2014 STAAR Test Administrator General Training

1. 2014STAARTest Administrator General Training

2. Please note: This training does NOT take the place of reading the appropriate manuals.

3. Test Security and Confidentiality Requirements * Test security involves accounting for all secure materials and confidential student information…. BEFORE DURING AFTER each test administration. * Confidentiality of the state testing program involves protecting the contents of all… Test booklets Online Assessments Completed Answer Documents TELPAS Holistically Rated Components

4. BEFORE • All testing personnel who meet the requirements to participate in state testing must undergo training and must sign the appropriate security oath affirming that they understand what is considered confidential. • If working in an online system the testing personnel must first read and accept a statement of confidentiality. • All test must be administered in strict accordance with the instructions contained in the test administration materials.

5. DURING • No person may view, reveal, or discuss the contents of a test booklet or online assessment before, during or after a test administration unless specifically authorized to do so by the procedures outlined in the test administration materials. • No person may duplicate, print, record, write notes about, or capture by any electronic means portion of a secure assessment instrument (paper or online) without prior approval from TEA. • Districts may not duplicate or retain student compositions and/or short-answer responses. • No individuals, other than students, during an assessment may perform calculations, solve or respond to test items. • Test administrators conducting oral admin must be aware that they are viewing secure content, and that responding to test items, recording the information they see, or discussing the content of the test at any time is strictly prohibited. As a reminder of this, individuals who give an oral administration of a test are required to sign a separate section of the test admin oath.

6. AFTER • Account for all materials • No discussion of student responses or other assessment information • Report any testing irregularities to the District Testing Coordinator. Each person participating in the state assessment program is directly responsible for reporting immediately any violation or suspected violation of test security or confidentiality. • Failure to report violations can result in sanctions for individuals.

7. Testing Irregularities

8. Serious Irregularities - constitute severe violations of test security or confidentiality - can result in the individual(s) responsible being referred to the TEA Educator Certification and Standards Division for consideration of disciplinary action - must be reported to TEA as soon as the district coordinator is made aware of situation - must be investigated by coordinator immediately, an incident report must be filed, and required documentation must be submitted in a timely manner

9. Examples of Serious Irregularities • Directly or indirectly assisting students with responses • Tampering with student responses • Falsifying Telpas ratings • Viewing secure test content before, during, or after an assessment • Discussing secure test content, student responses, or student performance • Scoring student tests, formally or informally • Duplicating, recording, or capturing confidential test content • Failure to report to an appropriate authority that an individual has engaged in the conduct listed above

10. Report Irregularities Immediately • DTC must contact TEA via phone or email immediately • Investigation must be done immediately by the district to gather all necessary evidence while individuals involved are still available and able to recall the details • Documentation must be collected

11. Procedural Irregularity Less severe, more common, and are typically the result of minor deviations in testing procedures. Usually are unintentional human errors.

12. Examples of Procedural Irregularities • Eligibility Error Example: eligible students not tested • IEP Issue Examples: student administered wrong test student did not receive required accommodation • Improper Accounting for Secure materials Examples: secure materials were not returned/checked in/accounted for at the end of the day. lost or misplaced answer documents/test booklets or other materials

13. Examples of Procedural Irregularities • Monitoring Error Test Administrator left room unattended with students or secure materials present Materials were not kept secure during lunch/breaks Failure to monitor during breaks • Procedural Error Failure to issue correct materials An untrained personnel handling materials Testing beyond the time limit Failure to read the script verbatim Student provided an unallowable accommodation

14. Penalties for Prohibited Conduct Any person who violates, assists in the violation of, or solicits another to violate or assist in the violation of test security or confidentiality, and any person who fails to report such violation, may be subject to the following penalties: • Placement of restrictions on the issuance, renewal, or holding of a Texas educator certificate, either indefinitely or for a set term • Issuance of an inscribed or non-inscribed reprimand • Suspension of a Texas educator certificate for a set term • Revocation or cancellation of a Texas educator certificate without opportunity for reapplication for a set term or permanently. • Release or disclosure of confidential test content could result in criminal prosecution under Texas Government Code and Texas Penal Code. The State Board of Educator Certification may take any of the above actions based on satisfactory evidence that an educator has failed to cooperate with TEA in an investigation. • A breach of test security or confidentiality may result in the invalidation of students’ scores.

