1. OAS Overview

2. The Georgia OAS provides school districts, classroom teachers, students, and parents with support for classroom instruction and student learning. Through this site, educators have access to test items aligned to the state mandated curriculum in order to develop assessments that can inform teaching and improve student learning.

3. OAS for System Level Administrators The OAS has a System Level (Level 3) access designed for district benchmarking. System Level access allows district administrators to create tests using items that are in a separate pool than those available to teachers and can be assigned to an entire district by grade level. There are additional reports for system tests that are aggregated by student, teacher, building, and district level. By assigning district-wide assessments, all teachers and administrators can share common reports and dialogue on instructional strategies with data that is scaffolded across all levels of administration.

4. OAS for School Level Administrators Student results on assessments help school administrators identify learner needs and strengths and inform instructional practices. School administrators can create tests that can be assigned to an entire grade level or to individual classes. Robust reports also allow administrators to communicate with teachers, students and parents about learner goals, intentions, and outcomes.

5. OAS for Teachers Teachers can use the OAS as a tool for Assessment for Learning. Student results on assessments help teachers identify learner needs and strengths and inform instructional practices. Robust reports also allow teachers to communicate with students and parents about learner goals, intentions, and outcomes. The OAS helps with a cycle of assessments, instruction, feedback, and communication that allows teachers, students, and parents to be confident with instructional success.

6. OAS for Students The OAS enables students in Georgia's public schools to access tests that consist of the same kinds of questions as appear on the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) in the following areas: – Reading – English/Language Arts – Mathematics – Science – Social Studies – End of Course Tests (EOCT) – Georgia High School Graduation Tests (GHSGT). After taking an assessment, students can view reports aligned to the state curriculum that show instructional strengths and needs.

7. OAS for Parents Parents can access reports from tests their children have taken by logging in as the student and viewing reports. Also, parents are informed when teachers share reports on their child's success on assessments. Reports are all aligned to the state standards so success on these assessments shows ability on the state curriculum.

8. New for 2008-09 New Content The OAS includes the largest bank of test items aligned to the Georgia state standards by Georgia educators. The OAS item bank now includes over 15,600 items that cover all areas of the Georgia curriculum and varying levels of cognitive complexity. This year, the OAS includes over 4,400 new items including: – Items from formerly operational tests including new writing test items – Items developed specifically for the OAS – NAEP items Over ninety updated benchmark assessments and framework tests available to district administrators to assign on a district level.

9. Test Assignment Changes Test creators now have the ability to assign tests that are available only weekdays and during specific hours. For example, a test can be scheduled Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 2:30 pm. This gives comfort in the knowledge that students are taking tests during school hours.

10. Increased Security Teacher and admin passwords will now be required to have at least 6 characters Teacher and admin accounts can now use letters, numbers and these special characters: – Underscore _ – Hyphen - – Period. – At symbol @

11. Benchmark Reporting Teachers now have the ability to view benchmark reports by class. Teachers now have class as a choice.

12. Transfer Students Simplified method of transferring students. As a school administrator, go to Add Student and fill out information. If that student is in another school or system, the RESA/District/School information will show. Then transfer that child into your school.

13. 2 sites: http://training.georgiaoas.org http://www.georgiaoas.org

14. Contact Information: Software Support Phone Number - (866) 215- 6881 Software Support Hours of Operation - Monday through Friday 7am - 9pm EST Support Email Address - gaoas_support@hmco.com Enhancement Request Email Address - gaoas_enhancements@hmco.com gaoas_support@hmco.com gaoas_enhancements@hmco.com Joe Blessing – OAS Program Manager 404 657-0311 jblessin@doe.k12.ga.us