1. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Audio Guidelines & APIP Spoken Tags: Lessons Learned from PARCC Cara Laitusis Educational Testing Service 1

2. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. PARCC approach to – Audio Guidelines Lessons learned from – Developing alt text descriptions – Translating audio guideline to TTS delivery system Overview 2

3. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Reviewed Smarter Balanced – Math Audio Guidelines – ELA Audio Guidelines Revisions made to balance: – mathematical precision – accessibility needs (e.g., working memory) – integration of existing policy and practice in PARCC states PARCC OWG and AAF 3

4. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. x<y<z Smarter Balanced “x is less than y, which is less than z.” PARCC “x is less than y is less than z.” Example of Revisions

5. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Smarter Balance Open parenthesis three plus x, close parenthesis, (pause) times (pause) open parenthesis y minus two, close parenthesis. PARCC Open parenthesis three plus x, close parenthesis, (pause) open parenthesis y minus two, close parenthesis. (3+x)(y-2)

6. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Quotation marks Decimal place values Decimal points Parentheses vs. “the quantity of” Other Discussions

7. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Fractions Infinity Interpreting graphs and charts in “alt text” And More Discussions

8. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Alt Text Alternative text or “alt text” is a text based description of visual images. Critical element for 2 APIP spoken tags Text with graphics Non visual Requires knowledge of : content assessment, and accessibility

9. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Coding of alt text was needed to allow test developers to define when image was construct relevant. – Particularly important in mathematics to avoid interpreting graphs and charts. Lesson #1

10. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. [1] not construct-relevant and can be eliminated (e.g., it is only there for engagement purposes). [2] construct-relevant and can be represented using accompanying textual description. [3] construct-relevant and can be represented using accompanying textual description together with a tactile representation or physical manipulative. Addition of Alt Text Coding

11. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. [1] Engagement [2] Critical to completing item [3] Critical to completing item AND requires tactile representation In other words

12. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. EXAMPLE OF TYPE 2 ALT TEXT ADAPTED FROM THE SMARTER BALANCED MATHEMATICS AUDIO GUIDELINES The graph title is Roller Rink costs. Key, dashed line represents Roller Rink A, solid line represents Roller Rink B. The x- axis is labeled number of people. The y- axis is labeled cost in dollars. The dashed arrow starts at zero people, sixty dollars and points to a little less than sixteen people, midway between one hundred and one hundred ten dollars. The solid arrow starts at zero people, a little less than ten dollars and points to a little more than fourteen people, a little less than one hundred ten dollars. [2]

13. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. EXAMPLE OF CATEGORY 3 ALT TEXT ADAPTED FROM THE SMARTER BALANCED MATHEMATICS AUDIO GUIDELINES The graph title is Roller Rink costs. Key, dashed line represents Roller Rink A, solid line represents Roller Rink B. The x-axis is labeled number of people. The y-axis is labeled cost in dollars. [3] Note: Type 3 alt texts may be less lengthy than type 2 alt texts.

14. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Identified which images could be excluded from non-visual spoken tags (code 1 engagement) Allowed test developers to identify which images will require tactile graphics Added Benefits of Coding System 14

15. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. How to translate audio guidelines to spoken tags for text to speech engine? For example (pause) Lesson #2

16. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Place holders ;,. Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) seems ideal – Follows W3C Web Content Accessibility Standards (WCAG) which is a PARCC delivery requirement – http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis/ Solutions

17. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. 17

18. Copyright © 2011 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.Copyright © 2013 Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. Confirming SSML is APIP compliant – Would embedded SSML pass IMS APIP conformance testing? Integration of IMS APIP item content standards with W3C WCAG standards for delivery system Next Steps 18