15. Monitoring

20. Test Security • Seating Charts Complete the entire chart Required to have start and stop times. Record names of all assigned test administrators • Student Honor Statements On all EOC answer documents. Do not get into a power struggle with a student that refuses to sign, but explain that they are still held to that standard. • Duplication of written compositions We may no longer duplicate written compositions and short answers.

21. Ensuring Proper Testing Procedures • Trained test administrator must be present at all times. • 1 administrator for every 30 students • Materials cleared from desk/cell phones/internet devices not permitted. Must read district Telecommunications Device Policy to testers. • Confirm students are working on only on the subject-area test being administered that day and they do not have access to unallowable materials.

22. Ensuring Proper Testing Procedures • Periodically remind students to record their responses on their answer documents. This must be completed within the four/five-hour time period. Check answer documents as students turn them in to see if they have recorded their responses. • Only students are allowed to erase their stray marks or darken answer-choice circles and only during the scheduled test session. • Reinforcing, reviewing for, and/or distributing testing strategies during an assessment is strictly prohibited.

23. Ensuring Proper Testing Procedures • Students must remain seated during the testing • Students are not allowed to return to a test administered on a previous test day. • Communicate (orally or in writing) the amount of time left to test in one-hour intervals and, if desired, in shorter intervals during the last hour. • Students will not be permitted to record answers on the answer document after the time limit has ended. • During breaks or lunch students must not discuss the content of the test, and test booklets must be closed (breaks) or collected (lunch).

24. STAAR Writing Tracking Method • A graphic is used on all STAAR writing tests to help students correctly link each prompt in the test booklet to its corresponding lined page in the answer document. • The graphic is located at the top of each prompt page and the top of each lined page. • The graphic is a 3½-inch rectangle containing a unique set of symbols (triangles, squares, or diamonds) for each composition students have to write.

25. READ the following quotation. A famous businessman once said, “Players win games; teams win championships.” THINK carefully about the following statement. Sometimes you can accomplish good things by yourself but better things with other people. WRITE an essay explaining whether it is better to work by yourself or with a group.

27. Four-hour / Five-hour Time Limits • Students will be provided four hours in which to complete STAAR, STAAR Modified, or STAAR L tests. • Exceptions are the English I and English II EOC tests which have a time limit of five hours Start and Stop Times • four-hour/five hour time period begins after the test administrator reads directions and tells students to begin working on their tests • test administrators must use a clock or timer • start and stop times must be recorded on the seating chart • students must record all responses by the end of the four-hour time period

28. Time Limits “SAY” Directions - not included in four-hour/five-hour time period Announcement of Time Left to Test - communicate orally or in writing - one hour intervals, more if desired during last hour

29. Time Limits Breaks Included in the Four/Five-hour Time Limit (not allowed to stop the time clock) - water breaks - bathroom breaks - snack breaks - short physical or mental breaks Breaks NOT Included in the Four/Five-hour Time Limit (required to stop and restart the time clock) - lunch - emergencies - movement of students - medical breaks Remember to record stop and restart times on the seating chart.

30. Time Limits (Students With Accommodations) Extended Time‒Extra Time (same day) - available for eligible students with disabilities and English language learners - students start at the beginning of the school day and are allowed to test up to the end of the school day, not beyond Extended Time‒Extra Day (rare) - for eligible students with disabilities for whom TEA has approved an Accommodation Request Form - special procedures and guidelines provided with approval

31. What can I say to a student? Here are a few examples: “You have not recorded all of your responses on the answer document. Please go back and mark your answers on it now.” “I can’t answer that for you; just do the best you can.” “Remember that you must record your responses on the answer document. Be sure to erase any stray marks that you might have accidentally made on your answer document.”

