Bring it On!- Not So New Coordinator’s Face STAAR
Texas Assessment Conference 2011

• Laura Witte, DTC, North East ISD lwitte@neisd.net
• Joe Orr, TC, Northside ISD joseph.orr@nisd.net
• Bill Renton, DTC, South San ISD brenton@southsanisd.net
• Moderator: Sandra Poth, Retired DTC sandrapoth@nisd.net

The ONLY professional organization representing testing & assessment professionals in Texas
!
~~~VISIT THE TSNAP BOOTH TODAY~~~

Pre-Conference Survey & Session Goals
Joe Orr, Northside ISD

Survey Results
Pre-Conference Survey & Session Goals
• Survey Results -
• Session Goals

• Is your Plan Written Down?
• Has it been reviewed and approved by top administration?
• Is it communicated to appropriate staff?
• Is it a working document that is updated on a regular basis?

Details Checklist – see handout
Test Administration
TAKS ALT Training &
Modules
TELPAS Overview
TAKS October Exit Retest
Long Pearson Description
Window for
Selection of
Details
Precode
Submission
Selection
Paper
Submission
Window
N/A
N/A
Exit File
Online
Submission
Window
Paper Testing
Sort Order*
Date entered into TAMS
Date to Pull
Precode File
File Verified
& Sorted
Send Precode
File
Date Submitted to TAMS w/o
Error
N/A
Optional
Reports
Deadline
N/A
Paper 1-Gr/Stu
March STAAR*
March 2012 STAAR Grades 4&7
Writing and Grades 5&8 Math &
Reading Administration
11-9 / 12/9
March STAAR EOC
March TAKS
March 2012 STAAR EOC 11-9 / 1-20
March TAKS Exit Retest
March 2012 TAKS Exit Level Retest
Administration
11-9 / 12-9
TELPAS Reading
LAT/STAAR-L
April STAAR*
2012 TELPAS Administration 11-9 / 12-9
April TAKS
April TAKS Exit Retest
May STAAR/EOC
July STAAR/EOC
July TAKS Exit Retest
April 2012 STAAR Grades 3-8
Administration
11-9 / 2-17
April 2012 TAKS/TAKS-M Grades
10,11, and Exit Level
Administration
11-9 / 2/17
N/A
District
District
Exit File
District
District
District
Exit File
Exit File
1-16 / 2/10
1-16 / 2-10
1-3 / 1-20
TBA
TBA
3-5 / 3-16
3-5 / 3-16
N/A
TBA
TBA
N/A
N/A
Paper
Paper
N/A
N/A
Paper
Paper
Paper
Paper
1-Gr/Stu
1-Gr/Stu
1-Gr/Stu
1-Stu
2-Grp/Stu
1-Gr/Stu
1-Stu
1-Stu
1-Gr/Stu
3/30/2012
3/12/2012
5/2/2012
5/2/2012
*Note - If you wish a different order for Elementary vs MS or HS, then you should submit as #2 and leave the group field blank where you want alpha documents.

While you ‘should’ have entered your enrollment (participation) counts already, however be prepared to make adjustments In the January adjustment period.
January 3–27, 2012

IS
Sandra Poth, Retired DTC

IS

• Primary concept in Organizational Management
• EARLY and TIMELY notification of testing dates
• Accuracy of information
• Ease of access to information
• Appropriate detail, as needed, by audience
• Reminders at key points in calendar
• Date your communications to distinguish updates
• Do NOT assume anyone knows it like YOU do!

Plan
• Create a calendar for publications and assign duties
• Create a team/committee
• Website
• Newsletters
• Parent letters
• Robo calls
• Brochures
• Local news outlets i.e., newspapers, TV
• Community Forums i.e. PTA meetings
Get the
Word
Out!
• Powerpoint presentations that campuses may use

Newsletter
Powerpoint
Pres.
