SPRING 2014 WRITING:
EXAMINER TRAINING
February 2014
Test Examiner’s Primary Responsibilities

To carefully read Examiner’s Manual
Review the checklist at the front of the manual
 Read prior to testing day

 To


resolve any and all questions you may have with the
School Test Coordinator (STC)
 Note: You are responsible for the content in its entirety
To be familiar with students’ IEP, 504 plans, and ESL
accommodations
Sign the School Division Personnel Test Security
Agreement (Appendix A)

Please read this document thoroughly and carefully
Test Examiner’s Primary Responsibilities

To prepare students for testing
www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/2010/online_writing/index.shtml
www.mcps.org
 About Us
 Testing (at the bottom)
 VDOE Resources (right-hand side)
 “Practice on Technology Enhanced Items….. (second from bottom)


To prepare the testing room for testing

Remove or cover
Any curricular materials
 Materials related to test content
 Test-taking strategies
 Related to test content

Test Examiner’s Primary Responsibilities

To be familiar with the Directions for Administering the
Test

Directions to be read aloud to the student are in bold

Examiners are permitted to modify testing directions for students
with disabilities who indicate their answers in “other ways” such as
“respond verbally, point, mark in test booklet, etc.
If you make a mistake, stop and say, “No, that is wrong. I
must read it to you again.”
 Directions may not be modified or deleted unless it is
necessary due to the student’s IEP, 504 plan, or ESL plan
 Please mark in your Examiner’s Manual to help you read the
directions smoothly and clearly

Elementary—New Information

On the SOL Writing assessment, grade 5 students
only may receive “limited assistance”
 “Limited
Assistance” pertains to the Examiner/Proctor
reading specific information to the student regarding
unfinished items during test submission
 Grade 5 test examiners and proctors should carefully
read pages 29 and 30 of the Examiner’s Manual
Please note that this does not pertain to
grade 8 or EOC testing
Limited Assistance Example
(Elementary ONLY)
Limited Assistance Example
(Elementary ONLY)


When the grade 5 student
is ready to submit the test,
the Examiner may read
the number of unfinished
items from the Submit and
and Exit screeen (Stop
sign) to the student
Examiners must read the
SAY directions in the book
Guidance for Grades 8 and EOC

If the Examiner/Proctor sees that a grade 8 or EOC
student has unfinished items, the Examiner/Proctor
may only tell the student to “Read the screen
carefully”
Writing Update: Indents and Line
Breaks



For the online Writing Practice Tools, indents and
line breaks that a student types in the writing
response screen will not match the printed/text
version
In a live testing environment, there are no scoring
implications for line wrapping, so this will NOT
impact the student’s score
Actual SOL tests that are submitted for scoring are
viewed and scored online and are not printed;
therefore, scorers see the indents and line breaks
Dates of the Administration

Online Writing Window—March 10 through March 21


Students who are absent the day of the test do not need to take an alternate
form of the test—absences are not an issue for the short-paper component
Paper/Pencil

Multiple Choice—Monday, March 3; Tuesday, March 4; or Wednesday,

Short-Paper Component—Thursday, March 6
March 5
Students who are absent or have an irregularity for the short-paper
component should use the alternate form of the test—Paper/Pencil
Only
Students musts take both the MC portion of the test and Short-Paper
component to receive a score
All students who are absent should be given the opportunity to take the
component they missed




NOTE: Testing takes precedence over ALL other
scheduled school activities
Students to be Tested

All students in grades 5 and 8
 Students

All high schools




with an IEP/504 plan cannot be exempted
All students enrolled in English 11 for credit
All students who previously passed English 11 but failed the SOL
Writing assessment and need the verified credit to graduate
All students in 12th grade who transferred in and need the
Writing assessment for a verified credit
Others

Students who have already left school and are returning to
take the EOC English Writing SOL assessment to earn a
verified credit (Test Takers)
Test Security

Each examiner must sign out the test tickets from the
STC the day of the test
 Counts
the test tickets and signs the Secure Check Out/In
Form

Each examiner must check the test tickets into the
STC as soon as possible after testing
STC counts the test tickets and signs the Secure Check Out/In
Form
 Examiner signs the Secure Check Out/In Form certifying all
security/standard testing procedures were followed

Test Security

Examiners/proctors are responsible for monitoring
students
You should walk around the room
 Other activities are prohibited (i.e., reading, grading,
working at the computer)
 Students engaging in inappropriate behaviors (e.g.,
cheating, taking out a cell phone, etc. ) should be confronted
immediately


Do not wait until the action becomes an irregularity and the
student has to receive a zero
Test Security


Students may not have electronic devices during
testing
 Cell phones
 I-Pods
 PDAs
 Blue tooths
 Electronic games
 Scanners
Students may not have dictionaries—online testing
Test Security

Restroom Breaks


Only one student at a time may leave the room
S/he must be monitored (accompanied by an adult)



