Inside Assessment
December 18, 2015
VOLUME 2, Issue 2
Delaware Department of Education, Office of Assessment
Special Points of Interest:
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SAT Bulk Registration
Assessment Inventory Update
School Site Visits
Smarter Sub-Windows
DCAS-Alt1 Test Administrator Professional Development
Important Dates
SAT Bulk Registration for 11th Grade
Bulk registration enables users to submit student registration information for PSAT 8/9, PSAT 10, PSAT/NMSQT, and
SAT School Day securely and electronically.
The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) will be using bulk registration for the April 12, 2016 SAT School Day
administration. Bulk registration will ONLY be done for 11th grade students. Please follow the same procedure, as in
previous years, to register 9th, 10th and/or 12th grade students. Once this process is complete, schools will receive preidentification labels for student answer sheets in the mail.
There are several benefits of bulk registration:
 Saves time by eliminating the need for students to complete this information on test day.
 Improves data accuracy by using state-submitted data, which is often more accurate.
 Reduces billing discrepancies by eliminating disputes about students who may not have bubbled in any grade or
bubbled in the wrong grade.
 Saves time on test day by reducing the time students spend filling out registration information.
For SAT School Day, Admission Tickets are mailed directly to students – students do not need to register themselves
online; they simply bring their Admission Tickets to school on test day.
Bulk registration does not replace the process for ordering tests.
Assessment Inventory Update
As assessment inventory and recommendation submissions begin to arrive, the Office of Assessment (OoA) has started the process of compiling the details in a summary report. All inventories and recommendations will be posted on the
Assessment webpage. After final district and charter submissions are received by December 31, 2015, the final summary report will be completed. This report will also include a summary of hourly impact data changes reported by districts and charters. State assessment inventory process information will also be posted and included in the report. The
finalized summary report will be submitted to the stakeholder committee identified in Senate Joint Resolution 2 as
signed by Governor Jack Markell on July 15, 2015.
In response to some questions we have received, all district and charter schools will:
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Submit their assessment inventories and recommendations to the OoA by December 31, 2015 at 4:30 pm.
Submit their charts with hours for testing before the inventory and projected/actual hours after any changes are
made based on the inventory process.
For questions, please email assessment@doe.k12.de.us.
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Smarter Sub-Windows
The Office of Assessment has worked diligently with the testing vendor to find a way that scores for spring summative
Smarter ELA/Literacy and Mathematics may be released to districts and schools earlier. Starting in spring 2016, a process has been established that will break the Smarter test window into segments. Tests that are completed by a certain
date will receive scores earlier in the DeSSA portal Online Reporting System (ORS). This system is accessible by educators, districts, and schools. Students must complete both the Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) and Performance Task
(PT) of a content area in order to receive a score. It is important to remember, as with the DCAS, that scores reported
in this system are not final and, in rare cases, may not represent what is used for the State Summary and Accountability. Below is a chart to show the cut-offs and when scores would be released:
If CAT and PT for a content area
are completed by this date:
The score will be available in the
ORS (DeSSA portal) by this date:
March 24
April 14
April 29
May 20
May 13
June 3
June 2 (end of test window)
June 23
Smarter Summative Training
& Paper/Pencil
On January 8, 2016, the Office of Assessment will release
two training modules for registration in PDMS:
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Smarter Summative Test Administrator Training
(approximately 30 minutes)
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DeSSA Paper/Pencil Test Administrator Training
(approximately 20 minutes)
Additional registration information will be provided once
available. If you have any questions, please contact
Helen Dennis at helen.dennis@doe.k12.de.us.
Peer Review
Each state is required to participate in a process called
Peer Review for all assessments that are used as part of
their state accountability system. This process ensures
that states meet assessment and accountability requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(ESEA). The Department of Education has participated
in several webinars focused on test design development,
field testing, and standard setting. The Peer Review will
focus on assessments delivered during the spring 2015
test administration. For additional information on this
process, please contact Liru Zhang at
liru.zhang@doe.k12.de.us.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
During the week of December 7, the Office of Assessment performed User Acceptance Testing (UAT) on the spring
DCAS and EOC assessments. This UAT involves members of the staff taking tests to ensure all functionality of the
assessment works as expected. During the week of December 14, UAT for the Online Reporting System (ORS) also
took place. Staff run many reports to ensure data is reported as expected.
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DCAS-Alt1 Test Administrator Professional Development
Training for the DCAS-Alt1 is required for all DCAS-Alt1 test administrators. There are two types of training. The first
training is for new DCAS-Alt1 test administrators. For the 2015-2016 school year, the dates will be held in early February and mid-March, 2016. All training sessions will be held in Dover at the Delaware Technical and Community
College Terry Campus—Corporate and Community Center. The training for new test administrators are full day sessions. These have been posted in PDMS and are currently open for registration. The course number for all trainings
is 2191 and the sections are as follows:
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February 3 (Wed) - Section #41405
February 4 (Thur) - Section #41406
February 5 (Fri) - Section #41407
March 17 (Thur) - Section #41408
March 18 (Fri) - Section #41409
The second type of training is for previously trained DCAS-Alt1 test administrators (Update DCAS-Alt1 Test Administrator PD). An online recorded webinar will be available in January, 2016. Details will be released once this becomes
available. For any questions regarding either professional development session, please contact Brian Touchette at
brian.touchette@doe.k12.de.us.
