Last Updated on Thursday, May 03, 2012 at 10:35 AM
Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), enacted in the 2009 Kentucky General Assembly, requires a new public school assessment program beginning in the 2011-12 school year. The legislation allowed, with approval by the Kentucky Board of Education, an end-of-course (EOC) assessment program at the high school level.
Kentucky has completed the state-required procurement process and ACT, Inc. has been awarded the contract to provide EOC assessments for the 2011-12 school year. Assessments for English II, Algebra II, Biology and US History have been purchased as part of ACT’s QualityCore® program. The program is syllabus-driven and will include curriculum and instruction support materials. QualityCore® has been developed based on research in high-performing classrooms that focus on the essential standards for college and career readiness.
Instructions to access the instructional support materials for the four EOC courses will be shared with districts and schools in the coming weeks.
The EOC assessments will be administered throughout the year as students earn credit in each course. In addition to the EOC assessments, Kentucky students in grades 10 and 11 will also complete writing assessments provided by NCS Pearson.
More information and details regarding EOC assessments are available on this page and from the Kentucky QualityCore website.
Link to Sample EOC items
EOC FAQ - v 2 (last update 9/26/2011)
EOC FAQ - v 3 (Added 3/27/2012)
Kentucky QualityCore DAC Manual:
2011-2012 Kentucky QC DAC Guide - Web Ver
2011-2012 Kentucky QC DAC Guide - Print Ver
2011-2012 ACT Statewide Assessments Manual:
(EXPLORE, PLAN, ACT, QualityCore and COMPASS)
2011-2012 KY ACT DAC Guide - Web Ver
2011-2012 KY ACT DAC Guide - Print Ver
User Manuals
The seven manuals for administering the QualityCore® assessments can be accessed at the Kentucky specific QualityCore® website at: Kentucky's QualityCore
Multiple-Choice/Multiple-Choice Manuals:
· Test Supervisor’s Manual End-of-Course Assessment (Paper/Pencil National Manual)
· Room Supervisor’s Manual End-of-Course Assessment (Paper/Pencil National Manual)
· Online User’s Guide (Computer Based Testing)
Constructed-Response Manuals:
· Supervisor’s Manual End-of-Course Assessment Kentucky Constructed-Response Section (Kentucky Specific Manual)
· Room Supervisor’s Manual End-of-Course Assessment Kentucky Constructed-Response Section (Kentucky Specific Manual)
Instructions for Accommodated Testing Manual
QualityCore® DAC/BAC Manual
The manuals for the Multiple-Choice/Multiple-Choice sessions are national manuals. The national manuals have directions for administering one Multiple-Choice and one Constructed-Response, as well as two Multiple-Choice sessions. Kentucky purchased TWO Multiple-Choice sessions and one Constructed-Response session. Directions for Multiple-Choice/Multiple-Choice sessions should be followed in these national manuals. The manuals for the Constructed-Response session are Kentucky specific.
Educator Resources
ACT’s QualityCore® is a research-based system designed to help schools better ensure all students are prepared for college and career training. The Educator Resources listed below will be available to Kentucky educators for English II, Algebra II, Biology and U.S. History as part of the state’s purchase. Access to these Educator Resources will require DAC action. KDE is working with ACT to develop the process to allow access to these online resources.
Educator’s Guide: Practical information on how all the Educator's Resources are intended to be used. It includes activities to guide instructors in comparing their current instructional materials with the QualityCore® materials, which reflect a data-based, proven approach to rigorous instruction.
Getting Started with QualityCore®: A self-paced CD that introduces the vision and product component of QualityCore® through exploration and suggested group interactions and activities.
Course Objectives/Standards: Enable educators to align school curricula with the essential knowledge and skills students need to be prepared for postsecondary education or workforce training programs.
Course Description and Syllabus: Describes the pedagogical strategies that make a course rigorous, defines course content, and sets forth classroom policies that encourage learning.
Rigor and Relevance Template: A tool used to analyze existing assignments for rigor and relevance.
Course Outline: Suggests a sequence for a yearlong course so that all course objectives will be covered.
End-of-Course Test Blueprint: Describes the thinking skills and content that are measured by questions in the end-of-course assessment, so that curricula and interim assessments may be aligned with the essential skills that will be measured.
Instructional Unit Plans: Provides the topics and selected course objectives for each unit included in the course.
Guidelines for Developing Instructional Units: Provides a step-by-step process for designing instruction for specific learning goals, student needs, student characteristics, and learning contexts.
Formative Item Pool: Includes 225 multiple-choice and 25 constructed-response formative items, keyed to course objectives and depth of knowledge levels that you may use to develop quizzes and other interim assessment tools.
Benchmark Assessments: Four to six assessments that focus on course specific themes, which are aligned with course objectives, and contain items from the formative item pool.
Sample Unit: Illustrates how the course objectives are connected to instruction and can be delivered in the classroom. Teachers may use as-is, or as a model to assess the quality of existing units, or as a way to develop new instructional units.