Saturday, March 14, 2015

California Alternate Assessment Information



Information was just recently released regarding the California Alternate Assessments (CAA). I will continue to learn more about this assessment and will train the site coordinators but wanted to share what is currently available. Here are some key details about the CAA: 
  • We will begin this testing in early May, after CAPA testing is complete.
  • Students in grades 5,8, and 10 will take CAPA in Science (testing in April)
  • CAA is required of Students with Severe Cognitive Disabilities (ie CAPA students) in grades 3-8 and Grade 11 in ELA and in Math
  • Each test requires a 1:1 administration and takes approximately 30 to 60 min
  • Each site has between 6 to 12 students (ie 6 to 24 hours of testing)
  • Teachers will need to complete a video training prior to test administration

Additional information can be found on the following page:


Thursday, March 5, 2015

Site SBAC Interim Assessment Trainings and EAP Letters

Good morning,


Listed below are three important documents to help you prepare for the upcoming Smarter Balanced Interim and Summative Assessments.

Site Based Training Lesson Plan- The training must be broken up into two separate meetings. The Security and Affidavits must be completed prior to the Test Administrator component. Teachers will not be granted access to the CAASPP Test Administrator portal until they have met with the site administrator, discussed the security affidavit, and the signed/scanned affidavit is received in the Ed Services office. Please post the date and location of your upcoming trainings in the comments box. Please post by Monday March 9th at 5pm. Security Affidavits and the Google Form need to be complete a minimum of 3 days prior to the Test Administrator training.

Training Log 
(Link viewable only to Tech TOSAs, Principals, and CAASPP Site Coordinators). This document has all of the teachers listed who have attended the trainings at SSC. The Participants by Sites with Names tab will help you identify who has already attended.


Electronic Copy of EAP/CAASPP Letter- This is an electronic copy of the EAP/CAASPP Letter that needs to be distributed to each Junior at least 2 weeks prior to the summative test date. Your friendly district office has printed the letters and grouped them in sets of 38 to make distribution easier for you. Please work with your teachers to ensure that their is an insightful discussion regarding the letter.



Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Recently Released Resources

Yee hawww! Today is a great day. There have been a few recently released resources for the CAASPP Online Assessments. These are posted below and also on your friendly local district SBAC Site Coordinator Haiku page.

Classroom Activity

Perris Union Assignments- Each student in the specified grade will take the assigned PT and corresponding classroom activity

Actual Classroom Activities

Interim Assessment Directions for Administration

Summative Assessment Directions for Administration

Test Administrator Reference Guide (more of a technical guide for the assessment system)

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Site Coordinator/TOSA Training 2-11-15

     California Assessment of Student Progress and  
Performance (CAASPP)
Site Coordinator/TOSA Meeting
February 11th, 2015 (8:00 am SSC TR 1)

Objectives
Participants will be able to:
  • Coordinate SBAC Testing and ensure that regulations are followed
  • Support and guide teachers in planning, preparing, and administering the SBAC Tests

Calendar Review
  • Need to communicate
  • Google Calendar for changes

CAASPP Online Assessments          (20 min)
                 
Test Administration                                (15 min)

Security Affidavit and Responsibilities         (15 min)

Access TOMs and Practice Generating Session IDs         (15 min)
  • Receive usernames and passwords. Review procedures for teachers
  • Generate a session ID for sample Interim Assessment
  • Practice generating student log in cards in EADMS

Interim Assessment Practice Test Activity         (15 min)

What kind of Troubleshooting tips will we need to know? (10 min)

Discuss plans for  identification of designated supports for students not on an IEP (10 min)
  • Stacked Translations
  • Glossaries

Resources
  • SBAC Site Coordinator Blogger- http://puhsdsbac.blogspot.com/
    • Running record of all Site Coordinator informational items
    • Mark as a favorite and refer to frequently
  • SBAC Haiku Pages: http://goo.gl/zxNNgv
    • Home page- General updates and resources for all teachers and staff
    • Site Coordinator- Specific resources for the SBAC Site Coordinator
    • Test Administrator- Specific resources for administering the SBAC Summative assessments
  • Misc











