2015 SpEd Assessment Updates TETN Event # Presented June 5, 2013 TEA’s Student Assessment Division

Disclaimer  These slides have been prepared by the Student Assessment Division of the Texas Education Agency.  If any slide is amended or revised for local use, please remove the TEA footer at the bottom of the slide. TEA 2

General Updates Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

End-of-Course (EOC) Assessments For students receiving special education services, and who fail an EOC assessment: STAAR EOC An ARD committee may determine that the student should continue testing until he/she passes the assessment OR they can determine no further testing is necessary based on the instruction the student is receiving. If a student meets curriculum requirements and passes all 5 STAAR EOC assessments, he/she can graduate on the DAP, RHSP, or the MHSP. If a student does not pass a STAAR EOC assessments, he/she will only be able to graduate on the MHSP. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

End-of-Course (EOC) Assessments For students receiving special education services, and who fail an EOC assessment: STAAR Modified EOC A student will not have another opportunity to take a STAAR Modified EOC assessment if he/she failed or was absent during testing. However, according to federal and state regulations, students who take a modified assessment are not held to the same graduation requirements as students who take the general assessment. Meeting the passing standard on a STAAR Modified EOC assessment is not a graduation requirement, so participating in additional testing opportunities was never necessary. A student will graduate on the MHSP if he/she took at least one STAAR Modified EOC assessment. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR Modified U.S. History Administered for the first (and last) time spring Only raw scores will be reported since standards for this assessment will not be set. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR Modified Released Tests The following 2014 STAAR Modified assessments will be released in August grades 3–8 mathematics grades 6 and 8 reading grades 5 and 8 science grade 8 social studies Algebra I biology English I and II U.S. history Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR Modified Released Tests In order to support future test administrations within the STAAR program, it was necessary to remove select reading selections, writing passages, and test questions from certain tests. Therefore, the following 2014 STAAR Modified assessments will be only partially released: grades 3, 4, 5, and 7 reading grades 4 and 7 writing Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

2015 ARD and Accommodations Training Updated ARD committee training for assessment decisions will be posted Fall Remember, allowable testing accommodations currently posted apply to the 2014 calendar year… meaning that these policies remain in effect until December allowable testing accommodations will be posted Fall Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

TAKS August 20, 2013 Letter to Districts Primary test administrations no longer provided Student may test during any of the TAKS test administrations (October, March, April, July) The 2013–2014 school year will be the last year for paper administrations of TAKS. Beginning in October 2014, TAKS will become an online test only. Only TAKS will be administered online beginning Fall ARD committees will document the accommodations the students need on TAKS and are allowed per the Accommodations Manual. For example, if a student is eligible to use a supplemental aid, he/she can use it during the online TAKS retest. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR A: General Information The U.S. Department of Education informed states that assessments based on modified standards for students served by special education cannot be used for accountability purposes after the school year. STAAR Modified will be administered for the last time in Spring 2015 will be the first administration of STAAR A, the accommodated version of STAAR. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

HOW IS TEA PLANNING TO INCLUDE STUDENTS PREVIOUSLY ASSESSED WITH STAAR MODIFIED IN GENERAL STAAR IN 2015 AND BEYOND? September: TEA met with focus group to obtain input regarding how students with disabilities (currently eligible for STAAR Modified) are being provided access to the general curriculum Classroom teachers, campus administrators, district personnel, Education Service Center specialists, advocates November-present: TEA staff has been working on plans for possible additional accommodations via an online delivery system Similar in functionality to STAAR L Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

Assessment Options for Students Receiving Special Education Services STAAR STAAR Spanish STAAR L STAAR A STAAR Alternate Accommodations policies for 2015 have not yet been finalized. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR A Cognitive Lab May 12-30, school districts 16 campuses 67 elementary, middle, and high school students Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR A Cognitive Lab Subjects 4 reading 4 mathematics 7 writing prompt 8 science 8 social studies English I reading English I writing Algebra I Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR A Cognitive Lab Observations Grade-level content continued to be a challenge for most of the students; however, all students reported that the embedded accommodations were helpful and felt the experience was a positive one. In addition, the embedded accommodations seemed to provide better access to the content being assessed. For instance, students did not understand the meaning of some vocabulary, but understood the simplified language in popups. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR A Cognitive Lab Observations Most students indicated a preference for taking tests on computers. Teachers indicated that students would need practice with tools but that the tools provided aligned with accommodations used during instruction. They also felt that the tools would be helpful for their students. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR A: Sample Test Questions Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

STAAR A Resources to be Made Available Fall 2014 Eligibility criteria Tutorials Planned to be multi-subject Will be released by grade cluster ARD Resources Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

Will the Modified PEIMS Codes Still Be Available? There are no plans at this time to delete these codes. However, the code table CO22 is updated three times a year (March, July, December). At any one of these times, changes may be made based on new information or educator feedback. Contact TEA’s Curriculum Division at or for questions about PEIMS codes and curriculum requirements. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014

Graduation Requirements Graduation requirement rules were finalized on January 31st. TEA is now working to adjust 19 TAC § Contact TEA’s Curriculum Division at or for questions about graduation requirements. Texas Educaiton Agency June 5, 2014