Wednesday, Aug 26, 2015 OR Friday, Aug 28, SAC ACUITY TRAINING GRADES 3-8

ANNOUNCEMENTS Acuity online is NOT current. Please do NOT log into the acuity system during training today. It does NOT reflect what you will see once the test and data is loaded on Monday. Work Session on Sept. 2 nd is OPTIONAL – NOT REQUIRED. We will be here if you need us!

LEARNING GOALS On a piece of paper, write down 3 things you would like to learn during today’s session

 Review of Assessment  Logging in  Scheduling  Accommodations  Test Security & Ethics  Administration  What it looks like  Viewing and printing class rosters  Printing rubrics and answer keys  Constructed Response Score Entry  Closing the Test Window  Q&A WHAT WE WILL COVER

 Three fixed-forms (A, B, and C) for each grade in Grades 3–8  Subjects: English Language Arts and Mathematics  Item types include: performance tasks, technology-enhanced, constructed-response, evidence-based selected response, and multiple-choice  Online administration, paper/pencil, or combination of both  2 sessions within each administration, including: Session 1: fixed-form online, or paper/pencil Multiple Choice/Technology-enhanced (up to 60 min) Session 2: online or paper/pencil Short Constructed Response (up to 60 min) OVERVIEW

 Performance tasks, technology-enhanced, evidence-based selected response, and multiple-choice  Similar to what Form C was last year.  Constructed response questions  6-8 test items per content  Scored by teacher using rubrics ITEM TYPES

Self selected by schools anytime during the assessment windows. The test window are: Interim 1 (Form A) – Sept. 14, 2015 – Oct. 8, 2015 Interim 2 (Form B) – Nov. 30, 2015 – Dec. 18, 2015 Interim 3 (Form C) – Feb. 1, 2016 – Feb. 26, 2016 Interim 4 (Form C) – April 25, 2016 – May 13, 2016 (OPTIONAL) *Check with your Director for questions regarding which subjects your school will be required to administer. ACUITY TESTING WINDOWS

 Your login for Acuity is the same as the login you use every day to log into your computer. ACCESS TO ACUITY Login Page is the same for students & teachers

ACUITY AT HOME- OUT OF DISTRICT NETWORK

 Language Arts: 60 minutes  Math: 60 minutes  Allow 50 – 60 minutes to take each test and 5 minutes for directions prior to the test time beginning.  Schedule more time for students that get extended time.  As best as you are able, provide accommodations to students.  This is a good place to start documenting accommodations needed by students so that they may be used for CMAS assessments in the spring. SCHEDULING

 Keep to time. Students will need to learn to budget their time not only on this assessment but on others as well.  Teach test taking strategies: It’s ok if they don’t finish it all, but when they notice 10 minutes left, they should begin to fill in the rest of the assessment.  Have students logged into the computers before they enter the lab. The tech teacher or para could assist with this. SCHEDULING SUGGESTIONS “FROM THE FIELD”

What challenges do you see in your scheduling? Will you test in the classroom or in the computer lab? How are resources in your building able to support testing? Have you done Acuity before? If so, what suggestions do you have for the group?

ACCOMMODATIONS

All students in grades 3-8 should take the Acuity Interim Assessments in Reading and Math.  Exceptions to this are:  Students who are eligible for CoAlt.  ELA exceptions determined by the School Assessment Team.  Special education students who do not qualify for CoAlt and who may not be able to access ANY of the interim content. (These students should not comprise more than 1%-2% of the entire APS student population in grades 3-8.) PARTICIPANTS

Language Arts (Reading)Math Braille Large Print Scribe Signing Assistive Communication Devices Extended Time Used Oral Presentation – Directions Only Oral Presentation Entire Test or Directions Only Teacher Read Directions in Native Language Math Manipulatives Teacher Read Directions in Native Language Oral script (entire test) Translated Oral Script (entire test) Word to Word Dictionaries ACCOMMODATIONS  Please note: Oral scripts, translated oral scripts, and teacher read directions are not available for interim assessments.  In order to provide these accommodations, proctors should use a student edition printed out from the Preview/Print test section within Acuity and read either the directions or the entire assessment depending on the accommodation.

 DON’T allow accommodations for students who don’t receive them on state assessments  Don’t read the items to students on this if they won’t have the test read to them for state assessments ACCOMMODATIONS

Who do you need to collaborate with to gather accommodation information? What kind of notes will you need to make? How will you keep track of accommodations?