32. Make sure you have the correct manual for the test you are administering. Read your manual before test day. STAAR Test Administrator Manuals Three Test Administrator Manuals - Grades 3-5 - Grades 6-8 - End-of-Course Include general information and test administration directions for STAAR, STARR Spanish, STAAR L, and STAAR Modified (STAAR Alternate, TELPAS, and TAKS manuals are separate) Must be retained for later administrations!

33. Test AdministratorManuals • Scripts cover multiple subjects and programs • To accommodate some differences in programs,the scripts use callout boxes • Wider boxes have program- specific and subject-specific instructions

34. Make sure you are reading the directions for the test you are giving each day! Example: STAAR or STAAR M test

35. Student Success Initiative • Applies to students in grades 5 and 8 who take STAAR and STAAR Modified mathematics and reading assessments • This year it also applies to English language learners in grades 5 and 8 who are eligible to take a STAAR L assessment

36. Student Success Initiative • Students have three testing opportunities: beginning of April, middle of May, and end of June. • To meet SSI promotion requirements, students must meet Phase-in 1 Level II standard in reading and mathematics. • To be promoted by the Grade Placement Committee (GPC), students must participate in all required accelerated instruction.

37. Understand Allowable Dictionary Use During Testing STAAR Dictionaries must be available to the following students: • STAAR/M reading assessments at grades 6-8 • STAAR/M writing assessments at grade 7 • STAAR/M English I/English II EOC’s • Minimum of 1 to every 5 students • State recommends 1 to 3 students • Thesauruses are not required but are allowable. • The following types of dictionaries are allowable on STAAR: Standard dictionaries in English Dictionary/thesaurus combinations Electronic dictionaries that do not allow access to the internet.

38. Calculators for Mathematics and Science • A calculator must not be provided to students taking grades 3-8 assessments. • A graphing calculator must be provided to each student taking the Algebra 1 assessment • A calculator must be available for every five students taking the Biology assessment.

39. Reference Materials for Mathematics and Science Consists of formulas, constants, conversions, periodic tables, etc Are used for: Grades 3-8 Mathematics Grade 8 Science Algebra 1 Not used for: Grade 5 Science Biology Will be embedded in the paper test booklets and perforated so students can tear them out.

40. Testing Room • Make sure that the room you are testing in meets requirements: • -Testing rooms should be well lit, well ventilated, quiet and comfortable. • -No characteristic of the environment should hinder student test performance. • -All materials that could provide instruction should be covered. • -Make sure to review the materials that should be in your basket.

41. Work Space for Mathematics and Science • Paper test will have blank space around test questions for students to make notes and perform calculations • Math test will have graph paper embedded in the paper test booklets and perforated so students can tear out. ( Must be returned with materials to be destroyed.) • Campuses may print copies of the graph paper from the TEA website and distribute to students to use during test. (Must be returned with materials to be destroyed.)

42. Answer Documents

43. STAAR Answer Documents Grade 3-answer document, not a scorable booklet Precoded labels-Grade 4/7 writing, all End of Course and all STAAR M Precoded answer documents-STAAR grade 3-8 reading, mathematics, science and social studies Score Codes “S”-tested “A”-absent “O”-other (illness, testing irregularity, EOC/above grade level, etc.) “*”-STAAR/STAAR Modified SSI Score Codes: “P”, “R”, “PW” For each subject area, only one score code should be gridded.

44. Bottom of answer document

45. Answer Documents • An “*” score code is present on all STAAR and STAAR Modified answer documents that have two subject areas tested (except STAAR Modified English I and II). NOTE: For each subject area, only ONE score code should be gridded.

46. Answer Documents • TEST TAKEN INFO field — information about the language version (English or Spanish) must be recorded in this field. • “EN” or “SP” for grades 3, 4, and 5

47. STAAR STAAR M

48. STAAR EOC

49. Additional to EOC Test Date Field

50. Accommodations