Assessment & Accountability Updates
as of October 16, 2020
Region 6 ESC Assessment & Accountability Listserv
SUGGESTION AMID COVID-19
A couple of items to consider:
1. An assistant DTC or back-up DTC is considered "Best Practice," but it is not required.
2. How would your district function if you as the DTC had to quarantine during any STAAR testing windows? Do you already have a plan?
3. Keep in mind that anyone who serves in the role as DTC, must be a TRAINED DTC.
4. Districts may also want to consider training more than one CTC per campus this year as well. Once again, that is not a requirement.
5. How would your individual campuses function on STAAR test day if your CTC had to quarantine? Would you as a DTC be able to step into that roll? Do you already have a plan?
6. Also keep in mind that anyone who serves as the role as the CTC must receive specific CTC training from the DTC. Plan now to reduce stress during a hectic testing season.
ASSESSMENT UPDATES:
Action Required: 2020–2021 TELPAS and TELPAS Alternate Test Administrator Manual Counts
Districts must submit counts for test administrator manuals for TELPAS and TELPAS Alternate. Counts for test administrator manuals can be submitted using the “Edit Enrollment Counts” task in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) Alternate 2, TELPAS, and TELPAS Alternate Assessment Management System October 19–November 6, 2020.
For questions and assistance regarding the information in this communication, contact the Customer Service Center using the live chat feature, the Pearson Customer Support Form, or by calling 800-627-0225.
December 2020 STAAR EOC Administration
The 2020–2021 STAAR test administrator manuals for grades 3–5, grades 6–8, and EOC will be posted to the District and Campus Coordinator Resources by October 18, 2020. Hard copies will be delivered to districts November 16–20, 2020. ETS will ship one manual per 15 students based on spring 2019 registration counts. Districts will also receive a 10% overage amount. A district packing list and additional copies of campus shipping notices are provided for this shipment and will be located in the district white box. The test administrator manuals will also be available on the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA’s) Test Program Manuals and Materials webpage.
Starting with the December 2020 STAAR administration, a new Speech-to-Text (STT) tool will be available online for students who meet the eligibility criteria. Students should practice using this new STT tool prior to testing to become familiar with its functionality. An online testing tutorial and mini-practice tests for STT will be available through the STAAR Online Testing Platform by October 16, 2020. The tutorial will demonstrate how to use the new STT tool. The mini-practice tests provide an opportunity for students to practice using the new STT tool in English and Spanish on tests that have been specifically developed for this purpose.
In addition to the tutorial and mini-practice tests, a new standalone web-based text-entry tool provides access to STT. Districts can access the standalone tool using a Chrome, Windows, or Mac operating system and the latest version of the Chrome browser. It is recommended that districts do not use iOS to access this new tool. The standalone tool does not mirror the same testing environment students will experience during the STAAR administration; however, it will allow classroom practice without accessing the STAAR secure browser application. Students will be able to use this tool for classroom activities and will be able to print work from the standalone web-based text-entry tool to turn assignments into their teachers.
Career and Technical Education Indicator
Beginning with the 2020–2021 school year, the Career and Technical Education Indicator will no longer be collected from districts during the PEIMS submission. This indicator will now be taken from course completion at the end of the year. Due to the timing of this change, the Career-And-Technical-Ed-Ind-Code is still included in the 2020–2021 Data File Format for Student Registration. Districts do not need to populate any information in this field because it will be calculated from course completion. If a district’s Student Information System (SIS) pulls this information for students as a part of their registration upload file, districts may leave it intact during registration.
STAAR ONLINE INFRASTRUCTURE READINESS CHECKLIST
Technology infrastructure and readiness must be assessed before administering online versions of the STAAR assessments. It is recommended that district and campus testing coordinators work closely with technology staff to prepare for STAAR online testing.
To prepare the district for online testing, district coordinators and technology staff should use the available resources and complete the tasks listed below. The resources listed can be found on the Texas Assessment Technology webpage.
Deactivation of December 2019 STAAR EOC Administration
Districts can make changes to score codes in the STAAR Assessment Management System up to one year after an administration. For the December 2019 STAAR EOC administration, the following functionalities will be deactivated in the Assessment Management System at 11:00 p.m. (CT) Monday, November 2, 2020.
- Resolving test warnings
- Changing score codes
- Requesting rescores
Final STAAR Report Card updates and monthly data files will be posted by December 1, 2020. This information will remain in the Assessment Management System.
Assessment Scoring and Reporting
The Student Portal is updated with the latest assessment information. Parents can access their child’s results using a unique access code, which can be found on any previous state assessment Report Card.
Additionally, parents can view their child’s performance relative to the campus, district, and state.
Raw score to scale score conversion tables are posted here.