Brochures

North East ISD Example :
• TAMS Student Portal using Access Code on CSR and data file from Pearson
• NEISD Student Portal*
• NEISD Compass (District created system for teachers)
• Confidential Student Report (CSR)
• Robo Calls from district
• Report Card/Progress Reports
Create Acknowledgement of Understanding for parents/guardians to NEISD
Documentation

MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS
What we know NOW & What we don’t know YET
Use TEA calendar of events to create checklist.
Be sure to include:
Test Dates, including ‘window’ ranges
State & District events & assessments
Add your TRAINING and REPORTING dates
TIP OF THE TRADE: Involve your (CTC’s) if possible

Specific programs require separate calendars across the school year; create these, layering them onto the general calendar.
STAAR-Alt (Special Education Department)
• When does the testing window open/close?
• When do you close this window in your district?
STAAR-L (Bilingual/ESL Department)
• When does the window open/close?
• When does ID of LEP students to be assessed take place?
ONLINE TESTING (Technology Department)
• When do the computers need to be ready?
• When is Tech staff needed on-site to help with problems?

Communicate your testing dates in a variety of ways to use all your available resources!
– District / Campus websites
– Booster club and parent group newsletters/publications
– District/Campus bulletins and newsletters
– ‘Special’ district announcement/mailout
– Use district Facebook/Twitter accounts
– Parent Portals or your district information system
TIP OF THE TRADE: Differentiate between posting for district
(internal) staff (Monitoring schedules) and posting for nondistrict (external) groups (Late bus arrangements).

Develop a local schedule that works for YOU !
Entire year-at-a-glance
One test administration at a time
Campus grade ranges
Decide who needs to receive calendar & schedules
Campus principal & staff
Central office staff
Special Programs
Maintenance
Transportation
Technology
Windows permit flexibility; maintain minimum control
TIP OF THE TRADE: Consider closing the window 1 or 2 days early to permit accuracy and program oversight.

• Training should begin early to provide multiple opportunities
• Utilize as many Central Office and non-campus instructional staff as possible---create your TEAM!!
• Train any/all vested groups, including custodians, cafeteria workers, office staff, and others
• Use training to inform and enlighten
TIPS OF TRADE:
Train each test
Train ALL staff
Train backup staff
Train multiple sessions

• NEISD Testing Services has created Breeze presentations that permit staff to be trained 24 hours a day
• Testing Breeze Presentations:
1. Answer Document Coding and Submission for March, April & May testing
2. Accommodation Training
3. FERPA Training (student info. & confidentiality)
4. Security Training which includes state oath for Test administrators, STAAR
Alt assistants, Technology Technicians, Material Delivery Persons
5. Monitor Training which include state oath
• Breeze is an Adobe product, but there are many other products available; ask your Technology team.

• Staff may view them at anytime
– Provide website address or link
• Recorded training frees up time from face to face training or allows campuses condense training
– More options for campuses
• Training during conference periods
• Recorded trainings can be reviewed whenever CTC or TA have questions i.e., answer document coding
• In the past, NEISD used Interactive Training for LAT & DBA because not all campuses have those accommodations. This year NEISD will have
LAT/STAAR L training interactively.
• Interactive training allows CTCs to remain on campus and still receive the training “live” or have access to the recorded training.

• Creating a stand alone security training
– Ask Test Administrators to view it prior to face to face training; be available to answer questions
– General- for office staff, technicians etc
– Administration specific for Test Administrators
• Recorded Presentations
– PowerPoint with sound
– Quiz included
– Oath included, print and sign
– Ticket into face to face campus train ing
• Answer Document Coding
– Breeze is required for all CTCs and staff assigned to help hand grid and verify coding
– Shows all answer documents and explains all coding
– “Chunk up” the Breeze presentations into administration specific trainings

•Think outside of the box
•DTCs need to make sure that campus training is consistent across the district
•Combine trainings when you can
•Accommodation Update prior to
TELPAS Overview in Jan 2012
•Use Technology whenever possible
•Don’t ever give up Face To Face
Training!

