Update on Alternate Assessments

1
Update on Alternate Assessments

• Texas Education Agency
• Student Assessment Division
• TETN Event 30022
• January 18, 2008
• 1-3 p.m.

2
Agenda

• TAKS-Alt update
• How to provide appropriate objective evidence
  when submitting an Accommodation Request Form
• General information about assessments for
  students with disabilities
• Questions and answers from the field

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TAKS-Alt Update
4

• TEA has not and will not endorse any programs,
  materials, or consultants that have developed
  TAKS-Alt activities
• TAKS-Alt website is the official source of
  approved information www.tea.state.tx.us/student.a
  ssessment/resources/taksalt
• TEA has completed the TAKS-Alt training at the
  Education Service Centers

5

• TAKS-Alt Activity Bank Available
• February 1st writing, mathematics
• February 12th science
• February 22nd reading/ELA, social studies
• TAKS-Alt Online System
• Summary Reports will be available by January 25th
• The Screen View option is available
• Moving the asterisk in the date field on the
  documentation forms is now available
• All duplicate error messages should be directed
  to Pearson at 1-800-252-9186

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Objective Evidence the Accommodation Request
Form
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• Objective evidence shows how a student performs
  with and without the accommodation. This
  evidence is proof that the accommodation is
  effective and appropriate. Evidence might
  include, but is not limited to
• Observational narrative describing how the
  students performance differs across time with
  and without the accommodation requested
• Explanation of qualifying disability and
  description of how the requested accommodation
  addresses the disability
• Pre- and post-test scores proving how the student
  is only able to succeed with the use of the
  requested accommodation

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• The following slides are only examples of
  insufficient and sufficient objective evidence on
  ARFs.
• This is for training purposes only and is not
  meant to represent all possible student needs or
  address specific accommodations.
• A determination can only be made when
  considering all factors listed on the ARF for
  each individual child.

9
Request

• Assessment (circle) TAKS TAKS (Accommodated)
  TAKS-M TELPAS Reading
• Students Grade 5 Administration Date April 8
  May 1, 2008
• Subject (s) Mathematics and Science
• Description of accommodation (attach another
  sheet if necessary)
• Use of a calculator
• Why does this student need this accommodation?

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Insufficient Information

• Per IEP
• Student confuses the functions needed to solve
  various problems
• Student is functioning below grade level in math
  reasoning

11
Sufficient Information

• Student qualifies as learning disabled in math
  calculation. Without the use of the calculator,
  student uses correct operations but has errors in
  basic calculation. When using a calculator,
  student is able to demonstrate grade-level skills
  and improve grades.

12
Sufficient Information

• In the past, math charts have been available to
  assist the student, but difficulty with tracking
  and organization has lead to increased confusion.
  Now student uses a calculator. When given
  twenty minutes to work four math problems without
  a calculator, the student just stares at the
  paper without writing anything down. The student
  was only able to correctly work one problem
  within the given time period. When given a
  calculator, student can successfully complete
  assignments in a similar time frame to rest of
  class.

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Request

• Assessment (circle) TAKS TAKS (Accommodated)
  TAKS-M TELPAS Reading
• Students Grade 6 Administration Date April
  29, 2008
• Subject (s) Mathematics
• Description of accommodation (attach another
  sheet if necessary)
• Use of math charts as supplemental aids (see
  attached copies of aids)
• Why does this student need this accommodation?

14
Insufficient Information

• Allows child to participate in grade-level
  curriculum
• Student is successful when using aids
• Results from intelligence and achievement tests
  in the eligibility report (WIAT, WISC, etc)

15
Sufficient Information

• Processing and recalling information are
  difficult for this student. He is often
  interrupted by internal and external distraction
  and has difficulty maintaining attention when
  completing assignments. The student understands
  how to set up problems correctly but will skip a
  step or will make errors in calculation because
  of lack of focus. If given math charts to refer
  to when interrupted by external or internal
  distractions, he can resume work on the
  individual problem and complete it successfully.

16
Sufficient Information

• Student has shown success on assessments when
  supplied with supplemental aids for recalling
  learned information. Memory retrieval is very
  difficult for the student. When using
  supplemental aids to help him remember math
  facts, he can be successful problem-solving at
  grade level.

