TA and Student Interface for Online Testing Training Module Welcome to the Test Administrator and Student Interface for Online Testing training module. This presentation is designed to help District Test Coordinators (DCs) and Test Administrators (TAs) understand the interface students used to take online tests. The first part of the presentation will be an overview of the Test Administrator Interface. Revised October 4, 2017 This presentation contains a script in the notes section. If you are accessing this information with a screen reader, be sure you are reading the notes section as well as the text contained in the slides. Copyright © 2014 American Institutes for Research. All rights reserved.
Objectives After viewing this presentation, you should be able to: Use the TA Interface to start and run a test session View student test settings and accessibility resources Monitor the testing process Pause and stop a test session Transfer sessions between computers and mobile devices Print test session information Exit and log out of the TA Interface After viewing this presentation, you should be able to: Use the TA Interface to start and run a test session View student test settings and accessibility resources Monitor the testing process Pause and stop a test session Print test session information, and Exit and log out of the TA Interface
Logging in to the TA Interface To log in to the TA Interface, go to the WCAP portal. Click the appropriate user card. On the next page, click the Test Administration system card shown on the computer screen. This is the card used for the Smarter Balanced Interim Assessments, the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS), the ELPA21 annual test and ELPA21 Screener. Enter your username and password, and then click Secure Login to continue. 3
TA Interface: Overview Once you have logged in, you will see the TA Interface with the Test Selection window open by default. From the TA Interface, you can access the features you need to create and manage test sessions, look up students, and access help information. We will begin with an overview of the interface, followed by a more detailed review of each feature. This screenshot only shows the Interim Smarter Balanced Assessments since those are available year round. WCAS, the Summative Smarter Balanced Assessments, and ELPA21 will only be available during specific test windows during the year. They will appear on this list during those test windows only. If you see Practice and Training tests on this list, you have accidentally logged into the Training Test Administration site. Please log out, pick the Test Administration card as shown on the previous slide, and log in again.
TA Interface: Overview (continued) After you start a session, the session ID will appear at the top of the TA Interface along with a Stop button. When students start signing in to the test session, an Approvals button will also appear next to the session ID. Once you approve students for testing, the Students in Your Test Session table will appear in the center of the TA Interface, displaying students’ testing progress. Additional features are available in the banner at the top of the screen.
TA Interface: Banner In the banner at the top of the screen, you will see a set of buttons and your username. You can click Student Lookup to search for student login information and verify that the student’s login credentials are correct. Click Approved Requests to view a list of student print requests that you approved during the test session. Click Print Session to print a screenshot of the TA Interface. Click Help Guide to access additional information about the TA Interface. Click Alerts to view messages sent by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Alerts are statewide messages from OSPI that will appear as pop-up messages when selecting the Alerts button. Click Logout as when you want to exit the TA Interface.
Create a Test Session The first step to administering a test is to become familiar with the TA User Guide. This user guide supports teachers and TAs who manage practice, training, and summative testing for students. Specific details on creating test sessions is available in the TA User Guide under Section V, Starting a Test Session. Creating a test session should be done less than 20 minutes prior to starting the test in order to prevent the system from timing out. The list of students in the session will generate automatically when the students log in to the session. You create test sessions in the Test Selection window that appears when you log in. The Test Selection window color-codes the available tests and organizes them into categories. The Interim Smarter Balanced Assessments are yellow, as shown in this screenshot. The Summative Smarter Balanced Assessments will be blue, the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS) will be green, the ELPA21 annual test will be orange, and the ELPA21 Operational Screener will be teal. It is important to be sure that the correct test is being selected, as it is considered a testing impropriety to select a summative assessment when the intent is to administer an interim assessment. You can click the Plus Sign button next to a category name to view the tests in that category. To create a test session, click one or more tests to administer, or click the checkbox for a category to include all tests in that category. You may select all available tests listed, for all grade levels and all content areas. Students will only have access to the tests you select for them that they are eligible to take. However, it is strongly urged that the TA should follow the directions in the Test Administration Manual carefully and select as few tests as possible, so that a minimum number of tests are available to students. Once you select your tests, the Start Session button in the lower-left corner of the window activates. Click the Start Session button. The system will automatically generate a session ID. This ID must be provided to students in order for them to log in. You may write it on the board or provide it to students using a printed card or similar method. If you do provide students with the information on paper, it is required that each paper be collected and securely destroyed, when the session is complete. You should also note the session ID for your own records. In the event that you are involuntarily logged out of the session due to an inactivity timeout or other event, entering the session ID will allow you to resume the session. If you do not have this information when you try to resume, you will be unable to do so. The session ID is also useful in helping to resolve testing incidents due to technical issues.
Approving Student Entry Once you start the test session and students log in, you must approve their test settings before they can access their tests. It is very important that you pay close attention to the test name prior to approval to be sure that students have selected the appropriate test. To approve student tests, click the Approvals button. A list of students will display, organized by test name. You should review the list to make sure that all students chose the correct content area and test. You should also ensure that all of the settings that each student should have are correct. This is done using the Eye button in the See Details column. We will talk more about that in a few moments. If no changes are needed, select Approve All Students to admit all students to the session. If a student selected an incorrect test, you must deny that student entry to the test session by clicking the X button in the Action column. To approve individual students, you can allow entry to the test session by clicking the green check button in the Action column.
