As we move forward with preparations for our spring 2016 assessment windows, we would like to share an overview of the status of the ACT Suite (ACT Plus Writing, ACT Aspire, ACT WorkKeys, and COMPASS).

ACT Plus Writing

This month, we are finalizing establishment for the ACT Plus Writing assessment. The WDE has supplied ACT with an establishment file so they can begin preparing the system. 

ACT Aspire

Schools do not have access to the Aspire portal at this time. The preliminary establishment file has been forwarded to ACT Aspire, and Building Coordinators should be receiving an Establishment email from them in a few weeks. After Establishment has been verified, District Test Coordinators will be able to access the ACT Aspire portal, add additional persons, and assign user roles. In the interim, there is an Infrastructure Trial webinar available. 

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Educational Testing Service (ETS) will be hosting a training webinar for all PAWS Building Coordinators to review the Test Operations Management System (TOMS), the demographic collection database to be used for the 2016 PAWS Administration.

Please make sure all key staff who use the TOMS system attend the training. The webinar will be posted to the ETS – TOMS site as well as the WDE homepage to view if staff are unable to attend the live training.

 In this training, ETS will review and walk through the current TOMS system. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. View "System Requirements" here.

WDE has created training sessions for everyone administering or second scoring the Wy-ALT assessment during the 2015-1016 testing window.

If you have not previously attended a Wy-ALT training session, and will be administering and/or second scoring the assessment this year, you will need to attend a full-day training session. There are three training sessions scheduled:

• January 11 - Buffalo
• January 12 - Casper
• January 15 - Rock Springs

If you attended last year's full day training, you will not be required to attend the full day session (you may however on a voluntary basis). Instead, you will be required to attend a half-day refresher course. There will be 2 live sessions:

• January 13 - Casper (morning)
• January 13 - Casper (afternoon)

WDE is also scheduling refresher webinars in lieu of the live sessions. A registration link will be posted in an upcoming WDE Assessment Newsletter.

District Assessment Coordinators: Please complete the following survey to verify information concerning establishment  for ACT WorkKeys. Only complete the survey if schools in your district are going to administer ACT WorkKeys during in spring 2016.There are 2 options for the administration this year: online testing or paper/pencil testing. The survey must be submitted by November 24.

If schools in your district will administer ACT WorkKeys online this year, the following webinars/training opportunities are available:

 Test Administration Training for online testing 

• 11/23/2015
• 12/1/2015       

  ACT WorkKeys Grouping and Batch Loading 

• 11/19/2015
• 12/4/2015
• 12/16/2015 

You may register for these webinars by going to http://www.act.org/learning-at-act/training/workkeys.html.

The Infrastructure Trial session will provide information on how to access and use the Infrastructure Trial tenant which will allow districts to test the local infrastructure, work with simulated student data, set-up practice test sessions, print authorization tickets, and try out the portal before working with live data in the ACT Aspire portal.

Wyoming Infrastructure Trial Training - Duration: 1 hour

• Wednesday, November 18 - 9 a.m.

Session Password: Aspire

To gain access to the Infrastructure Trial, please complete the following form:  http://goo.gl/forms/m99bzJPDg1.