Welcome to the Test Delivery System Changes for the 2016-17 School Year training module. This presentation includes details about changes found in the Test Administrator (TA) Interface and Student Interface that you will see on this year s online tests. 1
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In Spring 2017, AIR will obtain the AA Certification for the Test Administrator Interface within the Test Delivery System (TDS). This certification indicates that the application not only meets, but exceeds, the basic needs of assistive technology and people with disabilities. This includes the availability of online testing tools, supports, and accommodations that may provide assistance and enhance the testing experience for people with disabilities. AIR has already received the AA Certification for the Student Interface within TDS. With this distinction, the Test Delivery System will be WCAG 2.0 complaint. 3
This year, AIR has made changes to the approval process of the Test Administrator interface. For instance, students who are waiting on approval from the TA to either start the test or move onto the next segment will be identified in the Test Administrator interface with their distinct table. Also, labels for each segment will be displayed above these new tables to help identify the students waiting approval. 4
Test Administrators will see students organized according to the subject matter of the assessments they are taking. This slide is an example of how the system will display. In this slide, on the left, you can see how the three students waiting for TA approval to test have been color coded according to assessment. Test Administrators may approve students individually, using the green check marks in each student s Action column, or approve all students at once. Clicking the Approve All Students at once button at the top of the screen will bring up the Important pop-up window on the right side of the screen. This pop-up window gives Test Administrators one final opportunity to inspect all student assessment requests before approving. 5
Another change this year is the addition of the information icon on the TA interface. This icon provides accurate information to the test administrators as to why a student is no longer in their assessment. This feature will also help TA s diagnosis why a student was kicked out of a testing session. The following two slides provide a sampling of possible information icon messages that may appear. If a message appears that requires additional support, please contact the AIR Helpdesk via the information presented on slide 24. 6
The following messages may appear when selecting the information icon. Please review the following lists of potential messages. 7
This slide is a continuation of the types of messages that may appear when selecting the information icon. Please review the following lists of potential messages. 8
In the event that you have problems with your computer or web browser or need to change computers during an active test session, you can transfer the session from one computer, mobile device, or browser to another without stopping the session or interrupting in-progress tests. To transfer a test session to a new device or browser: Do not log out of the session you are currently in or stop the test session. If you do, you will end the test session and pause all students tests. Log in to the TA Interface on the new machine or in the new browser. A session ID prompt will appear. Enter the active session ID into the text box and click Enter. When the session ID is validated, you will be able to continue your test administration activities. The test session on the previous computer or browser will close automatically. This will not stop the session or pause student tests. 9
To log out of the TA Interface, click the Log Out button in the top right corner of the screen. It is preferable for you to log out only after stopping your active test session, as logging out will cause all in-progress tests to be paused. A confirmation message will appear, asking you to confirm that you want to exit the site and pause all students in-progress tests. This confirmation message may look different than the one shown here, depending on the browser you are using. This scenario also occurs when you navigate to another site from the TA Interface. However, regardless of when or how you log out or navigate away from the TA Interface, student data will not be lost. If you need to access another application, we encourage you to open it in a separate browser window. Click Yes to proceed. When all students have completed testing, refer to the Test Administration Manual for instructions on destroying any printed testing materials and reporting testing improprieties or irregularities. 10
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Starting in Spring 2017, AIR will replace currently used calculators with the DESMOS calculators. As shown in the images on this slide, all calculators will support resizing by the student. Three types of calculators will be available, depending on content area and grade level: basic, four-function; scientific; and graphing. They will be available on practice and training tests beginning November 21, 2016. The graphing calculator is also available online at desmos.com. 12
This year, AIR has carried over the color coded tests (which are available to select for TAs) over to the student interface. On the left side of this slide you can see how the tests are color organized in the TA Interface, and on the right side of the screen you can see how the tests are color organized in the student interface. The Practice and Training tests organizational color scheme matches between the two interfaces. The Interim Smarter Balanced Assessments will all be yellow, the Summative Smarter Balanced Assessments will all be blue, and the MSP Science test will be green. Students still need to take care to select the correct test within those colors if more than one test has been selected in the TA Interface. 13
