California Assessment of Student
Performance and Progress (CAASPP)
Preparing Technology for
2015 Online Testing
October 15, 2014
1–2:30 p.m.
Purpose
•
The purpose of this Webcast is to review your
local educational agency’s (LEA’s) technological
resources to ensure they meet requirements for
the online CAASPP assessments.
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Source Material
• Detailed information and step-by-step
instructions can be found in the following
manuals:
– Technical Specifications Manual for Online
Testing
 Forthcoming on http://caaspp.org
– Secure Browser Installation Manual
 http://caaspp.org/rsc/pdfs/CAASPP.securebrowser-manual.2015.pdf
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Agenda
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Preparing for Online Testing
Internet and Network Requirements
Hardware Requirements
Software Requirements
Secure Browser Installation
Mobile Secure Browsers
Questions
Updates and Announcements
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Preparing for Online
Testing
Data Readiness
•
•
•
•
CALPADS is the sole source for student demographic,
enrollment, and program data for the student test
registration system known as the Test Operations
Management System (TOMS)
All updates must be made in CALPADS. LEAs cannot
update student demographic, enrollment, or program
data in TOMS.
Student accommodations and designated supports are
not collected in CALPADS.
Student accommodations and supports cannot be
uploaded by the LEA until CALPADS data is available in
TOMS.
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Staff Coordination
• Planning the technology components for online
testing requires close coordination and
collaboration among:
−
−
−
−
LEA CAASPP coordinators
CALPADS administrators
IT/LEA technology coordinators
Curriculum staff
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Internet and Network
Requirements
Internet and Network
Requirements
•
For testing to occur, a stable, high-speed Internet
connection is required since the Test Delivery
System (TDS) administers tests via the Internet.
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High-level Technology Overview
State hostedtest delivery
servers
Student using
Smarter
Balanced
Secure Browser
software
application
Test proctor
using standard
Web browser
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Smarter Balanced Server Hosting
Consortium Hosted
Item authoring, item bank, data
warehouse, reporting, Digital
Library
State Hosted
Test delivery, test
scheduling, test
registration,
reporting, scoring
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Network Configuration Settings
•
To ensure proper communication and optimal
performance:
–
–
–
–
•
Configure network firewalls and proxy servers to allow traffic to
the URLs, IP addresses, and ports without content filtering
(see Appendix A of the Technical Specifications Manual).
Give the URLs and IP addresses high priority settings if your
network uses network traffic management techniques (e.g.,
traffic shaping, packet prioritization, Quality of Service).
Configure Web proxy servers NOT to cache data from the test
delivery system (TDS).
Maintain a good bandwidth.
To avoid timeouts during tests:
–
Set session timeout values to be longer than the average
scheduled testing time.
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Bandwidth Considerations
•
•
•
•
Number of students testing concurrently
Size of test content (number of items and average size
of each item)
– Low bandwidth: selected-response items
– High bandwidth: items with animations, audio clips,
or American Sign language videos
Reduce other Internet-enabled applications that
compete for bandwidth (e.g., attendance, bell time,
sending grades)
Opening the secure browser and accessing a test for
the first time consumes more bandwidth than accessing
a test a subsequent time
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Bandwidth Considerations
•
Location where the secure browser is installed
– Installing the secure browser locally on each testing
workstation is recommended. This avoids bandwidth
competition that would occur if workstations access
the browser from a network or shared drive.
•
Wireless networking solutions
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Bandwidth Considerations
•
•
Minimum of 20K bits/second must be available for
each student connected to a system
Average bandwidth used by the secure browser for
testing:
Number of
Students Testing
Concurrently in
School/Building
Average Estimated
Bandwidth Consumed
During Subsequent
Startup of Secure Browser
Average Estimated
Bandwidth Consumed
During Testing
1
8K bits/second
5–15K bits/second
50
400K bits/second
250–750K bits/second
(0.25–0.75M bits/second)
100
800K bits/second
500–1500K bits/second
(0.5–1.5M bits/second)
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Determining Bandwidth
Requirements
•
To determine a reasonable number of concurrent
test sessions:
– Consider bandwidth for both online testing and all
other non–testing-related Internet traffic.
– Run a network diagnostic.
 Bandwidth Checker is available on http://caaspp.org.
