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Assessment: Statewide Readiness Test
Last Thursday, January 19th a Statewide Readiness Test (SRT) was conducted. The SRT has a number of purposes:
Ensure student devices used for testing are correctly setup for testing;
- Test all the connections between student devices, the test content and Pearson servers;
- Verify secure student “credentials” can be validated and test items are displayed and can be responded to, test navigation and tools work and student responses are received and verified on the Pearson servers;
- Test the capacity of Pearson servers and software to handle high loads of logins and test item transactions; and
- Detect local, setup, network or infrastructure issues well in advance of testing so there is time for analysis, support and correction of problems on either the Pearson or the school side.
During the SRT, more than 250,000 unique “students” logged into the Pearson system. The peak volume was 15,000 logins per minute. This number far exceeds Indiana’s peak operational testing volume last year. TestNav, the student test platform, also performed well and at its peak was handling more than 115,000 “item level” transactions per minute. PearsonAccessNext, the test administration platform was accessed during the SRT by more than 1,450 unique users.
About 5% of the student logins experienced interruptions to testing and while it is below the 15+% rate seen last year, this reason was one of the purposes of the SRT. Addressing these issues will be a key focus for us and Pearson in the next several weeks. While many of these errors are easily addressed, there were a number of “unknown” errors and errors concentrated at specific locations which will receive immediate attention.
Thanks to all the school and district test administrators and technology staff who made this rigorous testing possible. The time and effort you put into this process allows all of us to be confident of Pearson’s capacity and ensures all of our systems are ready for students.
Finance
Information for the 2017 Summer School Program is now available. Click here for details regarding eligible reimbursable programs, required reporting, financial provisions, and other helpful guidance for school corporations.
Important Reminder: Membership Count Date is February 1, 2017. Click here for additional information.
Office of Special Education
The Office of Special Education along with a group of stakeholders have developed a framework for operationalizing the key messages of ESSA and the FAPE Dear Colleague Letter that requires equitable opportunities and high expectations for students with disabilities. The Office has developed a series of five minute videos that explain the key components of the framework for educators. Please take some time to view the “Short Shares” to become knowledgeable about the changes required for students with disabilities that, when implemented for all subgroups, have the potential to improve outcomes for all students www.doe.in.gov/specialed.
DOE Opportunities
Indiana’s Visiting Teacher Program is ready for the 2017-2018 school year. This program allows Indiana schools who are in need of finding a Spanish teacher and/or a Mandarin Chinese teacher to collaborate with IDOE to seek out a highly-qualified native speaker from Spain, China and Taiwan with at least two years of previous teaching experience. Administrators finding themselves in need of hiring one of these teachers should plan early. Apply by February 15, 2017. Opting into the Visiting Teacher program is free and does not lock the school into hiring a visiting teacher, however, without opting in, the school will not be able to participate once the teachers have been screened in April. Please visit the IDOE website here to learn more and/or to complete an application packet.
The Certificate of Multilingual Proficiency is a means of celebrating world language students and English Learner students who have achieved proficiency in both English and another language. This opportunity is open to public, charter and accredited nonpublic schools and can begin with your 2017 graduation cohort. Please visit the IDOE website here to learn more about the recognition program, see proficiency expectations for students and let IDOE know that your school would like to participate in this program to recognize students’ language acquisition.
Additional Opportunities
Looking for a way to engage in professional learning and connect with other educators? The Winter eLearning Book Club will begin on Monday, February 6th. The book is Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani. Our study and online conversations will last ten weeks and be worth 20 PGPs. Click here to register for the book club and receive a reminder the week before the book club begins.
The Winter 2017 EnablING STEM Teacher Grant program is live and can be found here.
The Indiana Summit on Out-of-School Learning is hosted in partnership between the Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana Afterschool Network. The sixth annual summit is open to ALL out-of-school time program providers, schools and community partners in Indiana serving K-12 youth. Register Today!
Weekly Updates
Miss an update? View previous weekly updates here.
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