Currently Trying to Support Mac 10.10. Please Contact ESD If You Are Planning on Using

Currently trying to support mac 10.10. Please contact ESD if you are planning on using windows 8.1 touchscreen computers.

Brad: The extended assessment standards setting opportunity will be open June 15-17 at U of O. Looking for 51 SPED, math and ELD specialists for new linking. If you have folks who are interested in participating please forward information to Brad.

Thank you for forwarding the kindergarten teacher voice survey. We have had around 300 responses already.

Michelle is busy but we are still recruiting for the field test. Specifically kinder and 1st grade. Still looking for other grades but we are focusing on lower grades.

Registration for field test is closed temporarily as Queststar downloads information. Registration will open next week December 15 and will be open till January 15. We encourage all districts to participate so all students can experience the new items. We are recruiting four groups: current English Learners, former English Learners (title 3 monitoring status), Fluent potential English Language Learners, whose surveys indicated that they might be EL, English only no potential for English Learners status students are allowed to participate. Many have wanted native speakers to take the ELPA and had this request many times. Please sign up your native English speakers for this field test and we will have the data that we have been waiting for.

Districts have requested that the English only students take the ELPA in the past, like mentioned. So ODE hopes that ELPA takers can be joined by their non EL peers during this field test. Dates: February 2 to March 31 for grades 9-12; Feb 16 - March 31 for grades k-8. If there are any questions you can visit the website ELPA21.org or email Kathleen directly and she will forward it to the appropriate person. Thank you.

Reminder, submit questions in the comments and we will address those at the end.

Technology updates. Email went out about Mac secure browser 7.2 vs Mac secure browser 7.0. The issue that was resolved by the new browser was the pausing issues for text-to-speech. So if you are having students that are using “Text-to-speech” as a designated support during testing you will want to uninstall the 7.0 and install 7.2. We are testing Mac 10.10 currently to see if it is compatible. Once it has been checked, the 7.2 should be compatible with Mac 10.10. We are also having our vendor develop an IOS 8 support app provision through the app store. That should be available before the testing window which is January 6, 2015. Also to clear up some questions: Stylus are NOT required for testing. Students do not have to have the ELPA headsets for the Text to Speech function. Earbuds/headphones are fine. Thank you for submitting the district technology capacity survey. We had 114 districts respond and we noticed that 54% have had their students take the practice test, which means that 46% have not had their students take the practice test. We highly recommend that all students take the Practice Test before SB testing begins March 10, 2015.

Before that ends, Rachel, I am working on a checklist for you to share with your IT managers and this list is really above and beyond the students taking the tests. A brief exercise for the DTC and IT manager to sit down and go through to help you be more confident that your tech is working and will be working for the SB assessment. We will have it done soon. Download and launch secure browser. Same browser for ELPA, OAKS and SB. Second thing. Run the diago in the low left (button) on the student practice test. Then select a practice test, have you run through a math PT to check text to speech, audio and ASL is working. Next, we’ll have you go into an ELPA and make sure that the listening and speaking audio checks are working. These are the capacity breakers and make sure that these work and we will be confident that things will work in March.

Bryan Toller

We wanted to introduce a professional development opportunity. This is a brief overview (listed in AA update). ODE partnered with OEIB, West Ed and SCALE and will be offering free, face to face, 2 day professional development for educators on assessment literacy. Specifically, educators can do hand scoring of SB Performance tasks and Constructed response items. And they will include how to deliver Performance assessments in your classroom. The participates will be able to look at secure SB items. They will also be provided at the conferences meals, travel stipends for those who travel >90 miles. Conferences: Jan 26 and 27 Portland, Feb 5 and 6 Roseburg, Feb 12 and 13 Pendleton. The space is limited and only open to 120 participates and break out to Math elementary Math secondary ELA elementary ELA secondary. When you apply through the Survey money Link you will have to indicate which session you would like to attend. There will be on going professional development. WestEd will be conducting a 5 week virtual learning community about Performance assessment. Be on the lookout at AA update for fine details for recruitment.

Begin Q and A

In chat so far:

DTC will receive emailed copy of power point?

Yes it will be either in an email or on the website. Also we will be listening to the recording and taking notes so we can write down the questions and answers.

ELPA field test: We have a lot more English native speakers, should we limit that number? Kathleen: I’m going to say the sky is the limit because we have lots for the field test and pass this question along to Michelle and Martha. If they can coach you on grade level that are most needed. Please do sign up your native English speakers

Test Administration manual: classroom activity and performance task should not be done on the same day

DB: so what the guidance that we have been given by SB is that the ELA classroom activity cannot be administered the same day as that student begins the Performance task. But on the math side that would be allowable, but it is recommended to do it day prior. We will contact SB to clarify this issue about whether or not the guidance to us is a rand and fast rule. We will have an answer out to everybody early next week.