This year, students may encounter passages/stimuli that have the expandable feature available. This tool can expand and contract the stimuli/passage with the selection of the two faced arrows graphic. The graphic located toward the upper left corner shows a passage/stimuli that is capable of expanding, and the graphic to the lower right of the slide shows that same passage after it has been expanded. 14
Some science item sets have Collapsing Stimuli on the left side of the screen. This can be two or more different stimuli sections. The first screen contains stimulus Section 1 paired with a set of questions. Once all the questions on this screen are answered, the student will select the Next button to move to a second screen. The student will see the Section 1 stimulus collapsed above the Section 2 stimulus and more questions. A student may select the plus symbol to have Section 1 expand if Section 1 information is needed to answer the questions associated with Section 2. Section 1 can be collapsed again by selecting the minus symbol. 15
We have included item badges this year within the Test Delivery System. Item badges act as status indicators for individual test items. These badges may appear next to the item when an item is marked for review, notes are taken, items have been locked (see next slide) or when test items have been printed or embossed. In the graphic on this slide, the test item has two flags that indicate the test item has been marked for review, and also has test notes. These Item Badge enhancements are accessible for JAWS users too. The only item badge that appears on the segment/test review screens this year will be the "Mark for Review"; the rest of the icons will not show up on the segment/test review screens this year. 16
Another new feature, which appears as an item badge, is the locking item. A green lock symbol will appear in the same space that test item badges appear to indicate that the test item can only be answered once. When the student selects the Next button to move to the next page of items, an Attention dialogue box will appear to give a final warning before the test item is locked. Students should select "No" to return to the item and make any last changes. Once the student selects "Yes," their response to the item will be locked. If they return to this item later, the green lock will be red and the answer space will be grayed out. The student will not be able to change their response. Students will find this enhancement on the spring science tests. 17
The transcription accommodation is intended to overcome two problems: Deaf and blind students cannot hear the audio or see the closed captions on the screen so they have no way to access this content. The only option for these students is to read the braille interpretation of the audio. Instead of embossing this (which would take time) we can output the content to the Refreshable Braille Display c/o JAWS by placing the text on the screen. For deaf students who are just learning how to read sign language or possibly for cases where a student cannot make out what sign an interpreter is using they will need some on-screen text to reference. This currently does not exist for audio stimuli, but can with this accommodation. The transcription accommodation is accessed by clicking on a button in the audio player, which will open a new, movable window. 18
AIR has added in additional, common playback features for videos in online tests. These features and functions that are normally associated with video playback, specifically, scrubbing, muting, and full screen viewing, have all been added for assessment video playback. Also, there is a new option of hastening or slowing the video playback rate; this should be especially useful to students who have ASL as a designated support. 19
This year, students will have the option to have different colored and sized mouse pointers for online tests. Students that are visually impaired, or otherwise in need of this embedded designated support, can choose from the list of appearances for the mouse pointer icon, included on the slide. 20
Generic Resources are available in test items that are designed to allow students to access additional information students can use to answer the question. Text in the item will direct students to use the resource. This is a new feature and very few items utilize this tool yet. 21
In addition to the previous zoom levels, AIR has added 5X, 10X, 15X and 20X the normal font size. On the left side of this slide is a test page at the normal zoom level of 1x. The right side of the slide has a test page that has been set to 10x the normal zoom. Please note, these levels (from 5x to 20x) will require that the student settings be selected in TIDE, under streamlined interface mode in order to adjust the screen. The first 3 levels of zoom can (1x, 1.5x, and 1.75x) still be controlled by the student using the zoom buttons in their test, and do not require any selection in TIDE. 22
This table presents some of the common issues that you or your students may encounter during a test session. Please take a moment to review this information. For more detailed information and additional technical tips, please refer to the Test Administration Manual and the Technical Specifications Manual for Online Testing. 23
Thank you for taking the time to view this training module. For detailed information, consult the Test Administrator Manual located on the WCAP portal. School staff should refer questions to the your District Administrators or District Test Coordinator. District Test Coordinators or District Administrators: Direct questions regarding state policy decisions and testing protocols to the OSPI Assessment Operations team at assessment@k12.wa.us. Direct technical questions to the American Institutes for Research Washington Help Desk at 1.844.560.7366 or wahelpdesk@air.org. 24
If updates are needed throughout the school year, they will be outlined on this revision log and communicated in the WAW newsletter. 25