QualityCore^® Plays Role in National Initiative

ACT’s QualityCore is part of a national initiative to improve teaching and boost student progress.

Students from high schools across Ohio are participating in the Ohio Value-Added High Schools initiative. ACT’s QualityCore is the primary data source for the project.

Battelle for Kids, a national not-for-profit education organization based in Columbus, Ohio, has implemented QualityCore in its Ohio Value-Added High Schools (OVAHS) project, which is funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Tony Bagshaw

“Our goal is to develop and implement a model for transforming high schools that ensures all graduates are ready for college and careers,” said Tony Bagshaw, senior director, Battelle for Kids. “We’ll look at which schools and teachers are getting great gains and how they are doing it, and replicate those successful practices across Ohio and, hopefully, nationally.”

At the center of the initiative is value-added analysis, a statistical method that measures the impact districts, schools, and teachers have on the academic progress of individual students from year to year. Value-added analysis provides important diagnostic information that’s not available with traditional achievement reporting.

Achievement is measured by students’ performance at a single point in time, such as on a state test, and how well students perform against state standards and the bar established for proficiency. Progress is measured by how much growth students make over time, such as year to year. It compares students’ performance to their own prior testing performance.

By combining achievement and progress information, districts, schools, and teachers can have a more robust and comprehensive picture of their impact on student learning and effectiveness in raising student performance. “Value-added analysis allows them to evaluate the effects of their curriculum, instruction, programs, and practices on student achievement,” said Mark Hartman, director of high school projects, Battelle for Kids.

The primary data source for the OVAHS project is QualityCore, an instructional improvement program designed to help schools provide a rigorous education to all students by ensuring that core courses are focused on the skills essential for college and career readiness. QualityCore offers schools end-of-course assessments, research-based educator resources, and an aligned, formative item pool for customized classroom tests.

Mark Hartman

This past spring, the 36 high schools in the OVAHS project gave nine QualityCore end-of-course assessments: Algebra I, Algebra II, Precalculus, Geometry, Chemistry, Biology, and English 9, 10, and 11. They administered 62,000 exams throughout the project. Educators will measure students’ progress by comparing their scores on the QualityCore exams to scores they earned in similar courses in previous grades.

“With QualityCore, we saw the opportunity to create teacher-level, value-added reports,” said Hartman. “We already know from our past research that teachers matter most in student achievement, and this project will further affirm that fact.”

Getting data into the hands of counselors will be especially powerful, said Bagshaw. “Counselors will be able to share data with students, including their predicted ACT score, and advise them on what they need to do to stay or get on track to reach their goals.”

The other components of QualityCore—educator resources and formative item pools—help teachers align their course content to the rigor of the QualityCore assessments and determine if their students are progressing academically. Professional development opportunities are provided for principals, teachers, and counselors to learn how to interpret and use the value-added analysis data.

“The value-added data generated from the end-of-course exams and the learning supported by the use of QualityCore will equip Ohio educators with data they’ve never had before. Ultimately, our goal is to provide more opportunities for Ohio students—whether they choose to go to college or to enter the workforce upon graduation. This information will help educators confirm that students are ready,” said Bagshaw.

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