About

You are invited to create a Collection of ten formative assessment items that are aligned with 7th grade Common Core State Standards for mathematics. There are three phases of review in this challenge:

  1. Peer to Peer Review. The top 30 Semi-Finalists receive $500 each in cash rewards and move on to Phase 2.
  2. Expert Review. The top 20 Finalists receive $1,000 each in cash rewards, and the top 10 Winners move on to Phase 3.
  3. Winners Draft Additional Collections. The top 10 Winners are paired with an expert mentor and are contracted to write an additional ten Collections for which they will receive $5,000.

The Timeline

Over a total period of nine months, the Algebra Readiness Challenge will include three distinct phases to ensure that everyone is provided the opportunity to collaborate and compete. Each deadline depicted in this timeline has been set to ensure that the appropriate duration for the required amount of work is provided. Please consider the timeline closely and plan your efforts accordingly.

Between February 23 and May 17, 2015, you can register to participate. You must submit your completed Collection of ten items no later than June 7, 2015. All submission deadlines are 11:59 PM Eastern time.

Reviewing Submissions

Once all of the Collections have been submitted (June 7), the Peer to Peer Review begins. This review occurs over a period of one month and completes on July 8. During this time, every item writer who has submitted a Collection will be asked to score and comment on up to ten Collections from their fellow competitors. Each item writer will provide feedback to promote knowledge sharing and community building. You must participate in the Peer to Peer Review in order to qualify for cash rewards and the Expert Review.

The second review is an Expert Review over a seven-week period. The Finalists from the Peer to Peer Review will have the opportunity to revise their Collection prior to submitting it (July 26) for the Expert Review. The revised Collections will then be distributed to a panel of highly credible educators and math experts who will score and comment on those Collections using the same trait-scoring rubric used during the Peer to Peer Review.

All scores received during both the Peer to Peer Review and the Expert Review are statistically normalized to ensure a level-playing field for all item writers. You are welcome to learn more about the scoring process and the rubric that will be used to asses specific traits of each application. Results from both reviews will be posted on this website. Each team will receive detailed feedback and will be provided specific instruction for how to access scores and comments received during the Peer to Peer Review and Expert Review, if applicable.

Winners Draft Additional Collections

Once the rank order of the teams has been calculated from the Expert Review (September 15), the top 10 Winners will be invited to pair up with an expert mentor to create an additional ten Collections of ten items each. Winners can incorporate the feedback received during the review phases to improve upon their item-writing skills. The ten Winners will enter into a separate agreement to deliver the additional Collections. Once the Collections have been satisfactorily completed, they will receive a cash reward of $5,000.

All Collections submitted are licensed under Creative Commons. Those items that reach a specific standard of quality are released as an open educational resource (OER) and distributed through CoreSpring, our partner and provider of the authoring tool. This approach will ensure that the largest number of educators and students can benefit.

Meet Our Contributors

We'd like to thank our contributors. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has generously funded the development of the Algebra Readiness Challenge and the prize purse. CoreSpring has provided the authoring tools to create the items. Parcc Inc. provided invaluable guidance and outreach for the Challenge. CCSSO has provided support and guidance. And we'd like to especially thank Ted Coe, Ph.D., Director of Mathematics at Achieve, who donated his time and expertise in developing the trait-scoring rubric and judging protocols.