Winter 2014 Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS) End-of-Course (EOC) Assessments Training Materials for School Technology Coordinators Algebra 1, Biology 1, Civics, Geometry, and U.S. History 1

Test Administration Manual 2 One manual (Winter 2014 NGSSS EOC Manual) is provided for the Winter 2014 administration. Scripts and instructions for administering computer-based tests (CBT) ONLY are included in this manual. Scripts and instructions for administering computer-based and paper-based accommodations are located at

Test Administration Schedule The Winter 2014 NGSSS EOC testing schedule is December –Algebra 1, Biology 1, Civics, Geometry, and US History must be completed by December 19. The tests may be administered in any order, by school, based on needs of students within a school. One subject test does not need to be completed before another begins, and subject tests may be administered concurrently. –Additionally, testing should be completed within the least number of days possible but must be completed by the last date noted above. All paper accommodations (for students with documented accommodations only) must be administered on the first five days of testing window; December EOC Manual 1, Training Packet

What’s New TestNav 8 Beginning with the Winter 2014 administration, all computer-based FCAT, FCAT 2.0, and NGSSS EOC assessments will be administered using the TestNav 8 platform. Please see for technical specifications and resources for this new platform. Some features that were previously accommodations are now available for all students in the TestNav 8 platform. These features include color contrast, increase/decrease text size, and zoom. A magnifier tool and line reader tool are also available for all students. 4

What’s New TestNav 8 (cont.) The login information on Student Authorization Tickets and the Session Roster has been updated to reflect the Sign In screen in TestNav 8. –The Login ID has been changed to Username. –The Test Code has been changed to Password. 5

What’s New Electronic Practice Assessment Tools (ePATs) All students must participate in an ePAT session prior to this administration to familiarize themselves with the different features of the TestNav 8 testing platform. The computer-based practice tests (accommodated and non-accommodated), also called ePATs, and scripts for administering ePATs are posted separately at Students should be made aware that they can access ePATs on their own at this location. 6

What’s New Technology Coordinator Resources Information and instructions for technology coordinators to follow before, during, and after testing are now provided at Technology coordinators must familiarize themselves with all information at this site prior to the beginning of test administration. There is no separate Technology Coordinator Guide for this administration. Instead, technology coordinators should review the information and resources at the location indicated above. 7

Pearson Customer Support and PearsonAccess Contact Pearson Customer Support at: (Monday–Friday, 7:00 am–8:30 pm ET) Appendix B in the Winter 2014 EOC Manual provides the following information: PearsonAccess ̶User accounts (FDOE distributed instructions for setting up user accounts to district assessment coordinators.) ̶Browser requirements ̶Logging in for the first time ̶Resetting passwords Training Center ̶Test Setup Exercise 8

Test Security Per Test Security Statute, s , F.S., and Florida State Board Rule, 6A , FAC, inappropriate actions by school or district personnel can result in student or classroom invalidations, loss of teaching certification, and/or involvement of law enforcement. Examples of prohibited activities include the following: Reading or viewing the test items before, during, or after testing Revealing the test items Copying the test items Explaining or reading test items for students Changing or otherwise interfering with student responses to test items Copying or reading student responses Causing achievement of schools to be inaccurately measured or reported 9

Technology Coordinator Before Testing Checklist  Read the documentation available at as well as the relevant portions of the test administration manual.  Read the Test Administration Policies and Procedures and the Florida Test Security Statute and Rule in Appendix C of the Winter 2014 EOC Manual, and sign the Test Administration and Security Agreement.  Ensure all workstations meet the minimum requirements posted at  Ensure all student workstations have successfully loaded the Infrastructure Trial.  Meet with the school assessment coordinator to discuss this computer- based administration and to walk through test administration procedures.  Discuss and implement plans for handling possible technical interruptions during testing.  Run the TestNav System Check to determine the amount of bandwidth needed for testing. 10