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Request

• Assessment (circle) TAKS TAKS (Accommodated)
  TAKS-M TELPAS Reading
• Students Grade 7 Administration Date March 5,
  2008
• Subject (s) Writing
• Description of accommodation (attach another
  sheet if necessary)
• Student needs to use spell check on written
  composition.
• Why does this student need this accommodation?

18
Insufficient Information

• This will ease the students frustration when
  writing his composition
• Will allow the student to enjoy the benefits of
  regular education setting
• Student uses this accommodation as part of
  classroom technology

19
Sufficient Information

• The student exhibits characteristics of dyslexia,
  which include letter reversals and difficulty
  recalling phonetic patterns. He becomes very
  upset (scribbling, tearing paper) during spelling
  tests and writing activities. He completes
  assignments faster and gets higher scores when
  able to use spell check. Testing without this
  accommodation does not give a valid sample of
  what he has learned in 4th grade writing.

20
Sufficient Information

• Student is a poor speller and becomes overly
  stressed about the wording and spelling until he
  forgets his original thought. He shuts down and
  refuses to write and finish his assignments.
  With this accommodation he is able to stay
  focused and organized on his essays until their
  completion.

21
Request

• Assessment (circle) TAKS TAKS (Accommodated)
  TAKS-M TELPAS Reading
• Students Grade 11 Administration Date March
  5, 2008
• Subject (s) English language arts (ELA)
• Description of accommodation (attach another
  sheet if necessary)
• Testing over 2 days
• Suggest testing on March 5-6, 2008
• Why does this student need this accommodation?

22
Insufficient Information

• Student fatigues easily when reading
• Student needs more time to complete reading and
  writing tasks because she is very distractible
• Parent request

23
Sufficient Information

• Student has a serious illness. She becomes
  extremely tired and cannot focus for long periods
  of time due to the medication she takes. She
  currently receives extended time on assignments.
• Student has abnormal muscle function of the eye
  and has trouble with depth perception. Student
  uses enlarged print tests and receives oral
  administration but still requires 2 days to
  complete all chapter, unit, district tests, and 6
  weeks tests because of eye fatigue.

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Request

• Assessment (circle) TAKS TAKS (Accommodated)
  TAKS-M TELPAS Reading
• Students Grade 3 Administration Date March 5,
  2008
• Subject (s) Reading
• Description of accommodation (attach another
  sheet if necessary)
• Use of a reading strategy checklist (see attached
  copy of checklist)
• Why does this student need this accommodation?

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Insufficient Information

• The checklist gives the student more confidence
  during tests
• The student has ADHD
• Reduces test anxiety

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Sufficient Information

• ?

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Sufficient Information

• This student struggles with maintaining attention
  and organization when responding to literature.
  The steps of the checklist have proven helpful to
  the student by giving her a specific plan to
  follow when answering questions related to a
  story. Without the use of this aid, she is
  careless with her work and rushes through the
  reading passages this results in failing scores
  on assignments and class tests.

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Request

• Assessment (circle) TAKS TAKS (Accommodated)
  TAKS-M TELPAS Reading
• Students Grade 10 Administration Date May
  1-2, 2008
• Subject (s) Science and Social Studies
• Description of accommodation (attach another
  sheet if necessary)
• Student requires the use of his classroom notes
  which include blank maps, timelines, and charts
  (see attached sample pages from students
  journal)
• Why does this student need this accommodation?

29
Insufficient Information

• Student gets one-to-one support in class but is
  easily distracted when he doesnt get this type
  of help
• This student cannot memorize facts
• The student uses this in the classroom every day

30
Sufficient Information

• This students ADHD and learning disability in
  basic reading impair his ability to organize and
  recall information learned in class. These
  visual prompts help him complete assignments
  successfully by facilitating recall of learned
  information. Observational notes from teachers
  show that without the use of these visual
  prompts, the student is unable to pass most
  classroom tests.