Calendaring
S

Laura Witte, North East ISD

• Documentation & Storage of Documentation
• Test Dates
– Spring EOC
– Summer Retests
• Test Materials
– Dictionaries
– Calculators
• Secure Storage
• Tracking Student Progress
• Checking in Materials

• Document, Document, Document
• Train campuses how to document test procedures, campus test plan, sources of information such as lists of students requiring modified assessments, testing irregularities
• DTC must determine what documentation will be required by district and campuses and communicate it to staff involved
• Inform staff what the consequences are if documentation is missing or incomplete
• DTC must have documentation available for audits and incident investigations

• In the past, NEISD collected all of the forms, seating charts and district documentation and then it sits in file cabinets or in boxes stacked up in closets or warehouses waiting for audits.
• 4 years ago, NEISD started using an electronic file cabinet to store documentation
• NEISD started using an electronic file cabinet when TEA required that we store TAKS-Alt documentation locally three years ago.
• 2 years ago, we decided to train CTCs how to attach and save Testing
Services documentation into Docuware (a Toshiba product)
• Now,
– All testing documentation will be filed electronically this year
– TELPAS Writing Samples will be filed in Docuware
– TAKS-Alt local documentation has been stored electronically for the last two years & will continue with STAAR Alt

• Notice list of required documentation to be submitted electronically by
CTCs
• Campus still must keep paper files for up to 5 years and some documentation is only kept at campus level i.e, TA oaths

• Have you decided which dates to test EOC in the spring?
• Choices:
1. Use TEA suggested dates
2. Allow campuses to select their own dates in the window
– Downside: test security, mobile students
3. District selects district-wide dates for EOC
– Upside: testing can take fewer days, district may have longer for checking materials, ship early
• If we test early can we expect to get reports early?
– Pearson will start to release reports online starting May 21 st , but will be online test results and Pearson will score tests on a first come basis

• English EOC tests have set dates but all other tests are in a window
• Will you select test dates for other subjects or test on demand?
– NEISD is considering testing on demand with three test sessions a day
• Morning session
•
Afternoon session
• Evening session (will pilot this summer at one campus)

Examples of Test Dates
Selected by Districts
NISD Example:
May 9: Algebra & Geometry
May 11: US History, World Geography, World History
May 15: Biology, Chemistry, Physics
May 16: Math Make-up Date
May 17: Social Studies Make-up Date
May 18: Science Make-up Date
Note: Some districts are considering moving all EOC testing into the 1 st week of window in order to expedite scoring in hopes of getting reports sooner
NEISD Example:
May 7: Algebra I & Geometry
May 8: W Geography
May 9: Biology
Make Up Testing:
May 16: Algebra I & Geometry
Do you have enough dictionaries and calculators for students for each day you are planning testing at middle and high school
?
May 17: W Geography
May 18: Biology

• Dictionaries must be available for ALL students taking:
– STAAR/STAAR M Reading grades 6-8
– STAAR/STAAR M Writing grade 7
– STAAR/STAAR M EOC English I, II & III
• Does your district have enough to give students dictionaries at the 3 to 1 ratio this year?
• Bilingual /ESL dictionaries
– Should be provided for students who use them routinely and it must be documented by the LPAC.
– There is no requirement regarding the ratio of students to dictionary, but TEA recommends it be one for each student who depends on them routinely

As of Dec. 1,
2011

• How to apply the 15%
– Apply 85% to the final grade either given by the teacher or averaged by the computer then apply 15% of the EOC. Semester grades given by the teacher are unaffected
• Number of Retakes for Rank?
– First time Scored
• Retakes for Final Course Grade on Transcript
• How many times should NEISD calculate EOC Retakes into the Final
Grade as reported on the AAR and used to determine credits?
– Until the student earns course credit

Conversion Chart
• Facts
– By June 8 (Pearson will start to release the week of May 21 st ) the
State will release:
• Student results (Confidential Student Record, CSR)
• Raw Score Conversions
• In order to Calculate Final Grade
– Districts Must Apply District-developed Grade Conversions to EOC exam score which will impact the Final Course Grade

NEISD Spreadsheet is posted on TSNAP site & at Moak Casey site

– If 15% of EOC exams do not have to be included in Rank , should
NEISD continue to allocate rank points based on semester grades that are not influenced by EOC exams? (Current
Practice)
High School
Choice
Yes
*****
No
– If 15% of the EOC must influence Rank , is it acceptable to double the final grade as rank points for the year?
