April Announcments
R9 ASSESSMENT NEWSLETTER
Missed a Webinar? No worries.
Once you open the link, scroll down the page to see list of webinars.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) and Educational Testing Service (ETS) are providing information for teachers on how to use student-level data from the STAAR interim assessments. The Using Student-Level Data from Interim Assessments webinar training has been pre-recorded and posted to the Texas Assessment website at https://texasassessment.com/administrators/training/.
STAAR Writing Grades 4 & 7
STAAR Reading & Math Grades 5 & 8
STAAR EOC English I & II
STAAR Math and Reading Grades 5 & 8
Student Success Initiative
The Student Success Initiative (SSI) grade advancement requirements apply to enrolled grades 5 and 8 students who take the STAAR reading and mathematics tests at grades 5 and 8. A student may advance to the next grade level only by passing these tests or by unanimous decision of his or her grade placement committee that the student is likely to perform at grade level after additional instruction
The SSI manual is posted by TEA at https://tea.texas.gov/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=51539628031&libID=51539628024
Important dates:
April 5 TA training deadline
April 8-18 Grade 5&8 STAAR Math & Reading Online Assessment window
April 9 Grade 5&8 STAAR Math Paper testing day
April 10 Grade 5&8 STAAR Reading Paper testing dayApril 12 Districts ship all scorable materials
April 22 Districts ship all nonscorable materials
April 29 Reports posted to Assessment Management System, Preliminary region report
April 30 Student results available in Student Portal
Testing Window Caution
STAAR Writing Grades 4 & 7: NO FORM NUMBERS
The April 2019 STAAR Grade 4 English Writing Test Booklet will NOT include a form number. For students taking the STAAR grade 4 English writing test during the April 2019 administration, districts should grid “01” in the FORM # field on the grade 4 writing answer document.
The April 2019 STAAR Grade 7 Writing Test Booklet will NOT include a form number, and there is NOT a FORM # field on the answer document. In addition, the grade 7 answer document has more spaces for answer choices on the answer document than there are questions in the test booklet. Test administrators may tell students that they will not use all of the spaces for answer choices. There are 36 spaces on the answer document and only 30 multiple-choice questions in the test booklet. Students may cross out the last six spaces on the answer document.
TSNAP Member Jamie Hagler of Silsbee ISD created a replacement page 50 of the STAAR Grades 6-8 test Administrator manual with added directions for students to cross out questions 31-36 for Grade 7 Writing (per the "March 4, 2019, Upcoming STAAR Activities" email). She used the language used from the Grades 3-5 test administrator manual. This is to keep instructions consistent among all test administrators.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=11ZbsxC1Y1nFyqRIC5ArSMvMyvot0pCBV
STAAR Revising passages, revising test questions and answer choices, and embedded supports can be read aloud. Required reference materials (where applicable) and allowable designated supports may be read aloud. Editing passages, test questions, and answer choices CANNOT be read aloud.
District testing coordinators should share this information with campus testing coordinators and test administrators.
Online extended windows do not apply to STAAR Writing
Important dates:
April 5 TA training deadline
April 9 Grade 4&7 STAAR Writing testing day
April 12 Districts ship all scorable materials
April 22 Districts ship all nonscorable materials
April 29 Reports posted to Assessment Management System, Preliminary region report
April 30 Student results available in Student Portal
STAAR EOC English I & English II Info
- STAAR English I, English II, and English III Reading test questions and answer choices, revising passages, revising test questions and answer choices, and embedded supports can be read aloud. Required reference materials and allowable designated supports may be read aloud. Reading selections, editing passages, and editing test questions and answer choices CANNOT be read aloud.
- Looking ahead to 2019-2020 calendar and testing, some schools have expressed concerns about Good Friday. If you have questions about current or future testing calendars or concerns related to potential conflicts with testing dates, you can email Test.Calendar@tea.texas.gov.
- Due to the grading process for STAAR and STAAR EOC assessments involving essays, TEA request that districts hold to the designated dates in TEA's calendar of events. Make-up day, if given, should be made within the paper window. Online testing administered passed the paper window could delay district reports.
Important Dates:
- April 9 English I Assessment (Paper & Online)
- April 11 English II Assessment (Paper & Online)
- April 17 Districts ship all scorable materials
- April 22 Districts ship all nonscorable materials
- Reports will post in May with May EOC results
Planning the 2019-2020 School Calendar? Take note of test date change.
STAAR Alternative 2
STAAR Alt 2
- The 2019 STAAR Alternate 2 materials lists are now available. Additional orders without a student registration with the new students will not be approved, so register student first.
- For those of you who have been looking for this, the STAAR Alternate 2 Materials Control Form is now posted on the TEA site:
https://tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/manuals/dccm/ - Reminder there is no building of test sessions for STAAR Alt2. Score test from Testing>Student Test, select student(s), check "Score Alternate Student Test" and Start.
Important Dates: - April 1-23 Assessment Window
- April 12 window to order additional materials closes
- April 23 window closes to submit registrations
- April 26 ship all nonscorable materials
TELPAS & TELPAS Alt
TELPAS & TELPAS Alt
- 2019 TELPAS Alternate Post-Administration Survey
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) would like your feedback on the TELPAS Alternate administration. After the TELPAS Alternate transcriptions have been completed for all participating students, the test administrator should complete the post-administration survey. We also encourage any other stakeholders who may have fulfilled various roles during the testing window to complete the post administration survey. The survey link is located on the Pearson Access Next (PAN) homepage under TELPAS Alternate at https://tx.pearsonaccessnext.com, or you can access it directly from here: 2019 TELPAS Alternate Survey. 2019 Educator Committee Meetings
Every summer the Texas Education Agency (TEA) hosts educator assessment groups in Austin to review new test questions. Educator committees review the content alignment, fairness, and accessibility of questions before they are field tested. To ensure these meetings for STAAR Alternate 2 and TELPAS include the most qualified educators with expertise in low incidence disabilities and second language acquisition, we need regions and districts to encourage exemplar elementary, middle, and high school educators to go online at https://www.txetests.com/edc/ and fill out the educator committee application form. Although this form serves multiple educator committees, we especially need high-quality educators for our STAAR Alternate 2 and TELPAS committees. If educators complete the educator application form by the end of March, they will be considered for summer 2019 committee meetings.
- April 5 Window closes to submit registration
- April 5 Last day of assessment window
- April 15 Ship all nonscorable TELPAS materials
STAAR Online Testing Platform Secure Browser – For those using Apple iOS 12.2 & ASL
Apple has announced an upcoming update to iOS (iOS 12.2) scheduled for release toward the end of March. Districts should have ensured auto-updates are disabled ahead of the release, no later than March 23, 2019, in order to avoid any potential disruptions during upcoming online testing. It has been identified that closed captioning for American Sign Language (ASL) videos will not work with iOS 12.2. Districts should NOT update devices that will be used for testing during the spring and summer 2019 STAAR administrations to iOS 12.2. As a reminder, it is recommended to disable all auto-updates on all devices to be used for testing no later than two weeks ahead of each administration once it is determined that devices are properly configured and set up with the latest Secure Browser.