KDE says ORQ information attributed to Measured Progress is in error.

Last week KSN&C heard complaints from teachers that the process for scoring Open Response Questions (ORQ) was changing in midstream....and just weeks before administration of the CATS test.

Teachers claimed there was a disconnect between the instructions received from the Kentucky Department of Education and those from its testing vendor, Measured Progress.

Now, KDE says it's all a mistake and that they are tracking down and correcting the problem.

Apparently, some Grant County teachers recently went to a Measured Progress conference and brought back (or perhaps created?) a PowerPoint slide show titled "Measured_Progress_Conference[1].ppt." The slide show indicated that following KDE's instructions would actually be counter-productive to students scoring well - an obvious problem. That PowerPoint was distributed to teachers widely.

KDE Communications Director Lisa Gross told KSN&C today,

"We heard about this last week and began to look into it. Measured Progress says that its staff did not create the PowerPoint and doesn't know where it originated. The information in the PowerPoint file is incorrect and false."

On the final slide, the PowerPoint listed the following resources:

Julia Payne –Lewis, Measured Progress jlewis@measuredprogress.org

Marcia Tibbetts, Program Manager Measured Progress Mtibbetts@measuredprogress.org

But, it is not clear that they produced the slides. Gross went on to say,

"We and Measured Progress are trying to track down the source of the document. If we're able to do that, we'll work with the author(s) to correct the misinformation and discuss with the author(s) the mis-citing of sources that weren't involved in its creation."

KDE has agreed to keep KSN&C informed whenever the situation is resolved.

So whatever the situation...

...bad info from Measured Progress
...bad note-taking from conference attendees
...or something else

Teachers complaining about the issue seems to have had the beneficial effect of getting KDE and Measured Progress on the same page...and clarifying for all specifically how students will be scored on ORQs. Further KDE has indicated it will send new guidance to all district testing coordinators to resolve any misunderstandings.