2014 CRT Training for Test Coordinators

1. 2014 CRT Training for Test Coordinators Highlights, Reminders, and Heads-ups

2. Essential Question How do we administer the Nevada CRTs to all eligible students in a standardized way and with integrity?

3. Test Scheduling • Nevada Testing Calendar for the 2013-2014 School Year • Nevada NAC and the Test Coordinator’s Manual state that CRTs for grades3 – 8 must be administered up to 10 days either side of the 150th day of Instruction.

4. Scheduling • Recent WCSD practice has been to maximize instructional days leading up to the administration of the CRTs. Therefore, where practicable, testing windows in WCSD have been condensed to one week and have been moved back closer to the 160th day of instruction (May 14, Balanced Calendar). • Schools may request up to three additional days (April 30 – May 2). • Schools may conduct make-ups through May 12.

5. SBAC Field Test • 38 schools in WCSD are participating on the SBAC Field Test this spring. • As of March 8, 2014, official language from the state superintendent of instruction states that schools participating on the SBAC Field Test will NOT test the same grade and subject on the CRTs. • If you receive a transfer student from one of the SBAC Field Test schools between March 18 and your CRT window, please check with the sending school to confirm participation on the SBAC Field Test. Confirm grade and subject tested. • If a student participated on the SBAC Field Test and then transfers to a different Field Test school or non-Field Test school, that student will NOT participate on the CRT in the subject he/she participated on with the Field Test.

6. E.S. SBAC Field Test Schools

7. M.S. SBAC Field Test Schools

8. Participation • The Procedures for the Nevada Proficiency Examination Program, 2013-2014 explicitly state: • “All students enrolled in public schools, including charter schools, at a grade level where a mandated test is administered statewide, must participate in a test administration.” • There are no ‘opt-out’ provisions in state regulation or code. Parents/Guardians may not demand that their children not participate on a state-mandated assessment.

9. Read the manual(s) appropriate to your position: • Test Coordinators/Site Administrators: Test Coordinator’s Manual (TCM) & Test Administrator’s Manual (TAM), Procedures for the Nevada Proficiency Examination Program, 2013-2014 (CRT Section) in their entirety. This PowerPoint presentation does not cover everything you must know and do.

10. Receipt and DistributionPages 9 – 13, TCM • CRT Materials may begin arriving at your school beginning on March 17, 2014. • Remember that deliveries can stretch out over several days. • If you did not receive an appropriate amount of any of the materials, contact the Nevada Service Center at Measured Progress at 866-651-0126 immediately.

11. What You Should Have Received • School Test Coordinator’s Manual • Classroom Test Administrators’ Manuals • Test Booklets • Answer Documents and Bar Code Labels • Used Answer Documents Envelopes • Special Handling Envelopes • Instructions for Completing online Principal’s Certification Form • Pre-labeled Boxes for Used Answer Documents • UPS Return Service Labels

12. Receipt of Materials • Test booklets are packaged in class packs of 5s, 10s and 20s; Answer docs in packs of 5s and 20s. • You must match everything you receive against your security checklist found in the first (smaller) box of your shipment. • Save all of the packing material, including the boxes. You will use most, if not all of the material to send things back to Measured Progress. Please remind your custodian to refrain from throwing the boxes out.

13. IDs on test booklets are the same aslast year:You may renumber yourbooks for easier tracking.

14. Visually Impaired Students • Make sure that the IEPs and 504 plans for your visually impaired students are on file with the Visually Impaired Office. • The Assessment Department will order Braille materials from Measured Progress. These materials may arrive separately from your regular shipment, but must be returned to Measured Progress with the rest of your materials. • Large print materials are prepared and delivered by the WCSD Visually Impaired Office and must be returned in person to the Assessment Department in the same time frame in which you return materials to Measured Progress.

