MI-Access Performance Level Descriptors

Standard Setting for English Language Arts and Mathematics

Standard setting is the methodology used to define levels of achievement or proficiency and the cut-scores corresponding to those levels. For MI-Access, this process helped to determine the cut scores that separate the reported performance levels of “Emerging Toward the Performance Standard”, “Attained the Performance Standard,” and “Surpassed the Performance Standard”.

A standard setting process was completed for MI-Access ELA and mathematics in 2017 and for science and social studies in 2015. This process included over 140 educators from across the state of Michigan. The process involved the use of performance level descriptors (PLDs).  Organized by reported performance levels (emerging, attained surpassed), the PLDs describe what a student at each level should be able to do relative to the content standards being measured.