From Eleanor Hasse at NC DPI:
As you may have heard the Curriculum and School Reform Area at DPI has reorganized. Instructional Services and School Improvement have merged and then been divided into three divisions: Elementary under the direction of Jackie Colbert, Middle under the direction of Marvin Pittman and Secondary under the direction of Wandra Polk. The Secondary Mathematics and Science Section Chief is Everly Broadway. The Secondary consultants are Eleanor Hasse, Benita Tipton and another position is vacant. The Middle School Mathematics and Science Section Chief is Debora Sydnor; Consultants are Clara Stallings and Janet Bailey The Elementary School Science and Mathematics Section Chief is Carolyn Foxx; Science Consultants is Bonnie Curtis . Clara remains our contact for Science Safety and for the Presidential Awards.
We have also made major changes in our web pages please check out our sites at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/science/ and http://community.learnnc.org/dpi/science/. We continue to provide list serves for science supervisors and teachers – please e-mail one of the consultants at your grade level for more information.
Revision of the NC Science Standard Course of Study
At its meeting last October and again in May the State Board of Education made decisions that affected the implementation schedule of the new EOC tests based on the 2004 Science curriculum. The current implementation schedule is located at: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/science/scos/timeline/ and appears below (as of 9/15/05).
Timeline
| School Year | 2003-2004 | 2004-2005 | 2005-2006 | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | Presented to new curriculum to SBE (December) | Transition Year K-8; 9-12 still using 1999 curriculum Development of Support Materials |
Implementation Year for K-8 2004 curriculum; 9-12 still using 1999 curriculum | Monitoring K-8 Implementation 2004 curriculum 9-12 |
|
| Textbooks | Textbook Call (Spring 2004) Textbook Review (Summer 2004) |
Textbook Selection by Schools |
New Textbooks in Schools |
||
| EOG Testing | Item Writing and Editing | Item Tryouts¹ Grades 5 and 8 |
Field Test² EOG Grades 5 and 8 |
Pilot Test EOG Grades 5 and 8 |
New EOG Operational Testing at Grades 5 and 8 |
| EOC Testing | Current EOC Operational Testing aligned with the 1999 curriculum |
Current EOC Operational Testing aligned with the 1999 curriculum; Item Writing and Editing |
Current EOC Operational Testing aligned with the 1999 curriculum; Item Writing and Editing |
Statewide EOC Field Testing aligned with the 2004 curriculum Chemistry, Physical Science and Physics, Sample Field Testing for Biology. EOC Operational Testing for Biology ONLY aligned with the 1999 curriculum. |
New EOC Operational Testing aligned with the 2004 curriculum |
1Item tryouts – item tryouts will be treated as field tests to comply with state statutes regarding field testing in schools)
- item-based
- does not cover all objectives (science only covers those objectives that are testable and are common to both the old and new curricula.
- allows for "trying out" of new item types and formats (such as passage-based items, graphs and charts) and test formats.
- does not result in robust or generalizable statistical information that can be used to equate tests (item calibration)
- approximately 1,000 students per item
2Field Test
- form-based
- covers all objectives (looks just like the "real" test)
- final item and form calibration (information used for equating)
- get reliability and validity information for the whole test and the whole curriculum
- approximately 1,500 students per form
Current Issue | Archives | NCSTA
The Science
Reflector
Newsletter of the North Carolina Science Teachers Association
PO Box 1783, Salisbury, NC 28145
Elizabeth Snoke Harris, Editor