1. Accessibility – Supports and Accommodations for ALL Students
Karlynn Laraway
Director – Assessment and Accountability
Dr. Karren Streagle
Coordinator – Special Education

2. Today’s Webinar
Review the accessibility options available
Understand the differences in accessibility options
Steps in determining what students need to access the assessment
Review available resources

3. Tiered Approach to Accessibility

4. Embedded and Non-Embedded
Supports available to students as part of the technology platform/test administration system.
Non-Embedded
Supports available to students, provided separately from the technology platform.

5. Universal Tools
Access features of the assessment that are available to all students based on student preference and selection.
Examples of Embedded Universal Tools
Breaks
Calculator
Digital Notepad
Expandable Passages
Spell Check
Zoom
Examples of Non Embedded Universal Tools
Breaks
Scratch Paper
Thesaurus and Dictionary for ELA PT

6. Designated Supports
Available for students for whom an adult or team has indicated the need for these supports and the need is documented.
Examples of Embedded Designated Supports
Color contrast
Masking
Text to Speech
Translations
Examples of Non Embedded Designated Supports
Color contrast
Magnification
Noise Buffers
Read Aloud
Scribe
Separate setting

7. Accommodations
Available only to students with documentation of the need through an IEP
Examples of Embedded Accommodations
American Sign Language
Braille
Closed Captioning
Text to Speech
Examples of Non Embedded Accommodations
100’s number table
Calculator
Multiplication Table
Print on Demand
Speech to Text

8. 2017-18 Accessibility Resources
Updates
Accessibility Resources
6 available updates this year
Universal Tools
-Line Reader available for all tests
Designated supports
-Amplification available this year
-Separate Setting available in combination with Amplification
Accommodations
-Braille (availability of UEB contracted materials for paper Braille testing)
-Braille Transcript
-Word Prediction

9. Determining what students need

10. Decision-Making Process
Step 1: Expect students to achieve grade-level academic standards
Step 2: Learn about accessibility supports for instruction and assessment
Step 3: Identify accessibility support for instruction and assessment
Step 4: Administer accessibility supports during instruction and assessment
Step 5: Evaluate use of accessibility supports
CSSO Accessibility Manual

11. Step 2 – Learn about accessibility supports
Accessibility supports provided for students during state assessments must also be provided during classroom instruction, classroom assessments and district assessments.
Some instructional accessibility supports may not be appropriate for use on the assessment.
Help students become familiar with the supports provided through the technology platform so that students are not using these tools for the first time on test day.
Review the Accommodations Guidelines specific to the assessment considered.
Example – IEP goal to improve learn multiplication facts – use of multiplication table during classroom instruction is appropriate but may not be on the assessment –

12. Step 3 - Identify Accessibility Supports for Instruction and Assessment
Student Characteristics
Disabilities, language proficiency, accessibility supports used in classroom instruction, assessment to access and perform in academic standards and state tests.
Classroom instruction and assessment tasks
Know what tasks are required in instruction and on state assessments and ways to remove physical and other barriers to students’ ability to perform the tasks
Recognize that supports are temporary – like an intervention strategy
Continuous monitoring and improvement of accessibility requires educators document how students use accessibility supports, which features are turned off and which features are used by the students to make more informed decisions based on data about the accessibility supports.
Three areas of the IEP where accessibility supports are addressed
- Consideration of special factors – communication and assistive technology supports are considered here.
- Supplementary aids and services – provided in the regular education class to enable children with disabilities to be educated with non disabled children to the maximum extent appropriate.
- Participation in assessments – documents accommodations needed to facilitate the participation of students with disabilities in general state and district wide assessments.

13. Step 3 - Identify Accessibility Supports for Instruction and Assessment
Involve students in the decisions when appropriate
It is important for students to understand their needs and learn self-advocacy strategies for success in school and throughout life
Prior use of accessibility supports
Students are most successful with accessibility supports when they have used them prior to testing
Distinguish between accessibility supports for instruction and assessment
Some supports used in instruction may not be allowed on the test
In some assessments, supports may be presented in a way that is different from their variations used during instruction
Inform students of the differences in support tools and provide an opportunity to practice using the tools
Individual test characteristics – types of test questions and responses.
Are these similar to classroom assessments?
Does the student have the opportunity to practice similar tasks prior to testing?
A support should never be used for the first time on the test

14. Step 4 – Administer Supports During Instruction and Assessment
Students must be provided selected accessibility supports during instruction that necessitates their use.
A support should not be used solely during assessments
After decisions have been made - logistics of providing the accessibility support during district or state assessments must be mapped out.
Individual Student Assessment Accessibility Profile (ISAAP)
Presents a thoughtful and systematic approach to addressing student access needs for the ISAT.
ISAAP Tool developed by Smarter Balanced is one example

15. Step 5 – Evaluate the use of accessibility supports
Review student achievement over time
Administer assessments with and without supports
Engage the student about the use and benefits of supports
Consider student feedback
Update supports for both instruction and assessments
Ongoing evaluation

16. Student Test Settings in TIDE
Universal Tools, Designated Supports and Accommodations need to be assigned to students in the Test Information Distribution Engine – (TIDE).
Two options for entering student test settings in TIDE:
Enter Test Settings Manually
Upload Student Settings