For questions or help with accessing and interpreting STAAR, STAAR Alternate 2, TELPAS, and TELPAS Alternate results, districts and parents can email assessment.reporting@tea.texas.gov or call (512) 463-9704.
More Training Opportunities from ETS
The following training webinars are coming soon. Select the link to register for the training. Webinar information and registration links are also available on the Training webpage.
The “Technology Staff Network Configuration, Secure Browser Installation, and Device Set Up” webinar will take place Thursday, October 15, 2020, 1:30–3:00 p.m. (CT).
The “Online Testing Preparation for the December 2020 STAAR Administration” webinar will take place Monday, October 19, 2020, 1:30–3:00 p.m. (CT).
The “Overview of the STAAR Online Testing Platform” webinar will take place Thursday, October 22, 2020, 1:30–3:00 p.m. (CT).
More Training Opportunities from Pearson
Two webinar training opportunities will be available in January 2021 to provide an overview of the STAAR Alternate 2, TELPAS, and TELPAS Alternate Assessment Management System and the TELPAS Online Training Center and to help you prepare for the spring administrations.
The webinars include information on changes and key dates.
Each webinar will be offered at two different times but will include the same information. Districts will receive an additional email in January when registration for the webinars opens. Dates and times for these webinars are listed below.
STAAR Alternate 2 and TELPAS Alternate
Tuesday, January 26
Wednesday, January 27
10:00–11:30 a.m. (CT)
10:00–11:30 a.m. (CT)
TELPAS and TELPAS Online Training Center
Tuesday, January 26
Wednesday, January 27
2:00–3:30 p.m. (CT)
2:00–3:30 p.m. (CT)
For questions and assistance regarding the information in this communication, contact the Customer Service Center using the live chat feature, the Pearson Customer Support Form, or by calling 800-627-0225.
Calendar of Events - Online Calendar Upload Now Available
Additional Assessment Resources:
ACCOUNTABILITY UPDATES:
No Decisions For Now
No formal changes will be made to the current Accountability System until the end of the calendar year per Commissioner Morath. There are too many unknowns regarding the reopening of schools to make decisions now. TEA, ATAC and APAC are working through various scenarios to make the best decisions regarding Accountability for 2020-2021.
2020–2021 STAAR and STAAR Alternate 2 Progress Measures
Background Information
The STAAR progress measure is calculated based on a student’s gain score—the scale score difference between the current year and the prior year, while STAAR Alternate 2 progress measures are determined by a student’s stage change from the prior year to the current year. Since STAAR testing was suspended for spring and summer 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, this year’s calculation differs slightly and measures progress across two years, from 2018–2019 to 2020–2021.
Due to the gap year, it would be a rare scenario for students enrolled in grade 4 in the 2020–2021 school year to be enrolled in grade 3 in 2018–2019 school year. Therefore, STAAR progress measures will not be calculated for grade 4 students. English II progress measures for the 2020–2021 school year will use 2018–2019 school year English I scale scores as the prior year data.
STAAR progress measures will be calculated for STAAR and STAAR Alternate 2 for the following grade levels and subject areas:
- Grade 5 Reading English, Reading Spanish (STAAR only), Mathematics English, and Mathematics Spanish (STAAR only)
- Grade 6 Reading and Mathematics
- Grade 7 Reading and Mathematics
- Grade 8 Reading and Mathematics
- Algebra I
- English I (STAAR Alternate 2 only)
- English II
Use of the 2020–2021 STAAR Progress Measure
While 2020–2021 STAAR progress measure outcomes will be provided on STAAR data files, whether they will be used for 2021 academic accountability evaluations in the School Progress and Closing the Gaps domains in the same manner as in the past has yet to be determined.
The 2020–2021 STAAR progress measure will be included on STAAR Report Cards and in the Student Portal to help parents gauge their child’s academic performance from 2018–2019 to 2020–2021. Similar to previous years, STAAR progress measures will not be included on STAAR Alternate 2 Report Cards. When interpreting this year’s STAAR progress measure outcomes, districts and parents should be mindful of the unusual instructional, social interruption and learning conditions of the 2020–2021 school year, as well as that this year’s STAAR progress measure calculation varies from the traditional adjacent prior year to current year methodology. Further, districts should exercise caution when using this year’s outcomes for evaluation or planning purposes (e.g., district/campus goal setting) and should use this data point in conjunction with other, more stable data points. Districts should not use this data point to measure student growth for the Teacher Incentive Allotment.
In addition, the Parent’s Guide to the STAAR Progress Measure will be updated to include information about the 2020–2021 STAAR progress measure in early 2021.
If you have any questions, please contact the Performance Reporting Division at (512) 463-9704 or performance.reporting@tea.texas.gov.
