# Presentation: 109296

## Using Crosswalks for Alignment – Pros and Cons

- Consortia Conference Call
- March 15, 2005
- Regie Stites
-  SRI International

## What is a Crosswalk?

- A crosswalk (or content mapping) is a relatively simple procedure that typically involves:
- Content analysis
- Side-by-side comparison
- A crosswalk _is not_ all there is to alignment

## 4 Uses for Crosswalks

*Compare standards and standards *
*New standards to old standards*
*Your standards to other states’ standards*
*Compare standards and curriculum*
*Content standards to curriculum frameworks*
*Compare standards to assessments*
*Content standards to assessment content*
*Compare standards or assessments to external benchmarks*
*Adult ed standards to K-12 or vocational skill standards*
*Adult ed standards to proficiency or certification standards*

## Some Pros

- Crosswalks should be used to ...
- Clearly and simply communicate connections
- Crosswalks are useful for explaining and training on standards
- Reveal gaps and suggest filler
- Crosswalks are useful for writing and revising standards
- Support an argument for face validity
- Crosswalks are useful for getting buy-in on standards

## Some Cons

- Crosswalks should _not_ be used to ...
- Link standards and assessments
- Crosswalks are not good for calibrating standards to test content
- Write standards to match test content
- This is not good practice no matter how it is done
- Support an argument for external validity
- Crosswalks are too superficial to support external validity

## Some Examples

- Aligning standards with standards** **
- Iowa crosswalk of employability standards and career development standards
- Aligning curriculum content with standards
- Ohio crosswalk of state Reading standard with ABLE program curricular materials and activities
- Aligning assessment content with standards
- Massachusetts crosswalk of ESOL Curriculum with ESOL Standardized Tests

## Iowa Crosswalk of Employability Skills and Career Development Standards

|  | Employability Standard | Career Development Standards |
| --- | --- | --- |
|  | Standard 1
Uses technology and other tools for information processing and for productivity | Standard VI
Skills to understand, evaluate, and interpret career information
Standard VIII
Understanding how societal needs and functions influence the nature and structure of work |
|  | 
Standard 2
Applies principles of resource management
 | 
Standard IX
Skills to make decisions |

- Excerpted from Iowa Department of Education School to Work Initiative
- http://www.state.ia.us/educate/ecese/stw/pdf/crosswalk.pdf

## Aligning Curriculum to Ohio’s Revised Standard for Reading

|  | Reading Standard/Benchmarks
(LEVEL 1) | 
Curriculum  |
| --- | --- | --- |
|  | 
2.1.3    Use decoding skills (e.g., phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge, word recognition) to read. | 1. Laubach Way to Reading- skill book, check ups.
2  SRA 
3  MCP Phonics Workbook, Level D – units 1, 2 & 3
4  Laubach Tapes #1  |
|  | 
2.1.4    Use context clues (e.g., word
            order) to read text (i.e., words,
            sentences, ideas).  | 1  Laubach Way to Reading – Skill book 1
2  Laubach Tapes and Crosswords (puzzles)
3  SRA Reading
4  Lifelong Reading – Basic Course – Book 1  |

- Excerpted from O-PAS - Gallia-Jackson-Vinton JVSD ABLE Program
- http://literacy.kent.edu/opas/gjv.html

## W = test item measures the standard WELLM = test item measures the standard MODERATELY WELLI = test item measures the standard INDIRECTLY (i.e., test item is intended to measure something else, but in so doing, measures this learning standard as well)

| Strands | STANDARDS    
Second Language Learners will demonstrate the ability to...  | BEST  Core Section Sample (Listening Comp. And Speaking )  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Speaking
&
Listening | Express themselves orally in English in a variety of contexts for varied  (e.g. , social, functional, self-expressive) purposes | 17 W: 
8 “social” (#1-7,11)
6 “self-expressive”  (#8, 12, 39, 40, 41, 44)
3 “functional”  (#17, 22, 24)  |
|  | 
Use strategies to clarify understanding | 
1 W (#43) 1M (#18)  |

- Excerpted from Dori McCormack’s (2002) *Report on ESOL Curriculum Framework*
* **and ESOL Standardized Tests* - MADOE

## Webb’s Criteria

**Categorical concurrence**
- Extent to which assessment items address same content as standards
**Depth-of-knowledge consistency**
- Extent to which cognitive complexity of responses to assessment tasks matches what learners should know and be able to do as stated in the standard
**Range-of-knowledge correspondence**
- Proportion of indicators of standards covered by assessment items
**Balance of representation**
- Extent to which assessment items are distributed evenly across indicators

## Some Resources

- Norman L. Webb (1999). *Alignment of Science and Mathematical Standards in Four States*
- 	 _[http://www.ccsso.org/content/pdfs/AlignmentPaper.pdf](http://www.ccsso.org/content/pdfs/AlignmentPaper.pdf)_
- CCSSO Alignment Analysis Web page
- 	_[http://www.ccsso.org/Projects/Alignment_Analysis/](http://www.ccsso.org/Projects/Alignment_Analysis/)_
- Ohio Performance and Accountability System (O-PAS), Adult Basic and Literacy Education
- 	_[http://literacy.kent.edu/opas/](http://literacy.kent.edu/opas/)_
- Career and Life Skills Standards Crosswalk (Hawaii Department of Education)
- 	_[http://wetserver.net/doe/website/livefiles/crosswalk_training_37.pdf](http://wetserver.net/doe/website/livefiles/crosswalk_training_37.pdf)_