- Department of 1111_ Education

TNReady Assessment Timelines School Year 2018-19

This document provides districts with key dates for major TNReady assessment milestones during the 2018-19 school year. Please use this timeline for planning and scheduling and/or to reach out to the department for additional support, as needed.

The department will strive to meet these milestones; however, please note that the reporting dates are estimates that may vary due to the nature of the quality assurance process.

As we approach various milestones, the department will communicate directly to district testing coordinators and directors of schools to provide reminders and details needed to complete each milestone. If you have questions about the milestones or dates listed below, please reach out to TNED.Assessment@tn.gov.

Estimated TNReady Assessment Milestones: Fall Semester

Date Milestone Details 09/13/2018 Visibility tool opens for The Visibility Tool should be used to check

2018-19 school year student data used for assessment. 09/13/2018 Visibility tool training This training will take place at the

Attendance Conference (TDASC) and provide similar information to the webinar on 09/17/2018.

09/17/2018 Visibility tool webinar This webinar will detail how users should use the visibility tool, including newly added features.

09/17/2018 Fall EOC Test Administration Manuals (TAM) released

Available on LiveBinders. Printed copies of the TAM will be given to all district testing coordinators that test in fall at the Regional Assessment meetings.

09/17/2018 Fall Regional Available on LiveBinders Assessment Meeting agenda released

09/18/2018 New district testing coordinator bootcamp

E-mail TNED.Assessment@tn.gov for more information

- Department of 1111_ Education

Date Milestone Details 09/21/2018 District Testing Directions provided to district testing

Coordinators edit and coordinators. verify user controls (e.g. remove users no longer active)

09/24/2018 Extracts staged in EIS for first practice test pull (Visible on 10/1/2018)

Pulls will occur for extracts staged on Monday evening until 11/19 for fall testing.

Please consult Visibility Tool Resources for checking data.

09/24/2018 - Assessment Fall Please consult Commissioner’s Update for 09/28/2018 Regional Roadshow locations and time. 09/28/2018 Districts order paper

and paper-based large print forms for fall EOC testing.

District test coordinators will submit orders through a department survey shared through department communication.

09/28/2018 Districts must update Directions will be provided to all district browsers on all devices testing coordinators and technology used for testing by this directors. date

10/01/2018 Full practice test opens in Nextera

Practice tests will be available for all 2018-19 operational content areas for end-of-course subjects and grades 5-8.

10/01/2018 PDF practice tests Available for download via the department’s available sharepoint site

10/01/2018 Rostering for practice test begins

Data in extracts sent to EIS by 9/24 will be visible in Nextera on this date. Data will continue to update every Wednesday at 6 a.m. ET in Nextera based on the Monday pull (i.e. data entered by 10/1 will be visible on 10/3).

10/15/2018 Classroom Assessment CAB allows users to develop classroom Builder (CAB) Opens for assessments using state developed released fall. test items. CAB rostering will follow the

same schedule as Practice Test rostering.

- Department of 1111_ Education

Date Milestone Details 10/22/2018 – 11/02/2018

District testing coordinator training in CORE regions by TNReady Ambassadors.

Details will be provided to district testing coordinators.

10/23/2018 Online platform state- More details on participating in this wide verification to voluntary stress test will be provided to ensure online directors of schools. readiness

10/30/2018 Testing administrator online training modules for fall EOC available.

Modules will be available through the department’s Learning Management System (LMS).

10/31/2018 Fall EOC Test Available on LiveBinders Administration Proctor Scripts (TAPS) released.

10/31/2018 Ready for TNReady must be completed by districts for fall testing

Details will be provided to District Technology Directors.

11/01/2018 2017-18 TNReady Items Available in PDF format online released

11/12/2018 Extracts staged in EIS for final pull prior to fall operational window

After this date, all student records not in Nextera will need to manually be provisioned by the department. More details will be shared with district testing coordinators.

11/14/2018 Paper materials in Materials arrive at district mailing address districts for fall EOC

11/15/2018 2017-18 TNReady Item Reports Released

These reports provide a school item response summary and will be available in ServicePoint (Nextera)

11/16/2018 CAB and practice test Final date to use CAB and practice test prior close to fall testing

11/26/2018 Official Teacher of Record (TOR) for fall EOC reporting process pulled

The TOR pulled for each student record on this date will be used for fall reporting.