A-F Accountability:
Texas Success Initiative Assessment (TSIA)
This year, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) launched the Texas Success Initiative assessment (TSIA) 2.0. The new assessment includes an integrated reading and writing section. During this transition, the College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) calculation will acknowledge results across both versions. For students who took the original version (TSIA), the criteria that was adopted at that time will be used for college readiness determinations. For students taking the new version (TSIA 2.0), the newly adopted criteria will be used.
For more information, visit the Texas Success Initiative and Development Education website.
Updated U.S. Armed Forces Enlistment Guidance
General Guidance
Last fall the agency conducted numerous district special accreditation investigations in response to inflated and potentially bad faith reporting of students enlisting or intending to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. As a result of actions on the part of certain districts, the agency revises its guidance from allowing districts significant discretion when reporting, to only accepting data that includes students falling into one of two categories: Confirmed Actual Enlistment and Confirmed Imminent Enlistment.
While the agency continues to work with the Department of Defense to obtain source data that accurately and precisely documents military enlistment, each district will continue to decide the methodology for collecting and documenting this indicator, subject to the following agency guidance:
- “Confirmed Actual Enlistment” means students who, by December 31 immediately following high school graduation, are confirmed to be enlisted in the military
- “Confirmed Imminent Enlistment” means students who, on the day of graduation, will enlist in the military by December 31 immediately following high school graduation
- The methodology used must be developed and applied in good faith and not intended to artificially inflate the CCMR indicator
- The methodology used must be reasonably calculated to accurately determine within a reasonable margin of error the Confirmed Actual Enlistment and Confirmed Imminent Enlistment of its graduating class
- Districts must maintain verifiable, supporting documentation that may be reasonably determined by the agency to conclusively demonstrate and accurately account for Confirmed Actual Enlistment and Confirmed Imminent Enlistment
- This documentation may be subject to audit by the agency
Examples of methodologies that may be determined as bad faith if utilized by a district include, but are not be limited to the following:
- Reporting students based solely on the district inducing student contact with a military recruiter (i.e. holding an assembly in the cafeteria with a military recruiter where student attendance is required or otherwise prompted by the district)
- A district soliciting student signatures on forms, including but not limited to senior surveys, indicating the student’s intent to enlist in the military when the district possesses no other documented evidence of Confirmed Imminent Enlistment
- Reporting students who have taken, but failed, the ASVAB
- Reporting students based solely on a student taking the ASVAB when the test is administered by the district but possesses no additional evidence of enlistment once the student receives the results of the test
- Reporting a student when there is evidence that the district is aware that the student is disqualified from military service
- Reporting students when the district possesses no or inadequate documentation
Recommended Methodology
To demonstrate Confirmed Actual Enlistment, the agency will accept verifiable documentation from a military recruiter such as an email indicating enlistment, or any official Department of Defense document showing enlistment and acceptance into the United States military, so long as the enlistment occurs by December 31 immediately following high school graduation.
Additionally, the agency will consider it a rebuttable presumption that a district’s methodology used to determine Confirmed Imminent Enlistment is developed in good faith if the district’s methodology includes showing documented evidence of each of the following:
- The student obtains a passing score on the ASVAB;
- The student engages in a one on one meeting with a military recruiter at the request of the student;
- After passing the ASVAB and meeting with the military recruiter, the student executes a form indicating the intent to enlist in the military by December 31 immediately following high school graduation and the student personally delivers the form to the district and the military recruiter; and
- There is no evidence indicating that the student has been disqualified from military service or has otherwise indicated a subsequent lack of intent to enlist in the military.
For all students reported with methodologies other than the recommended methodology, the burden is on the district to demonstrate that it has otherwise complied with the standards set out in this guidance. Any district relying upon a methodology other than this recommended methodology acknowledges that compliance is solely determined by the Commissioner of Education.
Reporting
Each fall districts report military enlistment for the graduating class from the previous year in the TSDS PEIMS submission. Students should only be reported as enlisted in the United States Armed Forces if documentation supports Confirmed Actual Enlistment and/or Confirmed Imminent Enlistment. Districts use Element ID E1589 to indicate whether students enlisted in the United States Armed Forces. The data may be updated any time until the January resubmission deadline.
WARNING
EVIDENCE OF BAD FAITH REPORTING ON THE PART OF THE DISTRICT MAY LEAD TO AGENCY INTERVENTIONS INCLUDING THE LOWERING OF THE DISTRICT’S ACCREDITATION RATING, INSTALLATION OF A MONITOR, CONSERVATOR, AND/OR BOARD OF MANAGERS, AND ANY OTHER INTERVENTION ALLOWED BY LAW. ANY INDIVIDUAL SUSPECTED OF ENGAGING IN BAD FAITH BEHAVIOR INTENDED TO DEFRAUD THE ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM MAY BE REFERRED TO THE STATE BOARD FOR EDUCATOR CERTIFICATION FOR REVIEW OF THE OFFENDER’S CERTIFICATION.