17. Student Test Settings in TIDE – Manual
To enter a student’s test settings manually, first you’ll need to find the student whose settings need to be entered. On the View Test Settings and Tools page, enter selection criteria to retrieve a student’s test settings and tools. The district and school fields are marked with asterisks as they are required criteria. Other criteria are optional, such as the EDUID and the student’s first or last name. However, we recommend using at least one of these optional fields, or else you may get hundreds or thousands of results, which causes the site to run more slowly.
You can also open the Advanced Search panel to further refine your criteria by entering additional demographic information.
The students you can retrieve on this page are limited by your role’s scope. For example, if you are a district-level user, you can retrieve settings for those students enrolled within your district. If you are a school-level user, you can only retrieve settings for those students enrolled within your school.
Click Search to continue. Students who match your criteria will appear below. You can edit a student’s test settings and accommodations by clicking the green pencil icon in the Edit column.

18. Student Test Settings in TIDE – Manual
The Test Settings and Tools section available in the View Test Settings and Tools page has been significantly updated. This section includes the same test settings and tools available last year but are now located within a specific category as shown on the image above. These categories will appear under all Idaho tests: ALT-ELA, ALT-MATH, ELA-CAT, ELA-PT, MATH (CAT & PT), and Science.
The new Test Settings and Tools categories include the following:
Universal Tools for All Students
Supporting Literacy Challenges
Accommodating Auditory Impairments
Accommodating Visual Impairments
Miscellaneous Accommodations
Non-Embedded Tools
To update a student’s test settings and tools select the appropriate settings for each test using the drop-down lists and on-off switches. You can view and edit additional information in additional panels on Student Demographics, Interim Eligibility, Race and Ethnicity, Performance Tasks, or Test Eligibility by clicking the plus sign next to the panel you wish to open. As a reminder, only District- and School-level users are able to edit student information in TIDE.
Click Save to save your changes and return to your search results.
A new feature that will also be implemented for spring 2018 paper-pencil testing is the ability to submit a paper-pencil order form online via the ISAT portal. This form is only applicable for students who qualify to complete their test using a paper-pencil form. When submitting this form online, users will no longer need to contact the Idaho Help Desk directly or submit their forms via fax. This new process will make it easy and simple to submit your requests. The Idaho Project Team will verify all the information in the request is correct and contact users directly in case a piece of information needs to be verified. This form is not currently available, but an announcement will be posted once it becomes available.

19. Student Test Settings - TIDE File Upload
A second way to edit test settings and tools in TIDE is to use the Upload Student Settings page to compose an upload file in Excel or CSV format and then upload that file. This method is easiest if you need to enter test settings for many students and don’t want to add them one at a time.
The easiest way to compose an upload file is to download an available template by clicking Download Templates. You can download a template in either CSV or Excel format, but we recommend using Excel format.

20. Student Test Settings - TIDE File Upload
Enter information for the students you wish to add. The values for column C (Test Tool) and column D (Value) have already been pre-populated. You will not be able to select the pre-populated values for columns C and D until you have entered the student’s EDUID in column A and selected a subject in column B. After selecting a subject, choose a test tool in column C, and then select a value for that tool in column D.
You will need to enter each test tool setting on a separate row, even if it is for the same student. Save the file in a location of your choice.

21. Student Test Settings - TIDE File Upload
Return to TIDE click Browse, and select the file you just saved. Click Next to continue.

22. Student Test Settings - TIDE File Upload
TIDE will validate the file and display any errors or warnings according to the legend on the page.
To complete the upload, click Next.
To cancel the upload, click Cancel.
If your file contains a large number of records, TIDE will process it offline and send you a confirmation when complete. While TIDE is validating the file, do not press Cancel, as TIDE may have already started processing some of the records.
When the upload is complete, a confirmation page will appear with a message that summarizes how many records were committed and how many were excluded.

23. Student Test Settings - TIDE
Troubleshooting Tips
Ensure all leading zero's are maintained in the files.
NOTE: If the original document is a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file, opening the document in Excel will cause the leading zero's to be wiped out. To retain them, continue to open the file using CSV format.
Ensure all fields contain only the acceptable values for the field you are trying to enter. As a reminder, all values in columns C and D of the Student Test Settings template have already been pre-populated.
When in doubt, click the “Help” button on the Upload pages in TIDE or refer to the TIDE user guide for acceptable values.
If further issues persist when trying to upload user or student files into TIDE, please contact the Idaho Help Desk via telephone ( ) or via
For more information on Managing Student Test Settings and Tools, please refer to the Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) chapter of the Idaho Assessment Systems – AIR Systems Manual.

24. Printing Student Test Settings - TIDE
You can also print test settings for students you are viewing on the View Test Settings and Tools page. To do so, first mark the check box next to each student whose test settings you wish you print. You may select all students by clicking the check box at the top of the first column in the table.
Then, click the printer icon and select Student Settings and Tools.

25. Printing Student Test Settings - TIDE
A new browser tab will open that shows a preview of the test setting information you are about to print. To send the print job to your printer, click Print in the upper-left corner of the page.

26. Questions? Karlynn Laraway | Director – Assessment & Accountability
Idaho State Department of Education
650 W State Street, Boise, ID 83702
Dr. Karren Streagle | Special Education Coordinator
Idaho State Department of Education
650 W State Street, Boise, ID 83702