NC Community College System College and Career Readiness Section

1. NC Community College SystemCollege and Career Readiness Section Assessment Contacts Webinar on Testing students with developmental disabilities and on appropriate Accommodations for Assessing Learners Delivered onFebruary 25, 2013 and February 26, 2013 (repeat)

2. CASAS Assessments for Adults with Developmental Disabilities NC Assessment Training Team

3. Role of the Designated Assessment Contact • Your Role: • As the designated assessment contact, you are the point of contact at your agency. Please attend the webinars and meet with your Director to keep them informed. • Your Duties: • To make sure your local staff who either administer or score tests have test administration training before administering the test(s). • To make sure your local staff have refresher or updated test administration training. • To keep a record of assessment training for your local staff including the name of the individual, date of training, name of person conducting training, and name of assessment. • To make sure your local staff follow the NC Assessment Guidelines and the publishers’ guidelines for test administration per the training delivered by the State Level Assessment Trainers.

4. Objectives • Describe range of CASAS assessment items for adult students with developmental disabilities • Select appropriate level NRS reportable assessment for students • Discuss appropriate accommodations for assessment testing

5. Key Component: Assessment CASAS Assessments for Students with Intellectual Disabilities • NRS Reportable: • Life Skills 310 & 311 • Life Skills 27 & 28 • Not-NRS reportable (Useful to guide instruction) • Life Skills Forms 312-343 (Color photos) • POWER Watch for CASAS Touch-screen tests

6. NRS Approved Tests: Pre-A and AA Forms 310 & 311 Forms 27 & 28

7. CASAS Adult Life Skills • §  CASAS Reading Forms 310 & 311 are the only NRS reportable assessment forms for students with developmental disabilities.  See the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 151 / August 6, 2012: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-08-06/pdf/2012-19143.pdf • §  Programs should use Forms 310 and 311 for only those students who are likely to: • 1.      Recognize black-and-white line drawings of an object, symbols, and simple words and numbers • 2.      Master the practice items at the beginning of each test booklet

8. CASAS Adult Life Skills • §  A limited number of copies of CASAS Adult Life Skills Form310 and CASAS Adult Life Skills Form 311 will be available for training purposes only. • §  There will be a $30.00 charge per test booklet for each form if agencies would like additional copies. • §  Download the CASAS Order form at: https://www.casas.org/product-overviews/product-purchase • §  Enter the codes SP-310 @$30.00 per copy and SP-311 @$30.00 per copy and email/fax/mail the form to CASAS. • §  Email the Order Form to orders@casas.org, or fax it to 858-292-2910 or mail it to CASAS Orders, 5151 Murphy Canyon Rd., Suite 220, San Diego, CA 92123.

9. CASAS Adult Life Skills • Programs may use CASAS Reading Forms 312 – 343 (Color Photo Tests) to guide and monitor educational progress for local reporting only. • Agencies can also consider administering CASAS Life Skills Reading, Forms 27 and 28, as an alternative to Form 310 or Form 311, especially if students can read print and simple words. • For questions, contact Ginny Posey at CASAS at gposey@casas.org or call (800) 255-1036 x192.

10. The DD Intake Process – Step One • Assess student’s basic skills ability (new students) • Consider number of years of formal schooling and other information such as medical diagnoses • Observe how well the student can fill out forms and/or perform other writing tasks • If the student indicates he/she can write, consider giving the CASAS writing assessment. • Consider other factors affecting class placement • Then, evaluate the information and determine if you should follow Step 2A or 2B.

11. The DD Intake Process – Step Two A • If the student has difficulty writing his/her name and address and in completing the writing sample, or has other significant limitations: • Administer the five practice items from Form 27 or 28 (one-on-one) • ResultsTest form to administer • Extreme difficulty Administer Appraisal 352 or Locator 350 • If appraisal indicates 2A, give 310 or 311 • If appraisal indicates 3A-5A: • report score of 153 Form 27/28 OR • report score of 163 Form 310/311 • Some difficulty Administer Form 27R or 28R as pretest • Little or no difficulty Administer Form 81R or 82R as pretest

12. The DD Intake Process – Step Two B • If the student writes his/her name and address, and can produce a basic writing sample (even if there are some errors): • Administer the Form 80 CASAS Reading Appraisal to determine the correct Reading Pretest from the CASAS Life & Work series • Administer the Form 30 CASAS Math Appraisal to determine the correct Math Pretest from the CASAS Life Skills series • Follow NRS Guidelines to determine placement using the lowest score for that purpose

13. An Important Note: • From Alan Tucker, Director of Program Quality and Accountability: Students incapable of making a valid score (those who are appraised at the AAA, AAAA, and AAAAA levels) on one of the NRS approved tests can then be assigned to the lowest EFL which is ABE Beginning Literacy.* *Placement into this level requires a scale score to be recorded in Colleague or LACES. Because of this, a 310/311 or 27/28 series score must still be recorded in the Colleague or LACES system as required by NRS and state assessment policy for students at the AA, AAA, AAAA, and AAAAA levels (as classified by CASAS).

