WIDA-ACCESS Student Growth in 2021 An Update to the New Hampshire TAC Damian Betebenner Center for Assessment New Hampshire TAC August 10th, 2021

Background • The Center for Assessment has calculated student growth percentiles and student growth targets for WIDA-ACCESS in New Hampshire since 2018. • Due to small numbers of students taking WIDA-ACCESS in middle and high school grades, analyses performed have been both cohort and baseline referenced. • Baseline SGP growth norms were based upon multi-state WIDA-ACCESS data. • New Hampshire accountability uses student growth targets to determine whether students are on track to reach English Language Proficiency (WIDA- ACCESS Level 4.5) within 5 years. • The Center for Assessment currently works with 8 states on calculating growth for WIDA-ACCESS assessments. New Hampshire WIDA-ACCESS Growth 2

Student Growth Calculations in 2020 • Unlike New Hampshire’s state summative SAS assessment, WIDA- ACCESS was administered in late winter 2020 before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. • States received accountability waivers due to the suspension of state summative testing. Accountability waivers applied to ELP results as well. • Growth analyses were conducted as usual in August 2020. New Hampshire WIDA-ACCESS Growth 3

Student Growth Calculations in 2021 • WIDA-ACCESS administration occurred in later winter 2021. • Due to the pandemic, states received accountability waivers for 2020-2021. • New Hampshire intends to go forward with the calculation of growth as it normally would. • Because the administration of WIDA-ACCESS has been without interruption across years and no evidence has thus far emerged of testing anomalies in 2021 Methods of analysis will be consistent with previous years. • However, due to the pandemic, New Hampshire may want to consider supplemental analyses with their data beyond normal accountability metrics. New Hampshire WIDA-ACCESS Growth 4

Baseline SGP growth norms • There are numerous indications that student learning was impeded due to numerous factors associated with the pandemic including: • Remote education for some or all of the previous year. • Socio-emotional, financial, or physical impacts due to the pandemic on students, families, and schools. • One benefit of baseline growth norms is that the immediately allow the state to see to what extent student learning has slowed over the last year. • Historical (i.e., 2020 median SGPs) will be close to 50. Decreases observed in 2021 will, in general, be an indication on how much learning has slowed leading to achievement decreases. • These decreases will, in turn, lead to higher targets. New Hampshire WIDA-ACCESS Growth 5

WIDA-ACCESS Results for 2020/2021 GRADE Median Achievement Level Median SGP Baseline Growth New Hampshire WIDA-ACCESS Growth 6

Summary of Results • Initial SGP growth analyses of WIDA-ACCESS data indicates larger impacts for elementary grade students, moderate impacts for middle school students, and minor to no impact for high school students. • These results are consistent with what has been observed in other states. • Though not analyzed here, presentation at NCSA by WIDA suggest drops in achievement are driven by scores on the speaking portion of the test. New Hampshire WIDA-ACCESS Growth 7

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WIDA-ACCESS Student Growth in 2021: An Update to the New Hampshire TAC — New Hampshire Department of Education, August 10, 2021.

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