Questions From the Field - National Catholic Educational Association

Looking at the NCEA ACRE Literacy Terms for Level One and Level Two, I noticed a difference in what is on your list and what is covered by our current text. Did you prepare your materials using a specific set of books? I also would like to know if you have a more specific breakdown, such as by grade level, of what the children should be learning.

The NCEA ACRE religious literacy terms are cumulative, so what you see listed for Level 2 includes Level 1, and Level 3 includes terms from all three levels. The terms are related to the blueprint, key concepts and actual assessment questions.

We did not use any religious textbook publisher's language as a guide for crafting these terms as each one has slight differences. We have rehabilitated some of the classic terminology that the bishops have been asking even the publishers to use. The terminology list is another tool for catechists to use in ensuring that the key concepts are covered using classical language. Questions of terminology come up when you do the curriculum alignment review - Appendix "C". Depending on the religion textbook series that you are using, you will have to make the connections and teach students classical synonyms for the contemporary language.

In September 2001 we launched a revised edition now called NCEA ACRE - Assessment of Catechesis/Religious Education that includes revised question booklets, new answer sheets, and both revised and new reports. The tool assesses 5th grade at Level 1, 8th or 9th grade at Level 2, and 11th or 12th grade at Level 3. The previous edition was dated 1992.

Why did you change the name of the student religious education assessment from ACRE (Assessment of Catholic Religious Education) to NCEA ACRE (Assessment of Catechesis/Religious Education)?

"Catechesis" is the ancient term for "formation in faith." By adding NCEA before the acronym ACRE we retain the tool's Catholic identity and identify its source, i.e., National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA).

In the recent past, religious education has been used synonymously with catechesis and sometimes differently from Catholic education. So, while some educators may not be accustomed to identifying what they do as "catechesis," the decision to use catechesis/religious education in the title of ACRE allows NCEA to retain the well-known acronym.

NCEA will provide standards-based reports for the NCEA ACRE faith knowledge section only. Performance standards specify the level of skill or competency (advanced, proficient, in need of improvement) that a diocese, local site, or individual must demonstrate. Using these enhanced NCEA ACRE reports, administrators, teachers, catechists, parents, and even students themselves will be able to determine the faith knowledge demonstrated. This also allows faith leaders to determine the effectiveness of a religion program in fostering growth in faith knowledge.

The purpose of NCEA ACRE is to evaluate the effectiveness of a religion program. A religion program in its totality includes the printed curriculum used in a teaching-learning session, plus formative experiences in and with the faith community, for example, Sunday Liturgy. To evaluate the effectiveness of student learning based on your religion program, you need to assess the students who are the beneficiaries of the teaching sessions. Then, with NCEA ACRE reports in hand, school principals, DREs, religion teachers, and catechists are able to evaluate not only the local curriculum content, but also the teaching strategies used to deliver that curriculum. NCEA ACRE data reports also shed light on those faith formation elements that are not the exclusive domain of the school or parish religion program, for example, physically getting students to the sacraments of penance and Sunday Liturgy, etc.

The NCEA ACRE content specifications were selected by a national Blueprint Committee and reviewed by catechetical scholars, practitioners, publishers, and bishops. The contents represent the core essentials that all students in faith formation should know. They are based on the catechetical tradition, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and recent Church documents that guide catechesis. NCEA ACRE questions and answer choices could change year after year and still be based on the same content specifications that guide your curriculum selection.

Yes, if you are a religious education leader in a diocesan office or the person in charge of a religious education program in a Catholic school or parish, you may obtain sample materials. To request samples, contact either NCEA (800 711-6232) or Computerized Assessments and Learning (CAL), NCEA's outsourcer for filling orders, scoring and providing reports, at 1-866-406-3850 or http://ncea.caltesting.org/.

You can order the NCEA ACRE student assessment materials at any time of the year from NCEA's outsourcer for order fulfillment, scoring, and reporting: Computerized Assessments and Learning, (CAL) in Lawrence, Kansas. Call toll-free 1-866-406-3850 or order on-line at http://ncea.caltesting.org/. Click here to view and print the brochure and order form.

You can administer the assessment any time you wish, either to accommodate a nine month academic calendar year or a twelve month religious education year. Keep in mind that the students should have been taught the material before being assessed.