- Department of 1111_ Education

Date Milestone Details 11/26/2018 All test administrators Details provided at the Regional Roadshow.

participating in fall EOC must be trained, either in-person or through online training module.

11/26/2018 – 12/14/2018

Fall EOC operational testing window

Testing begins

11/30/2018 Deadline to opt in to District Test Coordinators will submit orders Grade 2 and Grade 2- through a department survey shared ALT testing through department communication.

12/14/2018 Demographic pull from EIS for fall testing reporting

Data pulled on this date will be used for reporting and accountability.

12/17/2018 Districts must ship all Follow directions in TAM fall EOC paper scorable materials back to Questar

12/19/2019 Districts must ship all fall EOC paper non-scorable materials back to Questar

Follow directions in TAM

01/04/2019 Fall EOC raw scores These reports will be delivered via the Returned Nextera Admin Platform. These raw scores

will include machine- and human-scored items.

Estimated TNReady Assessment Milestones: Spring Semester

Date Milestone Details 01/14/2019 CAB and practice test

open for spring semester

Access through Nextera

02/01/2019 Order accommodated District test coordinators will submit orders forms (e.g. large print, through a department survey shared Braille, paper EOC) through department communication.

- Department of 1111_ Education

Date Milestone Details 02/06/2019 Final pull from EIS for

student pre-ID labels TCAP-Alt and Grade 2-Alt for spring

Please consult this link for the course codes used to provision ALT tests.

02/11/2019 Fall reports delivered These reports will be delivered via the electronically Nextera Admin Platform.

02/15/2019 Fall paper reports arrive in districts

Paper reports shipped to district mailing address.

02/18/2019 Spring EOC Test Available on LiveBinders Administration Manuals (TAM) released

02/18/2019 Spring Regional Assessment Meeting agenda released

Available on LiveBinders

02/25/2019 – Spring regional Please consult Commissioner’s Update for 03/01/2019 assessment meetings locations and time 03/01/2019 Ready for TNReady must

be completed by districts for fall testing

Details will be provided to District Technology Directors.

03/01/2019 Building-level Test Training modules available through the Coordinator (BTC) department’s Learning Management System online training modules available for spring testing

03/01/2019 Final pull from EIS for student pre-ID labels for those tests taken on paper in grades 2-8

Please consult this link for the course codes used to provision tests.

03/06/2019 TCAP-Alt and grade 2- Materials arrive at district mailing address. Alt materials arrive in district

03/15/2019 Test administrator online training modules

Training modules available through the department’s Learning Management System

- Department of 1111_ Education

Date Milestone Details available for spring testing

03/15/2019 All Building Test Details provided at the Regional Roadshow. Coordinators (BTCs) participating in spring testing must be trained, either in-person or through online training modules

03/15/2019 Spring Test Administration Proctor Scripts (TAPS) released

Available on LiveBinders and Sharepoint

03/18/2019- TCAP-ALT, including Testing begins for specified tests 05/03/2019 optional grade 2 ALT,

operational testing window

03/25/2019 Extracts staged in EIS for final pull for computer based testing prior to spring operational window.

After this date, all student records not in Nextera will need to be manually provisioned by the department.

03/26/2019 Grade 2-8 operational Materials arrive at district mailing address. materials arrive in districts

03/29/2019 CAB and practice test close

Final date to use CAB and practice test prior to spring testing.

04/08/2019 Official Teacher of The TOR pulled for each student record on Record (TOR) for this date will be used for spring reporting. reporting process pulled for spring

04/08/2019 All testing administrators involved in spring testing must have completed training, either in-

Details provided at the Regional Roadshow.

- Department of 1111_ Education

Date Milestone Details person or through online training module.

04/08/2019- Spring operational test Testing begins 05/03/2019 window for grades 3-8,

EOC, and optional grade 2

04/23/2019 Ship back all sub-part I answer documents for ELA paper testing

Follow directions in TAM

05/03/2019 Demographic pull from Data pulled on this date will be used for EIS for spring testing reporting and accountability. reporting

05/06/2019 Districts must ship all grades 3-8, grade 2, TCAP-Alt, Grade 2-Alt, and EOC paper scorable materials back to Questar by this date

Follow directions in TAM

05/13/2019 Districts must ship all Follow directions in TAM spring EOC paper non-scorable materials back to Questar

05/20/2019 EOC spring raw scores delivered.

