Alternate Assessment Transitions in West Virginia Melissa Gholson Office of Assessment

Transitioning Reviewing Policy 2340 & Participation Guidelines Moving towards an online test Personal needs profile (PNP) and First Contact Survey Professional development- state and regional trainings on the alternate assessment achievement standards, instruction and assessment. First Contact Survey

Opportunity To Review Participation Criteria The Online IEP has these criteria as part of the process. When you sign an IEP you are confirming the student meets the criteria. Do all students identified as taking an alternate assessment meet this new criteria? Participation Criteria established across consortia.

Online Challenge How do we know if student are being assessed? Maintaining data security and PII. Professional development around decision making for available supports and embedded tools. How do we assure students are provided identified supports and accommodations from IEP’s?

Online Challenge: Opportunity To Practice Online –Diagnostic tests created to support the instruction of a unit and provide opportunity to practice –A variety of item types and built in accessibility features –Items were written to cover all Essential Elements –Can be used to assess all standards, select specific standards, a selected cluster or strand –Diagnostic tests assist in pinpointing instruction – Data collection forms for progress reporting and present levels.

English Language Arts Story Boards are button provide the adapted literary and informational text. Students should be exposed to original texts. All items are related to these texts. Lesson plans are included in the unit. Adapted versions Adapted versions are for independent practice. Vocabulary is controlled. The Six Strands of ELA Built in accessibility.

Organization and Data Essential Element Audio button- reads the response to the student. Goal is to promote independence. ELA Strands

Math Math Clusters at grade level Self-Determination

Lessons Learned Need a comprehensive training plan Training IEP teams to consider allowable supports for PNP and First Contact considerations Using the data extracts Using the accessibility extract to prepare and monitor provision of computer delivered accommodations

Selecting Accessibility Features PNP (Teacher Selected) Magnification Considering options and documented need

Common Supports AllowableNot Allowable The following supports are not allowed. Repeating the question again, even after the student has selected a response, in order to prompt the student to choose a different answer Using physical prompts or hand-over-hand guidance Removing answer options or giving content hints Modifying the content of a performance task in a computer-administered testlet in an attempt to help the student arrive at the correct response

Educator & Student Feedback Noteworthy Students spent less time testing Engagement-students loved using computers Adaptive equipment-alternate keyboards, touch screens, switches. Item types appropriate PNP-embedded accessibility features were locally set Challenging Manipulatives were time consuming for teachers and unfamiliar to students Magnification caused some items to increase scrolling What to do when the IEP did not consider some of these embedded features?

Where were the challenges? Challenges High volume of calls to DLM help desk Manipulatives Monitoring was burdensome Data errors Generation of testlets Training of staff Overlap of testing windows with other tests Scheduling staff What we did about the challenges Provided webinar and communications around frequently asked questions. State help desk to support districts State level data monitoring of districts and frequent status up dates. State and regional training and weekly webinars.

Accommodations Monitoring The WVS.326 monitoring process has a form with all state testing accommodations Coding process includes data for accommodation refusals and is used for invalidations of over and under accommodations. Information about WVS. 326 process is included in the Participation Guidelines.

Accessibility Data Extracts

Supporting Progress Monitoring DLM Test Administration Short FormState Monitoring & Communication Focus on regular monitoring and communication

How are you planning for ? Alternate Assessment Advisory Team Revision of the accommodations monitoring form Participation Guidelines Stakeholder Meeting Comprehensive communication plan Continued support for DLM assessment for districts Continued professional development

Questions? Melissa Gholson