State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Alternate STAAR Alternate September 1, 2010 TETN # 7960 Handouts Copyright © 2011 Texas Education Agency. All rights reserved. Reproduction of all or portions of this work is prohibited without express written permission from the Texas Education Agency.

STAAR Alternate for Beginning this fall for the school year, STAAR Alternate will be the only alternate assessment offered for students with significant cognitive disabilities. TAKS-Alt will not be administered to grades 10 and 11 as will be required for TAKS, TAKS-Accommodated, and TAKS-Modified. Information regarding how to select the End-of-Course STAAR Alternate assessments will be provided after decisions have been made.

Differences between TAKS-Alt and STAAR Alternate T TAKS-Alternate Teachers must have viewed modules 1-4 and passed the qualifications for TAKS-Alt modules 1-3 before administering the assessment. Teachers were provided five opportunities to pass each of the TAKS-Alt qualifications at 80%. T STAAR Alternate All teachers must view and pass the qualifications for the new STAAR Alternate modules 1-4 before administering the assessment. Teachers are provided only two opportunities to pass the new STAAR Alternate qualifications at 80%. After additional training with a supervisor, the teacher may be given one more opportunity as determined by the supervisor. Module Requirements

Differences between TAKS-Alt and STAAR Alternate T TAKS-Alternate Assessment tasks within a subject could be selected at different complexity levels. No transition tasks were identified. Only one student action was demonstrated for each predetermined criterion. More than one response mode option for each predetermined criterion could have been identified. T STAAR Alternate Only combinations of Level 3 and Level 2 tasks will be allowed within a subject. Students being assessed with level 1 tasks must stay at all level 1 tasks for that subject. Tasks are identified as transition if the task relates to how the skill would be used in the community once the student leaves public school. Students must demonstrate all actions listed in each predetermined criterion to receive credit for demonstrating the predetermined criterion. Only one response mode per verb in the predetermined criteria can be identified and the student must demonstrate that one response to get credit for the predetermined criterion. Assessment Tasks More Rigorous!

Differences between TAKS-Alt and STAAR Alternate T TAKS-Alternate The number of primary and generalization observations was determined by the teacher to capture a fair, typical student performance. Generalization could be demonstrated with a change in personnel, materials, or environment. No changes in materials for the observation from those used during instruction were required. Three points for a prompted Demonstration of Skill performance was given. No documentation for a No Response Observed (NRO) designation was required. T STAAR Alternate Only two completed observations are allowed for the primary observation and only two completed observations are allowed for the generalization observation. Generalization can only be demonstrated with a change in materials. The assessment observation must use new materials than were used during instruction to make sure that students are demonstrating skills and not just repeating the same response they gave during instruction. No points for a prompted Demonstration of Skill performance are given. Page 1 of the documentation form for the one attempted observation per subject is required for all NRO designations. Administration Process

Changes involving the rubric may be added at a later date. All documents will be updated to reflect these changes.

The TAKS-Alt Resources page will be removed on June 17 th. New documents for the vertical alignments, curriculum frameworks, essence statements, and assessment tasks are posted to the new website. Supplementary documents will be reviewed, updated, and posted throughout the summer. Some of the TAKS-Alt supplementary documents have been consolidated into one document or have been eliminated. STAAR Alternate Resources Page Exceptions: Social Studies English I, II,III

Does the student have a significant cognitive disability? Does the student require specialized supports to access the general education curriculum and environment? Does the student require intensive, individualized instruction in a variety of instructional settings? Does the student access and participate in the grade level TEKS through prerequisite skills? Does the student primarily demonstrate knowledge and skills through performance tasks? Participation Questions for ARD Committees

STAAR Alternate Training Focus The new STAAR Alternate modules will be the main source of training. More information will be provided in the fall regarding the additional training requirement by a supervisor before the third opportunity for qualification is given. All online system information for administrators will be provided by Pearson through web ex presentations and the User’s Guide for the Texas Assessment System. The September 9, 2011 TETN will provide policy updates, introduce new documents, introduce a timeline, and highlight sections of the new modules. The October 20,2011 TETN will be restricted to the ESC region centers and their invitees regarding questions and concerns raised after the modules have been viewed. The January 4, 2012 TETN will provide information regarding monitoring of the online system data and the test administrators.

Important Dates Online system surveys will be available until May 27 th at The viewing window for the District and Campus Testing Coordinators will be from May 16, 2011 until June 24, Modules 1,2, and 3 will be released around August 29, Module 4 will be released around October 3, The Online System will open for DTCs on August 29, Assessment Window dates are January 2, 2012 until April 13,

In May of 2011, the Confidential Student Reports will provide stage change information; however, no growth measure information will be provided since TAKS-Alt will no longer be used for assessment. When there are two years of STAAR Alternate data for a student, the growth measure information will be included on the Confidential Student Report. Growth Model for STAAR Alternate