TEST SECURITY & ETHICS

 NOT high stakes test, HOWEVER Test Security rules still apply!  Printed assessment materials should be stored in a locked room or cabinet.  Test materials should never leave school premises.  Class rosters, and scratch paper should be collected at the end of each assessment and securely destroyed (shredded).  Chain of Custody. TEST SECURITY

 Active Proctoring  Roaming the room  Assisting with technology issues  Monitoring student progress

 All students should be tested, with the exception of those students who are eligible for CoAlt or have been deemed an exception by the school assessment team as mentioned on the previous Participant slide.  Teaching to the test items rather than the standards in the pacing guides and/or using actual test items in instruction prior to assessment administration does not maintain nor improve performance over time and is considered a misadministration of the assessment.  This assessment is to be used to help you with making instructional decisions! The results are to be used to support instruction, not as a “ranking system” of teachers/buildings. ETHICS

Proctors Should:  Maintain standardization and security of all assessment materials before, during, and after the assessment.  Read test directions word for word without paraphrasing or inflection.  Encourage students to try to do their best, but not exaggerate the importance of the test.  Employ active proctoring best practices. ETHICS

Proctors Should Not:  Teach to any test items; use actual test items in instruction prior to the administration of the assessment; or copy test passages, test items, writing prompts, and/or student responses from an actual assessment for use in instruction or assessment.  Allow students to take materials out of the classroom.  Provide verbal or non-verbal cures or hints during testing.  Clarify the meaning of test questions during testing.  Change or amend student answers during testing.  Force or coerce students to complete items in a particular way.  Interact with students in any way that could impact student responses. ETHICS

What challenges do you see in your building? How will your building handle cell phones during testing?

ADMINISTRATION

This is an example of what the SAC and PRINCIPAL’s dashboards will look like. NOTE: The column on the right says CLASS ACTIVITY and lists each class and the number of completed/ assigned students. SAC AND PRINCIPAL DASHBOARD

TEACHER DASHBOARD This is an example of what the TEACHER’s dashboard will look like. Note: On the right side the column is now called STUDENT ACTIVITY and lists the students in the class.

VIEW AND PRINT CLASS ROSTERS

After clicking on Print Entire Roster, a printing prompt will appear in a new window.

VIEW AND PRINT CLASS ROSTERS  Best Practice  Prior to your Testing Dates – Confirm your Class Roster(s) are correct.  New students will show in Acuity the day after they are enrolled in IC. If they do not then contact Susan Collins in IT via .  Provide, your name, school, student’s complete first and last name, grade level, and subject/course.

STUDENT LOGIN

  Student’s usernames are their student ID numbers, and their passwords are their legal first name as indicated in Infinite Campus. STUDENT LOGIN Login Page is the same for students & teachers

PRINTING RUBRICS & ANSWER KEYS

VIEW AND PRINT ANSWER KEYS Hover over Assessments and select Assessments from the dropdown.

VIEW AND PRINT ANSWER KEYS 1.Select the Subject 2.Select the Assessment Type 3.Select the Grade In this case we are searching for a Readiness Assessment for 4 th grade Math. Results appear to the right.

VIEW AND PRINT ANSWER KEYS Find the test you are looking for and: Hover over Actions and select Print/View Answer Key.

VIEW AND PRINT ANSWER KEYS The answer key appears in a pop-up window. Click on Print Answer Key to print.

CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE SCORE ENTRY

CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE  Students may complete CR via paper/pencil for math only (CR Answer Sheet)  Online response entry for Language arts only  Teachers must score CRs using Rubric  Teachers need to manually enter CR scores into Acuity  CR Items should NOT be completed if student did NOT complete MC Items

SCORING CR ITEMS No Response = 0 – Student skipped (did not attempt) item, but completed other items (do not use for absent students) – counts as an Incorrect score (zero points) ZERO Score = 0 – Student attempted to answer item, but answer was incorrect, zero points based on rubric Leave Blank Leave Blank – If student did not complete any multiple choice items (absent)

SCORING CR ITEMS

MANUALLY SCORING CR ITEMS

Steps to insure your results will be accessible as soon as students are done testing CLOSING THE TEST WINDOW

CHECKING ASSIGNMENT STATUS  Hover over Assignments, hover over Assessment Assignments, and click on View Assignments.  Fill in all information on the assessment on the left (subject, grade, etc.)  Your assessment should show up on the right.  You will see information on the assessment including the dates of the window, the number of students assigned and scored, and percentage completed.  To see more details, hover over the Actions button to the right, and click on Assignment Status

 Ensure all your students have tested by the end of the window.  Once the assessment window is closed, Accountability & Research will close the tests.  Shred your classroom rosters and scratch paper. NEXT STEPS

Q & A

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Refer back to your learning goals  Have we met your goals for today’s session?  What other questions to you have?

 Acuity’s Help section is a searchable online database of written help along with videos. You can get there by clicking help from your dashboard after you have logged into Acuity.  APS Assessment Webpage: RESOURCES

Administration, accommodations, logistics, etc.  Kim Patten, ext or Test assignments, back up for Kim Patten  Tonia Wilcox, ext or Tech issues, roster questions, etc.  Susan Collin, ext or  Help Desk, ext Custom Tests  Marcellus Lewis, Ext or Acuity Customer Support  (800) / QUESTIONS

THANK YOU! REMEMBER: THE WORK SESSION ON SEPT 2 ND IS OPTIONAL AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO ATTEND IF YOU DON’T FEEL IT’S NECESSARY.