Hurricane Harvey Update
As Texas continues to recover from the aftermath of
Hurricane Harvey, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has created a resource
center on its website to centralize all hurricane-related information for
school districts. The website can be found at https://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/Other_Services/Weather_and_Disaster/Hurricane_Harvey_Resources/. It includes all TEA hurricane-related correspondence and
announcements, information on waivers and extensions, school nutrition
information, and detailed answers to frequently asked questions. In addition,
the agency recently sent a survey to superintendents in the declared disaster areas
regarding the impact of Hurricane Harvey. Executive leadership at the agency
will review the survey results prior to making any additional decisions.
However, students will still need to take required state assessments. To track
students affected by Hurricane Harvey, districts will need to complete the AGENCY
USE field on the answer document. More information regarding completing this
field will be sent in the future.
Changes for the Student Assessment Division
In case you haven’t heard, there have been several changes
for the Student Assessment Division. First, there is a new Executive Director
of the division. Deborah Sauberer has joined the team and comes to the division
from Tennessee with 20 years of assessment experience. Second, the assessment
division, as well as other divisions in the Office of Academics, have been
reorganized. Many of the content staff have moved to the Curriculum Division,
and some of the reporting staff have moved to the Performance Reporting
Division. You can see some of these changes in our new contact information at http://tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/contacts/. Finally,
we are starting this division newsletter to keep you more informed of what’s
happening with the Texas Assessment Program and what’s coming soon. The
newsletter will be published periodically to correspond with test
administrations and other important times during the school year. The next
newsletter is scheduled for January 2018 around the beginning of the spring
semester. You can find the newsletter posted in the What’s New in Student Assessment section of our website at http://tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/, as well
as in the assessment correspondence with districts section at http://tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/correspondence/.
Interim and Formative
Assessments
TEA has been working to develop its new interim assessment
system. The first phase will be released in spring 2018. The system will
feature online multi-stage adaptive tests for mathematics and reading in grades
3–8. The optional interim assessments will be fully aligned to the State of
Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) and available to districts at
no cost. Interim assessments will be delivered through the STAAR Online Testing
Platform. More information and details will be made available in the coming
months. TEA will also be providing a presentation on interim assessments during
the Texas Assessment Conference in November.
The new formative assessment
system will be released in fall 2018. It will be delivered through the Texas
Gateway. More information and details will be made available in the future.
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TAKS Graduation Requirement Rules
Proposed amendments to Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §101.3024 and 101.4003 are being finalized. These
rules allow alternate paths to meet assessment graduation requirements for
former Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) examinees, including
former Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) and Texas Educational
Assessment of Minimal Skills (TEAMS) examinees. The rules include a list of
alternate assessments former examinees can take in place of TAKS. The adopted
rules should be effective in October. You can find more information on these
rules at http://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/Laws_and_Rules/Commissioner_Rules_(TAC)/Commissioner_of_Education_Rules_-_Texas_Administrative_Code/.
Security Supplement
Rule Posted for Public Comment
The proposed rule, TAC §101.3031, will be posted for public
comment later this month. This rule adopts the Test Security Supplement into administrative code. You can find the
proposed rule (when it is posted) at http://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/Laws_and_Rules/Commissioner_Rules_(TAC)/Proposed_Commissioner_of_Education_Rules/.
STAAR Alternate 2
Waiver Request
Texas is requesting a
waiver from the United States Education Department (USED) to exceed the 1.0
percent threshold on the percentage of students statewide who
participate in alternate assessments aligned with alternate academic achievement
standards (AA-AAAS), i.e., STAAR Alternate 2, for the 2017–2018 school year.
TEA will be contacting some districts within the next few weeks to assist with
the waiver process. The waiver request will be published in the Texas Register for public comment during
the month of November. Once the agency has gathered district information and public
comment, it will submit Texas’ request for a waiver to the USED in December.
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Removal of Test Booklet Seals
Beginning in spring 2018, test booklets for the Texas
Assessment Program will no longer include seals. For test booklets that contain
more than one subject (e.g., mathematics and reading), there will
be additional indicators (e.g., large stop signs) in the test booklets so that the
students do not continue into the next subject-area test.
