1. Aaron Brown Office of Assessment SC Department of Education
Early Childhood Assessments Data Entry Guidance for the Last 45 Days
Hello. This is Aaron Brown, from the South Carolina Department of Education, Office of Assessment.
This presentation will go over guidance for how to enter scores for the last 45 days of the administration of the 4-year-old and 5-year-old kindergarten assessments.
This presentation is based on the difficulties we had with data entry from the first 45 days. It will also cover where the data for the last 45 days should be entered.
Aaron Brown
Office of Assessment
SC Department of Education

2. DRA2 Enter data for the correct test period.
DRA benchmark scores are entered in the Home tab.
DRA Level
DRA benchmarks (Reading Engagement, Oral Reading, and Printed Language Concepts/Comprehension)
Word Analysis scores are entered in the Word Analysis tab. Make sure that the required Word Analysis tasks (Task 1 and Tasks 3-7) have their scores entered.
Scores should be entered only once for a given student.
The SCDE will receive Completed and In Progress records.
The DRA2 scores for the last 45 days should be entered into the appropriate testing period, Test Period 3. The District Administrator can alter the test period start and end dates if another test period is open.
The main data entry issue was that not all students’ scores were entered. It is required to enter the scores for the DRA benchmarks and the mandatory Word Analysis tasks.
The DRA Level and DRA benchmark scores should be entered through the “Home” tab. It is important to enter the Reading Engagement, Oral Reading, and Printed Language Concepts/Comprehension scores. Otherwise, the SCDE will not receive DRA benchmark data.
Word Analysis scores should be entered through the “Word Analysis” tab. Tasks 1 and 3-7 are required. Make sure to enter the scores for the required tasks.
Another issue with the DRA2 fie was duplicate records. If a student’s score is submitted multiple times, the SCDE will receive multiple scores in the state data file. This is true even though a teacher sees only one score in the online system. Have your teachers wait to enter the scores until the student’s assessment is truly done. If duplicate scores are in the data file, the SCDE will assume that the most recently added scores are the correct ones.
We have requested that Pearson give us Completed and In Progress records. Thus, although we recommend teachers accurately mark students as Completed, failure to do so will not cause us to lose student records.

3. GOLD Enter data for the Spring Checkpoints
Checkpoints must be finalized.
The Assessment Status Report can be used to check teacher progress.
How to run the Assessment Status Report:
Checkpoint Tab --> Assessment Status Report
Period --> Spring 2015/2016
Starting 2-3 weeks prior to the due date: “Show unfinalized and finalized checkpoints”
Starting 1-2 weeks prior to the due date: “Show only finalized checkpoints”
Select Report Level and Output
GENERATE REPORT
The scores for the last 45 days should be entered into the Spring checkpoints. By default, any scores entered between February 15 and July 31 will count for Spring. If you are not able to enter Spring checkpoints, please contact GOLD technical support for assistance changing the test period dates.
For GOLD, the main issue was that the checkpoints had not been finalized. Checkpoints must be finalized by the deadline in order for a student’s data to be included in the state data file.
The contractor recommends that district administrators verify completion and finalization of Checkpoints by running the Assessment Status Report. This can be done by selecting “Assessment Status Report” in the Checkpoint tab. Further recommendations are displayed on this slide.

4. myIGDIs Enter scores into the Spring screening field.
For myIGDIs, make sure to enter the scores into the Spring screening field. This field is being used to gather scores for the last 45 days.
Teachers should also make sure to use the Spring items from their kits.

5. PALS Enter scores during the Spring window.
Click ‘Submit’ after scores are entered.
Teachers can check if scores were submitted through the Class Summary Report.
The scores for the last 45 days should be entered during the Spring window. By default, the online system will be open for spring score entry from March 28 through June 24.
Make sure to click ‘Submit’ after you have finished entering the students’ scores. In the fall, we were missing scores for some students because teachers did not submit the scores. Teachers can check the Class Summary
Report to see if scores have been submitted for their students.

6. Demographic Data
The SCDE will match the state data files to data collected from PowerSchool.
When entering new students into the online system, make sure that the following fields are identical to the values in PowerSchool:
Student name
Student date of birth
Student State ID
The SCDE will match the students in the state data files to data collected from PowerSchool in order to obtain the most-accurate and clean demographic data.
For new students, make sure that the student’s name, State ID, and date of birth match the values in PowerSchool.

7. Late Data Entry
It is important that all data entry be complete before teachers leave for summer break.
The Office of Assessment will receive state data files from the contractors. Because these assessments are mandated by state law and the SCDE is collecting these scores on behalf of the Education Oversight Committee, we are obligated to check that we are not missing student scores.
We will check the schools in the state data files against the official list of schools. If any school’s official grade span contains 4K or 5K, but does not have corresponding student scores, we will reach out to the DTC to find out what happened.
It is important that teachers complete data entry before leaving for summer break. We do not want to try to collect data after teachers have left for summer break, or once they return for the new school year.

8. Where to Find Help
If you or your teachers need assistance with the online system, contact the contractors’ helpdesk. DRA2: or GOLD: or myIGDIs: (ext. 3) or at myigdis.com/help PALS: or
If you need assistance using the online system, you can contact the contractors’ helpdesk. This information is also in Appendix M of the precode manual.
For other issues, you may contact the Office of Assessment. For test administration questions, please contact Susan Creighton. For questions related to student data, please contact me, Aaron Brown.