To be sure s/he doesn’t communicate with another student
Have access to textbooks, class notes, etc.
Students moved from one location to another are not
allowed to carry any test documents in the process

An adult should collect all test materials prior to moving the student





Test ticket (online)
Scratch paper
Test booklet and answer document if paper/pencil
The adult should walk the materials and the student to the new
location
The student is not allowed to have contact with any other person
Supplies—Paper/Pencil ONLY


Multiple Choice Component
 Test booklet
 Answer document
 Scratch paper
 No. 2 pencils
Short Paper Component
 Writing prompt
 Answer document—be sure student receives his/her own
answer document
 Scratch paper
 No. 2 pencils
 Dictionary—NO THESAURUS SHOULD BE INCLUDED
Online Tools
Online Tools—Multiple Choice
Component

TestNav tools cannot be used to indicate answers to
online test items. The Pointer
must be used to:
 Select
multiple-choice answers
 To place the cursor in a box to type a response
 To select one or more answers
 To click and drag answers from one location to another

If a student uses a tool other than the Pointer to
indicate his/her answers, the Review screen will show
that the question is unanswered
Online Tools—Short-Paper (Word
Processing Tools) Component
Online Hand-Held Manipulatives

Scratch Paper
 Single
color
 No words, numbers, symbols, labels, or graphics
 No graphic organizer, writing web, outline, etc.
 No patty (hamburger)paper


No Dictionaries
Student may be given one single-color highlighter to
use with the scratch paper
ESL English Dictionary Update


The English dictionary may be used alone or in
conjunction with the bilingual dictionary on nonwriting SOL tests, the short-paper component of the
SOL Writing test, and the multiple-choice
component of the EOC 2002 English: Writing SOL
test
Both accommodations must be coded if both
dictionaries are provided
Handling Irregularities


Examiners must contact the STC immediately
Teachers may be asked to fill out portion of the
Irregularity Form and accompanying documentation,
depending on the irregularity
Dictation to a Scribe for the Online
Short-Paper Component

My Recommendations:
Two computers and a printer should be available
 The student logs into TestNav and gets his/her prompt
 After planning, the student dictates and the scribe types the
paper and prints it out
 The student makes any necessary changes (i.e., punctuation,
capital letters, grammar, etc.) either on the paper copy or
on the computer
 Once the paper is in final format the examiner types the
paper in TestNav in front of the student
 The proctor checks to be sure the paper was typed into
TestNav exactly as written on the student paper

Miscellaneous Reminders



Only special education/504/ESL students can have
an accommodation, and that accommodation must
be based on what occurs on a regular basis and the
student’s management plan
The relationship between the student’s disability and
need for the accommodation to provide access to the
test should be clear
Accommodations based solely on the potential to
enhance performance beyond providing equal access
are not appropriate
Miscellaneous Reminders



Not all instructional accommodations are allowable
testing accommodations.
Not all accommodations documented on the
IEP/504 Plan are allowable testing
accommodations.
Once a student is found to be ineligible for special
education services by an IEP team, that student no
longer can receive accommodations, even if it’s
written in their IEP they will receive accommodations
for the rest of the year
Miscellaneous Reminders

Students cannot have facilitated communication
 If
you have a student who receives FC on a regular
basis and feel that student should receive that
accommodation for the SOL assessment, you need to
send me a request in writing that can be forwarded to
the VDOE
 The
VDOE takes each student and their into account on an
individual basis
 Montgomery County has never had facilitated
communication approved
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. If a scribe is used during an administration of the
writing test, can the scribe read the student’s short
paper back to the student?
A. Yes, but it must be documented in the student’s IEP or
504 plan and used routinely in instruction; however,
the scribe must read the paper in such a way that no
assistance regarding formatting, capitalization or
punctuation is provided to the student. It may be
provided by the test examiner or a computer with
text-to-speech capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can students with disabilities use graphic
organizers on the SOL writing assessments.
A. Yes, students with disabilities may use graphic
organizer if the organizers are blank and
documented as an accommodation on the student’s
IEP or 504 Plan. Graphic organizers should be
coded as “4” (visual aids).
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Are whisper phones allowed on SOL tests?
A. Whisper phones are allowed for students with
disabilities if documented on the IEP or 504 Plan.
Whisper phones are NOT ALLOWED for students
without disabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. When a student is eligible for the readaloud/audio accommodation, is the examiner
required to read the entire test or is the examiner
permitted to read portions as requested by the
student.
A. The accommodation as described in the student’s
IEP or 504 Plan must be followed as written. If the
IEP or 504 state that words, questions or sentences
can be read orally when requested by the student,
then reading the entire test is not required.
Accommodation Resources
Accommodation Resources
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/participation/parti
cipation_va_accountability_system.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/participation/lep_
guidelines.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/participation/guid
elines_read_aloud.pdf