Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS)

Important Clas-E Certification Information and Score Key

April 26, 2011 Dear Program Director and Clas-E Test Administrator: Enclosed please find the scoring rationale for the TABE Clas-E Certification that Clas-E Test Administrators completed in February. Test administrators, including those who passed the certification, please take a moment to go over the rationale and note the reasons for the scores. As I noted in my last memo dated March 23, there are some scores for the certification packet that are not clear-cut. As a result six of the 20 items have both a "preferred" and an "acceptable" score. (The exact items can be found at the end of this letter.) Because our collective use of the Clas-E is relatively new and because of the challenges previously mentioned, for this certification, either the preferred or the acceptable score will be considered correct. These six responses are acceptable, however, for this recertification scoring round only. For future scoring of student assessments, the scores listed as "preferred" should guide your understanding of the Clas-E rubric and the Clas-E benchmark samples. Two additional items were scored as correct if either of two scores were given. Given the policy for two scorers to score within one point of each other, either score is acceptable for these items. In this initial TABE CLAS-E recertification process, there were some instances where the field overwhelmingly scored within one point of the ACLS/SABES-determined score. In light of the field's scoring patterns, ACLS and the SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinators re-examined the rubric criteria indicators and the "Notes to the Scorer." ACLS/SABES also closely examined the benchmark samples (e.g., anchor samples), the sample item response scores, and the rationales used in the publisher's Writing Guide. Based on this analysis, it was determined that the present scoring system was the most fair, and that an emphasis should be placed on all test administrators using this rationale as an additional aid in continuing to score as accurately as possible. At this point, scorers can best accomplish this by also placing greater emphasis on the Clas-E rubric and "Notes to the Scorer." While the benchmark samples are certainly part of the scoring process and must be used, some of the benchmark samples do not appear to be authentic ESOL student responses, and therefore can be somewhat misleading and not always in agreement with the criteria indicators of the rubrics. If you have any questions, please address them to Jane Schwerdtfeger, at janes@doe.mass.edu. Thank you for your continued attention to this matter. With Literacy in Mind.
Anne Serino
ABE State Director Enclosure: Clas-E Certification Packet Scoring Rationale Note: Those items in the Clas-E certification packet with preferred/acceptable scores are in Level 1, items 3 and 5; Level 2, items 2 and 5; Level 3, item 5 and level 4, item 5. Those items in the Clas-E certification packet with either/or scores are seen in Level 4, items 1 and 3.

Last Updated: April 27, 2011