Yes
*****
No
* High School
Choice

8 th Grade Algebra I – One or two tests?
• Right now, NEISD will ask students to take both assessments. That is subject to change and will be an administrative regulation and not local policy
• Students will take STAAR exams before AYP rules are determined

th Grade Pre-AP
• Students will take the 7 th Grade STAAR Exam

Will SPED Options Include 15% (M & Alt)?
• Yes, it will be included
• Phase in as systems are developed
• ARD must concur

Ranking the Final 7 th Semester for Seniors
• Yes
• First Semester grades in Senior Year – calculated without EOC result.

Number of End of Year Report Cards
• Two for all 9 th graders
• Two for 8 th Graders in Algebra I and Geometry

• EOC Calculators
– Required for STAAR, STAAR Modified, STAAR L Algebra
I, Geometry, Biology & STAAR/STAAR L Algebra II,
Chemistry & Physics
– Not an accommodation if TEA requires it!
• STAAR Gr. 3-8 Calculators
– Special Ed or 504 &
– Used Routinely, Independently & Effectively
– Gr. 3 & 4: Physical disability that prevents students from writing OR an impairment in vision that prevents students from seeing numbers used in computations
– Gr. 5 -8: Meets 1 criteria from Gr. 3-4 OR has a disability that affects math calculations (unable to memorize basic facts or perform steps in an algorithm)

• Under STAAR, DTCs are forced to confront some security issues they may not have encounter before
– EOC Testing window allows campuses to select test dates and so all students may not be testing on the same day which increases the risk of security breaches
– Makeup testing encompasses more assessments and increases security risks
– Since most districts have selected paper EOC testing the volume of secure test books has increased significantly this year and secure storage will be an issue at the district and campus level
• Consider temporary secure storage i.e., KeeBloks
• Consider PODs at the district level
• Consider staggering the release of materials to campuses
– TRAINING is KEY – Campuses must be trained in what the expectation is and the DTC must have develop a plan for materials & communicate it

Summer 2012
May30 th
EOY
June 1 st
Report Card w/o EOC scores
June 14
Credit
Recovery
Ends;
Retest
Categories
Determined
June ?
Report Card with EOC
(Data File,
CSR, NEISD
Recommend ation Letter
May June
July 9-13
EOC Retest
Window;
TAKS Retest
July 12
Sem. #2
Summer
School
Starts
Aug 3
Sem. #2
Summer
School
Ends
Aug.
10 th
EOC
Retest
Reports
Due
(Data
File &
CSRs )
July August
June 4 th Credit
Recovery Begins
June 8 th EOC
Reports Due
(Data File &
CSRs)
June 12 & 13
Leadership
June 18
Summer
School Starts
HS
Counselor’s
Last Day
July 11
Sem. #1
Summer
School
Ends
Aug. 6/7
1 st Day
MS/HS
Counselors
Aug. 6-9
August
Leadership
Aug. 27 th
1 st Day of
School
Preliminary NEISD EOC Timeline

Guiding Questions-
1. Will your district test in one central location or at individual campus sites?
2. Where is your district providing credit recovery, remediation for EOC and summer school?
3. Have you budgeted for the possible need to additional testing staff this summer?
4. Does your district have a plan for disseminating student results after school is out and rounding up the students for summer programs and testing?

EOC Retest Categories
Category 1- Definite Retests
EOC Scale Scores
000
900
(minimum)
Category 2- Recommend Retest
1000
(Standard)
Category 3- Voluntary Retest 1200
(Readiness Std.)
