PIE was a proof-of-concept assessment partnership between Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS) at the University of Kansas and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The goal of the PIE project was to demonstrate the utility of through-year instructionally embedded assessments for both informing instructional decisions and reporting summative results. A learning pathway was developed for each learning standard so that teachers could identify precisely where students are in their learning journey. There are two data sets containing student responses to a learning pathway aligned to the 5.RA.A.1b learning standard. The first data set includes responses from the Spring 2024 field test, and the second includes responses from the 2024–2025 pilot administration.
Format
pie_ft_data is a tibble containing PIE
response data from the initial field test with 172 rows and 16 variables.
student: Respondent identifier.00592-88063: Dichotomous item responses to the 16 PIE items for the 5.RA.A.1b learning pathway.
pie_ft_qmatrix is a tibble that
identifies which levels of the learning pathway are measured by each PIE
item. The PIE field test utilized 15 items to measure the 3 levels in the
5.RA.A.1b pathway. The pie_ft_qmatrix correspondingly is
made up of 15 rows and 4 variables.
task: Item identifier, corresponds to00592-88063inpie_ft_data.L1,L2, andL2: Dichotomous indicator for whether or not the level is measured by each item. A value of1indicates the level is measured by the item and a value of0indicates the level is not measured by the item.
pie_pilot_data is a tibble containing PIE
response data from the pilot administration with 2,370 rows and 19 variables.
student: Respondent identifier.time: The time point of the assessment (baseline,midway,end_of_unit).00592-63088: Dichotomous item responses to the PIE items administered during the pilot for the 5.RA.A.1b learning pathway.
pie_pilot_qmatrix is a tibble that
identifies which levels of the learning pathway are measured by each PIE
item. The PIE pilot utilized 17 items to measure the 3 levels in the
5.RA.A.1b pathway. The pie_pilot_qmatrix correspondingly is
made up of 17 rows and 4 variables.
task: Item identifier, corresponds to00592-63088inpie_pilot_data.L1,L2, andL2: Dichotomous indicator for whether or not the level is measured by each item. A value of1indicates the level is measured by the item and a value of0indicates the level is not measured by the item.
Details
Learning Pathway
The 5.RA.A.1b is a grade 5 mathematics standard in the Relationships and Algebraic Thinking (RA) domain. Specifically, this standard comes from Cluster A (Represent and analyze patterns and relationships), and represents Expectation 1 (Investigate the relationship between two numeric patterns), sub-expectation B (Translate two numeric patterns into two sets of ordered pairs).
The learning pathway that was developed for 5.RA.A.1b includes three vertical levels that build toward the intended learning target. Level 1 (L1) includes emerging concepts and skills, Level 2 (L2) includes skills approaching the learning target, and Level 3 (L3) represents the learning target and is directly aligned to the learning standard. For this learning pathway, the levels are:
Level 1: Recognize the order of elements in a repeating pattern.
Level 2: Organize two numeric patterns in a table.
Level 3: Translate two numeric patterns into ordered pairs.
For additional information on the development of the learning pathways, see Kim et al. (2024).
Assessment Design
The PIE field test was administered as a fixed-form assessment during Spring
2024. During the field test, each student was assessed on all three levels
within the learning pathway at a single point in time. Following the field
test, the test development team reviewed item data and selected items for
promotion to the pilot item pool. pie_ft_data includes only items that were
promoted for use during the pilot administration. For more information on the
PIE field test, see ATLAS (2025a).
During the pilot administration, teachers chose when to assess each of the
learning standards. PIE assessments were intended to be administered at three
points during the instructional cycle. The first assessment (baseline) was
administered before the instructional cycle. The baseline assessment measured
only Level 1 skills, allowing teachers to evaluate whether their students
were ready for instruction on the standard. After some instruction had
occurred, teachers administered the second assessment (midway). The midway
assessment measured Level 2 skills for all students and additionally
re-assessed Level 1 skills for students who did not demonstrate mastery of
those skills on the baseline assessment. Teachers can then observe where
their students are at, evaluate the progress they have made, and plan
additional targeted instruction. The final assessment was administered at the
end of the instructional unit (end_of_unit). This assessment included items
measuring Level 3 skills for all students, as well as Level 2 skills for
students who did not demonstrate mastery of those skills on the midway
assessment. Teachers could again use this information to monitor their
students' progress and make decisions about next instructional steps.
In total, the three pathway levels were assessed over three timepoints. For
additional information on the pilot design and administration, see ATLAS
(2025b).
Notably, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between items included in the field test and pilot data sets. There are three items that were promoted following the field test, but were not administered during the pilot. These items were either held back in the event that other items included in the pilot pool had to be removed and replaced during the pilot administration, or were assigned to a fixed-form end-of-year assessment that is not included in this data. Additionally, there are five items that were administered during the pilot that were not directly field tested. These items are "twins" of other items that were field tested. For details on the item twinning approach, see ATLAS (2025a).
References
Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems. (2025a). PIE assessment design and development. University of Kansas. https://pie.atlas4learning.org/sites/default/files/documents/resources/PIE_Assessment_Design_Development_Technical_Report.pdf
Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems. (2025b). PIE pilot study: Design and administration evidence. University of Kansas. https://pie.atlas4learning.org/sites/default/files/documents/resources/PIE_Pilot_Study_Design_and_Administration_Evidence.pdf
Kim, E. M., Nash, B., & Swinburne Romine, R. (2024). Pathways for instructionally embedded assessment (PIE): Developing learning pathways for the PIE assessment system. University of Kansas; Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems. https://pie.atlas4learning.org/sites/default/files/documents/resources/Developing_Learning_Pathways_for_the_PIE_Assessment_System.pdf