DCAS-Alt1 Rosters
On December 10 and 11, the Office of Assessment issued DCAS-Alt1 student rosters for verification by email
to district and charter test coordinators and district special
education supervisors. These rosters contain the names,
demographics, and identifying information for students
who have been identified to take the DCAS-Alt1 assessment. In addition, the rosters contain the names and employee IDs of the test administrators who are scheduled
to test each student in spring 2016.
the vendor determines which teachers will receive test
kits. If this is not completed, a district will need to order
materials which cannot begin until the start of the test window.
If you did not receive a roster or have questions regarding
this process, please contact Brian Touchette at
brian.touchette@doe.k12.de.us or Helen Dennis at
helen.dennis@doe.k12.de.us.
It is important this information be submitted as this is how
Accessibility Guidelines
The DeSSA Accessibility Manual (which replaces the
2014-2015 version), has been posted on our website and
is available in two versions: one that contains all the
appendices and a version that does not contain the
appendices.
The appendices from the Accessibility
Guidelines for State Assessments have also been broken
out into separate documents and are now available on the
DOE website. There are 24 appendices schools can use,
protocols to use during testing, and additional information
about specific topics related to statewide assessments.
These resources can be found at:
http://www.doe.k12.de.us/Page/2138
Questions regarding the Accessibility Guidelines or the
appendices can be directed to Brian Touchette at
brian.touchette@doe.k12.de.us.
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Paper/Pencil Test Administrator Training to be Offered
The DeSSA Paper/Pencil Test Administrator (TA) training:
Test Administrator
Teacher is full-time district
employee and has an IMS
account
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Teacher is a contractor and
does not have an IMS account
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Paper/Pencil Student is
Homebound
Paper/Pencil Student Attends
In the School
Teacher trains online using
Schoology
Student takes paper/pencil
at home
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Teacher trains on a DOE
disc
Student takes paper/pencil
test at home
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Teacher trains online using
Schoology
Student takes paper/pencil
test at school
Teacher trains on a DOE
disc
Student takes paper/pencil
test at school
Educators who do not have an IMS account and must be trained to administer the DeSSA paper/pencil assessments,
such as homebound test administrators, may take the training using a DOE training disc.
To request a disc from the Office of Assessment, please submit a ticket in SysAid to Statewide Assessment. Select
“Materials Request” and “Paper-Pencil TA Training Disc” for categories 2 and 3.
The PDMS course number for paper/pencil training will be announced in early January.
For questions regarding this training, please contact Helen Dennis at helen.dennis@doe.k12.de.us.
School Site Visits
Over the past two months, the Office of Assessment has been making district and school site visits. The Office of Assessment staff will continue to visit schools after winter break. Districts and charters have been very supportive in
scheduling these visits. We would like to thank all of the district, charter, and school staff who have worked with DOE
staff to make these happen. We have visited more than 48% of schools and 66% of charters. In the spring, we will select several schools to visit during the Smarter test window to monitor live testing. If you would like to provide feedback
regarding these visits or have questions, please contact Katia Foret at katia.foret@doe.k12.de.us.
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Paper/Pencil Deadlines
In order for spring 2016 paper/pencil test materials to be received in the first materials shipment to schools, the
following deadlines must be met:
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February 23—date by which paper/pencil flag must be entered in TIDE for students taking any spring Smarter,
DCAS, or EOC assessment; and
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February 16—date by which the homebound paper/pencil flag must be entered in e-School for homebound
students taking the paper/pencil Smarter, DCAS, or EOC assessment
If any paper/pencil flags are entered after the dates above, the DTC will need to contact the DeSSA Help Desk at
877-560-8331 or at dessahelpdesk@air.org to order the paper/pencil materials.
Next DTC 101 Face-to-Face Meeting
The next District Test Coordinators 101 face-to-face meeting will be held January 20 from 1:15 pm to 4:00 pm at
the John W. Collette Education Resource Center located at 35 Commerce Way—Dover, DE 19904. You can
register now through PDMS. The course number is 23474 and the section number is 41338. Please contact
Sandy Mullett at sandra.mullett@doe.k12.de.us if you have any questions or need assistance with registering for
this session.
(302) 857-3391 or via email at sandra.mullett@doe.k12.de.us.
Important Dates
Assessment Inventories Due
Assessment Site Visits to DTCs and STCs
DTC 101 Face-to-Face
Paper/Pencil Deadlines for spring 2016
SAT School Day
Delaware Department of Education
Office of Assessment
Carolyn Lazar, Interim Director
35 Commerce Way, Suite 1
Dover, DE 19904
Phone: 302.857.3391
Fax: 302.739.1770
December 31, 2015
Ongoing
January 20, 2016
See above
April 12, 2015