GSEG I: PAC6 Planning Project

In 2006, the Pacific Assessment Consortium (PAC6) Project was funded through the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs as one of the consortia General Supervision Enhancement Grant (GSEG) projects. Facilitated by the University of Guam Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service (Guam CEDDERS), the PAC6 project was designed for the Pacific Basin entities of the U.S. Territory of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Territory of Guam, and the three Freely Associated States of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau to develop individual jurisdiction plans for developing, enhancing, or redesigning each participating entity’s comprehensive system of state assessments, including alternate assessments.

The following activities were implemented to assist individual jurisdictions in meeting
the project outcomes.

May 18-19, 2006 – Realizing an Inclusive Assessment System.

July 6-8, 2006 – Enhancing Local Capacity for an
Inclusive Assessment System

January 8-12, 2007 – Building Local Capacity for an
Inclusive Assessment System

February - April 2007 - On-Site Technical Assistance and Training

GSEG II: PAC6 Implementation Projects

In 2007, on behalf of the PAC6, Guam CEDDERS received one-year IDEA General Supervision Enhancement Grants to facilitate six individual jurisdiction implementation projects to support the critical “next steps” identified in each entity’s completed Pacific Basin Self-Assessment. The project goals include the development of alternate academic achievement standards through a stakeholder process to articulate and clarify the linkage of the alternate academic achievement standards to grade-level content standards. The projects provided technical support for the pilot implementation of an alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards for each entity’s Spring 2007 assessment to improve the reporting of participation and performance data for measuring achievement of students with significant cognitive disabilities. In Summer 2007, a regional institute was held to review the evidence gathered from the pilot implementation for reporting. With over 80 participants from the six Pacific Basin jurisdictions, the development of individual entity rubrics, scoring, and standard setting were completed to improve accuracy in reporting 2006-2007 student data on alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards. With an anticipated project ending date of December 2007, each entity will have articulated and clarified their alternate academic achievement standards.

The following activities were implemented to assist individual jurisdictions in meeting
the project outcomes.

July 16-21, 2007 - Regional Assessment Institute #1

September - November, 2007 – On-Site Technical Assistance and Training

GSEG II: Regional Assessment Institute #2 – The PAC6 Recipe for Success!

February-May 2008 - On-Site Technical Assistance and Training

GSEG III: The PACIFIC Project

In September 2007, Guam CEDDERS was awarded a 3-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support the full implementation of high quality alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards for students with significant cognitive disabilities in the six Pacific Basin entities.

The PACIFIC Project, which stands for Pacific Assessment Consortium Implementing Fully Innovative Change, continues the regional commitment of the Pacific Assessment Consortium (PAC6) established in 2005 to address both the common and unique needs of each entity in implementing an inclusive assessment system. The PACIFIC Project’s overall outcome is to improve local capacity to report and analyze participation and performance data of students with significant cognitive disabilities on alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards (AA-AAS) to inform critical changes in assessment,
curriculum, and instruction.

The following activities were implemented to assist individual jurisdictions in meeting
the project outcomes.

August 4-8, 2008 GSEG III: Regional Assessment Institute #1-
The PAC6 Journey

September - December 2008 - On-Site Technical Assistance and Training

GSEG III: Regional “Cadre” Training Strands, February 16-18, 2009