The next question: Test specs for Chromebooks indicates that it will support version 31-35 operating system. A district is currently using version 38. When will we find out what versions beyond version 35 will be supported?

Rachel: If you are looking at test specification that you are looking at the Oregon versions of Tech plans and not SB tech plans because we are in the process of testing out newer versions, including 38. As you know google pushes out new updates about every 6 weeks so we are continuing to keep up with each new version that comes out. Please look at the Oregon tech plans not the SB plans.

Are there going to be any videos on log ins, set up or entering information into TIDE for SB. Test coordinators would love to have this to share with their TA.

Rachel: if you go on to the OAKS portal, all of the modules that SB created for the field test are listed there under Resources. We have updated these modules to reflect the newest test and our Oregon shell. Yes, you have those PowerPoints on how to set up a test session. We are also in the process of filming live video on how to set up a test session in a practice test with TIDE, TA interface and the student interface.

Assessment literacy/ professional development that Bryan discussed

First one was about the site.

Derek: there was a question about whether or not if we could stretch those sites out across the state. Unfortunately there is a limited amount of funding that goes with those training that are really being coordinated by another organization so we had limits on where we could offer those trainings. We had to make some hard decisions on where to hold those trainings.

Will those 5 week virtual trainings be open to all educators or only the120 that are recruited?

Bryan: the virtual learning is created to support those who participated in the training. One thing to note though is that those trainings focus on sharing info so those folks that are trained will have modules that they can share with their districts, besides the secure information. The virtual training community is designed just for the participates.

Regarding training for ELPA21 field test. Would there be any additional training beyond the ELPA are required for ELPA21?

The answer is yes. There is additional training required for the ELPA21 field test. That training will be necessary for TAs.

Attendance for Classroom Activity and how should they administer PT if student is absent for Classroom activity.

We will have a promising practices for the classroom activity doc coming out this week. I think the best guidance to offer should be that we shouldn’t administer the PT to students until they have completed the CA. If they have students who are having a hard time getting through the CA we should find a way for that student to experience it still. We will need to have some conversations about this issue with the team and then get back to you saying Yes or No. The team is reminding me that this would be actually falling under the title of an impropriety.

How are the classroom activities going to be assigned?

We will be working with AIR to decide how the Classroom activities and PA will be assigned. This will be a random assignment at the student level as each Classroom activity support 5-7 several Performance Tasks. So within a grade in a school all those students would be receiving a Performance task that is covered by the Classroom Activity. We have to wait for SB to deliver all of the items and Performance tasks to AIR before we can start assigning. So that work is scheduled for December and early January. Once it is done, we will produce the files needed and place them in the OAKS portal.

To clarify, every grade has a Classroom Activity that is associated with it. Within a school at a specific grade, every grade will have the same activity but different Performance task. That should give you some flexibility on how to help absent students.

When are the live videos going to be released?

By the end of next week.

What about AB scheduling? If they cannot do the performance task the same day they may time out, since there are only 10 calendar days to complete those.

I think Derek addressed this, we will talk to SB about this. I was surprised to see that ELA is specifically listed on the table to not be performed the same day whereas math could start on the same day. So we put a question into them, what is the difference? We will follow up and give you an answer. This may be something we could have control over. I don’t think we would object to the students beginning the performance task the same day as the classroom activity. During the DTC training there were questions about the Classroom Activity. Have those questions been mostly addressed and if so where can we find the answers?

Derek, I don’t know specifically what all of the unknowns were but as I mentioned early we have created that promising practices document specifically to contextualize the Classroom Activity. We are hoping his will help folks with scheduling issues for the Classroom Activity and other things associated with the CA. We are projected to have this document out by the end of this week so that will be a fluid document, so if there are questions that are not on there we can update it accordingly.

If students only complete the complete the computer test and not the classroom activity, are they still considered “participants”?

Ok, so how we are counting participate is still open. I can tell you that the consortium is trying to come to a consensus about how participation will be calculated specifically relative to how the consortium produces it’s reports. Every state has the ability to make their own decisions on how they calculate participate. In talking to Jon Wiens about this, we will have to make some decisions about if we want to be closer to where smarter balanced is landing. There is an open vote that consortium states are doing right now to land a decision there. I would characterize it as fairly different to how we have calculated participation here in the past. Bottom line: We have to decide if we want to amend how we have been reporting participation to align with smarter Balanced approach or if we want to keep it the same. If we do amend it to align, there will be more steps that a few questions on the CAT and ACT. Again that is where the consortium is trying to come to a consensus because each state has a very different way of how to calculate this and each has deep philosophical opinions on how this should be done.

What is the status of the ODE project to compile math and ELA samples that can be used to fulfil ES requirements?

