Smarter Balanced Assessment
Consortium: Usability, Accessibility,
and Accommodations Training
February 3, 2014
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
District Office-Building F
Introduction
• The Guidelines document, which was approved by
Smarter Balanced governing states in September 2013,
provides three categories of support for students
taking the Smarter Balanced assessments.
• Smarter Balanced recognized that the validity of
assessment results depends on each and every student
having appropriate:
• Universal Tools
• Designated Supports
• Accommodations
when needed based on the constructs being measured by the
assessment.
Recognizing Access Needs in All Students
•
•
•
All students (including students with disabilities, ELLs, and ELLs with disabilities)
are to be held to the same expectations for participation and performance on state
assessments.
All students enrolled in grades 3-8 and 11 are required to participate in the
Smarter Balanced mathematics assessement except:
– Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who meet the criteria
for the mathematics alternate assessment (approximately 1% or fewer of the
student population).
All students enrolled in grades 3-8 and 11 are required to participate in the
Smarter Balanced English language/literacy assessment except:
– Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who meet the criteria
for the English language/literacy alternate assessment (approximately 1% or
fewer of the student population).
– ELLs who are enrolled for the first year in a U.S. school. These students
instead participate in their state’s English language proficiency assessment.
Conceptual Model Preview
• Universal tools-Available for all students (Example:
digital notepad and scratch paper).
• Designated Supports-Available to students for whom a
need has been identified by school personnel familiar
with each student’s needs [this will be documented
through our RTI process] (Example: translated pop-up
glossary).
• Accommodations-Available need is documented in an
individualized Education Program – IEP or 504 plan
(Example: Braille and closed captioning).
The model portrays an additive and sequential nature.
Conceptual Model Preview
• A universal tool for one content focus may be an
accommodation for another content focus (see page 19 in
the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: Usability,
Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines. For
example, calculator).
• Similarly, a designated support may also be an
accommodation, depending on the content target (see, for
example, scribe).
• There are also embedded and non-embedded versions of
the tools, supports, or accommodations depending on
whether they are provided as digitally-delivered
components of the test administration system or separate
from it.
See page 4
in the
Guidelines
Recent Injury
• A student with a recent injury (such as a broken hand or arm) that
make it difficult to produce responses may need to dictate their
responses to a human, who then records the students’ responses
verbatim. The use of this support may result in the student needing
additional overall time to complete the assessment [Nonembedded Designated Support - Page 12].
• One exception to the IEP or 504 requirement is for students who
have had a physical injury (e.g. broken hand or arm) that impairs
their ability to use a computer. These students may use the speechto-text [Non-embedded Accommodations on page 17] or the
scribe [Non-embedded Accommodations on pages 16 and 17]
accommodations (if they have had sufficient experience with the
use of these).
Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)
Accessing TIDE: First-Time Users
See Pages 8 and 9 in the TIDE User Guide
Do NOT share your login information with
anyone not authorized to access TIDE.
Users who have been added to TIDE will receive
an automated email from Smarter-DoNotReply
@airast.org (Check your spam folder). This email
contains the following information:
– Your welcome to TIDE
– A temporary password
– A link to the login page.
Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)
Accessing TIDE: First-Time Users (cont.)
1. In the email, click the link to access the login page.
2. Enter your username (email address) and temporary
password.
Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)
Accessing TIDE: First-Time Users (cont.)
3. Enter your new password into the New Password and Confirm Password
fields. (The new password must be at least 6 characters long, and at least one
of those characters must be numeric.)
4. Click [Submit]. You will be directed to the Password Reset Options page.
Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)
Accessing TIDE: First-Time Users (cont.)
5. Select a security question from the list.
6. In the “Answer” text box, provide your answer
to the security question.
7. Click [Save]. You will be directed to the TIDE
Home page.
Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)
Logging in to TIDE: Post-Account Activation
•
•
Embedded test settings must be enabled in TIDE for those students who require changes to the default
test environment (e.g., larger font [print] size, print on demand). Test settings are defined by content
area (mathematics and English Language Arts [ELA]).
Non-embedded supports must be acquired prior to testing.
1. Open your web browser and navigate to the Smarter Balanced
portal (sbac.portal.airast.org).
2. Select the Field Tests.
3. Click the [Online TIDE System] button. You will be directed to the
Smarter Balanced Single Sign On (SSO) login page.
4. Type your username and password in the respective text boxes
and click [Log In]. You will be directed to the TIDE Home page.
Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)
TIDE Home Page
• The first screen you will see after logging in to TIDE is the TIDE
Home page. Your user role is displayed on the screen in the
top right corner, next to your name.
The TIDE
Banner, which
contains the
“file” tabs is
visible at all
times. When
you click on the
file tabs you will
interface with
tabs (access to
tasks).
Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)
Task Group: Student Information-See pages 29-35 in
the TIDE User Guide
You can edit students’ embedded test settings via the
View/Edit Students task.
Remember that test settings are configurable by subject
[English Language Arts(ELA) and mathematics].
You may update the following test settings:
American Sign Language, Color Contrast, Language
(including braille and Spanish stacked translation)
Masking, Permissive Mode, Print on Demand, Print Size,
Streamlined Interface, Text-to-Speech, and Translation
(Glossary), along with Non-Embedded Designated
Supports and Non-Embedded Accommodations.
Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)
Student Information (continued)
• Selecting test settings requires you to select the necessary
option from a drop-down list.
• Selecting non-embedded designated supports or
accommodations requires you to click the checkbox for each
option the student will use on the test.
• For information about embedded
test settings and their options, refer
to Table 4 in the TIDE User Guide.
• When you have finished updating
the student’s information and/or
test settings, click [Save Changes].
Don’t forget…
Universal tools are generally available to all students,
educators may determine that one or more might be
distracting for a particular student, and thus might
indicate that the tool should be turned off for the
administration of the assessment to the student (see
also Designated Supports).
Accommodations could increase the cognitive load or
create other challenges for students who do not need
them or who have not had experience using them (This
applies to Designated supports as well).
Jigsaw Time
Using Close Reading
Groups of 4 to 6 people (2 minutes)
Read your section and mark the key points (5 minutes)
Teach the material to others (3 minutes)
Document 1: SBAC Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines
Group 1: Pages 6 and 7 Embedded Universal Tools
Group 2: Pages 7 and 8 Non-embedded Universal Tools
Group 3: Pages 9 and 10 Embedded Designated Supports
Group 4: Pages 11 and 12 Non-embedded Universal Tools
Group 5: Pages 13, 14 and 15 Embedded Accommodations
Group 6: Pages 15, 16 and 17 Non-embedded Accommodations
Document 2: Guidelines: Frequently Asked Questions
Group 7: Pages 1, 2 and 3
Group 8: Pages 4, 5 and 6
Group 9: Pages 7, 8 and 9
Group 10: Pages 10, 11, 12 and 13
Resources/Questions and Answers
These supports are intended to be used beginning with the spring
2014 Field Test. The Guidelines and accompanying FAQs are available
on the CDE Smarter Balanced Web page at
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa/access.asp.
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: TIDE User Guide can be
found at http://sbac.portal.airast.org.
Questions
Deborah J. Bryant
Director of Assessment and Accountability
(951) 940-6100 x 10410
E-Mail: dbryant@valverde.edu