15. Put the labels in the right place: Did Not Participate – bubble for each subject test as appropriate ↓

16. New Students after January 31 • For students who enrolled after January 31, 2014 and for whom you receive no label, you must bubble in the following student identifying/demographic information: • Student Name • Birth Date • School Code (WCSD 2-digit code: 16 + school 3-digit code) • Student Number

17. No Label? • Please do NOT ask test administrators or students to bubble in the demographic area of their own answer documents. • Test coordinators/site administrators, or a designated, trained and trusted staff member should be the only people bubbling demographic information.

18. Yes, there’s a label! Now What? • Labels are to be placed on answer documents for students who are eligible for testing (i.e. NAA, Absent, Other) • If you place a label on an answer document, the only fields that MAY need bubbling are the Testing Conditions, Did Not Participate, and Special Consideration fields, and then ONLY for students who qualify. • New in Country (NIC) and Former IEP < 2 years information is included in the bar code data. • See your manual (pages 14-18, TCM). When in doubt of what to bubble, contact Assessment Support.

19. Not Enrolled? • If you receive a barcode label for a student who is no longer enrolled at your school, do NOT place the label on an answer document. Unused labels should be securely discarded. • If you affix a label to an answer document and the student then withdraws, simply bubble “Not Enrolled” in the DID NOT PARTICIPATE section.

20. Responsibilities • Read, know and do each item on the checklist on pages 3-5 of the coordinator’s manual. • The 2nd major item under “Before Testing” is vitally important. Plan to do the following: • Develop and distribute written procedures well before pre-CRT training. • Make it clear. Staff need to be able to follow all procedures without confusion. • Provide thorough training to all staff interacting with test materials and testing situations.

21. Responsibilities, cont. • “Prior to the day of testing: distribute only the Test Administrator’s Manual to the test administrators so they can become familiar with the testing procedures.” (Page 4 – TCM) • Distribute and ensure that appropriate staff have read the manual thoroughly before your pre-CRT meeting.

22. Training • A pre-CRT training of all staff even remotely involved in CRT testing must be held. Keep a sign-in sheet to commemorate each person’s attendance. • A separate training PowerPoint presentation is provided for your use in this training. Important test administration reminders and highlights that you and your staff should know are included. Please read this PowerPoint and use it in your training. It will be sent to you as an attachment to an email and will be available on the Assessment Department’s website. • Report the date of your pre-CRT training to Megan Brown in the Assessment Department by April 18. Email megbrown@washoeschools.net

23. More Responsibilities • Only certified staff may function as test administrators. • Long-term subs may serve as test administrators provided they have been trained on the Primer and the CRT Manual and have signed the Primer acknowledgement page. • Short-term subs, student teachers and interns may function as proctors, provided they have also been trained on the Primer and Manual. • The TCM reminds principals and testing coordinators that they must circulate the school on testing days to monitor all aspects of testing.

24. Devices NOT Allowed • Electronic Devices of any kind (unless specified on the state accommodation form and a student’s IEP) must not be brought by students into a testing session (students may not access them even after finishing the test). • See extensive, though not exhaustive, list of prohibited electronics on page 7 of the WCSD Primer for Testing. • Any personal materials.

25. Test Item Concerns • Test Administrators must NEVER, read or review a test item. • Rarely, students may express a concern over test items. In such cases the test administrator must note the following: 1. the grade level 2. the subject 3. the test booklet version (grades 5 & 8) 4. the item number • Test Administrators should tell the student to do her/his best to answer the item. Reassure her/him that if the item is faulty she/he will not be held responsible for the item in her/his scale score. • Test Administrators must communicate the concern directly to the test coordinator/school administrator. He/She will contact Assessment Support, who will notify NDE and resolve the issue.

26. Heads-up: TAM • On page 1 of the Test Administrator’s Manual (TAM), checklist item #10 speaks of obtaining student signatures. This is not necessary at the elementary and middle school levels. • However, it is necessary to match answer documents to the correct students. • Best practice is to maintain a spreadsheet with all test-eligible students’ names and the number of the test books each is using.