Student Lookup If a student is having trouble logging in, use the Student Lookup feature to verify that the student’s login credentials are correct. You can use either the Quick Search or Advanced Search option to view the information entered in TIDE for the student. With Quick Search, you simply enter the student’s SSID and click the Submit SSID button. Advanced Search allows you to narrow your search using several filters, including District/School, Grade, and First and Last Name. When using either Quick Search or Advanced Search, if the search results in matches, the information will appear in the bottom of the window. If there is no match, you will see an error message.
Student Lookup Results If you see the student you are looking for, click the Eye button next to the student’s name. A new window displaying the student’s information will display. Note that the information displayed may vary slightly from what is shown here. On the next few slides, we will look at what students see when they log in to take a test.
Denying Student Entry Deny entry to a test session in these circumstances: The student is not supposed to enter this session. The student is not on your testing roster The student’s demographic information is incorrect. The student’s required accommodations are incorrect. Although you can approve all students at the same time, students must be individually denied entry into the test session. You should deny students entry into the session in these circumstances: • The student is not supposed to enter this session. • The student is not on your testing roster. • The student’s demographic information is incorrect. • The student’s required supports and accommodations are incorrect. Denying the student entry into the test session will not prevent other approved students from beginning their tests. After you have denied entry to any students necessary, you will be able to select Approve All Students to admit all remaining students to the session.
Editing Student Details: See/Edit Details To verify a students test settings, click the Eye button in the See Details column. The Test Settings screen will appear, with the student’s information at the top. No settings can be changed in the TA Interface window, only viewed. If the student’s test settings are incorrect, the settings must be updated in TIDE by an authorized user. Contact your School or District Test Coordinator to have the settings updated. Correcting the setting prior to allowing the student to begin testing will prevent a testing irregularity that may have invalidated the students test results. Note that student settings can be changed to a paused test in TIDE while a student is actively testing. This includes all designated supports and accommodations except for the Presentation tool. In order to change the Presentation tool, a student's test will need to be reset. For more information please refer to the TIDE User Guide located on the WCAP Portal. If the test settings are accurate and to approve the student for testing, click the Set & Approve button. Note that the Test Settings screen may not appear exactly as it does in the screenshot shown, depending on your user role and permissions.
Editing Student Details: Turn Settings On and Off Some of the universal tools available by default may not be appropriate for some students. If you need to turn a universal tool off or on for a student, you must do so before testing begins. This may only be done by an authorized user. Contact your School or District Test Coordinator to have the settings updated in TIDE.
Monitoring Student Status Once students log in and are approved for testing, you can monitor their status from this screen. A table shows each student’s name, SSID, Opportunity Number, Test Name, Requests, Student Status, Test Settings, and a Pause Test option. The Requests column displays a notification when students request a printout. This will be discussed in more detail shortly. The Student Status column indicates the student’s progress through the items in the test. It shows the total number of items completed thus far and the total number of items in the test. Due to the adaptive algorithm of some of the online tests, the number of items on the test may change while the student is testing. This change in total number of items will not be reflected in the TA interface, however will be reflected within the student interface. Please be sure that a student completes their test by allowing them to answer the final test item and selecting the ‘end test’ button in the left hand corner. The Test Settings column will display either Standard or Custom. This column displays Custom when a student’s test settings are different from the default settings for that test. Click the Eye button to view a student’s test settings. The Pause Test column will display either a pause icon or an information icon. Clicking on the pause icon will pause the student's test. Clicking on the information icon will show a pop-up with a message that the student clicked on the pause button.
Print on Demand The Print on Demand feature is available only for students who require it. Please contact your School Test Coordinator if your student needs this accommodation. It is a testing impropriety to apply this restricted resource for a student who does not have an IEP or 504 plan documenting his or her need for the accommodation. Students with this accommodation can request printouts of stimuli and/or items, depending on their settings. • When a student sends a print request, the Printer button will appear in the Requests column of the monitoring screen. Click the button to view the request. • If you click the Check button to approve the print request, a cover sheet containing the student’s name and SSID will display in a new browser window. No test content will ever display on your screen. • Click Print in the new window to complete the print request. The printer dialog box will display. Adjust the print settings as needed. • Click Approve to send the request to the printer. • If you click the X button to deny the print request, nothing will be printed. Before approving the student’s print request, ensure that it will be sent to a printer that is monitored by staff who have been trained in test security. All printed test items, stimuli, and reading passages must be processed according to your school’s approved Test Security and Building Plan.
TA Interface: Approved Requests The Approved Requests button allows you to view a list of every print request you approved during the current session. If you wish to print this list for your own records, click Print at the top of the Approved Requests window.