Every year a new group of 5th, 8th, 9th, 11th, and 12th graders enters a religion class in a Catholic school or parish program. When you assess a 5th grade class with NCEA ACRE Level 1 in 2008, you get a base line on how well you are delivering a solid religion program. By assessing that same group with NCEA ACRE Level II in 2011 when they are in the eighth grade, you are able to track your program's strengths or weaknesses. It will be important to note changes in class members, catechists, and curriculum, etc., when evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your program.

When a local site skips several years, a problem emerges about how to detect whether new strategies are effective. Each year presents a new audience and a new environment that affect learning. If you are going to use NCEA ACRE results as they are designed to be used (primarily to discover the strengths and weaknesses of your religion program), it is preferable to create a "base line" with each new group every year, and then track that group at the appointed intervals with the next level of ACRE. If your budget does not allow this, then you might try to use ACRE every three years, so that you track the same group of children in 5^th, 8^th and 11^th grades.

Please, NEVER TEACH THE TEST or expose students to the actual NCEA ACRE questions and answer choices as a means of preparing them to perform well. That would be the "mortal sin" of assessment - a BIG NO NO!!

There is a difference between "teaching THE test" and "teaching TO THE test." (We prefer the word assessment rather than the word test, however.) Teaching to the test means you are aware of the NCEA ACRE content specifications. We encourage that. In fact, we direct you to use "Appendix C" (pp. 43-48 of the Interpretation Guide) with the entire faculty in a process designed to help you determine how well your religion curriculum fits the NCEA ACRE content specifications. These specifications can be found in "Appendix B: NCEA ACRE Domains, Student Objectives, and Elaborated Key Concepts” (pp. 39-42 of the Interpretation Guide). If your curriculum covers what the specifications cover, then you will be teaching "to the test," and that is OK as long as you do not teach the actual questions.

Ideally, all sites should start within the same year, at about the same time. This is the only way to get a comprehensive diocesan picture. However, I am aware that budget limitations can get in the way of the ideal. Don't allow the ideal to be the enemy of the good, however. If you need to limit the student audience for assessment, even though that is NOT what you really want to do, then at least select those to be assessed in a true random fashion so you don't intentionally skew the results. It would be very inappropriate to select only those sites or students that are likely to produce "high scores." That defeats the purpose of using NCEA ACRE, which is to discover the true strengths and weaknesses of your program.

About an hour. But, remember, NCEA ACRE is not a "timed test" and you have some options in administering it. You can break up the assessment into two forty-five minute sessions as described in the NCEA ACRE Administrative Guide. Time needed will vary according to audience and circumstance. Some students are more "test wise" than others and can affix answers in the bubble sheet faster. Some are more nervous at the prospect of a formal assessment and may re-read the statements more than is necessary, or use up time erasing answer choices that they inadvertently placed in the wrong bubble. It really is up to the person in the room who administers NCEA ACRE to give clear directions, enough time to do the practice question, and reassurance designed to allay student fears.

Students who are challenged in any way may need more time. That is not a problem. Make sure they have a quiet place to work and provide a monitor. The monitor may not help a student with the answers, but can pronounce difficult words, or read NCEA ACRE to a student for whom English is a second language, who is blind, or who has a physical disability that prevents the student from filling in the answer bubble sheet personally.

Absolutely! We have even provided instructions and an answer key in "Appendix D" to help you add up to twenty locally created questions for the knowledge section. When your students respond to the local questions on the same NCEA ACRE bubble answer sheet, you receive a computer-generated report to help you analyze that data alongside the other standard NCEA ACRE reports.

Having their students answer questions about faith causes anxiety for some faith leaders. They wonder if they will look inadequate as instructors if the children do poorly. This should not be a concern. In answering questions, we learn, encounter new ideas, and discover the art of reflection. Asking and answering questions is part of the teaching-learning process. Questions help shape the direction our thoughts take. Coming up with an answer forces us to think.

Depending on the grade, NCEA ACRE contains about 50 to 60 questions and open-ended statements about core faith concepts and Catholic faith values and practices. With NCEA ACRE, students show teachers what they know. With NCEA ACRE reports, teachers, in turn, are in a better position to know which concepts upon which to build and which ones need to be re-taught or re-thought.