1. Test Security (Required for DTCs, STCs, and TAs)

2. Objectives Understand principles of secure test administration
Test Security
Objectives
Understand principles of secure test administration
Understand how to maintain security of printed test materials
Learn how to avoid and respond to test improprieties
Requirements for a secure test environment, secure handling of printed test materials, item security, test administration and handling of test improprieties are addressed in Part IV – Test Security of the Test Administration Manual.

3. Definition and Purpose
Test Security
Definition and Purpose
Purpose: To protect the integrity and confidentiality of secure test items, prompts, and passages. The security of these materials is necessary so that they can be used in later years to measure trends in performance. In addition, test security helps to ensure test results can be used in accountability reporting.
Definition: A test impropriety is any instance where a test is not administered in a manner consistent with the Test Administration Manual or OAR Administration of State Tests.
-USED requires each state to maintain a secure assessment system to ensure validity of state accountability data.
-Each item costs roughly $1,000 – 2,000 to develop and reflect significant time investment by Oregon educators (item writing, content review, sensitivity review, expert review, field testing)

4. Test Impropriety Statistics
Test Security
Test Impropriety Statistics
Some numbers from the school year:
107 districts reported at least one test impropriety
567 total improprieties were reported
1,068 student tests were impacted
Test Impropriety Trends:
Non-allowable resources (including cell phones)
Retesting students in grades 3 – 8 without explicit parental consent
Student coaching
Student given the wrong test
Student cheating and talking
Unsecure test environment
Mishandling of secure test materials
Breach of student confidentiality
Missing the shipping / data entry deadline
Student tested under wrong SSID
Trends:
Non-allowable resources include both TA- and student-initiated improprieties.
Student coaching includes TAs giving students feedback or requiring students to show their work
Student cheating includes students talking or passing notes
Student given the wrong test includes students designated to take Extended, English-Spanish, or Braille approved to start the test in the wrong format

5. Secure Testing Environment
Test Security
Secure Testing Environment
A quiet environment, void of distractions and supervised by a trained test administrator
Visual barriers or adequate spacing between students
Student access to only allowable resources
All paper test materials collected and accounted for after each testing event – including printed reading passages (or test items)
Student data is treated as confidential – no ing names and SSIDs together
-Allowable resources are listed by content area in Appendices C – H and L of the Test Administration Manual.
-Paper test materials include Writing Performance Assessment testing materials, printed reading passages and test items, Kindergarten Assessment materials, and used scratch paper (this includes any printed allowable resources on which a student has taken notes during testing).
-Student data includes SSIDs and student test results. Requirements for maintaining student confidentiality are described in Part III – Student Confidentiality of the Test Administration Manual.

6. Test Security
Student Coaching
Definition: Providing students with any type of assistance that may affect how a student responds
Includes both verbal cues and nonverbal cues to the correct answer
200 reported instances accounting for 19% of all reported improprieties in
-Verbal cues include interpreting, explaining, or paraphrasing the test items or prompts
-Non-verbal cues include voice inflection, pointing, or nodding your head

7. Student Coaching, cont’d
Test Security
Student Coaching, cont’d
Examples:
Leading students through instructional strategies such as Think Aloud
Asking students to point to the correct answer or otherwise identify the source of their answer
Requiring or rewarding students for showing their work
Requiring students to raise their hands and receive permission before moving on to the next item
Reading aloud the Reading or ELPA
test or improperly reading aloud the
Math test
-Additional specific examples of coaching and how to avoid it are included in “Testing Improprieties and Appropriate Practices” on the Promising Practice webpage
-To avoid coaching, TAs should limit interactions with students to the student directions included in the TAM (Appendices B (OAKS), G (Writing), and H (ELPA) and to providing appropriately identified accommodations.

