Question of the Week
Q: When will KSA and AKSA Individual Student Reports (ISRs) be mailed to districts?
A: Pearson will begin mailing ISRs from the spring 2023 Kentucky Summative Assessment (KSA) and Alternate Kentucky Summative Assessment (AKSA) this week. All reports should be received by districts no later than Friday, Sept. 29. There will be two copies of the student report provided, one copy for the district, and one copy for the district to share with the parent/guardian. ISRs contain individual student data which are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and therefore not subject to embargo. Districts are encouraged to share these reports with families as soon as possible. ISRs will also be available in PearsonAccessnext (PAN) within Spring 2023 Summative Published Reports.
Note: The Office of Education Technology (OET) is currently in the process of loading KSA student results data into Infinite Campus (IC). As data are loaded, it is a district decision as to when the data is made available in Parent Portal.
ACT State Fall 2023 State Senior (Optional) Administration: Test Preparation
Prior to the start of testing, the Office of Assessment and Accountability (OAA) and ACT strongly encourage testing staff to be aware of all ACT policies and procedures and the responsibility for implementing those procedures. This ensures a fair and standardized testing experience, which also reduces the risk of misadministration. There are various resources available to testing staff, including training based on roles such as Room Supervisors. Please reference Step 5 of the ACT-hosted testing website to access these resources, which include the ACT Administration Manual – Online Testing, Room Supervisor Checklist, and Room Supervisor Training video.
Additionally, prior to the start of testing, school testing staff should make arrangements to host in-school sessions to conduct the non-test activity. Schools recently received materials that include personalized non-test instructions documents for each examinee and copies of the Taking the ACT booklets, materials that students need to conduct the non-test activity in MyACT. Schools should host separate sessions for students with and without parental consent. Step 4 of the ACT-hosted testing website contains helpful resources about completing the non-test activity in MyACT.
Please be aware that OAA has worked with the U.S. Education Department (USED) to ensure that the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and Kentucky school districts are fully compliant with federal privacy laws concerning non‐test information provided to third parties when administering the Kentucky state administration of the ACT to students. The Parental Consent Form is required for all students under the age of 18. The form is embedded into the Parental Consent Guidance. As a reminder, consent can be obtained via hard copy (written signature) or electronically via Google form or email. Please Note: verbal consent is no longer an option for collecting consent. If consent is not obtained from a parent and/or guardian, the student does not have permission to opt into the Educational Opportunity Service (EOS) system and send scores to colleges. However, it has no bearing on the student's ability to test.
For questions or assistance, please contact Shara Savage.
ACT State Testing Office Hour – Sept. 27, 2023
OAA and ACT will be hosting an office hour session on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 11 a.m. ET, which will focus on the activities associated with preparing to administer the ACT during Test Window #1. The session will be hosted via a Microsoft Teams meeting. While the content will be focused on those specific tasks, KDE and ACT encourage testing staff to attend and ask any questions they may have at this time. Please be sure to provide testing staff with this Microsoft Teams Link for the upcoming session.
ACCESS for ELLs Test Materials Ordering Now Available
The window for ordering ACCESS for ELLs test materials (ACCESS, Alternate ACCESS, Kindergarten ACCESS, Large print, Braille) is now available and will close on Oct. 25. District Assessment Coordinators (DACs) can place test material orders for their schools in the WIDA Assessment Management System (AMS). Only order the materials that are required. The Office of Assessment and Accountability (OAA) will provide the Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) with the pre-id label file after the ordering window closes. DACs will not order pre-id labels in WIDA AMS. The Ordering Materials PowerPoint provides additional details for ordering ACCESS for ELLs test materials.
October WIDA Q&A Webinars
Please join WIDA and Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) to learn about the following topics:
-
Pre-Testing: Software Updates and Tech Readiness Checklist Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 1-2 p.m. CT
-
Pre-Testing: Technology Installations Part 1 Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 1-2 p.m. CT
-
Pre-Testing: Technology Installations Part 2 Thursday, Oct. 12 at 1-2 p.m. CT
-
Pre-Testing: Test Scheduling Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 1-2 p.m. CT
Can’t make it? The recordings for WIDA Q&A Webinars are posted to the WIDA Secure Portal on the Webinars page within a week of the presentation.
|
