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The Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS) is a performance assessment developed by Advanced Systems for Measurement in Education on contract with the Kentucky Department of Education. The creation of this test was mandated by the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990, which links school performance on standardized performance assessments to a system of rewards and sanctions. The Kentucky Instructional Results Information System is intended to be a broad criterion-referenced performance assessment rather than a traditional multiple choice achievement test. It was decided that no 192 Implementation and Performance in New American Schools previously developed assessment would fulfill these requirements; in order to develop the test and establish baseline performance for each school, the test was implemented for an interim period beginning in the 1991–1992 school year. |
The Kentucky Instructional Results Information System originally covered the following subject areas: mathematics, reading, science, social studies, and writing. Sections testing arts/humanities and living/vocational studies were added in 1995. The Kentucky Instructional Results Information System is mandatory for all Kentucky State students, with very few exemptions, in the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades (although most 12th grade testing was moved to the 11th grade in 1995). The exam is made up of three components: the Traditional Assessment, the Performance Event, and the Portfolio Assessment.
The Transitional Assessment includes both multiple choice and open-ended questions across all of the tested subject areas. Although the exam was primarily intended to be a performance assessment, it was deemed necessary to include multiple choice questions as a “safety net” in case the open-ended questions failed to meet technical standards. The state concluded that the open-ended questions were technically satisfactory and decided to eliminate the multiple choice questions in 1995 (in the long term the state hoped to eliminate the Transitional Assessment altogether and rely exclusively on the remaining components). However, this decision was reversed in 1997 and multiple choice questions were re-added due to their technical importance in the areas of content validity, reliability, and score equating. The Transitional Assessment has 12 equivalent forms, each of which contain both questions that are common to all forms and questions that are unique to the specific form. The writing portion of the Transitional Assessment is an exception to the above, with only 9 forms, where the student must respond to 1 of 2 writing prompts. While the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System is mandated in the 4th, 8th, and 11th grades, additional levels of the Transitional Assessment, known as the Continuous Assessment, are available for all grades if a school is interested in administering a school wide assessment.
The Performance Event requires each student to take part in a task that draws upon group and individual problem solving skills. Four performance events were developed in each content area. Students are given 50–60 minutes, depending on the grade, to complete the task. Description of Standardized Tests Used by Various Jurisdictions 193 The Portfolio Assessment requires each student to compile exemplary samples of his/her work into a folder throughout the school year. Originally, there was only a Portfolio Assessment in writing, but later a math portfolio was added. Originally, teachers graded their own student’s portfolios, but it was discovered that the student’s teacher gave significantly higher grades than did independent graders.
According to legislation, the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System was intended to be both a norm and criterion-referenced exam, but a norming has never been conducted. The tested curriculum was designed to gauge student performance across a wide variety of broadly defined educational goals; goals included specific content/skills requirements as well as the ability to complete certain cognitive processes. These goals were both developed by the State Board of Education and drawn from the criterion used in the National Assessment of Educational Progress
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