DIAS Report March 2002

Summary of the DIAS Project - March 1, 2002

This is the third year of the DIAS project (Documentation of Indiana's Academic Standards). A two year pilot project was completed June 30, 2001. During the pilot, a core group of twenty-two stakeholders from thirteen Indiana Special Education Planning Districts met quarterly with the Purdue team to discuss issues associated with the current Indiana state-wide assessment for K-12 students. The stakeholders group was comprised of directors of special education, curriculum specialists, general education and special education teachers.

The themes of the state and federal regulations that influenced direction were:
1.) All schools must be accountable for student learning.
2.) Teachers must teach from state approved standards.
3.) All students must be included in state-wide assessments.
4.) Students must show competence with 9th grade standards in English/language arts and math in order to receive an Indiana high school diploma.

During the pilot a total of ninety-one high school teachers, representing each of the thirteen planning districts, were trained on an initial computer program that allowed the rating of student progress on the Indiana English/language arts and math standards.

Experience during the two-year pilot provided:
1.) Belief and goal statements that gave the DIAS project focus and direction
2.) A rating rubric that offered teachers a meaningful way to rate a student's academic progress
3.) A database framework for academic standards and indicators that could be used to include all of the Indiana adopted academic standards
4.) An expanded model of a standards-based assessment system that could be useful and available to all Indiana teachers
5.) A conclusion that a computer program installed on individual
teacher's computers is impractical for wide scale distribution

The focus of this year is the development of DIAS 2000, Indiana's Standards-Based Assessment System. Through a contract with Purdue University, Roeing Corporation of Lafayette is developing the web-based application. DIAS 2000 will be freely available to all Indiana teachers, with initial distribution expected during May, 2002.

Current efforts of the DIAS team also include dissemination of information regarding DIAS 2000 to decision makers in the private and public school community. All Indiana school superintendents recently received a letter describing the project and many have expressed interest. Presentations have been given at state-wide conferences and individual school districts, with favorable response.

Mary Jo Sparrow, Ph.D.
DIAS Project Director