Twelve Critical Acronyms Everyone Should Know

API – Academic Performance Index – was created to measure the performance and progress of a school or district based on several factors that contribute to overall educational success.

AYP – Adequate Yearly Progress – is determined by the success or failure of an individual school or district in achieving the state defined performance benchmarks.

CRT – Criterion-referenced test – An assessment that allows its users to make score interpretations of a student’s performance in relation to a specified performance standard or criteria, rather than in comparison to the performances of other test-takers. 

*CRTs – Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests given in Grades 3 through 8 have been mistakenly nicknamed the CRTs when discussing state-mandated testing. 

DoK - Depth-of-Knowledge – (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) – Description and Indicators for each subject and grade level are located in the Test Specifications documents. 

EOIs – End-of Instruction Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests – are criterion-referenced tests given at the secondary level.  They include English II, Algebra I, U.S. History, and Biology I.  English III, Algebra II, and Geometry will be included beginning with the 2008 testing cycle.

NCLB – No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 – strengthens requirements for state assessments, accountability systems, and support for school improvement.  The law also establishes minimum qualifications for teachers and paraprofessionals.

OCCTs – Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests - are a series of tests that make up the Oklahoma School Testing program (OSTP) for the criterion-referenced Grade 3 through 8 and secondary level End-of-Instruction (EOI) tests.  We now refer to the state-mandated performance tests as the OCCT 3-8 and EOI tests.

* The purpose of the OCCTs is to obtain information about the performance of Oklahoma students to ensure they meet high standards and to evaluate the success of the core curriculum as presented in the Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS).

OPI – Oklahoma Performance Index - is a scaled score that places students into performance levels established for each subject and grade.  OPI scores are reported on a scale from 400 to 990.  A score of 700 indicates the student

*OPI scores, are also called scale scores, factor in the difficulty level of the test.  Scores for groups of students can be accurately compared from one year to the next using OPI scores. 

*OPI scores are useful for comparing student scores for the same grade and subject area from one year to the next.

*OPI scores cannot be used to accurately compare scores across grades (fourth grade to fifth grade for example), or to compare scores across subject areas.

OSTP – Oklahoma School Testing Program - requires that criterion-referenced tests be administered to students in Grades 3 through 8 and the secondary level, generally referred to as EOIs).  The tests are aligned to (PASS) Oklahoma’s Priority Academic Student Skills.

Performance Benchmarks – Performance Targets – Statewide timelines have been established for reading and math, both ending in the goal of 100 percent proficiency in 2013-2014.  The table below represents the reading and math performance targets for all student groups in all schools and districts in the coming years.

“Proficient” – represents a 700 or above OPI (Oklahoma Performance Index) which reflects the satisfactory and above performance levels.  For all subject areas and grade levels a score of 700 is the minimum score for placement in the Satisfactory performance level.

SOPIs – Standard/Objective Performance Index – also referred to as Item Analysis.  SOPI scores are given for individual student performance and group (grade and subject) performance.