27. Invalidations • DO NOT invalidate a student test unless you have first cleared this action with Assessment Support or the Director of Assessment. • Students with invalidated scores resulting from a test administration or security irregularity WILL be counted as participating in the assessment; however they will be counted as non-proficient for Accountability purposes. • Answer documents for absent students, for students who do not complete a test part, or for students who appear to be not seriously attempting to answer test items must NEVER be invalidated.

28. Scheduling • The Procedures for the Nevada Proficiency Examination Program, 2013-2014 states, “The Department strongly recommends that students take only one part (i.e. Part 1 or Part 2) of a content area test per day.” This is NOT a mandate; however, this practice can be of benefit to students, though it could potentially impact six full school days (5th Grade).

29. Let’s talk about pages 24 – 27 of the TAM: • The most common choices for scheduling Parts 1 and 2 of a CRT are 1. Schedule Part 1 one day and Part 2 another day or later that same day. 2. Schedule Parts 1 and 2 to run consecutively and uninterrupted with students taking restroom breaks very sparingly as needed (most often used for 5th and 8th grade science tests).

30. More Pages 24 - 27 • The script on pages 24 – 27 may require revision to fit within your school’s plan. You have permission to revise these pages, especially the following: • approximate time allowed for a part (pages 24&26) • your school’s plan to provide extra time – Pages 24, 25 & 26 (must be written and distributed to teachers) • the line, “There are 15 minutes left before the end of the testing period.” • the entire section between the dark horizontal lines on page 24, to allow you to administer Part 2 on a different day

31. Accommodations • Well before your testing window, read pages 8-12 in the WCSD Primer for Testing and discuss the information with all staff working with special needs students, especially the following: • accommodations forms of students with IEPs MUST match their IEPs • only those accommodations afforded to students routinely in their classrooms throughout the school year should be written into their IEPs, 504 plans and ELL forms and afforded them during large scale assessments

32. More Accommodations • The NDE continues to allow Former LEP students exited LESS THAN 2 YEARS to receive testing accommodations. • Things to remember: • Students cannot receive testing accommodations unless they are consistent with instructional accommodations they are already receiving. • It is bad practice, often leading to poorer performance, to add accommodations just in a hope that student performance will improve. • The allowable accommodations for FORMER LEPs are the same as those for current LEPs. The same process used for current LEPs needs to be followed for Formers.

33. Accommodations, cont. • Test coordinators must produce a spreadsheet listing every test-eligible student with special needs, the room(s) they will be testing in, the person administering the test, and the accommodations, if any, the students require. • This spreadsheet should be kept updated, should be shared with all staff involved in the testing of students with special needs, and must be readily available for review by Assessment Department staff on monitoring visits. • Any certified staff member trained on the Primer and on administering accommodations may administer accommodated tests.

34. The “Read-aloud” Accommodation • Test administrators may read only those parts of the test that students request to be read (but NOT the signs, symbols or numerals); in this scenario, it is not necessary for students to have the same version of the test • Administrators may also choose to read the entire test (but NOT the signs, symbols or numerals) to a group of students; in this scenario, the students will need to have the same version of the test.

35. Special Situation Students: • Home/Hospital teachers should have been trained on the Primer for Testing. Follow the Protocol for Testing Home/Hospital Students on State Assessments. • Students with accommodations and receiving Home/Hospital services: • IEP – contact Carol Voss, 861-4458 • 504 – contact Katherine Loudon, 850-8011/850-8012 • Contact the Assessment Department regarding students in West Hills and enrolled at your school. Please work collaboratively and observe all check in/check out procedures when transferring materials to an off-site location.

36. Special Situation Students (continued): • Coordinate testing… • Students in ATC, Jan Evans (Wittenberg) and Washoe Inspire, enrolled at your school: contact Josh Rosenbloom, school: 857-3181 (Washoe Inspire) • Students in Turning Point, contact Raegan Virgil (Washoe Innovations, SWAS, and Re-Engagement Centers), school: 333-5150 Please work collaboratively and observe all check in/check out procedures when transferring test materials to off-site locations.