Tuesday, January 27, 2015

CAASPP Prep Week of 1-26-14

CAASPP Prep Week of 1-26-14
  • Share your testing calendars and solicit feedback from your staff.  Notify me of any changes. 
  • Identify dates for your SBAC Interim Assessment practice test for ELA and Math. All staff that will administer the summative assessment to students need to participate in this activity. This activity will take 1 class period for each test. Test/activity dates should be between February 23rd and March 27th. Email me your dates and which teachers will participate (ie ELA Grade 11 and US History teachers) by February 6th.
  • Conference with your SH teachers and explain the process of the Science CAPA exams and the new Alternate Assessments. Key talking points include the following: 
    • CAPA paper and pencil timelines. Testing needs to be completed and materials returned by May 1st. (Testing window is April 15th to May 1st)
    • Review basic information regarding the Alternate Assessments for ELA and Math
      • 1:1 administration
      • 90 in ELA and 90 min in math per student
      • Documentation available in mid march
    • Document questions they may have and send to me. 
  • Review your headphone inventory and start thinking about distribution during the interim assessment/practice test activity in March and the summative assessments
  • Review the Directions for Administration for the Smarter Balanced Online Assessments. This will give you a good idea of the mess you  your principal got you into.
  • Block out your calendar for training on February 11th from 8 am to 10 am. This will cover logistical and some technical components. Site Coordinators and Tech TOSAs need to attend.
  • Make sure that the SBAC Site Coordinator and the Tech TOSA sign up for one of the following trainings on the SBAC Interim Assessments (you don't have to both go on the same day).  An email from Xochitl will be coming out soon. 
    • February 12th from 4pm to 6pm
    • February 18th from 8am to 11am
    • February 18th from 12pm to 3pm
    • February 26th from 4pm to 6pm
  • In the comments field below (you must be signed into Google), please post a comment regarding something new you learned in the Online Test Administration Manual or a question you have regarding the information above. 

Friday, December 12, 2014

SBAC Site Coordinator Meeting Fall 2014


Summary and List of things to do from 
SBAC Site Coordinator Fall 2014 Meeting

Full Agenda Posted Here: http://goo.gl/S1BWJF

Summary and Things to Do 

  • Address issues in SEIS regarding 5th, 8th, and 10th graders who are missing a Science assessment in their Future IEP
  • Districtwide Practice test activity similar to last year on 2/11/15 and 2/12/15
  • Review Site Testing Calendars and begin preparing:
    • PVHS or HHS need to move first day of testing up one day. Nick/Don have paper/rock/scissors contest to figure it out who is moving their 1st day
    • Look at your site calendar and ensure that there are no major events on campus (field trips, IEPs, staff development, conferences, fancy brunches etc...)
    • Share with your site leadership teams and solicit feedback
    • Any changes to your testing calendar need to be updated on your Site Testing calendar spreadsheet and I need you to notify me of the changes
  • Headphones- I forgot to mention this in the meeting. All students will need headphones for the ELA portion of both the Non PT and the PT. Most students preferred to use (and brought) their own headphones. This was approximately 80% to 90% of the students at all sites. Last year your friendly district office purchased and delivered headphones for roughly 40% of your testing students in grades 3-8 and 11. You will need to locate and prepare these for distribution to your teachers during testing including the ELA practice test activity 
  • Bookmark and review the following two sites:
    • SBAC Site Coordinator Blogger- http://puhsdsbac.blogspot.com/
    • Running record of all Site Coordinator informational items
    • SBAC Haiku Pages: http://goo.gl/zxNNgv
      • Home page- General updates and resources for all teachers and staff
      • Site Coordinator- Specific resources for the SBAC Site Coordinator

Friday, October 10, 2014

SBAC Site Coordinator


Good afternoon,

According to my records you have been selected by your principal to be the administrator responsible for coordinating SBAC testing at your site. If this is not the case, please notify me right away as to which sucker at your site is overseeing this.

During the weeks of 10/20 to 10/31 your ELA, Math, and History teachers will be administering unit assessments aligned to Smarter Balanced Item Specifications. 

Some of the ELA assessments (see spreadhseet below for specific grade levels) have audio/video components to them and require students to use headphones. Your friendly district office supplied about 300 headphones per site last year for SBAC. Please work with your ELA department chair to provide these to teachers administering the unit assessments. Most students (about 85% of them) chose to use their own headphones. Be sure to collect them when the assessments are completed as you will need them in the Spring.

Also, this is a good warm up activity from a logistical perspective to get ready for the summative SBAC assessments. I suggest dropping into classes and observing the process of kids logging in and navigating the tests and taking some mental notes on what we can do to ensure that testing is efficient and effective for teachers and students in the Spring.

This link has the EADMS Test IDs and the dates (in the process of being updated) for the different assessments.