Elementary Mathematics Student Assessment: Measuring the Performance of Grade 1 and 2 Students in Counting, Word Problems, and Computation in Fall 2013

Abstract

A great many people were involved with the development, field-testing, data entry, data analysis, and reporting. Here we name some of the key players and briefly describe their roles, starting with the report coauthors. Robert Schoen wrote the test and item specifications, developed items, coordinated the external review, edited and proofed the final forms, and managed the scoring and interpreting of results. Mark LaVenia performed the data analysis for the unidimensional item-response theory models, factor analytic models, reliability estimates, and regression models. Charity Bauduin managed the reportwriting process. Kristy Farina served as the data manager and assisted with preparation of descriptive statistics for the present report. We would like to acknowledge the reviewers of early drafts of the EMSA tests and express our gratitude for their contributions of expertise. These reviewers include Thomas Carpenter, Victoria Jacobs, Walter Secada, Juli Dixon, and Ian Whitacre. Amanda Tazaz and Kristopher Childs managed the distribution and collection of tests and consent forms for students. Kristopher Childs and Juli Dixon managed the data entry and verification process. Anne Thistle provided valuable assistance with editing the manuscript. Casey Yu provided valuable assistance with laying out the style and format of the final version of the report. We are especially grateful to the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education for their support and to the students, parents, principals, district leaders, and teachers who agreed to participate in the study and contribute to advancing knowledge in mathematics education. Without them, this work is not possible.

Replicating the CGI Experiment in Diverse Environments: Effects on Grade 1 and 2 Student Mathematics Achievement in the First Program Year

“…The second stratum involved splitting the class by baseline test achievement level on the fall 2013 Elementary Mathematics Student Assessment (EMSA; Schoen, LaVenia, Bauduin, & Farina, 2016). Class rosters were divided into four subcategories based on gender and median achievement level: upper boy, lower boy, upper girl, lower girl.…”

“…Students with consent to participate completed a written, whole-class-administered mathematics test named the Fall 2013 Elementary Mathematics Student Assessment (EMSA; Schoen, LaVenia, Bauduin, & Farina, 2016) at the beginning of the 2013 14 school year. The purpose of the test was to permit examination of baseline equivalence of the students in treatment and comparison schools and to serve as a covariate in the statistical models estimating impact of the treatment and exploring potential moderators.…”

“…The tests were designed to be aligned with the learning expectations in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (NGA & CCSSO, 2010). The content and format of items and scales were reviewed by experts in mathematics and mathematics education (Schoen, LaVenia, Bauduin, & Farina, 2016).…”

Elementary Mathematics Student Assessment: Measuring the Performance of Grade 3, 4 and 5 Students in Number (Whole Numbers and Fractions), Operations, and Algebraic Thinking in Fall 2015

“…The conceptual framework for the tests are informed by theorized learning progressions in the domain of fractions (Empson & Levi, 2011;Kiearan, 1976;Siegler & Lortie-Forgues, 2015;Siegler & Pyke, 2013;Siegler, Thompson, & Schneider, 2011). The selection of items used on the Fall 2015 3-5 EMSA tests was informed by large-scale field tests of previous versions of the EMSA and assessment items adapted from versions provided in published literature (Baturo, 2004;Beckmann, 2005;Bright, Behr, Post, & Wachsmuth, 1988;Hackenberg, Norton, Wilkins, & Steffe, 2009;Lamon, 2005;Larson, 1980;Lewis & Perry, 2017;Massachusetts Department of Education, 2013;Pothier & Sawada, 1983;Saxe, Diakow, & Gearhart, 2013;Saxe, Kirby, Kang, Le, & Schneider, 2015;Schoen, LaVenia, Bauduin, & Farina, 2016a;2016b;Schoen, LaVenia, Champagne, Farina, & Tazaz, 2016;Schoen, Liu, Yang, & Paek, 2017).…”

Elementary Mathematics Student Assessment: Measuring the Performance of Grade K, 1, and 2 Students in Counting, Word Problems, and Computation in Fall 2015

“…The Fall 2015 K-2 EMSA was the result of an iterative process of development and feedback from a variety of experts. This test built on our work in the development and implementation of the fall 2013 and fall 2014 EMSA tests (Schoen, LaVenia, Bauduin, & Farina, 2016a;2016b) and the spring 2014 and spring 2015 Mathematics Performance and Cognition (MPAC) Interviews Schoen, LaVenia, Champagne, Farina, & Tazaz, 2016). The Fall 2015 K-2 EMSA has three major sections: Counting, Word Problems, and Computation.…”