Welcome back, staff!  Throughout the 17-18 school year we will be studying and implementing the book Creating Cultures of Thinking by Ron Ritchhart.  A book study group has been created to meet once a month to study a chapter of the book.  This team will then implement our learning in our four buildings through monthly staff meetings.  The fits book club meeting will be held September 7th, 2017 at 3:30pm in the High School Trojan Center.   

If you would like to participate in the book study, please see your building principal.

A partial release of items from the spring 2017 Ohio State Mathematics Tests is now available in the Ohio’s State Test portal. These items give educators insight into the kinds of questions students experienced, and they are a useful tool to inform classroom instruction. Both teachers and parents may use this resource to help students know what to expect. 

Included with each item in this release are the associated learning standard(s) and the scoring rubrics. Examples of student responses also are available to illustrate actual work and the corresponding points earned on the student examples.  Click on the links below for each area.

• Grade 3 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 4 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 5 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 6 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 7 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 8 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Algebra 1 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Math 1 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Geometry Item Release Scoring Guide
• Math 2 Item Release Scoring Guide

Desmos Calculators
Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, Ohio’s State Tests will use Desmos as the online calculator. The Ohio version of the Desmos calculators are available in the test portal through the practice tests and as a direct link.  These are the same calculators students will have available to them during online testing. 
 
The calculators available for testing were modified with certain features disabled or removed. The modifications were made either because removed functions a) concerned content above the grade level of the test; or b) could have affected the tests’ ability to measure a student’s understanding of grade-level content in some areas of the standards.
 
Districts can still choose to allow students to use handheld calculators on state tests in addition to the calculator provided in the test platform. Find information about the recommended and allowable calculators for the mathematics tests at the links below.

Grades 3-8*

• Ohio Version of Desmos Scientific Calculator
• Guidance on Desmos Calculator for Grades 3-8
• Handheld Calculator Guidance for Grades 3-8

High School 

• Ohio Version of Desmos Graphing Calculator 
• Guidance on Desmos Calculator for High School 
• Handheld Calculator Guidance for High School ​

* Only students who qualify for a calculator as an accommodation per their IEP or 504 plan are permitted to use a calculator in Grades 3-5 and on Part 1 of the Grades 6 and 7 tests. 

Online Practice Tests Are Now Able To Be Scored
The half-length practice tests will now feature real-time item-scoring to allow a student immediate feedback on each item. The item score will show how many points the student earned for the response; how many points are possible for the item; and information about why the student’s response was correct or incorrect. The practice tests will not provide test scores (e.g., no scale score, no performance level) or item scoring information for test administrators. 

To obtain scores on half-length practice test items, users need to select the End Test icon on the top row of the screen. This icon only appears on screen when the user reaches the last question in the practice test session. Constructed response items are not eligible for scoring by computer. A scoring rubric is available in the Item Release Scoring Guide for each set of these practice items. For released constructed response items, educators can use the scoring rubrics as tools for providing feedback on written student responses. 

New Item Types Available for Online Tests
A pair of new item types, Inline Choice and Gap Match, are now available for online Ohio’s State Tests. These new item types will be eligible to appear as field test items during the 2017-2018 school year. Field test items do not count for or against a student’s overall score. To help teachers and students become familiar with these new item types, the practice test for each grade level or high school course feature an example of each new item type.
 

A video tutorial demonstrating the functionality of each new item type is available in the test portal. Students can access tutorial videos for each of the various item types, including the newly added Inline Choice and Gap Match item types through the test portal any time before or after testing. During testing, students can access the tutorial videos through the testing platform. 

• Inline Choice Tutorial Video (English) 
• Inline Choice Tutorial Video (Spanish)
• Gap Match Tutorial Video (English) 
• Gap Match Tutorial Video (Spanish)  

A partial release of items from the spring 2017 Ohio State English Language Arts Tests is now available in the Ohio’s State Test portal. These items give educators insight into the kinds of questions students experienced, and they are a useful tool to inform classroom instruction. Both teachers and parents may use this resource to help students know what to expect. 
 
Included with each item in this release are the associated learning standard(s) and the scoring rubrics. Examples of student responses also are available to illustrate actual work and the corresponding points earned on the student examples.  Click the links below for your specific area.
 

• Grade 3 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 4 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 5 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 6 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 7 Item Release Scoring Guide
• Grade 8 Item Release Scoring Guide
• ELA I Item Release Scoring Guide
• ELA II Item Release Scoring Guide

Online Practice Tests Are Now Able To Be ScoredThe half-length practice tests will now feature real-time item scoring to allow a student immediate feedback on each item. The item score will show how many points the student earned for the response, how many points are possible for the item, and information about why the student’s response was correct or incorrect. The practice tests will not provide test scores (e.g., no scale score, no performance level) or item scoring information for test administrators. 
 


To obtain scores on half-length practice test items, users need to select the End Test icon on the top row of the screen. This icon only appears on screen when the user reaches the last question in the practice test session. Constructed response items are not eligible for scoring by computer. A scoring rubric is available in the Item Release Scoring Guide for each set of these practice items. For released constructed response items, educators can use the scoring rubrics as tools for providing feedback on student responses.