Family & Community Adult Education Adult & Community Learning Services
Adult and Community Learning Services

January 25, 2007

Dear Program Directors and Practitioners,

First, thank you to all who have taken part in assessing students this year. While the process has become more routine, we know it continues to take time and careful attention on your part. It is so important that we continue to administer and score the standardized assessments correctly. If we are to maintain scores across the state that meaningfully represent our students' skills, then it is vital to make sure all administrators and scorers are following the same test protocols. Part of this process is ensuring that all REEP test scorers are recalibrated, and scoring consistently using the REEP rubric and anchor papers. All staff that score the REEP writing assessment need to recalibrate annually, and receive a certificate that they have gone through the recalibration process.

On February 16, eight new homework essays will be mailed to you. You will be asked to score the essays and return the essay score sheet to your SABES Regional Center by 4/30/07. If you do not return your homework by this time, you will need to re-take the REEP scoring training. Your Regional SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator will then review your work and send out a certificate and/or letter to you by May 31, 2007.

If you score the essays with 75% accuracy (6 out of 8 essays within one point of the actual score), your SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator will send you a certificate certifying you through March 31, 2008. If practitioners score less than 75% accuracy (5 out of 8 essays), your SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator will work with you on your essay scoring. If 4 essays or less are scored correctly, then you will need to re-take the REEP Scoring Training. You may not score until you re-take the training and again pass the REEP Scoring Homework essays.

Here are some reminders about the REEP policies. REEP Training is divided into two parts: 1) REEP Administration Training and 2) REEP Scoring Training. If you haven't been trained yet in the REEP and you plan to administer or score the test this fiscal year, you'll need to take both before you may use the test. Please look for a schedule of trainings at www.sabes.org; or call your SABES Regional Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator. If you have other questions about the REEP assessment, please refer to the FY07 Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual for the REEP, found at http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/assessment. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at janes@doe.mass.edu.

Happy New Year to all, and thank you for your continued hard work.

Anne Serino, Administrator
Jane Schwerdtfeger, Curriculum and Assessment Specialist