37. Student Transiency During CRT Testing • The school with which a student begins CRT testing has accountability responsibility for that student’s performance on all tests. • Avoid the movement of students from school to school within the testing window as much as possible. • Check with the sending school when you receive a new within-WCSD enrollee just prior to and during CRT testing. Call the sending school to determine the student’s participation status. • If you receive an enrollee who has already taken a CRT test and needs to take more: • call the sending school and arrange for secure transfer of that student’s answer document; • complete the student’s testing; • and return the answer document to the sending school for submission to Measured Progress.

38. More Test Coordinators • Daily check-out and check-in of secure materials is vitally important; keep excellent documentation. • Unlike on the writing assessments, books, dictionaries, thesauruses, notes, or aids must NOT be accessible to students during CRT testing. • EXCEPTION: Designated ELL students may use a bilingual dictionary on math and science tests. (LEP Accommodations Form)

39. Test Coordinators • Highlighters, colored writing implements, and blank post-it notes are OK for text marking in the test booklet. • Blank, lined or unlined scratch paper or graphing paper is OK, but they must be free of text numerals, characters, graphic organizers or any other pattern… • These materials MUST be supplied to students before testing begins and must be collected at the end of each testing session.

40. Coordinators Disclosure of test content is strictly prohibited by state law. • Do NOT read, review, copy, reproduce or take notes on test items [or any part of a test book]. • Photographing, recording, or transmitting any part of a test or testing session is prohibited.

41. Accurate Demographic Data • Please make sure that student data in Infinite Campus are accurate at all times.

42. Return of Materials • Detailed instructions for packing and returning materials appear in the TCM for 2014, especially on pages 23-28. • Site administrators and test coordinators are responsible for returning all materials correctly to Measured Progress. • The term, “used answer document” refers to any answer document that must be scanned. This includes documents marked in the “Did Not Participate” (Absent, Not Enrolled, NAA, Other)and “Special Consideration” (Braille) fields and an answer document for each student enrolled in your school during the testing window.

43. Biohazards & Special Handling • Measured Progress does not attempt to scan or extract information from answer documents that have been contaminated by biohazards. • In the case of contamination, coordinators must refer to an follow explicitly the “BiohazardousMaterial” directions on pages 24 & 25.

44. Unused Answer Documents • Answer documents that are completely blank are considered “unused.” • Answer documents affixed with barcode labels of students who withdrew prior to testing are considered “used.” • ALL unused answer documents, except for blanks still in their shrink-wrapped packages, MUST be placed in the “Unused Answer Document” envelope.

45. Void answer sheets in the case of duplicate answer sheets (see TCM pp. 20 -22,).

46. Materials • Use the folded, grade-specific boxes to return used answer documents. • Be sure the grade level on the box matches the grade level of the answer documents. • Read and follow the instructions on pages 23 – 28 and complete the checklist on pages 26 & 27 of the TCM.

47. Return • All CRT materials, including both return shipments to Measured Progress, must be picked up by UPS on or before May 13, 2014 to be included in the first round of scoring. • Materials returned after May 13 will delay the reporting of your results. Don’t be the last to know…

48. Data Availability • June 17, 2014 is the target date for release of results data on the Measured Progress iServices website. • Hardcopies of individual student reports will not be delivered to schools until after administrators and staff return to their buildings in August.

49. IMPORTANT REFERENCES • Procedures for the Nevada Proficiency Examination Program, 2013-2014 • Nevada Criterion-Referenced Test, Test Coordinator’s Manual • Nevada Criterion-Referenced Test, Test Administration Manual • A Primer for Testing: Policies and Professional Expectations • Washoe County School District Special Needs Accommodations Guidance

50. For Web Support, visithttp://www.washoecountyschools.org/district/assessment/