Fall Data Review Deadline Postponed, SDRR Remains Open
The Fall Data Review deadline has been postponed allowing school and district staff to focus on instructional plans and maintaining a safe and healthy environment during the global pandemic. The Student Data Review and Rosters (SDRR) application will remain open for new tickets and processing requests. School and district personnel may continue to double-check tracking for individual 100-day students for ACCESS/Alternate ACCESS, reporting location for Cohort Graduation Rate, request non-participations and mark accommodations for Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for English Learner (EL) students. SDRR will close on Friday, Sept. 4 at 12 noon (ET) for all new tickets.
A timeline for the Quality Control review dates and public reporting will be shared when more details are known.
ACT Testing in 2020
As required by state statute, the Commonwealth of Kentucky provides a college-admission assessment to all juniors in Kentucky public schools. In spring 2020 on the initial test date of March 10, over 40,000 students successfully completed a test administration for the ACT, Kentucky’s college-admission test, before schools closed to in-person instruction due to COVID-19.
Without a makeup test date in late March, over 4,000 Kentucky juniors missed the ACT administration. Many of them, approximately 3,500, were students approved to use test accommodations, such as extended time.
Accommodated students are tested in one-on-one situations with a proctor or in small groups. This email outlines makeup testing options and the universal expectations for a healthy and safe at school administration that must be followed.
Makeup Fall 2020 Testing
With the Governor's recommendation for all Kentucky schools to delay in-person class until Sept. 28 and each school board making a decision on the safe return to school in their communities, ACT in collaboration with KDE has provided options for the fall administration. There are three makeup options for in-person testing for students who missed their opportunity to take the ACT in March.
Sept. 22 -- Initial Standard Test Date (Paper)
Sept. 22-25 and 28-Oct. 2 – Initial Accommodations Test Window (Paper)
Oct. 6 – Makeup Standard Test Date (Paper)
Oct. 6-9 and 12 -- Makeup Accommodations Test Window (Paper)
Oct. 20 -- Emergency Standard Test Date (Paper)
Oct. 20-23 and 26 -- Emergency Accommodations Test Window (Paper)
Note: If students are unable to attend in-person sessions during fall testing, eligible students will have the opportunity to take the state-provided ACT assessment during the spring 2021 administration.
For schools or districts that used the initial testing window on March 10, they may choose one of the above testing windows for makeup testing. For schools and districts that did not test any students on March 10, they may choose two windows -- one for initial testing and another for makeup testing. If a school or district chooses a testing window and is unable to bring students into the building due to COVID-19 restrictions, there is a small window for adjustments to the testing window to be made.
Universal Expectations
Any time that a school is providing in-person services to students, the school must consider how to maintain the health and safety expectations outlined in the Guidance on Safety Expectations and Best Practices for Kentucky Schools (K-12) document updated on June 24. This includes the five expectations for health and safety at school:
- Social distancing
- Cloth face coverings
- Screening and school exclusion
- Sanitation and environmental factors
- Contact tracing
Schools That Administered the ACT on March 10
If schools plan on operating virtually until Sept. 28 or later, students may be brought into the school to complete the ACT makeup testing.
- Follow the additional small group guidance, COVID-19 Considerations for Reopening Schools: Welcoming Students for Orientation and Targeted Services.
- Prepare for approximately a three-hour ACT administration. For the limited purpose of ACT makeup testing, the school may exceed the time-bound limit of two hours discussed in the small group guidance.
- Reduce the student population for ACT makeup testing. Schools should not exceed a total school capacity of 15 percent of their usual student building capacity AND should have no more than 10 individuals in a classroom at any given time, including adults. Schools must meet the five expectations above even when operating at a reduced capacity.
In addition, consider the following strategies when conducting in-person ACT testing with students:
- Sanitize any hard surfaces students will touch (i.e., tables, chairs and pencils).
- Students and staff should wash hands before and after testing.
Schools and Districts Unable to Test on March 10
- Select two test windows, if possible, after the district reopens to in-person instruction.
- Ensure that all juniors can test in the building or buildings simultaneously while meeting the universal expectations for healthy at school.
- Choose testing spaces where students may take the test with appropriate social distancing, such as gyms, libraries or multiple individual classrooms with fewer than 10.
Manage Participation Deadline
If a school has already completed the Manage Participation task in PearsonAccessnext (PAN) and selected the Sept. 22 testing window and cannot test during the window, please update the selected test date to Oct. 6. Updating PAN will prevent testing materials for the Sept. date from being shipped to the school. If testing on Oct. 20, please select the Oct. 6 test date. When ordering test materials, Building Assessment Coordinators (BACs) or a designee can select the appropriate makeup testing windows.
As a reminder, the deadline to submit participation in the 2020 Fall ACT State Administration is Aug. 21. For more information, please see the new training tutorial available at the Kentucky State Testing ACT webpage.
ACT TAA Deadline Extended
On Friday, Aug. 14, ACT migrated the Test Accessibility and Accommodations (TAA) login page to http://success.act.org. Unfortunately, this change was not timely communicated to all users; therefore, it caused confusion for those attempting to access the system on Friday. To ensure all users have ample opportunity to submit their accommodation requests, ACT is extending the deadline to request accommodations through Tuesday, Aug. 25. ACT has updated a training tutorial on How to Access TAA.
TAA Hosted Open Office Hours
Test Coordinators and Test Accommodations Coordinators are invited to attend an open office hours session, hosted by ACT accommodations staff members, dedicated to answering your questions about accommodations and supports requests.
Friday, Aug. 21
Monday, Aug. 24
Tuesday, Aug. 25
For support with ACT testing, please contact Shara Savage, Office of Assessment and Accountability, Division of Assessment and Accountability Support, via email or by phone 502-564-4394.
|