Local Accountability System
Due to COVID-19-related uncertainty about school schedules, the local accountability team is adopting a flexible approach to district development of a local accountability plan. The Local Accountability Guide provides information about plan requirement and example components.
Districts wishing to learn more about the local accountability system and how to develop a district local accountability plan can participant in an hour-long overview webinar with time for Q & A.
Registration links are available for upcoming webinar dates in October.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 11 am
Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 1 pm
Tuesday, October 27, 2020 at 3 pm
Please contact the local accountability system team at LAS@tea.texas.gov for additional information or to set up a virtual meeting to discuss specifics related to your district.
Local Accountability website: https://tea.texas.gov/texas-schools/accountability/academic-accountability/local-accountability-system
Reporting Industry-Based Certifications in TSDA PEIMS
Reporting Industry-Based Certifications in TSDS PEIMS
An October 17, 2019 To the Administrator Addressed correspondence provided guidance for IBCs in the Texas Student Data System (TSDS) PEIMS. IBCs earned by 2020 graduates and students in grades 9–12 between September 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020 were to be reported in the TSDS PEIMS Summer Submission. IBCs earned between June 1, 2020 and August 31, 2020 are to be reported in the TSDS PEIMS Fall Submission.
Based on feedback from the field, COVID-19 impacted districts’ ability to accurately report IBCs in the TSDS PEIMS Summer Submission. As the agency needs an official record based on TSDS PEIMS data for IBC reimbursements and for the calculation of college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) data, districts will be able to report IBCs earned between September 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020 in the 2020–2021 TSDS PEIMS Fall Submission. This reporting will be in addition to reporting all IBCs earned between June 1, 2020 and August 31, 2020, also reported during this submission.
This will be a one-time reporting extension to report only the IBCs earned during the September to May window that were not reported in the Summer Submission. Districts must take this opportunity to ensure IBC data are complete and accurate. Once the PEIMS Fall Submission resubmission deadline passes, districts will have no further opportunity to update or correct IBC data. Any IBC earned between September 1, 2019 and August 31, 2020, not reported in TSDS PEIMS will not be eligible for reimbursement, for use in accountability calculations, or for generating CCMR Outcomes Bonus funding.
Districts submitting an IBC with a date outside of the June 1–August 31, 2020 range will receive a special warning in the TSDS PEIMS Fall Submission. Normally, districts would receive a fatal for reporting outside of the date range, but TEA will be downgrading this rule for this submission only. Districts should ensure all IBCs are entered with the correct date. Any IBC submitted with a date outside of the allowable September 1, 2019 and August 31, 2020 range will be considered invalid and will not be used for any purpose.
2019–2020 and 2020–2021 TSDS PEIMS IBC Reporting Guidance
The following table illustrates when an earned IBC should be reported for the 2019–2020, 2020–2021, and 2021–2022 school years.
As a reminder, districts report only certifications earned while the student was enrolled in their district. If a student transfers between districts, the originating district reports the IBC along with the student’s leaver data, not the receiving district.
Contact Information
If you have questions about IBC standards, reporting, or reimbursements please contact Advanced Academics within the Division of College, Career, and Military Preparation at (512) 463-9762. If you have questions about the use of IBCs in academic accountability, please contact the Performance Reporting Division at (512) 463-9704.
District & Campus Accountability Intervention & Submissions Calendars
Intervention & Submission calendars were posted on August 13th on the TEA website. The calendars may be accessed at the links below.
- Visit the District Accountability Intervention and Guidance webpage and choose District Interventions Matrix.
- Visit the Campus Accountability Intervention and Guidance webpage and choose Campus Interventions Matrix.
2020 Accountability Quicklook from Lead4Ward
Additional Accountability Resources:
Important Assessment Contacts:
Texas Education Agency
Student Assessment Division
1701 N. Congress Avenue, Room 3-122A
Austin, Texas 78701
Phone: (512) 463-9536
Fax: (512) 463-9302
ETS Customer Service
(STAAR Grades 3–8, EOC, and Interim Assessments):
Phone:(855) 333-7770
Email:
STAAR3-8@ets.org
STAAREOC@ets.org
Pearson's Customer Service Center
(STAAR Alternate 2, TELPAS. and TELPAS Alternate):
Phone: (800) 627-0225
Email: TxPearsonAccess@support.pearson.com
Additional ESC 6 Newsletters:
Contact Information:
Assessment, Accountability & School Improvement Specialist
Regional Testing Coordinator
Region 6 Education Service Center
Email: jhassell@esc6.net
Website: https://www.esc6.net/
Location: 3332 Montgomery Rd, Huntsville, TX, USA
Phone: 936-435-8355