected during the 2022-2023 (i.e., school participating in the field test will not be identified for support, or existed from support status, on the bases of data collected during the year of the field test-2023-2024).
OPI assures that an operational test will be administered during the 2024-2025 school year that, following standards setting, will result in data that can be publicly reported, disaggregated by student groups, shared with parents and educators, and feed into the Federal accountability, providing an opportunity for OPI, in partnership with New Meridian, to lead the nation in implementing a statewide innovative assessment system.

How can you find more information and provide public comment on the waiver?

View the Waiver: View Montana’s request for a field-testing flexibility waiver (PDF).
Complete a survey: You are invited to participate in a survey by April 28, 2023 using this survey link.
Provide your feedback: Submit written comments by April 28, 2023 to essainput@mt.gov.
Participate in a webinar: Provide input during a virtual webinar.

Below is a Timeline outlining the process with stakeholder involvement:

March 30, 2023: Initiate public comment, by sending email to stakeholders, opening a survey, and posting information on the OPI webpage with links to the draft Field-Testing Flexibility Waiver and a FAQ.

April 2023: Consultation with the Governor’s office

April 12, 2023: Assessment Site Testing Coordinator Webinar, 3:30pm-4:00pm

April 12, 2023: Webinar 1 for public input, 4:15 pm-5:00pm

April 18, 2023: Discussion with Education Advocates

April 19, 2023: Webinar 2 for public input, 4:00pm to 5:00pm

April 25, 2023: Webinar 3 for response to public input, 4:00pm to 5:00pm

April 28, 2023: Public comment and survey deadline

May 2, 2023: Final Waiver prepared and submitted to the USED.

Webinar-Zoom Links:

Date	Time	Zoom Link
April 12th	4:00pm-5:00pm	Join Zoom Meeting https://mt-gov.zoom.us/j/89288940615?pwd=azlhNlRPcWcvZTJEQ3QxcGcwL21QUT09 Meeting ID: 892 8894 0615 Password: 327331 Dial by Telephone +1 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 892 8894 0615 Password: 327331 Find your local number: https://mt-gov.zoom.us/u/kdxeuDiDFR
April 19th	4:00pm-5:00pm	Join Zoom Meeting https://mt-gov.zoom.us/j/86928184793?pwd=VXFONWJsU1AvMnoxSll6Vm83VUVyQT09 Meeting ID: 869 2818 4793 Password: 603745 Dial by Telephone +1 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 869 2818 4793 Password: 603745 Find your local number: https://mt-gov.zoom.us/u/kd60xZPiyf
April 25th	4:00pm-5:00pm	Join Zoom Meeting https://mt-gov.zoom.us/j/87294940952?pwd=Rnk0SE1jeU1SckZUYXp1SFpGbXN4QT09 Meeting ID: 872 9494 0952 Password: 553760 Dial by Telephone +1 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 872 9494 0952 Password: 553760 Find your local number: https://mt-gov.zoom.us/u/ks2sYpQcp

Please send feedback, input, and questions to ESSAinput@mt.gov

MAST Pilot ToolKit

Resources

Sample Score Report

Score Report Interpretation Guide

Testing Pathways

Feedback Sessions

Window 2 Feedback Session: February 22, 2023 @ 3:30 p.m.

Slide Deck

Watch the Recording

Window 1 Feedback Session: December 14, 2022 @ 1:00 p.m.

Agenda

Watch the Recording

Training Materials

Sessions 1
Session 2
- Recording
- Slide Deck
- Tip Sheet

Install Guides and Supported Systems

Standards and Manuals:

Support Contacts:

Platform and Technical Questions:
- KITE Support Desk: (855) 277-9752
  - Hours during 2-week live administrations: 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. MST
  - Hours year-round: 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. MST
- kite-support@ku.ed
Questions about content or program:
- New Meridian: opipilot@newmeridiancorp.org

Testing Windows:

Testing Window #1: November 7-18, 2022
Testing Window #2: January 17-31, 2023
Testing Window #3: March 6 - 17 24, 2023
Testing Window #4: April 17-28, 2023

Pilot Design, Development, and Delivery

The MAST Pilot Program has developed pathways to reform the traditional testing system while preserving local control and ensuring that the federally mandated summative assessments can both provide flexibility and meaningful, instructionally relevant data.

Stakeholder Engagement

The State of Montana and the OPI are highly invested in stakeholder engagement. The serendipitous alignment of goals with Education First, New Meridian, and the Federal Grant system has created a team of brilliant education specialists who are all aligned in improving the assessment system in our great State.