Printing Test Session Information If you wish to print a snapshot of the TA Interface in its current view, click the Print Session button. This can be useful for tracking which students did not complete their tests and may need to be scheduled to continue their session. It may be necessary to set the page layout to landscape or adjust the margins in the Print Preview screen in order for the list to fit on the page. You may want to refresh your screen using the update button prior to printing, to get the most accurate count and student status. Remember that any printouts containing personally identifiable student information must be securely stored and should be destroyed after use.
Pausing and Stopping Sessions You have two options within the TA Interface to pause or stop testing once it has begun. You can pause an individual student’s test, or stop the entire session. To pause an individual student’s test, click the Pause button on the monitoring screen for that student. When prompted, click OK to confirm that you want to pause the test. This option would be appropriate if a student becomes ill, for example. In the event of an emergency that requires all students to stop testing, you can pause all students’ tests by stopping the session. Additional information regarding the pause rule can be found in the Student Interface module. It is recommended students and TAs practice pausing their tests while taking the interim assessments and practice and training tests in order to become familiar with the pause rule. If you stop the session, all in-progress tests will be paused. If a session stops, it cannot be resumed. You will have to create a new session and give the new session ID to students so that they can resume testing. To stop the entire test session for all students: • Click the Stop button in the upper right corner of the screen. A pop-up will appear requesting verification to end the session and log students out. • Click OK to continue. The testing session will close automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity on both the TA and student computers. You would then need to create a new session and provide the new session ID to students in order to resume testing.
Pausing and Stopping Sessions pt2 When the system detects that a student is no longer in a test session, an information icon will appear in the Pause Test column for that student. Click the i button to view a description of the student’s status, including why the student is no longer in the test session. This information can help you diagnose why a student has unexpectedly left a test session. The information that appears will tell you whether a student’s test has been paused due to the student clicking the Pause button, a session timeout, or some other reason. For a full list of status descriptions that can appear during a test session, please consult the TA User Guide, located on the WCAP Portal.
Transferring Sessions In the event that you have problems with your computer or web browser or need to change computers during an active test session, you can transfer the session from one computer, mobile device, or browser to another without stopping the session or interrupting in-progress tests. To transfer a test session to a new device or browser: • Do not log out of the session you are currently in or stop the test session. If you do, you will end the test session and pause all students’ tests. • Log in to the TA Interface on the new machine or in the new browser. A session ID prompt will appear. • Enter the active session ID into the text box and click Enter. When the session ID is validated, you will be able to continue your test administration activities. The test session on the previous computer or browser will close automatically. This will not stop the session or pause student tests.
Logging Out of the TA Interface To log out of the TA Interface, click the Logout as button in the top right corner of the screen. It is preferable for you to log out only after stopping your active test session, as logging out will cause all in-progress tests to be paused. A confirmation message will appear, asking you to confirm that you want to exit the site and pause all students’ in-progress tests. This confirmation message may look different than the one shown here, depending on the browser you are using. This scenario also occurs when you navigate to another site from the TA Interface. However, regardless of when or how you log out or navigate away from the TA Interface, student data will NOT be lost. If you need to access another application, we encourage you to open it in a separate browser window. Click Yes to proceed. When all students have completed testing, refer to the Test Administration Manual for instructions on destroying any printed testing materials and reporting testing improprieties or irregularities.
Troubleshooting Description What to Do What should I do if a session ends? Log in and start a new session. Provide the students with a new session ID. What should I do if a student gets logged out of a test while a session is still active? If a student’s test session is interrupted, the student should log back in and rejoin the session. What should I do if forbidden applications are running? The secure browser will not allow the student to begin testing if forbidden applications are running. You will see messages advising you which applications must be closed before testing can begin. What should I do if a student’s test freezes? Force quit the secure browser and log back in. For instructions, refer to the Test Administration Manual. This table presents some of the common issues that you or your students may encounter during a test session. Please take a moment to review this information. For more detailed information and additional technical tips, please refer to the Test Administration Manual and the Technical Specifications Manual for Online Testing on the WCAP Portal.
Student Interface for Online Testing Training Module You have been reviewing information needed to access and use the Test Administrator Interface in the Test Delivery System (TDS). We are now going to transition in this presentation to the Student Interface in the TDS. Copyright © 2014 American Institutes for Research. All rights reserved.
Objectives After viewing this presentation, you should understand: How students log in to the testing system and select a test The layout of the test and functionality of test tools How students navigate through the test Please note: The navigation instructions that follow are from the viewpoint of a Windows PC user with a two-button mouse. Your steps may vary slightly depending upon the device and operating system you are using. After viewing this presentation, you should understand: How students log in to the testing system and select a test The layout of the test and functionality of test tools How students navigate through the test Please note, the navigation instructions that follow are from the viewpoint of a Windows PC user with a two-button mouse. Your steps may vary slightly depending upon the device and operating system you are using. Note that the actual settings students see may vary from what is shown on these slides. Be sure to refer to the TA Scripts of Student Directions located on the WCAP portal, when required, to guide your students through the login and confirmation process.