Technology Coordinator Before Testing Checklist  Evaluate the testing locations in the school to ensure availability of sufficient electrical outlets and network jacks.  Ensure appropriate security protocols are used.  Ensure you are aware of the applications that must be disabled prior to testing.  Confirm that the computers used for test administration have the appropriate required version of a standard Internet browser based on the operating system and that the pop-up blocker is disabled (see Appendix B of the Winter 2014 EOC Manual).  Ensure the school has a high-speed connection to the Internet AND the connection is not over-allocated.  If a firewall is used, confirm the appropriate destination/port/protocol combinations are allowed through the firewall.  Ensure that any proxy servers have been checked to confirm that the appropriate URLs are not blocked. 11

Technology Coordinator Before Testing Checklist  Confirm that Internet content filters are configured to allow the specific URLs required for administering computer-based tests.  Ensure Proctor Caching computers have been set up properly.  Ensure a printer is available for printing the Student Authorization Tickets and Session Rosters (color is not required).  Analyze the network to determine whether network bottlenecks exist.  Confirm that student computers and the Proctor Caching computer have not been updated with any additional software and will not be updated before testing begins.  Confirm that test content has been cached for all scheduled test sessions. Test content is available one week prior to the first day of the test administration window.  Verify that the performance of your Internet connection is consistent with expected levels of performance for computer-based testing. 12

Technology Coordinator Before Testing Checklist  Alert your Internet Service Provider to your computer-based testing window, and also confirm that no scheduled maintenance or outages are planned during that entire window.  Verify, as needed, that no high bandwidth network activity other than computer-based testing will be occurring during the computer-based testing window.  If using wireless network connections for computer-based testing, ensure that all computers can effectively communicate with their access point from the testing location and all security measures have been properly enabled.  Ensure that laptops are connected to AC power. If batteries must be used, ensure that they are fully charged and have the capacity to last for the entire test session (160+ minutes).  Disable instant messaging, notification, screen savers, power savers, and remote desktop. 13

Technology Coordinator Before Testing Checklist  Disable or delay anti-virus, auto-scan and/or auto-update, system restore utilities, Windows Security Firewall, Web content filtering, or other software that may impact CPU speed or scan/block information transferred between the workstations and devices and the servers.  Ensure that students not testing and teachers refrain from using any streaming media or other high-bandwidth applications while students are testing.  Ensure student workstations and devices and the user profiles and logins being used for testing allow full read, write, and modify access to the TestNav\Temp and TestNav\Logs directories.  Ensure that the primary and secondary save locations are set for student response files and that students have read/write access to these locations. 14

Technology Coordinator Before Testing Checklist  Ensure that test administrators are familiar with how to access ePats and TestNav from student workstations and devices and how to access the student comment forms. The student comment form will be available at:  On each day of testing, confirm that the Proctor Caching computer and Proctor Caching software are turned on and remain running. 15

Technology Coordinator During Testing Checklist  Ensure Proctor Caching software is running on all Proctor Caching computers. Turn on Proctor Caching software ̶Windows: go to Start>All Programs>Proctor Caching>Proctor Caching ̶Mac: once Proctor Caching is initiated it will not have to be restarted unless it has been manually stopped  Monitor each testing room to ensure that there are no technical issues.  Be available during testing to answer questions from test administrators. 16

Technology Coordinator After Testing Checklist  Purge test content from the Proctor Caching computer(s). Instructions for purging test content from the Proctor Caching computers can be found at  Complete the Technology Coordinator Comment Form at 17

Appendices Appendices in the Winter 2014 EOC Manual include: Appendix A—Accommodations Appendix B—Pearson Customer Support and PearsonAccess Appendix C—Florida Test Security Statute and Rule Appendix D—Perforated Forms and Signs 18

Comment Forms 19 After testing, test administrators, school coordinators, and technology coordinators are encouraged to complete the appropriate comment form located at FDOE and Pearson appreciate feedback from district and school personnel.

20 Thank you for ensuring a secure and successful Winter 2014 administration of the EOC assessments.