These reports will be delivered via the Nextera Admin Platform. These raw scores will include machine-scored and human-scored items.

05/20/2019 Grades 3-8 spring raw These reports will be delivered via the scores delivered. Nextera Admin Platform. These raw scores

will only include machine-scored items. June 2019 EOC student-, school-,

and district-level scale score and performance level reports delivered.

These reports will be delivered on the Accountability Application in a spreadsheet format.

- Department of 1111_ Education

Date Milestone Details June 2019 Grades 3-8 and grades These reports will be delivered on the

3-11 alterative student-, Accountability Application in a spreadsheet school-, and district- format. level scale score and performance level reports delivered to districts.

July 2019 Grade 2 student-, school-, and district-level scale score and performance level reports delivered to districts.

These reports will be delivered on the Accountability Application in a spreadsheet format.

07/01/2019 PDF spring EOC reports Available via the Nextera Admin site delivered electronically

07/15/2019 Spring EOC paper reports arrive in districts

Reports are shipped to district

07/29/2019* PDF grades 3-8 and Available via the Nextera Admin site grades 3-11 alternative reports delivered electronically

07/31/2019* Grades 3-8 and grades 3-11 alterative paper reports arrive in districts

Reports are shipped to district

08/12/2019* PDF spring grade 2 and Available via the Nextera Admin site grade 2 alternative reports delivered electronically

08/15/2019* Grade 2 and grade 2 alternative paper reports arrive in districts

Reports are shipped to district

*The department continues to work with Questar to expedite report delivery dates. Our number one priority is data accuracy, and the assurance processes we go through take some time in order to make sure the data you have is right. However, we hope to be able to provide even

- Department of IMI_ Education ---quicker returns of these reports. We hope that providing this timeline now will give you sufficient time to plan your summer work. We will update you as these timelines approach if we are able to deliver the data sooner.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the purpose of the practice test?

The practice test is an instructional tool that educators can use to assess student readiness for TNReady. Each content area has one practice whether online through Nextera or a PDF version available online. The practice test consists of released items from previous TCAP assessments aligned to the TN Academic Standards for preparation to the TNReady Assessments. Practice tests are content-specific and closely resemble the operational assessments in length. The online practice tests also provide familiarity with the Questar online testing platform and item types.

2. What is the Classroom Assessment Builder (CAB)?

CAB is an online assessment platform that allows teachers the opportunity to access test questions aligned to Tennessee Academic Standards. Teachers can create classroom assessments using these test questions and administer these classroom assessments online to their students.

3. Why does it take so long to release items from 2017-18 following the test administration?

After the scoring and test analysis that takes place after each test administration is the complete, assessment design team reviews all items on the test to identify which items will be included in the next year’s test and which items may be released. The assessment design team must identify linking items (items that are used on the test from year to year in order to ensure that each test in comparable to the previous one), field test items and items that are copyrighted to ensure they are not released in accordance with T.C.A. § 49-6-6008. From there, test items are selected for release based on a representation of a range of difficulty levels, item types, and standard alignment, in order to provide a balanced sample of test items to teachers.

- Department of IMI_ Education ---4. What’s new this year to the visibility tool?

This year we added many new features to the visibility tool. These enhancements were developed based on feedback we heard from districts across the state. Some of the updates include:

The addition of user-friendly error metrics Users will be able to download, print, and save data in a .csv file A new feedback mechanism built into the EIS performance tool to

include the status of the visibility tool upload Users can now bypass the “Grade Level” selection in order to get a list

of content areas on the search feature Weekly automated emails will be sent to districts allowing them to see

a report of any errors within visibility tool

5. Why does it take so long for a new student to populate in Nextera?

For the 2018-19 school year, TDOE has instructed Questar to update student information on a consistent weekly schedule. This will give Questar time to check the data uploaded from EIS/visibility tool to make sure it is accurately reflected in Nextera. Students uploaded by the district through their SIS to the EIS on Monday will appear in the platform by Wednesday at 6:00 a.m. ET.