 Other network diagnostic tools are listed in the
Technical Specifications Manual.
– For wired networks, consider using switches instead
of hubs.
– For Internet networks, consider the speed of the
Internet Service Provider’s (ISP’s) router connection.
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Network Configuration
•
All communication with the TDS takes place over
the following Internet port/protocol combinations:
Port/Protocol Purpose
80/tcp
HTTP (initial connection only)
443/tcp
HTTPS (secure connection)
– Make sure the above mentioned ports are open.
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Wireless Networking
•
Maintain a ratio of wireless systems to wireless
access points (WAPs) of no more than 20 to 1.
– 15 to 1 for older WAPs
•
•
Wireless traffic should use WPA2/AES data
encryption.
Try out the Bandwidth Checker, available at
http://caaspp.org.
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Wireless Networking
•
Recommendations on the optimal number of testing
workstations per wireless connection:
802.11g Access Point
802.11n Access Point
802.11g Wireless
Cards
20 workstations or
devices
40 workstations or
devices
802.11n Wireless
Cards
20 workstations or
devices
40 workstations or
devices
20 workstations or
devices
40–50 workstations or
devices (depending on
the ratio of wireless
cards used)
Mix of 802.11g and
802.11n Wireless
Cards
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Hardware Requirements
Hardware Requirements
• Desktops and Laptops
Supported Operating
Systems
Minimum Requirements for
Current Computers
Windows
XP (Service Pack 3),
Vista, 7, 8.0, 8.1
Server 2003 and 2008
• Pentium 233 MHz
• 128 MB RAM
• 52 MB hard drive free space
Mac OS X
10.4.4–10.9
Linux
Fedora 16–20
openSUSE 13.1
Red Hat Enterprise 6.5
Ubuntu (LTS) 10.04,
12.04, 14.04
Minimum
Recommended
Specifications
• Intel x86 or PowerPC G3, G4 or G5
• 256 MB RAM
• 1.3 GHz processor
• 200 MB hard drive free space
• 1 GB RAM
• 80 GB hard drive
• Pentium II or AMD K6-III 233 MHz
• 64 MB RAM
• 52 MB hard drive free space
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NComputing and Terminal
Services
• NComputing is supported on:
– Windows XP (Service Pack 3)
– Windows 7
• Terminal Services is supported on:
– Windows 2003
– Windows 2008
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Hardware Requirements
•
Mobile Operating Systems and Browsers
Browsers
for TA
Sites
Browser for Student
Sites
iOS 6.0–7.1
iPad 2, 3
4th Gen (Retina Display)
iPad Air
Safari
AIRSecureTest Mobile
Secure Browser
Android 4.0.4–4.4
Google Nexus 10
Motorola Xoom
Samsung Galaxy Note (10.1)
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1)
Google
Chrome
AIRSecureTest Mobile
Secure Browser
Google
Chrome
AIRSecureTest Mobile
Secure Browser
Operating
System
Supported Devices*
Chrome OS 31-35 Chromebooks
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Hardware Requirements
•
Device displays
– 10″ diagonal display or larger (iPads with 9.5″
screens are acceptable)
– 1024 x 768 display resolution or better
– Check monitor settings and brightness
•
On-site printers
– Print out test session information
– Print test stimuli or items for students with the printon-demand accommodation.
– Only the Test Administrator’s (TA) computer should
have access to a single local or network printer in the
testing room.
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Hardware Requirements
•
Headphones are required for each test station
–
–
–
–
–
•
English language arts/literacy (ELA) tests
Text-to-speech accommodation
Job Access with Speech (JAWS)
USB headphones recommended
Microphones not required
External keyboards required for tablets
–
–
–
–
Mechanical
Manual
Bluetooth-based
Avoid keyboards with additional “shortcut” buttons
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Software Requirements
Software Requirements
• Disable pop-up blockers
• Install Verdana font on Linux machines used for
testing
• Disable Windows Fast User Switching
• Disable Spaces in Mission Control for Macs
• Enabled Guided Access on iPads
• For Android tablets, change the keyboard to the
AIRSecureTest
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Secure Browser
Installation
What is the Secure Browser?