Preparing Students Remember that your students’ experience with the test will vary slightly depending upon the computers they are using for testing. Regardless of the type of device they will use, we strongly recommend that all students take the practice and training tests to familiarize themselves with the login process, the testing interface and its features, and the types of items they will encounter during testing. Practice and training tests can be accessed via the WCAP portal by clicking on the Students and Families card.
Preparing Students This overview was given from the perspective of a student using a Windows PC. Remember that your students’ experience with the test will vary slightly depending upon the computers they are using for testing. Regardless of the type of device they will use, we strongly recommend that all students take the practice and training tests to familiarize themselves with the login process, the testing interface and its features, and the types of items they will encounter during testing. Practice and training tests can be accessed via the WCAP portal by clicking on the Students and Families card.
What Is the Secure Browser? The secure browser is designed to ensure test security by prohibiting students from accessing any other programs or websites during testing. Students must use the secure browser to log in to the Student Interface. The secure browser is designed to ensure test security by prohibiting students from accessing any other programs or websites during testing. Your school’s Technology Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that the secure browser has been correctly installed on all testing devices. If you have questions about installation of the secure browser, please contact your Technology Coordinator. If you have questions about installation of the secure browser, contact your Technology Coordinator.
Student Login To log in to the online testing system, students must use the secure browser on a separate computer or device than the one used by the TA. Students must enter three pieces of identifying information: their first name, their state-assigned student identifier (SSID), and the current session ID. The session ID is generated when the TA creates the test session. It needs to be given to students by the TA when it is time for them to log in to the test. Session IDs should not be generated more than 20 minutes before students are ready to log in. When entries are complete, students will click the Sign In button to log in to the test. You may assist students with logging in, if necessary.
Login Errors Issue Error Message What to Do Student first name and SSID do not match what is in the system, or student omits 2-letter state abbreviation and/or hyphen from SSID. Please check that your information is entered correctly. If you need help, ask your TA. Verify that the student has entered the correct first name and SSID, including the state abbreviation and hyphen, if required. You may need to use the Student Lookup Tool, which is located in the TA Interface, to verify that the student is in the system. Student enters the session ID incorrectly. The session is not available for testing. Verify that the student has entered the correct Session ID with no extra spaces or characters. Student enters an SSID for an incorrect or expired session. Session has expired. Ensure that the student enters the correct Session ID for the current session. If this does not work, verify that your session is open using the TA interface. If a student is having difficulty logging in, an error message and code will display on the login screen. The most common errors occur when the student’s first name and SSID do not match what is in the system and when SSIDs are entered incorrectly. If the student receives an error message indicating that he or she has entered incorrect information in the first name or SSID fields, the TA should use the Student Lookup Tool in the TA Interface to verify the student’s information. Another common error occurs when the student enters an incorrect session ID. If a student receives the message “The session is not available for testing”, verify that the session ID was entered correctly, with no extra spaces or characters. The session ID can be found in the TA Interface. If a student receives the error message “Session has expired,” ensure that the student has entered the correct session ID for the current session. If the student has entered the session ID correctly, use the TA Interface to verify that the session is still open.
Student Login and Test Selection After logging in, students need to complete a few more steps before they begin testing. Students will be asked to view and verify their personal information. If their information is correct, they should click Yes to proceed. If their information is incorrect, they should click No to return to the login page. You must then contact your School or District Test Coordinator to have the student’s information updated in the Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) before the student attempts to log in again.
Student Login and Test Selection pt2 On the “Your Tests” screen, students will see a list of their assigned tests for this test session. If the tests displayed are incorrect, or the expected test is not listed, students should click the Back to Login button to return to the login page, and consult the TA to resolve the issue. If a test has already been completed, the test selection button will be grayed out. Students should select the correct test and wait for TA approval to proceed. This example screenshot shows Interim Smarter Balanced, and ELPA21 Operational Screener tests. The TA should follow the directions in the TA Script of Student Directions carefully and select as few tests as possible, so that a minimum number of tests is available to students on this screen.
Login Confirmation After the TA has approved students for a test session, students will see a screen titled “Is This Your Test?” This screen displays the name of the test and whether or not any accessibility resources have been selected. These accessibility resources are grouped by type—Universal Tool, Designated Support, or Accommodation—and the dots shown are a visual representation of the type of resource. If the information is correct, they should click Yes. If any of the information is incorrect, they should click No and then wait to be advised by the TA. It is important to refer to the TA Scripts of Student Directions on the WCAP portal to guide your students through the login and confirmation process.
Sound Check Be sure that all students taking ELA tests, ELPA 21 tests, and students with the Text-to-Speech tool enabled have headphones. After selecting a test requiring audio, students will see a “Sound Check” screen. They will be prompted to click the sound icon and indicate whether the sound was audible by choosing either the No or Yes button or the I heard the sound or I did not hear the sound button, depending on the test. Students must wait for the sound to finish before they can click a button. The Yes button and I heard the sound button will turn blue to indicate that the sound has completed playing. If students click Yes, they will proceed to the test. If they click No, they will receive a message advising them to tell the TA that they are having an audio problem. From there, they can click Try Again to listen to the sample audio again or click Logout to leave the test and work with the TA to adjust their audio settings. Please contact your technology coordinator if the issue with the sound persists. Audio playback check shows up on ELA and ELPA21. Sound (Recorder) check shows up on ELPA21 tests. Text-to-Speech (TTS) check shows up on tests when TTS is turned on in TIDE.
