TEST SECURITY
(REQUIRED FOR DTCS,
STCS, AND TAS)
Test Security
Objectives
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Understand principles of secure test
administration
Understand how to maintain security
of printed test materials
Learn how to avoid and respond to
test improprieties
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Test Security
Definition and Purpose
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Purpose: To protect the integrity and
confidentiality of secure test items, prompts,
and passages. The security of these
materials is necessary so that they can be
used in later years to measure trends in
performance. In addition, test security
helps to ensure test results can be used in
accountability reporting.
Definition: A test impropriety is any
instance where a test is not administered in
a manner consistent with the Test
Administration Manual or OAR 581-0220610 Administration of State Tests.
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Test Security
Test Impropriety Statistics
Some numbers from the 2012-13 school year:
107
districts reported at least one test impropriety
567 total improprieties were reported
1,068 student tests were impacted
Test Impropriety Trends:
Non-allowable
resources (including cell phones)
Retesting students in grades 3 – 8 without explicit parental
consent
Student coaching
Student given the wrong test
Student cheating and talking
Unsecure test environment
Mishandling of secure test materials
Breach of student confidentiality
Missing the shipping / data entry deadline
Student tested under wrong SSID
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Test Security
Secure Testing Environment
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A quiet environment, void of distractions and
supervised by a trained test administrator
Visual barriers or adequate spacing between
students
Student access to only allowable resources
All paper test materials collected and
accounted for after each testing event –
including printed reading passages (or test
items)
Student data is treated as confidential – no
e-mailing names and SSIDs together
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Test Security
Student Coaching
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Definition: Providing students with
any type of assistance that may affect
how a student responds
Includes both verbal cues and
nonverbal cues to the correct answer
200 reported instances accounting for
19% of all reported improprieties in
2012-13
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Test Security
Student Coaching, cont’d
Examples:
Leading
students through instructional
strategies such as Think Aloud
Asking students to point to the correct answer
or otherwise identify the source of their answer
Requiring or rewarding students for showing
their work
Requiring students to raise their hands and
receive permission before moving on to the next
item
Reading aloud the Reading or ELPA test or
improperly reading aloud the Math test
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Test Security
Potential Consequences
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Test opportunities may be invalidated in cases
where test validity was compromised. Students
will not receive additional test opportunities.
If the district determines that the testing
impropriety qualifies as gross neglect of duty,
then the district must report it to TSPC within 30
days. Personnel may then be subject to
disciplinary action as determined by TSPC.
Districts may also evaluate cases according to
their own Human Resource policies.
Private schools and programs may have
their access to state tests revoked.
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Test Security
Do’s and Don’ts
Do’s
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TAs must ensure that students use the correct SSID and
take the correct test.
TAs must receive explicit parental consent prior to
retesting students at grades 3 – 8 who have already met
or exceeded the standard
TAs must securely shred test materials such as printed
test items or reading passages, scratch paper, or other
paper hand-outs written on by students after each
testing event.
Test materials must be securely stored at all times.
Test improprieties must be reported within 1 day of
learning of them to ode.testsecurity@state.or.us, and
the district investigation must be completed within 30
days.
If a DTC cannot investigate an impropriety,
the district must assign someone else to
the task.
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Test Security
Do’s and Don’ts, cont’d
Don’ts
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TAs must not review or analyze secure test items
Students must not access non-allowable
resources such as notes, text books, cell phones,
iPods, or e-mail
Students must not remove test materials from
the test environment
TAs must not copy or retain any test materials,
including secure test booklets, writing prompts,
or reading passages
DTCs, STCs, and TAs must not share their
OAKS log-in information with anyone
(even other authorized OAKS users)
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Test Security
Promising Practices
Non-allowable resources
TAs
closely review the allowable resource tables prior to testing
and examine the test environment to ensure that all non-allowable
resources are removed. This includes covering up posters that
contain non-allowable content.
TAs remind students of the rules and post reminders outside the
lab. For cell phones, TAs create procedures for collecting all cell
phones before students enter the test environment.
Student cheating
TAs
provide space or visual barriers between students.
TAs circulate through the test environment to monitor students.
Student coaching
TAs
limit interactions with students to the verbatim student
directions in the Test Administration Manual and appropriately
administer accommodations such as read-aloud.
TAs do not require students to show their work or
otherwise provide students with feedback during
testing.
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Test Security
Promising Practices, cont’d
Mishandling of Secure Test Materials
sing colorful materials to identify which students
have printed reading passages remaining at their
stations.
When setting up the test environment, the TA
should ensure that the TA’s computer is set to print
in the computer lab where the students are testing.
The TA uses the class roster to mark which
students received printed test materials (e.g.,
reading passages or test items) and how many each
student received. The TA then matches the class
roster to the printed test materials collected at the
end of the testing event to account for all printed
test materials.
U
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Test Security
Promising Practices, cont’d
Student given wrong test
TA
works with STC and other appropriate staff to identify
students designated to take the Extended Test or to take
OAKS in Braille or English-Spanish. For students on an IEP,
TA reviews IEP to identify needed accommodations
STC
and DTC ensure that student settings are updated in
TIDE to restrict access to OAKS for students taking the
Extended Test and to update other test settings (e.g.,
language, print size) for students
Before
approving students to start a test, the TA reviews
student settings
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Test Security
Promising Practices, cont’d
Student tested under wrong SSID
For
young students or newcomer ELLs, the school includes
student picture on student SSID card
TA carefully reviews student names before
approving students to test
Student in grades 3 – 8 retested without
parental consent
Check
performance reports to identify which students have
already met or exceeded and provide alternative activities for
these students while their peers are testing
Place a restriction in TIDE for all students who have met or
exceeded to block them from retesting accidentally
When retesting is deemed appropriate, obtain explicit
parental consent prior to testing and document who has
received explicit consent, removing the TIDE restriction for
those students
Test Security
Promising Practices, cont’d
Unsecure test environment
TA
does not leave the test environment unsupervised or
allow untrained staff to enter the test environment (this
includes substitute teachers).
Missing shipping / data entry deadline
DTC
communicates with staff ahead of time about upcoming
deadlines.
In case of unplanned staff absences, staff cross-train.
Several days before the deadline, the DTC ensures that all
necessary materials are collected.
TA review/analysis of test items
If
students have a concern about a test item, the
TA reads the script from the Test Administration
Manual directing the student to the Student
Comment Feature.
To identify content covered on the test, the TA
refers to the Test Specifications and Blueprints
published by ODE
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Test Security
In a Nutshell
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Only authorized staff who have signed an
Assurance of Test Security Form may have access
to the test environment or secure test materials.
TAs must limit interactions with students during
testing to what is permitted by the Test
Administration Manual or Accommodations
Manual.
Scratch paper and all other printed materials
written on by students during testing must be
collected and securely shredded at the end of each
testing event.
DTCs must report all test improprieties to ODE
ODE within 1 day of learning of them.
Report form is available online
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DTC TRAINING
Online Resources
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Test Administration Manual and Best Practices Guide:
http:www.ode.state.or.us/go/tam
Promising Practices:
http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=2444
Test Security Forms:
http://www.ode.state.or.us/go/testsecurity
Test Security
Acorns for Storage
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Why is test security so important?
How might you or your students be affected
if someone else violates test security or
administers tests incorrectly?
What are some strategies to minimize the
risk of test security violations or test
improprieties in general?
If you think an impropriety has occurred,
what steps should you take?
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