SDE: Next Week's Stress Test

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To: Superintendents, Principals, District Test Coordinators, and District Technology Coordinators

Subject: Next Week’s Stress Test             

Our new name for the Spring 2014-15 Math and Reading assessments is the Oklahoma College and Career Readiness Test, or OCCRA (pronounced “Okra”). In preparation for the 2014-15 assessments, we are piloting items this Spring.

Measured Progress is our new vendor for the OCCRA assessments. They are partnered with a company called eMetric who will be providing the online testing client.

The stress tests next Tuesday, January 28th are to test Oklahoma’s technology preparedness for this Spring’s assessments. It is important that we test both the CTB assessments for grades 6 through 12 and the Measured Progress assessments for grades 6 through 8.

During this stress test, we will be testing the entire Oklahoma technology network. We have OneNet and other Oklahoma Internet Service Providers monitoring all networks across the state. For the stress tests to be effective, it is important for all districts to participate in both of these tests.  If you have students who are taking trimester tests on the 28th, you only need to use the computers you have that are not being used for testing. If you have new computers on order that will be used for testing and those computers have not arrived, test any computers that you do have that will be used for testing.

The CTB stress test will be from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and is for sites with middle school and high school grades (Grades 6-12).

The Measured Progress test will be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and is for sites with middle school grades (Grades 6-8).

After the stress test is complete, the SDE, CTB, Measured Progress,  and the ISPs will analyze the data collected and identify any weaknesses throughout the state. This analysis will help resolve any issues that might impact testing this Spring.

Thank you for your help with ensuring that this Spring’s assessments will be a success.