Derek: the status is that ken and Bryan are leading groups of educators in creating the first batch of reading, writing and math tasks. They are pretty close to having the first 10-15 done. We are working internally with the IT folks on how to create a distribution center for those. You may have heard us mention “the portal”. Development has been delayed, so we are going to find another way to distribute these. This may be through the secure DTC site, and there will be trainings on how to access those. Mid- January seems to be the launch date. We have not sent out official communications about this because we wanted to make sure that we can deliver by that time. We will provide training on where and how to get to those.

How will classroom activities will be distributed in mixed grade classes

Derek: that will be a decision you can make at the local level so within the promising practices document we have addressed this issue. So you will have to follow local policy on if you want to include both grades or a different route.

Can the classroom activity be recorded and digitally distributed to students who are absent.

Yes. How will we manage students who transfer during the testing window, are their performance task assignments flexible or will they update?

We need to work through those details. The best answer right now is if we end up with students that are caught in the backwash in this situation and the best option would be to retest. We would have to work with that on a case by case basis.

What is the logic on starting the ELA on a different day than the Classroom Activity.

As ken mentioned before we have asked SB and have not received a clear answer. After this phone call I will try to contact them again about this issue.

When will schools receive the student score on the SB assessments, after the students have completed the test?

Five to six weeks. We are feeling optimistic.

Will partial tests be scored?

That is kind of wrapped in the participation conversation so we don’t have a firm answer for a 4 to 6 weeks. We are still having conversations with AIR. We are not sure what that is going to look like.

Is there an estimated time on the participation definition that we discussed earlier?

At the consortium level the decision has been difficult to build consensus about. Tony seems confident that they are closer to making a decision. Clearly this is an issue that you are all wanting more firm information on. So I will talk with Jon today about what his timeline looks like for getting the accountability team together to make a determination about this issue.

There is confusion around the score reports for smarter balanced and some parts of the tests would produce instant scores.

There are no parts of the tests that will produce instant scores.

Are first year ELL student exempt from taking the ELA as long as they are taking the ELPA?

If those 5 to 6 weeks are after student completes the test?

Yes. To clarify there may be several days between the CAP portion and the performance task and that task may take a few sessions to complete that portion. Air cannot do scoring until the student has completed the entire test, so that would be 5 to 6 weeks after each aspect of the test has been completed.

Will those scores be rolled out as they are scored or would they be rolled out in batches. I need to talk to Jon about this, though I believe they were looking at rolling them out as possible. They are still working on some details about this though because we are not sure what QA aspects need to be in place here when we receive the scores. So it could be batches.

Will there be separate score for reading and writing?

Yes, there will be claim level scores and whole ELA and MATH scores.

For the purposes of accountability though there are overall ELA scores and the sub scores will be important to Essential skills though for other grades it provides more information on the strengths and weakness of students. But, the overall ELA scores are the most important.

In math the students will receive a composite score. But the score breakouts by claim will be categorical values not numeric. So they list if they met or didn’t meet.

Is the equation editor available outside of the SB test or training test?

They are not currently. Though we are asking our vendor if they can deploy them on a site similar to the practice calculator site, but we will get back to you on this.

There are a few Kindergarten assessment questions

The individual student data is listed in decimal values that’s is not possible given a single rater is on an integer 1-5 scale. So the question is, has the validity of the scores been shared?

Liz: To clarify is that the approaches to learning section, because those are 5 items and that is the average of those 5 items.

That was the answer to that question.

I am looking for any hand raised questions as well.

The next question: Is there a key available to better understand the kindergarten data just received?

There is an accompanying document on the KA resources page called “District and full report overviews” that has some tips in interpreting the data. You can also refer to the test specifications in the TAM. That is something we are working on developing to have clearer guidelines on how to interpret this data. Stay tuned. There are some resources right now though.

Why are there no estimates on the participation rates? Or when will they be receiving estimates?

If you are talking about participation rate for 2014-15 tear those won’t be calculated until later in the year because we use the first period ADM as the denominator and that isn’t validated until February.

I didn’t see that it compared to state level data?

If you are referring to the 14-15 student level reports? Those were sent out for validation, and the final state reports will go out on January 13 and those will have the state averages. Is the report sample they were given the same that will be released publically?

The reports you are reviewing are the preliminary reports that you are validating to ensure that the student rosters are correct and that the scores that were submitted were correct. So the statewide data will be released in January. The number attempted has not been in the report the last two years, but we have received some feedback. If this is Joe, can we talk offline about how this should look?

Will there be a print button on the screen for the few students that will use the print on demand accommodation in the Smarter Balanced test?

So as you know they will need this accommodation set up in TIDE before they start testing. They will be able to press a print button and then the TA will be able to approve the printing.

Will the individual writing scores used for Essential skills used in High School not be available until August?