Instructions and Help Screen Next, students have the opportunity to review detailed information about the test rules and navigation features, including select designated supports and accommodations, they will use during testing. It is important to refer to the Test Administration Manual (TAM) that is specific to the assessment being administered for detailed information. When students click Begin Test Now, they will be presented with the first question of the test.
Accessibility Resources Universal tools Designated supports Accommodations The online tests offer several accessibility resources to help students test successfully. These include universal tools, designated supports, and accommodations. Authorized users can use the Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) to manage accessibility resources for students. The next few slides will give an overview of accessibility resources as they impact the student’s testing experience. For more information on managing accessibility resources in TIDE, refer to the TIDE User Guide. For detailed information about individual accessibility resources, refer to the Guidelines on Tools, Supports, and Accommodations for State Assessments (GTSA) on the WCAP Portal, under the User Guides and Manuals sub-folder.
Test Interface Testing tools are available for all students to use during testing. These tools and features will be discussed in detail on the following slides.
Test Interface pt2 The global menu appears at the top of the student interface. The left side of the menu contains navigation buttons that students use to advance through the test: All students can navigate between pages using the Back and Next arrow buttons. Students can also navigate between items using the Questions drop-down menu located above the navigation buttons. The Save button ensures a response is committed. However, the Save button is not required to save an item. Other actions, such as moving forward to the next question, will also save the response. The Pause button pauses a student’s test and logs the student out of the student interface. We will discuss how pausing works on the next slide. The right side of the menu contains test tools that students may use during testing. Some test tools, such as the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons, are universal tools available to all students. Other tools are designated supports or accommodations that must be set up in TIDE in order for students to use them. Some of these tools will appear next to the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons. For detailed information about individual accessibility resources, refer to the GTSA on the WCAP Portal.
Next Except for ELAP21 tests, the Next arrow will not allow students to move forward in their test until they have answered all questions on the current page. Students might need to scroll down to see all the questions on the page, especially during an ELA or Science assessments and math Performance Tasks. When a student tries to move forward with unanswered questions, an attention box will pop up with a warning and a list of the unanswered questions. The student needs to select the “OK” button to return to the current page and finish answering the questions. A strong word of caution: questions that are responded to by typing text into a box are considered “answered” by the Test Delivery System (TDS). This includes typing something as small as a period or clicking in the box and hitting the space bar a few times—the text box might look blank, but the TDS considers the question “answered.” Some students may choose to enter random or incomplete text into the box so that the TDS will allow them to move on to the next page of questions. They might intend to return to this question later because they have not really answered the question, and they may or may not mark the question for review. Students might be trying to employ the test-taking strategy of answering all the multiple choice questions first, and returning to the constructed response items at the end. This can become a problem if the student’s test becomes paused for any reason (which we will discuss in the next few slides), or if the student passes through a segment break without answering those questions first. This can also interfere with the adaptive nature of the test for math and ELA. If a student moves into the next segment without fixing these questions, they will not be allowed to go back to these questions at any time.
Test Pause If your school plans to test over multiple days, you may wish to have students pause their tests at a certain point, so they can resume testing at another time. You may also allow a pause if students are taking a break from testing, or if they need to leave the room for any reason. Whether they have been instructed to do so or not, students have the ability to pause their test at any time by clicking the Pause button in the upper-left corner of the screen. When they do so, a pop-up message will appear, asking them to confirm that they want to pause the test. Students should click Yes to confirm the pause or No to resume testing.
Test Pause Rules For tests that have been paused for less than 20 minutes, students returning from a break in testing can revisit any items in the current test segment and change their answers if desired. Students taking a test who have paused their tests for longer than 20 minutes may only return to the most recently visited page containing unanswered (blank) test items in the current test segment. They may change any answers present on this page but may not access any items on previous pages or in previous segments of the test. If all items on the most recently visited page were answered prior to pausing, the student will resume the test on the next page with unanswered (blank) items and will not be allowed to access previous pages or segments of the test. Some rules apply when students pause their tests, depending upon the type of test and how long the pause lasts. For tests that have been paused for less than 20 minutes, students returning from a break in testing can revisit any items in the current test segment and change their answers if desired. Students taking a test who have paused their tests for longer than 20 minutes may only return to the most recently visited page containing unanswered (blank) test items in the current test segment. They may change any answers present on this page but may not access any items on previous pages. If all items on the most recently visited page were answered (including random letters or “space bar” answers) prior to pausing, the student will resume the test on the next page with unanswered (blank) items and will not be allowed to access previous pages or segments of the test.