The OPI has worked with Education First and New Meridian to seek funding to support the MAST Pilot Program.
The OPI is working with Education First, New Meridian, and the Center for Assessment to convene multiple stakeholder groups to engage in meaningful and timely consultation on "Through-Year Assessments".

Stakeholder input is critical to the development of the "Through-Year Assessments" system. It is the duty and responsibility of the OPI to seek public input as the OPI exists to serve the Montana Community. With that in mind, the State of Montana contracted the Center for Assessment to develop a Theory of Action through input from Montana administrators, teachers, students, parents, and other community leaders. Visit the Theory of Action Math and ELA Task Force Google Site for more information.

The Montana OPI received letters of support in recognition of these efforts from:

OPI Priorities

Re-imagine the educational system to help each student reach their full educational potential.

Support meaningful innovation in educational assessment through statewide assessments that are closer to the student and teacher and measure student growth over the academic year (or within a year) to drive interventions and accelerate student learning.

Create a system that is local-led not state driven.

Empower districts to determine what tools are best to measure student learning.
Allow districts to identify assessments that best serve their students [on an individual level] and help educators drive necessary supports and interventions.
Grant local flexibility to provide more opportunities to focus on learning.

Create a formative system structured to continuously improve teaching and learning and to inform education policy [ARM 10.56.101(2)].

Provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate knowledge and skills.
Yield actionable feedback during instruction to help adjust ongoing teaching and learning strategies and improve students’ attainment of curricular learning goals.
Allow students to have ownership and autonomy in their learning.

Leverage what’s already in place to serve learning and teaching needs and fulfill state and federal reporting and accountability requirements.

Provide an integrated approach to meeting both classroom learning needs and school and state-level information needs [ARM 10.56.101(2)].

Yield data that is actionable and timely to serve teaching and learning needs [ARM 10.56.101(2)].

Provide meaningful and transparent information on learning to students, parents, educators, and principals to understand and address the specific academic needs of students [34 CFR 200.8(a)(1)(ii)].
Provide parents and teachers information in an understandable format as soon as practicable after the assessment is given to ensure they have the best information to improve outcomes.

Permit data collection that is closest to the classroom [student and teacher] to inform teaching and learning.

Aggregate data up from 3 critical points in time across the school year [e.g., fall-winter-spring].
Accurately measure grade-level proficiency and progress within the academic year.
Ensure multiple measures of proficiency so that no single data point serves as an indicator of student success.

Ensure the assessments are time-limited to balance instructional time and the need to gather information about student learning.

Districts are overburdened with assessments that don’t yield actionable data, whereas, the “through-year” model is more aligned to the data points that educators require to apply supports and interventions that can drive student learning.

Maintain a commitment to ensuring all students are provided with high-quality access to educational services and needs.

Data must support the mission of serving all students and directing resources where they are most needed.

Why Change the Current System?

The Montana OPI is working to develop an improved assessment system that will accurately reflect the needs of our students, teachers, and administrators while providing useful flexibility in terms of administration. The OPI will utilize a new assessment model that supports “Through-Year Assessment” design. That is, rather than a single end-of-year assessment, the test will be broken up over the course of the academic year.

A “Through-Year Assessment” design benefits students, teachers, parents, and administrators by providing actionable data at the beginning of the school year and by providing a meaningful model of student growth over the academic school year.

SY2022-2023: Grades 5 and 7

New Meridian will implement the MAST Pilot Program starting in the summer of 2022. New Meridian will assist the OPI with piloting the “Through Year Assessment” in Grades 5 and 7 during the 2022-2023 school year.

This means the OPI will continue to use Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment for the SY2022-2023. It is the OPI’s responsibility to maintain the end-of-year state summative assessment that meets federal requirements until the OPI can demonstrate to the U.S. Department of Education that the system can be fully operationalized across all tested grades, students, and Montana schools.

Funding

This ambitious initiative will be supported by multiple funding sources, including a private grant from Education First that is supporting the first phase of development. The federal Competitive Grants for State Assessments (CGSA) funds awarded to the OPI will put key delivery mechanisms in place, build educator capacity, and accelerate the timeline toward statewide implementation.

In September 2022, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the Montana Office of Public Instruction the Competitive Grants for State Assessments (CGSA) program. The purpose of this program is to enhance the quality of assessment instruments and assessment systems used by States for measuring the academic achievement of elementary and secondary school students. It is authorized by section 1203(b)(1) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).

The Montana grant application focuses on:

Evaluating student academic achievement through the development of comprehensive academic assessment instruments (such as performance and technology-based academic assessments, computer adaptive assessments, projects, or extended performance task assessments) that emphasize the mastery of standards and aligned competencies in a competency-based education model.