8. Potential Consequences
Test Security
Potential Consequences
Test opportunities may be invalidated in cases where test validity was compromised. Students will not receive additional test opportunities.
If the district determines that the testing impropriety qualifies as gross neglect of duty, then the district must report it to TSPC within 30 days. Personnel may then be subject to disciplinary action as determined by TSPC.
Districts may also evaluate cases according to their own Human Resource policies.
Private schools and programs may have
their access to state tests revoked.
-ODE does not regulate disciplinary actions imposed on staff based on testing improprieties. OAR and describe the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC)’s requirements on reporting “gross neglect of duty.” A brief summary of this requirement is included on p. 18 of the Test Administration Manual.

9. Do’s and Don’ts Do’s Test Security
TAs must ensure that students use the correct SSID and take the correct test.
TAs must receive explicit parental consent prior to retesting students at grades 3 – 8 who have already met or exceeded the standard
TAs must securely shred test materials such as printed test items or reading passages, scratch paper, or other paper hand-outs written on by students after each testing event.
Test materials must be securely stored at all times.
Test improprieties must be reported within 1 day of learning of them to and the district investigation must be completed within 30 days.
If a DTC cannot investigate an impropriety, the district must assign someone else to
the task.
-Correct test refers not only to the correct subject and grade, but also to the correct format (e.g., Braille, Spanish-English, OAKS Extended). For students on an IEP or 504 Plan, districts must administer the test in compliance with the student’s plan. This includes not only format but accommodations.
-Secure storage of test materials includes making sure that only individuals who have signed an Assurance of Test Security form have access to the tests (e.g., by cardkey).
-TAs or other staff are required to report to their STC, STCs are required to report to their DTC, and DTCs are required to investigate and report to ODE.

10. Do’s and Don’ts, cont’d Don’ts
Test Security
Do’s and Don’ts, cont’d
Don’ts
TAs must not review or analyze secure test items
Students must not access non-allowable resources such as notes, text books, cell phones, iPods, or
Students must not remove test materials from the test environment
TAs must not copy or retain any test materials, including secure test booklets, writing prompts, or reading passages
DTCs, STCs, and TAs must not share their OAKS log-in information with anyone
(even other authorized OAKS users)
-If a student is concerned about an item, the TA may use the verbatim student directions on p. B-8 of the Test Administration Manual to direct the student to enter the concern in Online Comments.
-Students may not remove used scratch paper, rough drafts, or printed test items or reading passages from the test environment.

11. Promising Practices Test Security Non-allowable resources
TAs closely review the allowable resource tables prior to testing and examine the test environment to ensure that all non-allowable resources are removed. This includes covering up posters that contain non-allowable content.
TAs remind students of the rules and post reminders outside the lab. For cell phones, TAs create procedures for collecting all cell phones before students enter the test environment.
Student cheating
TAs provide space or visual barriers between students.
TAs circulate through the test environment to monitor students.
Student coaching
TAs limit interactions with students to the verbatim student directions in the Test Administration Manual and appropriately administer accommodations such as read-aloud.
TAs do not require students to show their work or
otherwise provide students with feedback during
testing.
-Sometimes TA inadvertently coach a student when incorrectly administering the read-aloud accommodation. This includes reading aloud the Reading test or for Math, not following the Math read-aloud guidelines.
-In addition, ODE has developed promising practices posted online addressing how to restrict student access to cell phones and create visual barriers between students to prevent student cheating

12. Promising Practices, cont’d
Test Security
Promising Practices, cont’d
Mishandling of Secure Test Materials
Using colorful materials to identify which students have printed reading passages remaining at their stations.
When setting up the test environment, the TA should ensure that the TA’s computer is set to print in the computer lab where the students are testing.
The TA uses the class roster to mark which students received printed test materials (e.g., reading passages or test items) and how many each student received. The TA then matches the class roster to the printed test materials collected at the end of the testing event to account for all printed test materials.
ODE has developed promising practices posted online addressing how to maintain the security of printed reading passages. This promising practice applies equally to printed test items and Braille materials.

