1. Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)
Training Module
Welcome to the online training module for the Test Information Distribution Engine, also known as TIDE. This training module includes many examples of TIDE’s features. In addition, you should consult your TIDE User Guide located on your state’s portal for details on features implemented by your state.
Copyright © 2015 American Institutes for Research. All rights reserved.

2. Objectives Activate your new TIDE account Log in to TIDE
Navigate the TIDE interface
Manage user accounts
Understand account permissions
Manage student test registrations
Manage rosters
Manage test events
After viewing this presentation, you will be able to do the following:
Activate your new TIDE account
Log in to TIDE
Navigate the TIDE interface
Manage user accounts
Understand account permissions
Manage student test registrations
Manage rosters
Manage test events

3. What is TIDE used for? Manages user accounts Manages students
Eligibilities
Test settings
Demographics
Manages rosters
Manages test events
Appeals
Test windows
Discrepancies
TIDE has several uses. The first use is to manage user accounts for TIDE itself, and additional online systems, including the TA Interface, the Online Reporting System (referred to as ORS), the Teacher Hand Scoring System (THSS), and the Assessment Viewing Application (AVA).
TIDE’s second use is managing student testing information. TIDE associates students with assessments and tests, usually based on the student’s enrolled grade. TIDE also stores accommodations for testing, such as font size and color, and also stores student’s demographic information. ORS uses the accommodations, demographics, and test settings to provide aggregated test scores and trends.
TIDE’s third use is to group students into rosters. A roster is a collection of students with a similar characteristic. Most rosters are the same as classroom lists, but some rosters are specialized groupings, such as those for gifted students or students with special needs. ORS can report test results for rosters.
Finally, TIDE is also used to manage test events. These include appeals, which are requests to retake a test, invalidate a test, reopen a test, or restart a test. Other forms of test events are modifying test windows and resolving test discrepancies, such as why a student did not participate in a test.
Consult your TIDE User Guide to learn about other ancillary functions besides those listed here.

4. Activating TIDE Account
When you are added to TIDE, you receive an activation . This contains your user role, a temporary password, and an activation link.
To activate your account, click the link in the activation . A page appears with fields to enter your and temporary password. Click Secure Login, and a new page appears to enter your permanent password. In the Old Password field, type the password you received in the activation . In the New Password and Confirm Password fields, type a new password. The passwords have restrictions for the number and type of characters; see your TIDE User Guide for details.
After entering the passwords, click Submit. The Select a Security Question page appears. Select a security question and enter an answer. You’ll need this information if you need to reset a forgotten password.
If you are entering a new school year, your password may have been reset for security purposes. You will need to follow these same activation steps to update the temporary password you received.

5. Logging in to TIDE
To log in to TIDE, go to your portal. Click the required administration card. After you enter your Test page, click the TIDE System card. In the next screen, enter your username and password—if you are new to TIDE, use the new password you entered when activating your account. Completing these steps logs you in to TIDE and displays the home page. 5

6. TIDE’s Home Page
The TIDE home page appears after you log in. The home page displays tabs, which group similar tasks. Some tabs contain subtabs. We will go into more detail about each tab during this presentation.

7. Banner
A banner appears at the top of each TIDE page. On the left there is a drop-down list for accessing other applications. On the right there are links for changing your account settings, contacting the Help Desk, and logging out. The Help link displays the TIDE User Guide, and the FAQ link displays answers to frequently asked questions.

8. Help Text
Most pages in TIDE have “help text” that describes the page and how to use it.
Help Text

9. District Administrator School Test Coordinator
Roles and Permissions
Task
District Administrator
School Test Coordinator
Teacher
Test Administrator
Retrieving Student Records   
Adding Students
Viewing and Editing Students
 view only
Retrieving User Accounts
Adding User Accounts
Viewing and Editing User Details
Downloading and Installing Voice Packs
Your TIDE account has a role, and that role has certain permissions. This table gives some examples of the permissions associated with users in TIDE. Some roles may have permission to perform more tasks in TIDE than others.
In addition to limiting tasks, permissions limit scope. A district-level user can work with data pertaining to that district, and a school-level user can work with data pertaining to that school.
For a detailed list of user roles and associated permissions, see your TIDE User Guide.