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Sufficient Information

• This student demonstrates grade-level skills in
  testing situations when supplied with reminders
  that she has made for herself. Without this
  supplemental aid she spends an excessive amount
  of time second guessing herself and becomes
  increasingly frustrated and overwhelmed (putting
  head down, refusing to move on to next question)
  resulting in a much lower likelihood of recalling
  learned information. She claims that reading her
  notes helps trigger her understanding of a
  concept/process because it is written in her own
  language and is familiar to her.

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General Updates Information
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• Can any student receive the accommodations listed
  in the Accommodations Manual?
• Yes. This manual is intended to address the
  needs of all students. Accommodations that are
  allowed for TAKS (Accommodated) and TAKS-M,
  though, are only for students served by special
  education.

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• Do I need to send in separate Accommodation
  Request Forms for one student who needs multiple
  accommodations?
• No. Districts should submit ONE request form per
  student even if the student needs several
  accommodations on different assessments. The
  district may attach a separate sheet of paper as
  needed.

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• All my third grade students get a place marker so
  do I mark this on the answer document?
• Yes. All students who receive an accommodation
  must have this information recorded on the
  scorable document. This includes the use of
  place markers.  This is considered an
  accommodation and as such should only be used by
  students who require this assistance.  Entire
  classes should not use place markers as this
  would constitute a strategy, not an
  accommodation, for students with a specific
  need/disability.  Although it is expected that
  more students at the lower grades would have
  difficulty with tracking, all students would
  not. 

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• What are some general guidelines for the student
  who requires the use of a scribe?
• The student who requires the use of a scribe must
  have a temporary or permanent disabling
  condition that interferes with the ability to
  record responses. This means that the student
  is not able to write his/her own responses on
  extended writing tasks or is unable to bubble
  answers to multiple choice items accurately.
  This may include students with an injury (broken
  arm), a physical condition (cerebral palsy),
  visual problems (extremely limited vision and
  broken glasses, tracking difficulties), a
  significant deficit in written expression, etc.
  Students who have poor handwriting or spelling
  skills will most likely NOT fall into this
  category since they usually have the ability to
  record their responses on the scorable document.

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• What are some general guidelines for the test
  administrator serving as a scribe?
• The scribe must ensure that he/she has recorded
  exactly word-for-word what the student has
  dictated. Then the student must have the
  opportunity to edit this response. The scribe is
  allowed to ask for clarification of spelling,
  capitalization, and punctuation. The scribe
  might record the students response leaving out
  all capitalization and punctuation for the
  student to edit. In addition, the scribe might
  also stop to ask the student for clarification of
  spelling key words that might include vocabulary
  unique to the students creativity and word
  choice, not basic grade-level sight words.

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• Describe dictionary as an accommodation.
• The dictionary can be used for spelling
  assistance on the written composition, revising
  and editing, or open-ended responses. In this
  case, the guidelines for Spelling Assistance on
  page 22 of the Accommodations Manual must be
  followed.
• The dictionary can also be used as a supplemental
  aid for reading, mathematics, science, or social
  studies. In this case, the student would be
  using the dictionary for vocabulary needs. The
  guidelines for Supplemental Aids on page 22 of
  the Accommodations Manual should be followed.

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• Do students who are going to take TAKS
  (Accommodated) participate in the Jan-Feb field
  tests?
• For the Jan/Feb 2008 field test window, only
  students who will participate in TAKS take the
  TAKS field test. There is no field test for TAKS
  (Accommodated). Requirements for participation
  on future field tests will be clarified at a
  later date.

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• When will TAKS-M sample passages and items be
  posted?
• TAKS-M samples for reading, mathematics, and
  science will be posted to the TEA Student
  Assessment website within the next month.

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• Will there be further TETN training opportunities
  this school year?
• Yes. The upcoming TETN schedule for sessions
  titled Update on Alternate Assessments will be
  as follows
• February 25, 2008 from 1-3, 30023
• April 4, 2008 from 1-3, 30024
• May 19, 2008 from 1-3, 30025

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• How can I contact the Student Assessment
  Division?
• TEA Student Assessment Division
  512-463-9536
• NEW address for questions about assessments for
  students with disabilities Assessment.Studentswit
  hDisabilities_at_tea.state.tx.us
• Questions about accommodations
  test.accommodations_at_tea.state.tx.us