6. What reports will we receive based on 2018-19 testing through the Nextera Admin site?

The following PDF reports will be available through the Nextera Admin site: • Individual Student Reports (ISRs) • Class Roster Reports • Standards Analysis Reports • Summary Reports • School Item Response Summary Reports (in fall of 2019)

Additionally, raw scores for grades 3-8 and EOC and district comprehensive data files will be made available.

7. What other reports will we receive for 2018-19 testing through the Accountability Application?

Districts will receive student level files and school and district assessment files via the Accountability Application. These files will be available prior to the PDF reports. For the first time this year, districts will receive sub-score reports in an excel format via the Accountability Application to allow for greater user flexibility. Finally, TVAAS

- Department of IMI_ Education ---data will be made available as soon as possible via the Accountability Application. More details on reporting dates for these deliverables will be provided during winter 2019.

8. Will we receive any reporting or TVAAS for science this year?

Since science (including biology) will be field-tested this school year during the operational window, there will be no reporting or TVAAS for science in 2018-19.

9. What additional training will be available this year?

District testing coordinators (DTCs) will continue to have regional assessment meetings in the fall & spring, with a New DTC Bootcamp this fall to help prepare new district testing coordinators. TDOE and the TNReady Ambassadors will train DTCs on resources to train Building Testing Coordinators. Online training modules will be available for Test Administrators (beginning in fall) and Building Testing Coordinators (beginning in spring), through the department’s Learning Management System (LMS). Additional online resources will be available through LiveBinders for all testing personnel.

10. Which students should receive paper based tests for end-of-course testing?

The use of computers, mobile devices and tablets for instruction and assessment has become a fundamental aspect of general education. The selection of accommodations for statewide assessments should be based on the evidence of what the individual student needs in order to access instruction and assessments in the classroom, not on the student’s exceptionality, educational placement or grade level. Documentation in the IEP or Section 504 plan should include:

• Whether a student is currently able to use computers or mobile devices to engage in instruction and assessment activities

• What accommodations and assistive technology a student may need when using computers or mobile devices

• What training and services may be needed to enable the student to successfully use computers or mobile devices in instruction and assessment activities

• If a student cannot use a computer or mobile device for the foreseeable future, what media is needed for instruction and assessment activities (e.g., paper, Braille) and what accommodations are required.

- Department of IMI_ Education ---The paper-based testing option may also be used in the case of students who have no access through technology due to religious beliefs, disciplinary situations, homebound services or placement in a correctional facility.

Additional Resources

If you have questions about any of the milestones listed above, please utilize the following resources.

1. Building Testing Coordinators: Teachers who have any assessment-related questions should reach out to their school testing coordinator. The school testing coordinator, if unable to answer, will escalate appropriately to get a response.

2. Questar Customer Support: District technology directors and district testing coordinators should reach out to Questar Customer Support with any technology-specific questions about the Nextera platform, or if they experience any technology-related challenges with the Nextera platform. Building testing coordinators should reach out to Questar Customer Support after first working with their school technology contact and district testing coordinator to resolve the issue.

3. District Testing Coordinators: Building testing coordinators should reach out to their district testing coordinators with any testing questions other than technology-related issues with the Nextera platform. Questions about testing policies, resources, reports of irregularity (RI) or security breach procedures should be directed by building testing coordinators to their district testing coordinators.

4. TDOE Assessment Team: District testing coordinators should reach out to the TDOE Assessment team with any testing questions other than technology-related issues with the Nextera platform. Questions about testing policies, resources, reports of irregularity (RI) or security breach procedures that DTCs are unable to answer for their building testing coordinators should be directed to the TDOE Assessment team by the district testing coordinators.

Finally, as data become available, please utilize the following resources to receive support.

1. Regional Data Analysts: Districts should utilize the regional data analysts, located in the Centers of Regional Excellence (CORE) offices, for questions pertaining to accountability data. The regional data analysts can help you access, read, and interpret accountability data. In addition, they can field questions pertaining to the methodology used in making accountability calculations.

2. TDOE Accountability Team: District personnel may also contact the central accountability email account at the department: TNED.Accountability@tn.gov.