13. Promising Practices, cont’d
Test Security
Promising Practices, cont’d
Student given wrong test
TA works with STC and other appropriate staff to identify students designated to take the Extended Test or to take OAKS in Braille or English-Spanish. For students on an IEP, TA reviews IEP to identify needed accommodations
STC and DTC ensure that student settings are updated in TIDE to restrict access to OAKS for students taking the Extended Test and to update other test settings (e.g., language, print size) for students
Before approving students to start a test, the TA reviews student settings
-Appropriate staff to consult when making testing decisions for students might include ELL instructors, Special Education instructors, Title III and Special Education Coordinators, and education teams.

14. Promising Practices, cont’d
Test Security
Promising Practices, cont’d
Student tested under wrong SSID
For young students or newcomer ELLs, the school includes student picture on student SSID card
TA carefully reviews student names before
approving students to test
Student in grades 3 – 8 retested without parental consent
Check performance reports to identify which students have already met or exceeded and provide alternative activities for these students while their peers are testing
Place a restriction in TIDE for all students who have met or exceeded to block them from retesting accidentally
When retesting is deemed appropriate, obtain explicit parental consent prior to testing and document who has received explicit consent, removing the TIDE restriction for those students
-ODE has developed promising practices posted online addressing how to log students in and confirm student log-in information
-Appendix B contains guidance on how to provide for students who are not testing.
-The TIDE User Guide contains instructions on how to set and remove restrictions on student testing.

15. Promising Practices, cont’d
Test Security
Promising Practices, cont’d
Unsecure test environment
TA does not leave the test environment unsupervised or allow untrained staff to enter the test environment (this includes substitute teachers).
Missing shipping / data entry deadline
DTC communicates with staff ahead of time about upcoming deadlines.
In case of unplanned staff absences, staff cross-train.
Several days before the deadline, the DTC ensures that all necessary materials are collected.
TA review/analysis of test items
If students have a concern about a test item, the TA reads the script from the Test Administration Manual directing the student to the Student Comment Feature.
To identify content covered on the test, the TA refers to the Test Specifications and Blueprints published by ODE
-For the paper-based Writing test, the DTC should make sure they have reviewed the return shipping instructions, have received back all completed tests and all unused tests, and have received their return shipping labels. For the Extended Assessment, staff who will be entering scores should review the instructions and make sure they understand how to access the site and upload scores.
-TAs may report system errors (e.g., ELPA or OAKS technology) but may not review or analyze items for any reason.

16. Test Security
In a Nutshell
Only authorized staff who have signed an Assurance of Test Security Form may have access to the test environment or secure test materials.
TAs must limit interactions with students during testing to what is permitted by the Test Administration Manual or Accommodations Manual.
Scratch paper and all other printed materials written on by students during testing must be collected and securely shredded at the end of each testing event.
DTCs must report all test improprieties to ODE ODE within 1 day of learning of them.
Report form is available online

17. DTC Training
Online Resources
Test Administration Manual and Best Practices Guide:
Promising Practices:
Test Security Forms:

18. Acorns for Storage Why is test security so important?
How might you or your students be affected if someone else violates test security or administers tests incorrectly?
What are some strategies to minimize the risk of test security violations or test improprieties in general?
If you think an impropriety has occurred, what steps should you take?
-Test security helps ensure the validity of Oregon’s assessment system. The USED requires each state to maintain a secure assessment system to ensure validity of state accountability data. In addition, each item costs roughly $1,000 – 2,000 to develop and reflect significant time investment by Oregon educators (item writing, content review, sensitivity review, expert review, field testing)
-Tests may be invalidated due to test improprieties. Depending on the nature and severity of adult-initiated improprieties, staff may also be subject to local HR policies and/or discipline by TSPC
-Get clarification from your STC or DTC on whether particular practices are allowed before testing, review and ensure understanding of how to properly administer accommodations, review test-taking procedures with students before testing begins and ensure sufficient spacing between students
-Immediately report any potential improprieties. TAs must report to STCs, STCS must report to DTCs, and DTCs must report to ODE. The requirement is to report within 1 business day of learning of a potential impropriety. Doing so may help to minimize the impact (e.g., minimize the number of tests administered using a non-allowable resource or practice).