CAA Options: developing work samples for the Collection of

Evidence

CAA Options StaffWinter 2006-2007

What is a CAA?

A CAA is a Certificate of Academic Achievement. All students who want to graduate from high school in Washington State must earn a CAA. Most students will earn their CAA by passing all three of WASL tests: reading, writing, and mathematics. Some students will earn a CAA through a few different options. These options are alternatives to passing the WASL. Students may only access these options after they have failed the WASL twice. All of the options are just as rigorous as the WASL and are not an easier way to earn a CAA.

What are the CAA Options?

The WASL/GPA Comparison compares the student’s grades who did not meet standard on the WASL with the grades of other students who took the same courses and who did meet standard on the WASL. If the student not meeting standard has grades that meet or exceed the average grades of the other students, they will also meet the standard.

The Collection of Evidence is a set class work samples created by a student that shows the student’s ability on the same skills as the WASL.

The PSAT/SAT/ACT Mathematics Equivalency is demonstrating the ability to meet the math standard by obtaining a score on the mathematics component of the PSAT, ACT, or SAT that is equivalent to passing the WASL.

What is a Collection of Evidence?

A Collection of Evidence is a selection of student work in a specific content area that the student has gathered over the course of several months. It clearly demonstrates a breadth and depth of the WASL skills and knowledge in the content area. The student work is referred to as a set of “work samples” and each work sample is accompanied by a signed affidavit that it is the student’s work. The work samples are always written products in all of the content areas. They may be on-demand samples, independent samples, or classroom samples with limited teacher direction.

What is a work sample for the COE?

A classroom assignment

A special extended project

A joint assignment/project shared between two classes

Others…

What is not a work sample for the COE?

A group project where each student has contributed to the final product.

An independent piece of work that the teacher has never seen before.

A presentation such as artistic demonstration, athletic performance, or physical task.

What are the essential characteristics of a work sample?

Authentic to student’s lives and interests

Relevant for social, cultural, and contextual understanding

Accurate in terms of presenting information in a realistic framework

What are other components of work samples that are important?

They should demonstrate integrity. As a teacher, help students develop tasks that ask important questions.

They should be free from bias. Work samples should be constructed so all backgrounds provide contexts for fair demonstration of skills.

They should be valid. Make sure that work samples are aligned to the skills and knowledge in the state standards.

They should be reliable. If a student were to complete a work sample more than once, they should be able to demonstrate the same type of work each time.

How do I make my classroom assignments meet the content guidelines of the COE?

Create work samples using the COE templates for each content area. The template will guide you in selecting appropriate materials.

Modify and clarify existing classroom assignments in the language of questions, the expectations for the student work, and the form of the assessment outcome.

How do I make my classroom assignments meet the content guidelines of the COE?

Augment an existing assignment by adding elements that may be missing such as additional strands, targets, or checklist components

Extend an existing assignment by enlarging the task, making it more rich and complex in its expectations

Revisit an assignment that was not originally intended to be a work sample. Align the standards and the assessment format with content guidelines.

What are the steps to building a work sample?

Select the content and the skill you want to assess

Make sure that the content and the skill match the requirements of the content guidelines

Decide if you want to create a new work sample or modify, clarify, augment, extend, or revisit an old classroom assignment

What are the steps to building a work sample continued

Make sure that the content and skills match grade level skills, knowledge, and complexity

Use target/checklist language to state the question(s) or the prompts

Clearly state the criteria expected in the student response

What are the steps to building a work sample continued

Provide specific content-driven language to frame questions:

Text title, character names, overall themes (reading)

Topic, audience, purpose (writing) Context, scenario, tools (mathematics)

What are the steps to building a work sample continued

Specify “must have” student directions to demonstrate specific skills

Use text-based evidence to support ideas or claims within texts (reading)

Elaborate on ideas and use a variety of sentence lengths (writing)

Provide words, pictures, and/or diagrams to show your understanding (mathematics)

Are there different kinds of work samples?

On-demand: students complete a work sample in one class sitting supervised by a teacher

Modified: students complete a work sample that represents a combination of class work and independent work that may be an outgrowth of daily instruction and is supervised by a teacher

Independent: students complete a work sample that may be a larger project, in combination with another class, or a paper/project that is completed outside of class but is closely monitored with teacher supervision

How are work samples scored?

Sufficiency: each work sample must meet the requirements of the content guidelines. Each content area has specific types and numbers of work samples that must be present in the collection.

Proficiency: the collection overall is scored for proficiency (level of skill in respect to the WASL expectation) with scores generated for each strand in reading and mathematics and across the modes in writing.

Where do I get work samples?

Develop them for your specific classroom Work on a district or state committee to

write work samples Go to the CAA Options web page on the

OSPI website (www.k12.us.wa) and download reading, writing, and mathematics templates

Use the instructional modules in reading, writing, and mathematics as initial work samples that may need to be modified, clarified, augmented, extend or revisit in order to meet the requirements

Conclusions about work samples

Make them authentic, relevant, and accurate

Modify, clarify, augment, extend, and/or revisit classroom assignments to make new ones

Ensure grade-level appropriateness Use target/checklist language to frame

questions State specific criteria necessary for credit Address all required types of work

samples listed in the Content Guidelines