Feb. 11 DAC Monthly Webcast
The Office of Assessment and Accountability (OAA), Division of Assessment and Accountability Support (DAAS) will host its live monthly DAC Webcast virtually today, Feb. 11, from 11 a.m. – 12 noon ET.
The meeting will be hosted by Jennifer Stafford, Director, in the Division of Assessment and Accountability Support. She will be joined by consultants, Shara Savage, Chris Williams, Kevin O’Hair, Jenni Larkins and Pam Powers. Agenda topics include:
- ACT Test Schedule Options and Considerations
- ACCESS and Alternate ACCESS Updates
- Kentucky Portal (K-PREP)
- Accommodated Practice Items (K-PREP)
- Quality of School Climate and Safety Survey and Opportunities to Learn Survey
- Assessment and Accountability Updates
The DAC Webcast PowerPoint is available on the right-hand side of the KDE Meetings and Trainings webpage.
Please join Jennifer at 11 a.m. ET for the live broadcast. If you have a conflict with this meeting, the session will be recorded and posted on the KDE Media Portal and the KDE Meetings and Trainings page with all pertinent materials. Questions may be asked by sending an email to KDE DAC Information.
Future broadcasts are scheduled for the second Thursday of each month at 11 a.m. ET.
Ready-to-Use Resource Available to Schools and Districts
The Office of Assessment and Accountability (OAA) is excited to announce a new resource available to the fingertips of school and district staff. The Kentucky Portal, developed by Pearson and OAA, is an easy way to locate all things Pearson.
The site includes easy-to-use tabs:
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Important Dates – current dates and deadlines for key tasks;
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PearsonAccessnext – entry point to all Pearson services used by schools and districts;
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Technology Setup – access technical guides, user guides and TestNav preparation for computer-based assessments;
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Test Preparation – users can access sample items, TestNav tutorials, regular and accommodated practice tests;
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Resources – access manuals, scripts and other documents;
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Released Items – access released items, etc. Note: New science (grades 4, 7 and 11) item release;
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Documents – news for Test Coordinators, Test Administrators, Technology Coordinators, districts and schools; and
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Support – assistance available via webform, telephone and chat.
The Kentucky Portal is designed to be a dynamic document, one that is continually edited and updated.
Scorable Practice Tests Available for Students Receiving Accommodations
Scorable practice tests and scoring materials for students receiving accommodations are ready for schools and districts.
Like the practice test items released in October 2020 for general education students, these scorable practice tests provide accommodated students and test administrators instant feedback on student responses. Test administrators may use the scorable practice tests in various ways. The scorable practice tests can provide an indication of the student’s understanding of the content. They also provide students the opportunity to practice, use, and navigate the TestNav system. The practice tests and TestNav tutorial are located in the new Kentucky Portal. A password is not necessary to access the practice tests. All practice tests, answer keys and rubrics will be available in PearsonAccessnext.
Practice tests for students with special needs are available for reading, science, social studies and writing. Accommodated practice tests for mathematics will be released soon.
Multiple-choice, multiple-select and technology-enhanced items are instantly scored. Short answer and extended response items are captured, and the student responses may be printed. The teacher or test administrator can score the written responses using the appropriate rubric. While the multiple-choice/multiple-select portion is instantly scored, the written responses must be captured for printing and scoring.
For Spring 2021 the Text Reader Accommodation is being replaced with Online Text to Speech (TTS) functionality. The TTS functionality will be online and available within the accommodated practice tests. Pearson will share specific details in the February DAC trainings regarding how students who require TTS will need to be marked in PearsonAccessnext for the spring K-PREP administration.
The test administrator should provide direction to the student, upon completion of the practice test, to not close their browser or click on the Sign out button until the test administrator is able to print the student responses. If the student does either of these prior to printing, the student responses are gone. The test administrator may print the summary report to see the student’s responses. The maximum score for each multiple-choice/multiple-select question is reflected on the Summary report. The test administrator may score the printed short answer/extended response using the approved scoring rubrics. The rubrics are included within the Answer Key/Rubrics pdf that is posted on the Kentucky Portal. One important note in which schools and districts should be aware: The practice tests can only operate on the web browser version and not the secured TestNav application used for operational testing sessions. The web browser version will allow students access to operating system extensions. Grammarly or similar functionality will NOT be an option for the operational assessment.
Questions about the scorable practice tests and/or answer keys/rubrics, may be sent to DACInformation.
Science Released Items
In accordance with KRS 158.6453, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is releasing a subset of science test items for grades 4, 7 and 11. Test item sets are being provided to school districts that include an electronic copy of an operational subset of test items administered. To help students, parents, educators, and policymakers become familiar with the test presentation and content, the science released items are representative of the K-PREP assessments. These items will assist in understanding the format of the tests and questions.
Information and data on the science items sets will be released in two phases. Phase One Reports, currently available in the Kentucky Portal (K-PREP), include: released items, item statistics, anchor sets, annotation forms, qualification sets, and practice sets. Phase Two Reports will include: released item numbers, standards, overall item performance by student group, number of students/percent correct, and item breakout statistics-answer choice key (percent correct). Phase Two Reports will be released to districts through the Secure Web Application soon.
Items will be released for other content areas after the first operational assessment of the new standards.
Questions on access to the released items should be submitted to DACInformation. Questions on the science content or use of the resources should be submitted to standards@education.ky.gov.
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