| The
cut score is established |
After
the test is given, several groups of teachers
(for instance, Language Arts Literacy teachers for the LAL test) are
given large piles of tests to review, based on the rubrics which are
set out in the test specifications.
The teachers are asked to put the tests into three piles which they
judge to be partially proficient, proficient or advanced proficient.
Information
about the scores and the piles are recorded that evening by the official
scorers.
The
next day, these same tests are mixed up again, and given to another
group of teachers. The process is repeated, and then again at least
one other day. By the end of three or four days, it is possible
to establish a cut score which
divides the partially proficient from the proficient.
Let's pretend that
the cut score for LAL in 2000 is 29. |
| The
cut score is related to the scale score |
Once
the cut score for proficiency is established (at 29 for the year 2000,
in this case), then this score is now made
equivalent to the 200 proficiency scale score.
NOTE: If the
cut score for LAL in 2001 was found to be 27, then 27 would be equivalent
to the scale score of 200.
The
cut score of 29 is now equivalent to the scale score, or proficiency
level, of 200. |
| Finding
the mean for the entire content area |
Once
the cut score is established for the entire content area (we are using
29 for LAL for the year 2000) then a mean
for each content area can be found.
So
- all the papers from around the state which score a
total of 29 in LAL are collected together.
And
-- the total content area mean for the entire mathematics test was
found to be 22.5. |
| The
means for the clusters of each content area |
The
LAL total score is, of course, made up of a reading score and a writing
score.
First,
all the writing scores (for those with
the 29 for the total LAL content area) are added up, and
a mean is found. You can see that on Monisha's form, the mean
for writing (for all the students) is 10.1.
For
reading, it was found to be 18.9.
Math
has four content clusters. Can you see the JPMs for each on the Cluster
Scores page?
|
| Establishing
the Just Proficient Mean |
Because these
individual means are found for all of the
students that made the cut score, they are named the Just
Proficient Means. In
this case, the means 10.1 and 18.9 are the Just Proficient Means (JPMs)
for writing and for reading. The JPM for the entire
content area of LAL is 29.0.
Since
there
is a different cut score or
each test administration year (for
instance, it could have been 27 in 2001) there
is also a different JPM for each content cluster for each year. |