14. Scale Score Ranges 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 Level AA Forms 310 & 311 Level Pre-A Forms 27 & 28 Level A Forms 81 & 82 Level AX Forms 81X & 82X Level B Forms 83 & 84 Ranges are approximations

15. Continuum of Literacy

16. Form 310 & 311 Test Administration Directions • Administer the test individually • Allow approximately 15-20 minutes to test each student • Place the display in front of the student • Point to the display and begin with a prompt such as “Look at these pictures” or “Bill, look at these pictures” • Use prompt/cue in student’s mode of communication such as verbal command, gestures, or sign language. • State prompt/cue listed no more than twice • Record student responses on answer sheet

17. Form 310 Practice Item Instructions

18. Form 310 Practice Item

19. Scale Score Conversion Chart Scores below the accurate range: assign a score of 153 if the student does not fall within the accurate range of the Pre-A and 2A level tests. Count the number correct (raw score) and find the scale score for that test. Accurate range Scores above the accurate range: use with caution

20. Post-Test • For students with an MR diagnosis, after approximately 200 hours of instruction, administer a post-test • The post test should be the opposite form from pre-test • If the student has a post-test score that puts him/her in the next level, determine the best time to administer a pre-test at the next level.

21. CASAS Assessment Procedure Review Place: At intake, the determination is made regarding whether the L&W appraisal or another NRS assessment is appropriate. Assess: Learners take the appropriate pre-test to get a reportable, valid score. Instruct: The teacher provides instruction and ongoing informal assessment. Monitor: After a specified interval, students are given the alternate, equivalent form as a posttest.

22. Testing Accommodations Generally accepted accommodations for NRS-APPRoved assessments Based upon the GED Testing service

23. Requiring documentation (1) • Standardized audio formats purchasedfrom the test manufacturer • The audio version of a test may be accompanied by a large print version of the test • Braille format - extra time is usually provided for use of the Braille format.

24. Requiring documentation (2) • Scribe • The use of a scribe may be approved as an accommodation for a test-taker with a documented disability to: • Record answers to the multiple-choice questions • Record the essay portion of the writing skills tests. • Calculator or Talking Calculator • The talking calculator speaks the numbers and must be used in an individual session. This accommodation is typically granted for blind test-takers.

25. Requiring documentation (3) • Separate testing room. • The test-taker’s disability requires a reduced-distraction or private setting. • The approved accommodation may cause a distraction to other test-takers. For example, the sound of the audiocassette machine starting and stopping may disturb other test-takers.   • The candidate's disability is such that s/he may unintentionally create a distraction to other test-takers, such as a person with Tourette's Disorder. • Monitored or supervised breaks. • 30 minutes of testing with a 5 minute break • 45 minutes of testing with a 10 minute break • Unscheduled breaks

26. Documentation Not Required • Magnifying Device and Screen Magnification Software • Large Print Test Books and/or Answer Sheets • Noise-cancelling Headphones or Earplugs • Priority Seating • Straightedge • Colored Transparent Overlays • Clear Transparent Overlays and a Highlighter

27. Inclusive Test Administration • Test publishers understand the need to include all students in standardized testing. To ensure equal access, we grant students appropriate accommodations, but the accommodations may make the format non-reportable to the NRS. We report the score, but make note in the student’s records of the accommodated test administration.

28. Select Guidelines CTB’s Guidelines for Inclusive Test Administration http://www.ctb.com/ctb.com/control/searchAction?query=use+of+a+tape+recording&startIndex=0&p=nav&searchGroup=ALL   CASAS’ Guidelines for Providing Accommodations Using CASAS Assessment for Learners with Disabilities • https://www.casas.org/docs/pagecontents/accommodationsguidelines2010.pdf

29. Some NCCCS Guidance • From Karen Yerby, Associate Director, Student Placement and Assessment: • All areas of the college need to work with the local Disabilities Office when working with students who have disabilities.  The Disabilities Office coordinates the services for these students throughout their educational career and the staff has specialized training in serving students who need accommodations.

30. Questions?