Context Menus Context menus allow students to: Mark items for review View item tutorials Use a Digital Notepad Send print-on-demand requests to the TA (if available) Access additional features depending on test settings and item types (highlight, strikethrough) Some test items and stimuli contain context menus. The context menu is represented by three horizontal line segments. Students may use context menus to mark items for review, view item tutorials explaining how a particular item type works, use the notepad tool to take notes for each item, send print requests to the TA (if test settings allow), and access additional test tools and features such as highlight and strikethrough.
Universal Tools: Expandable Passages and Items Students can expand passages, stimuli, and test items so that they take up a larger area of the screen for easier reading. This can be done by clicking the right-arrow icon in the upper-right corner of the passage, stimulus, or item. This slide shows an expanded passage in an ELA test. Note that the questions are hidden. To collapse the passage or stimulus and make the questions viewable, students should click the left-arrow icon. As with all universal tools, this tool will automatically be turned on but can be turned off under a student’s test settings in TIDE as a designated support. Please refer to the TIDE User Guide for additional information on the usage of this feature.
Universal Tools: Digital Notepad Students can use the Digital Notepad to make notes about an item. The Digital Notepad is item-specific, so students can only access their notes for a question when they are on that question’s test page. Notes will continue to be saved when students move on to the next segment or if their tests are paused.
Universal Tools: Global Notes For the ELA Performance Tasks, students can use the Global Notes tool to make notes that will persist throughout the entire test. These notes will be saved and continue to be accessible for later segments in a segmented test, even if the student is not able to go back to the first segment after completing it. The notes will also be retained if the student logs out of the test to resume at a later time. Please note this tool is only available for ELA Performance Tasks.
Universal Tools: Highlighter Students can use the Highlighter tool to mark text that they want to remember in passages, scenarios, stimuli, and in text-based answer options, such as those that ask the student to click a section of text to choose an answer. To do this, students select the desired text, right-click, and then click the Highlight Selection button that pops up. To remove highlighting, students right-click in the area of the highlighted text and select the Remove Highlighting button that pops up. This will remove highlighting on only the selected section of text; other highlighted text will not be impacted. Another option is for students to select the text to highlight then click the highlight option in the Context Menu. “In order to remove the highlight, return to the context menu and select remove or reset highlighting. To remove all highlighting from an item, passage, scenario, etc., select the Reset Highlighting button. If a student pauses the test, any highlighting made before pausing will be retained.
Universal Tools: Strikethrough Students can use the Strikethrough tool to help them mark the answers they do not wish to choose for certain questions, specifically multiple choice and multiple select questions. One way to do this is to right-click on the text of the answer they want to mark, and then click the Strikethrough button that pops up. The answer choice will then display with a line through it. Students must then click outside the answer response options to end the usage of the strikethrough tool. To remove the strikethrough from an answer choice, students can right-click while the mouse is over the answer choice and then click the Undo Strikethrough button that pops up. Additionally, students can turn Strikethrough mode on and off using context menus. It is important to note that striking through answers does not indicate a response to the question. Students must still select a response to answer each question. Also, applying the strikethrough tool does not prevent the student from selecting the marked answer as a response.
Universal Tools: Mark for Review As students proceed through a test, they are required to answer each question on the screen before they can go on. If they are unsure of an answer, they should provide what they think is the best answer; there is no penalty for guessing. Students can then mark these items to review before completing the test segment. To mark an item for review, the student can open the context menu for an item and select Mark for Review. The item number will display a dog-eared corner and a small flag icon. At any time during a test segment, students can navigate back to marked items (within the segment) and review and change their answers as desired. This can be done either by clicking the Back button in the navigation toolbar until they reach the desired item or by using the Questions drop-down menu, located in the upper-left corner of the item screen, to select a specific item. Items that are marked will be indicated in the drop-down menu. To unmark an item, students can open the context menu for the item and select Unmark Review Item. Note that once a student has completed a test segment in a test that prohibits navigation to previous segments, or if his or her test is paused for more than 20 minutes, returning to the items marked for review will not be allowed.
Universal Tools: Zoom During testing, students can use the Zoom feature to increase the size of text and graphics from 1.5 to 20 times their default size by using the Zoom In button. Text can be returned to a smaller size using the Zoom Out button. The default size for all tests is 14-point type. If desired, prior to testing, a Test Coordinator may increase the default print size for the entire test by setting the zoom level in TIDE. Zoom levels beyond 5 times the default size will require streamlined mode to be enabled for the student. Streamlined mode must be set via their student test settings in TIDE. Please note that the Zoom tool is not the same as magnification, which students can access using their own assistive devices if permissive mode is enabled in TIDE for the student.
Universal Tools: English Glossary An English Glossary feature is available for students to use for some items during testing. The student can access the glossary by clicking any of the pre-selected terms, which are indicated on the screen by a gray dotted outline. When the student hovers the mouse over the term, it will highlight in blue. If the student clicks a highlighted term, a pop-up box will appear with a definition of the term. Students can return to the item by clicking the X in the upper-right corner of the pop-up to close it.