1400

NEISD’s current thinking on
Summer
2012

1. Pick one site for July 2012
2. 4 hour test windows
3. 3 sessions per day possible; students allowed to take only 1 test per session
4. Student confirms registration or registers online in NEISD
Portal
5. Student is assigned a session and seat number
6. System creates a ticket for the student that student uses as pass to get into testing site
7. System creates rosters for campuses/district testing staff

3...2...1...Blast Off! (food for thought)
– No scorable books at grade 3
– Spring break may interfere in March
– Alternate test dates for XL retest or permission to test on election day depending whether or not your high schools are polling sites
– EOC will create 4 times the number of answer documents since the documents are subject specific and not grade specific
– TEA will release EOC reports starting the Monday after the EOC window closes (May 21)
– Will you have less help this year due to budget constraints?
Think outside the box about helpers
– Staggering scorable check in vs. nonscorable check in
– Consider checking in EOC by subject
– Consider checking in while make up testing is going on & treat makeups as attributions

EOC Registration System in NEISD
1. Definite & Reccomended Retesters a) Automatically registered in system b) Requires confirmation for seat counts for planning
2. Voluntary Retesters a) Register online & confirm reservation
3. NEISD system will not be in place until the
Fall of 2012

Tracking Students & Retest Registration
Guiding Questions-
1. Is your district creating your own system to track
EOC students? Are you purchasing a system that you will use?
2. Do you have a district committee that has been meeting to discuss how to track students that includes the DTC, PEIMS Coor., C & I, Technology,
Accountability & Guidance?
3. Are you networking with other districts in your region and in the state?

3...2...1...Blast Off! (food for thought)
• Determining year entered 9 th grade is paramount
• Evaluating transcripts for newly enrolled students is important consider working with registrar/guidance to ensure everyone is on same page
• CBE with and without prior instruction
• Foreign Exchange Students & EOC- they must test, but will your district count the 15% for final grade?

Guiding Questions-
1. Are you considering changing how you check in scorable and nonscorable materials this year?
2. How many campuses will test EOC online?
3. Do you check in at one station or do the campuses rotate throughs various stations to check specific things such as counts, headers, handgrids, score codes etc.?
4. How many days is your district planning to check in materials before you ship?

3...2...1...Blast Off! (food for thought)
• Be Flexible! What will work this summer may not work for next school year and vice versa
• If you test online you will get results faster
• Consider testing early in the window
• Consider large group testing
• If you are an OOS site have you considered the number of students you may need to test?
• OOD testers- what is your plan for dealing with them?

• Campus responsibilities for counseling & notification of student options
• How to document the student options
• Timeline going past August 2012
• Testing Center for Retesters past July 2012

Bill Renton, South San Antonio ISD

• Managing Accommodations
• Documentation & Forms
• Resources

The Accommodation Triangle
(Under Construction – will be reposted following the
Texas Assessment Conference)

TEA – Accommodations Documents
• This section provides a general description of the accommodation and who may need it.
• The statewide assessments that the accommodation may be used on are listed in this section.
• This section lists the criteria that a student must meet to use the accommodation.
• The checkboxes are provided for possible record-keeping.

TEA – Accommodations Documents
• This section lists the campus personnel and the required documentation necessary for making accommodation decisions.
• This section also explains what to record on the student answer document.
• This section states if an Accommodation Request Form is/is not required.
• This section lists examples and types of the accommodation that may be used on a statewide assessment.

NISD’s system for documenting accommodations for students

Northside ISD’s List of Accommodations
NISD documents accommodations by subject and type in a district system

Create a system that works for your district and campus

South San Antonio ISD’s
Accommodations System

North East ISD Document

NEISD Intranet site for Supplemental Aids

San Antonio ISD’s
Accommodations System

San Antonio ISD’s
Accommodations System - RTI

San Antonio ISD’s
Accommodations System – LEP

•Optional form for
NEISD CTCs to document Optional Test
Administration Proc. &
Materials
•Note: Individual & small groups are not of form as of
11/18/11.
•NEISD is also not documenting grade 3 Reading
Assistance for math
•Documentation is maintained at the campus level

Example of NEISD’s Form to Track
Accommodations for students at
Alternate Campuses
•NEISD wants to guarantee that students at Alternate
Campuses are tested appropriately
•CTC must complete form and send to alt. campus when students leave home campus

Judson ISD Document