Welcome to the DTC life!

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Welcome to the DTC life!

• A virtual oasis within the education world!

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Lets Take a Little Test

• You will have only 2 minutes to complete the
  following exam
• No cheating
• When I say goopen your envelopes and begin

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A little about you

• How many are brand new DTCs?
• How many found out they were the DTC after school
  started?
• How many got a job and then someone said oh
  yeah, youre also the DTC?
• How many of you have other responsibilities?
• Accountability?
• Curriculum?
• Federal Programs?

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A little about me

• Chris Cordell
• Director, Systemwide Testing
• Austin ISD
• 129 Schools 87,000 students
• My lifelong ambition was to become a District
  Testing Coordinator

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Im honored to be here!

• When the MATS called me and asked me if I would
  be willing to do a short introduction to the New
  District Testing Coordinator Training, I felt
  really honored. I didnt understand why such an
  honor was bestowed upon me

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Im honored to be here!
I live here, so Im free
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Lets be honest
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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• You are lucky to be here! District Testing
  Coordinator is one of the most prestigious and
  sought after jobs in a school districtyou will
  often hear people say things like
• Why doesnt our district have job shadowing? Id
  love to get a glimpse of your job!
• I wish I had your job!
• We should give the DTC a huge raise!

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• You will receive a ton of praise and thank yous
  at the end of each year from both campuses and
  central office staff

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• After doing this for a little while, you will
  never, ever need to phone a friend, call
  Pearson or call TEA to clarify anything

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• Speaking of calling other DTCs, TEA or Pearson
• If you do call people, you will always get the
  exact same answer no matter who you talk to
  which will really help to clarify whatever
  question youre calling about

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• State assessments are pretty stable, once you
  learn the current system, there probably wont be
  much need to pay much attention to TSNAP,
  regional group, TEA or Pearson postings.

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• Every CTC in your district will always follow
  your explicit instructions and will meet every
  deadline you set

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• Calendar Shmalendar
• Youll rarely need a calendar or timeline to help
  you remember thingsheck, theres not that much
  to remember anyways

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• TAMS will never cause you any frustrations, and
  online testing will work optimally at all times

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• You will probably never receive late night/early
  morning phone calls from campuses with some of
  the strangest issues youve ever heard

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• Yeah Summers!
• Youll really enjoy all of the downtime that the
  summer can bring

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Things you may not know about being a DTC

• You will never utter the phraseI need a drink,
  or wonder if anyone would ever find out if you
  had a stash in your secure room

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Welcome to the DTC life!