This is Derek, for students that take that assessment late in the window it is possible it could stretch out to august but we are anticipating late July time frame. For 2014-15 the 11th graders will be taking the Smarter Balanced and the 12th graders will have the opportunity to take the OAKS writing test. We know that in 2015-16 we will need to provide another SB opportunity likely around 12th grade in the winter timeframe so students can get those results back.

Clarification on number of attempts for the Kinder assessment.

I think what I would like to do is talk with the test developer at U of O about the ratio because it is a 1 minute test that’s essentially the frame of reference opposed to number of attempts . I suppose it could be a fluency measure and not an accuracy measure, and that might be why the number of attempts is not what the developer intended. I think that information was captured for research instead of for the classroom. As we mentioned earlier we are open to conversation about this. Please contact Steve and Liz about this.

Class rosters: if a student moves during window, do we contact ODE?

The data follows the student because of their SSID so we have that data.

Where are the rosters and reports we are supposed to validate by December 19?

Those were sent on the afternoon of December 8 to DTCs so if you did not receive a secure file transfer in your email, check with Amber Helvie as she is the owner of the kinder assessment.

So OAKS will no longer be available to seniors for Essential Skills opportunities after this year? It will switch to SB in 2015-16?

Yes that is true. We are running OAKS reading, writing and math this year for grade 12 students only. This is listed in the TAM, this is to ensure continuity for essential skills graduation purposes. In 2015-16 we will not be able to provide the Legacy system, though we will have a policy in place to offer additional SB opportunities at the high school level. We will ask Stake holders to provide input on offering that at 12th grade.

Are we supposed to send something back to ODE in regards to validating the Kindergarten reports?

We only ask to check back if there are missing scores that you submitted.

Open questions

Extended Assessment

Brad: with all the training going on and information in the AA update, just wanted to forward the DTCs an opportunity if you have heard things from your colleagues around the new Oregon statewide Accessibility supports or questions around new 2014-15 extended assessment. Otherwise additional information will be forthcoming in the AA update around the Oregon Accessibility Supports and extended assessment as that rolls out and we move closer. We are doing the standards setting piece right now. Otherwise, I’m sending out additional information through the AA update around the new 14-15 Oregon extended assessment and more information will be posted on the Extended assessment website about that and gives more particular details that might be useful to you or your colleagues. So if you have any additional questions please feel free to send them my way.

Another question about the Classroom activity. Will all 3rd graders in the district be given the same activity or will it differ by only building?

Differ only by building.

Another question: can you confirm that the reading passages in ELA can be read to the student?

Ken: Brad will have more complete answers. I can say though that the reading text for 6th grade and above can be read as an accommodation but 3rd-5th grade cannot because part of what is being measured is their ability to decode text. So there are very specific rules that Brad is familiar with, as they are listed in the Accommodation manual.

Sharespace topic : Promising practice

Rachel: so we currently have a series of class room best practices around SB assessment which include classroom activities, school imposed test schedules, student technology preparedness, technology capacity (mentioned by Kathleen), as well as the TDS, TIDE, TA training video that is being created.

What additional promising practices or training materials do you need to be successful for future assessment?

Can you please confirm the imbedded/non-imbedded universal tool of a dictionary? Is the dictionary only allowed in the performance section?

Ken: there is an imbedded dictionary and thesaurus on the performance task portion which is session two of the performance task. You can also bring in a hard copy of a dictionary or thesaurus. But there is a button in the test that can be used to search the Merriam-Webster dictionary and/or thesaurus. You can see that in the practice test. You can see them appear when you move from the first to second portion of the ELA performance task.

Because we are running out of time, if you come up with additional ideas for future promising practices documents, trainings, or videos, please contact Holly Carter here at ODE via email. [email protected]

What is the best use of the Oregon Accessibility Manual? Framing it as a required reading is a less useful frame than a required resources. Expectation to know the concept is the same but reading through the tables is like reading a dictionary and perhaps counterproductive.

Brad: Well, Well, well. It’s a great point, and it is substantial. However, in tandem with the TAM the importance of those resources being provided for students, configured in IEP for students and provided appropriately for students are of a nature, and regarding the high stakes involved, that is why we are making it a requirement. I understand and the point is taken well, considering the 135 pages plus we know that a large portion has to do with the selection, administration, and evaluation of the tools versus the actual tables of accessibility supports. So the bulk of that is really around the tables and the descriptions and the recommendations for use. That is useful feedback, and we can perhaps work with identifying particulars of the Accessibility manual that may be more required to read than other parts.

Do we anticipate OAKS for science in 2015-16?

As you know we adopted the New Generation Science Standards in March 2014, therefore it will take a couple years to create a new assessment. So yes, we will have OAKS science for 2015-16.

There were a couple of suggestions listed that we will be writing down, also this was recorded and we will be providing all the notes and questions and answer from this session as well. Jessica McGraw will be in touch with about this.