10. Manage Users
The Manage Users tab contains subtabs for viewing and editing users, adding users, and uploading users from an external file.

11. Retrieve Users
The View/Edit Users tab includes a form for setting selection criteria to retrieve users. In this example, the required criteria are the role, state, district, and school information. Other criteria are optional, such as the first or last name. Your particular version of TIDE may have other fields by which you can retrieve users.

12. View Retrieved Users
TIDE displays all the users satisfying the search criteria. You can sort the listing by clicking a column heading in the table. You can modify a user’s information by clicking View. You can export user information into an Excel file, and you can delete users from TIDE. For more detailed information about all of these activities, see your TIDE User Guide.

13. Add Users
There are two ways to add user accounts. The first way is to manually add them with the Add User tab. Fill out the information in the form, and click Add User. The fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory. The address is the user’s username for all applications.

14. Upload Users
The second way to create users is to compose an upload file in Excel or CSV format and then upload that file to TIDE. This method is easiest if you have many new users and you don’t want to add them one at a time under the Add User tab.
The best way to compose an upload file is by downloading one of the available templates and then following the instructions in the template.

15. Student Information
The Student Information tab contains subtabs for actions related to students and student settings.
The students you can retrieve under View Students are limited by your role’s scope. For example, if you are a district-level user, you can retrieve students enrolled within your district. If you are a school-level user, you can retrieve students enrolled within your school.

16. Retrieve Students
The View Students tab includes a form for setting selection criteria to retrieve students. In this example, some criteria are required, such as the state, district, and school. Other criteria are optional, such as the SSID and student’s first or last name. Your particular version of TIDE may have other fields by which you can retrieve students.
You can further refine your criteria by clicking Add Additional Search Criteria. Using this feature, you can retrieve students matching required demographics, test settings, or other criteria.

17. View Retrieved Students
TIDE displays all the students satisfying the search criteria. You can sort the listing by clicking a column heading in the table.
You can modify a student’s information, including test settings and accommodations, by clicking View.
You can export student information into an Excel file, and you can delete students from TIDE.
For more detailed information about all of these activities, see your TIDE User Guide.

18. Edit Student Settings
You can edit student test settings manually under an individual student’s record. The View/Edit Students tab includes a form for setting selection criteria to retrieve student records. Once you have retrieved your search results, select [View] to enter the associated student’s individual record. On the View Student Details page, the student’s test settings will be displayed. Select the settings you would like from the drop down menus and click Save Changes.

19. Upload Student Settings
You can also set student test settings by composing an upload file in Excel or CSV format and then uploading that file to TIDE. A file upload allows a user to work with multiple student settings at one time. Under the Student Information tab, select Upload Student Settings. Download one of the file templates by clicking [Download Excel Template] or [Download CSV Template]. Open the file in a spreadsheet application or text editor, and add a row for each test setting you want to add or modify. Save the file to your computer, and then click the [Browse] button on the Upload Student Settings page, navigate to the upload file you created, and click [Upload File].
It is important to allow up to 24 hours for test setting changes to be reflected in the system before testing. Consult the Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines to determine appropriate test settings for your students. For more detailed info about uploading student settings, please see your TIDE User Guide.

20. Add Students
There are two ways to add students. The first way is to manually add them under the Add Students tab.
Fill out the information in the form, and click Add Student. The fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory.
The SSID, birth date, and last name must match a student that exists in your state’s enrollment system.

21. Upload Students
The second way to add students is to compose an upload file in Excel or CSV format and then upload that file to TIDE. This method is easiest if you have many new students and you don’t want to add them one at a time under the Add Students tab. To upload students select the Upload Student File tab.
The upload file includes the student's enrollment and demographic information. The best way to compose an upload file is by downloading one of the available templates and then following the instructions in the template.

22. Rosters
Rosters are groups of students associated with a teacher in a particular school. Rosters typically represent entire classrooms in lower grades, or individual classroom periods in upper grades. Rosters can also represent special courses offered to groups of students.
The rosters you create in TIDE are available in the Online Reporting System. ORS can accumulate test scores at these roster levels. Coordinators will be responsible for creating rosters for teachers to be able to view their students’ results in ORS.