Change in Test Policy for Contaminated Materials
TEA is changing its policy on the collection of test
booklets and answer documents that have human contaminants (e.g., vomit, blood,
etc.). We will no longer require district staff to return the test booklets
and/or answer documents to the contractor. Instead, the district will be
required to securely dispose of the contaminated materials. This updated policy
will be included in test administration materials for spring 2018.
TELPAS Tutorial
New online student tutorials for the Texas English Language
Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) will be available in November. This is a few months earlier than originally scheduled. The new
tutorials will help prepare students for the TELPAS reading test and the
redesigned TELPAS listening and speaking test. The purpose of the tutorials is
to give students practice with the online interface and tools and to become
familiar with a variety of test item formats.
Technology Updates
From ETS:
- Districts now have the option to upload participation counts via a comma separated value (CSV) file instead of manual entry.
- Districts will be able to view and track campus-level initial materials and precode shipments.
- Districts will be able to release campus-level reports downstream to campuses.
From Pearson:
- Creating test sessions is no longer required for entering student responses for STAAR Alternate 2.
- Chromebooks will now be supported for use on the TELPAS listening and speaking assessment.
- A headset test is now available for districts to test headsets prior to the TELPAS listening and speaking assessment. This test is located in the TestNav app under Practice Tests.
- A new download.testnav.com page is being redesigned to auto-detect TestNav compatibility.
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Below is a list of information that has been or will soon be
posted to the Student Assessment website: http://tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/.
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The following is a list of events
coming up in the next few months.
-
Texas
Assessment Conference, November 5–8, Austin
- December 2017 STAAR English I End-of-Course
Assessment, Monday, December 4
- December 2017 STAAR English II End-of-Course
Assessment, Wednesday, December 6
- December 2017 STAAR Algebra I, Biology, and U.S.
History End-of-Course Assessments, December 4–8
The following are some interesting numbers from the 2016–2017
school year.
-
10,479,082—the total number of individual STAAR tests
administered
- 1,034,105—the total number of STAAR tests administered
online
- 32—the percent increase in the number of STAAR online
testers
- 116,780—the total number of individual STAAR Alternate
2 tests administered
- 1,676,894—the total number of individual TELPAS tests
administered
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Below is a
list of email communications from ETS and Pearson regarding the Texas
Assessment Program. The dates listed are approximations and subject to change. Underlined communications are from Pearson; the others are from ETS.
- TELPAS
Listening and Speaking Headset Test—10/02/17
- April 2018
STAAR 3–8 and EOC Participation Counts—10/04/17
- STAAR
Alternate 2 Enrollment Collection Email—10/23/17
- STAAR Infrastructure Readiness for Online
Testing—10/23/17
-
May 2018 STAAR
3–8 and EOC (incl. Algebra II and English III) Participation Counts—10/23/17
- April 2018
STAAR 3–8 and EOC Participation Count Reminder—10/27/17
- December 2016 STAAR EOC Administration
Deactivation—10/30/17
- Invitation to Fall 2017 Webinar Trainings
for the STAAR Assessment Management System—11/01/17
- STAAR
Alternate 2 Enrollment Collection Email Reminder—11/01/17
- December 2017 STAAR EOC Material
Shipments—11/06/17
-
May 2018 STAAR 3–8 and EOC (incl. Algebra II and English
III) Participation Counts Reminder—11/10/17
- TELPAS Data Collection Options Email—11/13/17
-
December 2017 STAAR EOC Additional Orders Reminder—11/15/17
-
December 2017 STAAR Specific Braille Instructions
and Transcribable Grid Sheets—11/17/17
-
April and May
2018 STAAR EOC OOD/OOS Test Site Directory Updates—11/17/17
- December 2017 STAAR Administration Additional
Reports Ordering—11/27/17
-
December 2017 STAAR Online Testing Information—11/27/17
-
December 2017 STAAR EOC Resolve Student Test Warning
and Record Changes—12/18/17
-
December 2017 STAAR
EOC Return of Scorable Materials—12/19/17
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