•
•
•
Type of software that must be installed on each
testing workstation
Prevents students from accessing other computer
or Internet applications during testing
Different versions of the secure browser for
different device types and operating systems
– Link to secure browsers download Web page is on
http://caaspp.org
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Secure Browser Availability
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Windows XP (Service Pack 3), Vista, 7, 8.0, and
8.1, Server 2003, 2008
Mac 10.4 and 10.5 (PowerPC or Intel processors)
Mac 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9
Linux Fedora 16–20, openSUSE 13.1, Red Hat 6.5,
and Ubuntu (LTS) 10.04, 12.04, and 14.04
Apple iOS 6.0–7.1
Android 4.0.4–4.4
Chrome OS 31–35
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Secure Browsers
Download Web Page
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Secure Browser Installation:
Desktops and Laptops
•
One-by-one manual installation:
– Download and install directly on each computer
– Download and save onto a media device (i.e., flash
drive)
– Download and save to a network folder
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Secure Browser Installation:
Desktops and Laptops
•
Network installation or distribution:
− Shared drive
− Push the secure browser installation directory from
the network to client computers
− Installation without administrator rights
− Thin Client (Windows)
− Terminal server
− NComputing
− Apple Remote Desktop (Mac OS X)
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Secure Browser and
Proxy Settings
•
•
Secure browsers for Windows, Mac, and Linux are
packaged with the proxy setting set to “auto-detect”
The following proxy values are supported:
–
–
–
–
–
0: Direct connection, no proxy
1: Manual proxy configuration
2: Proxy auto-configuration (PAC)
4: Autodetect proxy settings
5: System proxy settings (this is the default)
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Secure Browser Notes
•
Old secure browsers used for the Field Test need to
be uninstalled before installing new ones.
– Installing the new Windows secure browser will
uninstall previous versions automatically (most
cases) .
•
Mac secure browser installation:
– Secure browser must be launched to successfully
complete the installation.
– Disable Spaces in Mission Control (Mac 10.7–10.9).
– Disable function keys on Mac computers and
keyboards.
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Mobile Secure Browsers
Mobile Secure Browsers
•
Mobile Operating Systems and Browsers
Operating
System
Browsers
for TA
Sites
Supported Devices*
Browser for Student
Sites
iOS 6.0–7.1
iPad 2, 3
4th Gen (Retina Display)
iPad Air
Safari
AIRSecureTest Mobile
Secure Browser
Android 4.0.4–4.4
Google Nexus 10
Motorola Xoom
Samsung Galaxy Note (10.1)
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1)
Google
Chrome
AIRSecureTest Mobile
Secure Browser
Google
Chrome
AIRSecureTest Mobile
Secure Browser
Chrome OS 31–35 Chromebooks
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Secure Browser Installation:
Mobile Devices
•
•
•
Install on iPads via the Apple App Store
Install on Androids via the Google Play Store
Install on Chromebooks from the Chrome Web
Store
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Secure Testing on Tablets
•
iPads:
– Guided Access must be enabled and activated
 iOS feature that allows users to restrict activity to a
single application
 Prevents screenshots
•
Android tablets:
– Secure browser keyboard must be selected before
students can access the logon page
 Default Android keyboard allows predictive text
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Secure Testing on Chromebooks
•
Chromebooks must use the secure kiosk
application
– Using the AIRSecureTest kiosk application requires
Chromebooks to be run in kiosk mode
– Must be deployed onto managed Chromebooks
via the Chrome Management Console as a kiosk
application rather than via a public session
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Questions
Updates and
Announcements
Updates and Announcements
• Next Webcast: Accessibility and
Accommodations for CAASPP 2014–15 : An
Overview
– Date: October 22, 2014
– Time: 1 – 2:30 p.m.
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Resources and Support
Resources
•
Technical Specifications Manual for Online Testing
– Forthcoming on http://caaspp.org
•
Secure Browser Installation Manual
− Available at
http://caaspp.org/rsc/pdfs/CAASPP.secure-browsermanual.2015.pdf
•
Bandwidth Checker
− Available on the CAASPP home page at
http://caaspp.org
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Help Desk Support
The California Technical Assistance Center
(CalTAC) is here to support all LEA CAASPP
coordinators!
Monday–Friday from 7 a.m.–5 p.m. PT
E-mail: caltac@ets.org
Phone: 800-955-2954
Web site: http://caaspp.org
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