23. Retrieve and Add Rosters
The Manage Rosters tab is where you retrieve existing rosters and add new rosters. In this example, the Manage Rosters tab shows adding a new roster.

24. Manage Rosters
The Manage Rosters tab displays the characteristics of an existing roster. The roster’s name and associated teacher appear in the top section.
The check boxes in the middle of the page indicate the students’ enrolled grades. In this example, the students in this roster are all enrolled in the second grade.
The Available Students list shows all the students in the second grade that are not already in the roster. The Students in This Roster list show all the second grade students that are in the roster.
This page has buttons for saving changes to the roster, as well as for deleting and printing the roster.

25. Upload a Roster
Another way to create rosters is to compose an upload file in Excel or CSV format and then upload that file to TIDE. This method is easiest if you have many new rosters and you don’t want to add them one at a time under the Manage Rosters tab.
The upload file includes the roster’s name, teacher’s name, and student ID numbers. The best way to compose an upload file is by downloading one of the available templates and then following the instructions in the template.

26. Printing Rosters
When you print a roster, the roster’s name, teacher, and students appear in your web browser. You can send this listing to your printer.

27. Appeals
In the normal flow of a test, a student takes the test in the test delivery system, which is known as TDS, and then submits it.
Next, TDS forwards the test for scoring. Then ORS reports the tests scores.
Appeals are a way of interrupting this normal flow. A student may want to retake a test or have another test opportunity. A Test Administrator may want to invalidate a test because of a hardware malfunction or an impropriety. You should consult your Test Administration Manual for your state’s appeal policies and procedures. The pages under the Appeals tab provide these activities.

28. Create Appeals — Retrieving
The Create Appeals tab is where you create an appeal for a test.
The first step is to select the type of appeal you want to create. The TIDE User Guide lists the available appeals and explains the implications of each.
The second and third steps set the search criteria for a given test result. In this example, we are searching for test results associated with a student whose SSID is You can also search by result ID, request date, or case ID.
When you click Search, TIDE displays all the test results satisfying the criteria.

29. Create Appeals — Entering
When TIDE retrieves the matching test results, you type a reason in the text box and then click Create. TIDE places the appeal in a list for an administrator to review and approve.

30. Status of Appeals Appeal Status Description of Status Error Occurred
An error was encountered while the appeal was being processed.
Pending Approval
Appeal is pending approval.
Processed
Appeal was successfully processed and the test opportunity has been updated.
Rejected
Appeal was rejected.
Rejected by System
Test Delivery System was unable to process the appeal.
Requires Resubmission
Appeal must be resubmitted.
Retracted
Originator retracted the appeal.
Submitted for Processing
Appeal submitted to the Test Delivery System for processing.
After you create an appeal, it moves through an approval process until it is finally disposed. This table describes the possible statuses an appeal can have.

31. View Appeals
You can review submitted appeals from the View Appeals tab. You select search criteria and then click Search. In this example, we are searching for appeals to invalidate a test associated with a student with SSID , whose appeal’s status is Submitted for Processing.

32. View Pending Appeals
The View Pending Appeals tab displays those appeals awaiting disposition. You can apply one of the following dispositions to an appeal:
Process—This approves the appeal, after which TIDE, TDS, and ORS update the test opportunities and results accordingly. For example, if the appeal was to invalidate a test, then the number of test opportunities the student has decreases by one, and the student can retake the test if any opportunities remain.
Reject—This rejects the appeal, and the test results’ processing continues as if the appeal was never submitted.
Retract—This retracts an appeal.

33. Upload Appeals
Another way to create appeals is to compose an upload file in Excel or CSV format and then upload that file to TIDE. This method is easiest if you have many new appeals and you don’t want to add them one at a time under the Create Appeals tab.
The upload file includes the appeal type, search criteria for a result ID, and a reason for the appeal. The best way to compose an upload file is by downloading one of the available templates and then following the instructions in the template.

34. Voice Pack
The Voice Pack tab provides resources, including the download file and installation instructions, that users may need in order to conduct online tests.

35. Thank You! Further Information http://vt.portal.airast.org
Help Desk Information
Phone:
Thank you for taking the time to view this training module. For additional information, refer to your TIDE User Guide located on your portal or contact the Help Desk.