1-15-21 | WDE Assessment Updates | Volume 8, Issue 22
From 4-5 p.m. on Feb. 2, 9, and 16
The Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) will co-host a series of online webinars with MetaMetrics on Lexile and Quantile Scores. Please mark your calendars and look for more information in upcoming newsletters.
-
Lexiles 101 - online webinar, 4-5 p.m. on February 2 [Zoom Link].
-
Quantiles 101 - online webinar, 4-5 p.m. on February 9 [Zoom Link].
-
Tour of the Lexile & Quantile Hub - online webinar, 4-5 p.m. on February 16 [Zoom Link].
For more information, contact Laurie Hernandez, WDE Director of Standards & Assessment, at 307-777-3469 or laurie.hernandez@wyo.gov.
|
From Virtual Open House on January 7, 2021
The WDE hosted a virtual open house recently to provide an opportunity for Q&A session with school leaders across the state. The resources from that event are now available.
For more information, contact Laurie Hernandez, WDE Director of Standards & Assessment, at 307-777-3469 or laurie.hernandez@wyo.gov.
The WDE has added student writing exemplars to the State Assessment System webpage, within the WY-TOPP drop down menu, under WY-TOPP Writing Assessments, General Resources, to provide a better understanding of how student writing is scored based on the WY-TOPP Writing Rubrics. The exemplars include annotated student writing samples to illustrate scoring for nearly every proficiency level. The writing samples were collected from Wyoming students, and scored and annotated by Wyoming teachers.
Writing Examplars with Annotations are currently available for:
For more information, contact Lori Pusateri-Lane, WDE ELA Consultant, at 307-777-8595 or lori.pusateri-lane@wyo.gov.
|
The WDE would like to highlight the following ACT resources:
Schools will find results for scored assessments at success.act.org. This is a school’s/district’s first stop to review results. The district superintendent has access to this account. PearsonAccess will hold the final school result file, for those who did state testing under their state testing account, and a national result file under the national testing account. For some these accounts may be merged. This will support effort to move activity to success.act.org, a single hub for much of ACT Inc.’s products.
Note, at this time students should have received their scores. If they have not received a score report, contact the ACT customer support line at 800-553-6244, ext. 2800.
For more information, contact Jessica Steinbrenner, WDE Assessment Consultant, at 307-777-8568 or jessica.steinbrenner@wyo.gov.
|
In addition to testing students, school staff are responsible for ensuring their safety. To accommodate guardians who must keep their student home and out of the classroom environment due to the pandemic, schools can report those circumstances using the Student Not Tested Form (SNTF) for ACCESS/ALT ACCESS and WY-TOPP/WY-ALT. Each district, educational institution, and program will be provided access to a Google folder with the SNTF for these assessments. Please refer to the instructions tab before completing the SNTF 2020-21 tab. Duplicate the SNTF tab as needed, and have each Building Coordinator complete their designated tab.
For more information, contact Jessica Steinbrenner, WDE Assessment Consultant, at 307-777-8568 or jessica.steinbrenner@wyo.gov.
School staff are responsible for ensuring maximum student participation in the statewide assessment system. School staff are also responsible for ensuring test security. District staff may transport test booklets between buildings, including to a student’s home to facilitate student participation in exceptional circumstances with permission from the Wyoming Department of Education. In order to grant approval, WDE will need to review and approve the plan the district or school will implement while moving the testing materials in question.
This plan should describe:
- An assessment calendar which includes the administration dates, testing locations, and names of Test Administrators (TAs).
- The processes and methods that ensure the security of test materials while being distributed, transported, and re-collected/returned.
- Practices that ensure the optimal test environments for the student.
- Any accommodations required for addressing needs of students with disabilities, per their IEP.
- Assurance that the TAs have been trained and certified.
The WDE recognizes and appreciates the effort of districts to safeguard test materials and maintain standardized assessment protocols while ensuring maximum participation.
If you need to transport materials, submit your plan to Jessica Steinbrenner. For more information, contact Jessica Steinbrenner, WDE Assessment Consultant, at 307-777-8568 or jessica.steinbrenner@wyo.gov.
|
Test security is important for all assessments. Any violation of test security, whether intended or accidental, can compromise our ability to make inferences about student performance on state assessments. We emphasize proactive practices — before, during, and after testing—as the primary method of ensuring test security. Following appropriate procedures regarding preparing for testing, handling test booklets, and administering tests is fundamental to ensuring public confidence in the results we report. Reference the Testing Materials Security document.
For more information, contact Michelle Carroll, WDE Assessment Consultant, at 307-777-3618 or michelle.carroll@wyo.gov.
ACCESS Testing Schedules were due on January 10th. If you have not submitted your schedule, please do so as soon as possible on the 2020-2021 ACCESS for ELLs Testing Schedule Form. The WDE appreciates the work and time districts have spent on schedules to ensure all EL’s are tested. The WDE understands that edits are often made when scheduling testing sessions. There are two options to edit an ACCESS testing schedule after completing the form.
Option 1 is the preferred option. After completing the Google Form, the submitter receives an email From: Google Forms<forms receipt-noreply@google.com. To edit your previous response, open the email and click on the “Edit response”.
Option 2 is reserved for submitters who do not have the email from Google Forms. Submitters may notify the EL Consultant, Antoinette Hallam, through email. A link will be sent to make suggested edits on the Google Sheet where responses were collected.
For more information, contact Antoinette Hallam, WDE Assessment Consultant, at 307-777-5217 or antoinette.hallam@wyo.gov.
- September 1-June 18: WY-TOPP Modulars.
-
October 5-January 29: Reading Supports for Multilingual Learners WIDA eWorkshop Training Course (6 modules-15 weeks long).
- January 12-February 5: WY-TOPP Winter Interims.
-
January 13-March 16: SAER System Open to Accept WY-ALT Exemption Requests.
-
January 13-April 27: SAER System Open to Accept WY-TOPP Exemption Requests.
-
January 19: WY-ALT Test Administration Training (Online)
- January 19-February 26: ACCESS and ALT ACCESS Assessments.
-
January 21: WY-ALT Test Administration Training (Online).
-
January 29: WY-ALT Test Administration Training (Online).
-
January 29: ACT Last Day to Request Accommodations in TAA.
-
February 2: During Testing: Monitoring Completion for Test Coordinators (Online) Webinar.
-
February 3: WY-ALT Test Administration Training (Online).
- February 5: ACT Last Day to Verify Student Enrollment.
- February 15-March 12: ACT Window For Ordering ‘Option 1’ Test Materials.
- March 2-April 23: WY-ALT Assessments.
-
March 9: ACCESS for ELLs Post-Testing: Data Validation Webinar.
-
March 16: ACCESS for ELLs Post-Testing: Interpreting Score Reports Webinar.
- March 23-26: ACT Window for Ordering ‘Option 2’ Test Materials.
- April 13-May 7: WY-TOPP Spring K-2 Interims.
- April 13-May 7: WY-TOPP Summative Assessments.
-
April 19-30: WorkKeys Test Administration Window.
|