Designated Supports: Masking The Masking tool allows students to cover up a distracting area of the test page. To use this tool, students click the Masking button and then click and drag their mouse to select a rectangular area on the screen. To deactivate masking mode, students must click the Masking button again. Masked areas remain on the screen even after masking mode is deactivated. To remove a masked area, students click the X button in the upper-right corner of the masked area.
Designated Supports: Color Contrast Color Contrast is a designated support that is available to eligible students. By default, tests are presented with black text on a white background. Students who require a different combination of font color and background color should be assigned the appropriate accommodation in TIDE. The color contrast selected will apply to all tests for that student. Color contrast options include the following: Black on White; Black on Rose; Yellow on Blue; Medium Gray on Light Gray; and Reverse Contrast (White on Black). ELPA21 options also include Black on Cream and Black on Blue, but do not include Medium Gray on Light Gray. In TIDE, the support is identified as Color Choices.
Designated Supports: Translation Glossaries – Math Students who are English language learners may benefit from using a Translation Glossary for some math tests. These students should have the Translation Glossary option selected in TIDE for the appropriate language. See the Translation Glossaries section in the GTSA, available on the WCAP Portal, for information on how to determine if this support is appropriate for particular students. Available languages include Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Filipino, Korean, Mandarin, Punjabi, Russian, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. A dual-language option is also available, which allows students to see both the English glossary and another language glossary at the same time. When the Translation Glossary is enabled, some terms in mathematics items will appear with a gray dotted outline around them. When the student hovers the mouse over the term, it will highlight in blue. If the student clicks a highlighted term, a pop-up box will appear with the translation of the term. Students can also select the audio icon next to the glossary term and listen to the audio recording of the glossary. Clicking the X in the upper-right corner of the pop-up will close it. If the student has dual-language mode enabled, the glossary will appear with two tabs, one for each language. In TIDE, Translation Glossary is listed under Universal Tools as Glossary – English. Please note there are more designated supports available for students. For a full list, please reference the TIDE User Guide located on the WCAP portal.
Designated Supports and Accommodations: Text-to-Speech Text-to-Speech (TTS) allows eligible students to listen to test content. TTS must be set up in TIDE prior to testing. It is available as either a designated support or as an accommodation for students with an identified need. Students can use this feature as a designated support for math stimuli items and ELA items but not for reading passages. Students in all grades may also have Text-to-Speech for ELA Reading passages as an accommodation. To use this tool, the student will select a portion of text and then right-click the selected area or click the context menu icon. Students then select the desired Text-to-Speech option from the pop-up menu (for example: Speak Question or Speak Question and Options) to hear the audio. We recommend that students who will be using this feature have the opportunity to try it by taking the practice test prior to testing. As mentioned earlier, you should ensure that all students requiring the Text-to-Speech feature have headphones and that they have completed the audio check successfully.
Accommodations: Print on Demand The Print on Demand feature is available only as an accommodation. It is a testing impropriety to apply this restricted resource for a student without documentation of actual need in an IEP or 504 plan. This feature is not intended as a method for printing the test in order to administer it on paper. Depending upon whether they are allowed to print items, passages, or both, students with this accommodation will see either a Print Page button at the top of the screen, a Print Item option in the context menu, or both. When a student clicks either Print option, the TA will receive a request for approval. The student will see a pop-up message that indicates that the request for approval has been sent. Before approving the request, the TA should ensure that the printer is monitored by staff who have been properly trained in test security. Note that all printed test materials are secure and should be handled according to your district assessment policy. Please note there are more accommodations available for students. For a full list, please reference the TIDE User Guide located on the WCAP portal.
Test Items: Example of an Interactive Item Students will encounter several types of items during testing. They must answer each item before proceeding to the next one. For interactive items, students need to follow the instructions given to know how to indicate their answer. For example, students may be told to click an object to identify the appropriate answer, drag pictures or words in a table, or click on a keypad. If they wish, students may click the Save button while working on interactive items to save their work. Regardless of whether they click Save or not, their answers will save automatically when they navigate to the next part of the test. After answering all items on a page, the student will click Next to go on. Student will be familiarized with all item types when taking the Practice and Training tests.
Science Test Items: Example of a Locking Item Some science test items may only allow the student to respond once. These items will appear with a green lock symbol next to the item number. When the student answers the question, they will be prompted with a pop-up menu. Once the student selects Yes that they are done answering the question, their response is locked. They will be moved on to the next page of items. If they return to this item, the green lock will be red and the answer choices will be greyed out. The student will not be able to change their response.
Science Collapsing Stimuli Some science item sets have Collapsing Stimuli on the left side of the screen. This can be two or more different stimuli sections. The first screen contains stimulus Section 1 paired with a set of questions. Once all the questions on this screen are answered, the student will select the Next button to move to a second screen. The student will see the Section 1 stimulus “collapsed” above the Section 2 stimulus and more questions. A student may select the plus symbol to have Section 1 expand if Section 1 information is needed to answer the questions associated with Section 2. Section 1 can be collapsed again by selecting the minus symbol.
Test Items: Video Playback If a stimulus appears as a video, students can use the standard controls shown here to control the playback. Students will encounter these videos during the Listening, Writing and Speaking segments of the ELPA21 test. To play a video, click the play button in the lower left corner of the player. To jump to a different point in the video, drag the slider to the desired location. To adjust the speed at which the video plays, click the 1x button, and then select the desired speed from the menu that will appear. To mute or unmute the video, click the speaker icon in the lower-right corner. To expand the video to full screen mode, select the full-screen icon in the far lower-right corner. To exit full screen mode, click the full-screen icon again.
Item Tutorial Students can use the Item Tutorial tool to get more information about a particular item type. Selecting Tutorial from the context menu for a question opens a pop-up that will show the student how that type of item works (for example: whether they should select an answer, drag-and-drop answers, or type a response in an answer space). Note that some tutorials include examples of multiple item types, so students may need to watch the entire tutorial to get information on how to answer the specific question they are being asked.
Test Timeout Test Timeout Due to Inactivity As a security measure, after 30 minutes of test inactivity, students are logged out and their tests are paused automatically. Inactivity is determined by whether the student is interacting with the test by selecting answers or using navigation tools. Clicking an empty space on the screen is not considered activity. Students will receive a warning message prior to being logged out and must click OK on the pop-up within 30 seconds in order to avoid automatic logout and pausing of their test. If a student’s test is paused due to inactivity, the same rules apply as when the student intentionally pauses the test. As a security measure, after 30 minutes of test inactivity, students are logged out, and their tests are paused automatically. Inactivity is determined by whether or not the student is interacting with the test by selecting answers or using navigation tools. Clicking an empty space on the screen is not considered activity. Students will receive a warning message prior to being logged out and must click OK on the pop-up within 30 seconds in order to avoid automatic logout and pausing of their test. If a student’s test is paused due to inactivity, the same rules apply as when the student intentionally pauses the test. The student can log back in to the test and resume from the point that testing was interrupted, subject to the pause rule, if applicable. Additionally, if a screen saver is activated during testing, the security breach feature will log the student out of the test. To avoid any such interruption, schools should either deactivate screen savers before students start testing or ensure that screen savers are set to more than the allocated testing time.
End of Segment The ELA performance task and the Math computer adaptive test for grades 6-11 are presented in segments. When students reach the end of a test segment, they will receive a warning message asking them to confirm that they want to move on to the next segment. The warning also advises that they cannot return to change their answers in the current segment once they have moved on. TAs should ensure that students understand the outcome of ending the test segment and encourage students to check their answers before moving on. To confirm they are finished with a test segment and ready to move on, students click the Next button in the upper-left section of the screen.
End Test When students answer the final question on their test, the End Test button will appear in the upper-left section of the screen, along with a message advising them that the test has been completed and is ready to be submitted. The End Test button does not become visible until the student has selected at least one response to every question on the test. If students click the Next button at this point, they will see a pop-up advising them to click the End Test button when they have completed reviewing their answers. They may also click the Back button to go back and revisit previous items, subject to the pause rule if it has been applied during the test. Note that the End Test button may appear before a student has provided a completed answer to the last question on a test. Students should be directed to ensure they have completely answered all questions on the test before clicking the End Test button. For the ELA performance task full-write specifically, TAs should be sure that students have completed the entire full-write task before submitting their test. If students are taking a break during the full-write portion, they should pause their test rather than click the End Test button. The button will appear on screen as soon as the student has begun answering the full-write task, but it should not be clicked until the student is ready to finish and submit the test.
End Test pt2 When students are ready to end the test, they should click the End Test button. A pop-up message will appear allowing them to select Yes if they are ready to finish the test and No if they are not. If students select No, they will return to the last item of the test and can revisit previous items. If students click Yes, they will be taken to the review screen, where they have the choice to review their answers or submit the test. Items that were selected with the ‘Mark for Review’ option in the context menu will appear on the review screen with a flag icon next to them. Please note that students can submit their tests even if they have items marked on the review page. The test delivery system does not force students to resolve those marked items prior to submitting their tests. Their ability to review and change answers is subject to the pause rule, if applicable, for this test. Once on the review screen, students who are ready to submit their tests should click Submit Test to finish. They will receive a confirmation pop-up asking if they are sure they want to submit. Clicking No will return them to the review screen. Clicking Yes will take them to the end screen, which shows a message indicating that the test was successfully submitted and advises the student to log out.
Thank You! Further Information Washington Help Desk American Institutes for Research Tel 1.844.560.7366 wahelpdesk@air.org For questions regarding state policy decisions and protocol, please contact OSPI at assessment@k12.wa.us Thank you for taking the time to view this training module. For detailed information, consult the Test Administration Manual located on the WCAP portal or contact the American Institutes for Research Washington Help Desk at 1.844.560.7366 or wahelpdesk@air.org.
Revision Log Updates to the Module after September 8, 2017 are noted below. Section Slide Description of Change Revision Date Test Pause 16 Updated pause time to 20 minutes 10/4/17 Test Pause Rules 17 If updates are needed throughout the school year, they will be outlined on this revision log and communicated in the WAW newsletter.