State Assessment News & Updates

• Oct. 20 - HOLIDAY! 🎉
• Oct. 24 & Oct. 27 - State Assessment Accessibility Training (register in Kickup)
• See you soon!
• Nov. 3-5 - Texas Assessment Conference (out of office)
• Nov. 18 & 19 - Fall STAAR Alternate 2 & TELPAS Trainings (register in Kickup)
• Dec. 12 & 15 - Work Sessions (register in Kickup)

Reach me at my desk most days (except those above) from about 7:30-4:30. I'm always happy to stay later if you let me know you need help after 4:30pm.

Congratulations on finishing up SC/SS interims. You made it look easy, but I know you invested a great deal of time up front to make it happen. The good news is that your work carries over to STAAR administrations in the spring. I also want to commend so many who learned a few new tricks in Testhound to simplify some processes. Here are some stats for this week:

By course:

• 1800 grade 05 science interims reported (E/S)
• 1773 grade 08 science interims reported
• 1766 grade 08 social studies interims reported
• 1909 biology interims reported
• 1697 U.S. history interims reported

By date:

• 4856 on Tues., Nov. 14 (NICE!)
• 3444 on Wed., Nov. 15
• 645 on Thurs., Nov. 16

Use the Test Status Code Report to identify any paused tests and be aware that these will not be included for TIA purposes. The students can log in and submit their tests to be scored for campus use. When Window 2 closes in the spring, these tests will score with unanswered responses counted incorrect.

Feel free to proceed with interims for RLA & Math. A single teacher may choose to test a few students. There is no "minimum" number for participation. Use these assessments to improve instruction.

• Reference Materials for Students - notice grade 8 Science has been updated.
• Training Slides (Sept. 24 & 26)
• Key Dates for Interims
• Campus Planning Guide

If you haven't already launched a practice test, take a look at these important screenshots below. Teachers may need to see this prior to the day of the test.

December EOC eligibility has been updated for high school students. Use the "Advanced Search" feature in TIDE to review.

You will identify some eligible students that may need to be manually updated. Make manual updates as needed based on students records you have collected. The campus coordinator is responsible for identifying all eligible students and ensuring they are prepared and scheduled to participate in the December STAAR EOC administration.

STAAR campus coordinators are asked to verify the accuracy of the TELPAS coordinator designated here. Please let me know if an update is needed for your campus.

Still missing: PES, WDES, WES (and will not receive this email)

Campus Coordinators will refer to our Quick Guide for instructions on creating user accounts, rosters and other tasks in TIDE. Failure to adhere to these instructions can ultimately impact reporting of state assessment results that will impact accountability calculations.

The Quick Guide may need some minor updates after TIDE's recent refresh, but the gist of the detailed instructions remains the same.

Our work sessions are intended to help you work efficiently, and are not intended to provide time for you to complete tasks in the most difficult or time-consuming way.

Educate yourself, learn and apply some new spreadsheet skills and make the most of your time.

Technology for Teachers & Students is a good Youtube channel to subscribe to. I've previewed a number of their spreadsheet videos based what I've seen some of you doing recently, and these videos will help you. Open each video and read the caption to see what is covered in each video.

• Excel for Beginners - The Complete Course
• Excel for Intermediate Users - The Complete Course
• Filtering in Excel - Basics & Beyond
• Advanced Excel - VLOOKUP Basics
• Dealing with Duplicates in Excel and Finding Unique Data
• Many more...check out the channel!

The channel offers many more videos, including some specific to Google Sheets. I recommend you master spreadsheet skills in Excel and then transfer your learning to Google Sheets.

As the campus coordinator for STAAR, you have already marked training dates on your calendar based on the schedule I have shared.

New coordinators for STAAR have been invited to an introduction at the end of August. No registration is necessary for this session.

Registration is now available in Kickup for the following sessions:

• Accessibility, Oct. 24 & 27
• Space available for more than 1 person from each campus if registered in different sessions. We will not have multiple people from the same campus attending the same session. This session is not for those with classroom teaching duties.
• Thank you to everyone who is registered! 🏆
• 😢 Not registered when I checked this morning: Harvey, PES, Foster, Vance
• STAAR Alternate 2, Nov. 18 or 19 (see details below)
• December STAAR EOC (High Schools only), Oct. 30
• Work Sessions, Dec. 12 & 15

TIP: Search "State Assessments" in Kickup to find these sessions.

The day prior to each session, please confirm time and location in Kickup. If you export the event to your calendar, any changes in Kickup will not be reflected in your calendar.

Campus coordinators who are new to this role in PfISD are required to attend. If a campus has no students eligible to participate in STAAR Alternate 2, the campus coordinator is not required to attend.

Only the designated campus coordinator for state assessments is invited.

Choose 1 of 2 sessions in November and register in Kickup.

Campus coordinators who are new to this role in PfISD are required to attend.

Only the designated campus coordinator for state assessments is invited.

Choose 1 of 2 sessions in November and email Kelly to register.

Resources for upcoming trainings as well as other resources for use during each administration are available and periodically updated.

Be sure you have this site bookmarked.

For all state assessment programs, each student will test on a PfISD managed device. Chromebooks are preferred. Devices used for state assessments should be routinely used in class. No installation is required for Chromebooks, and the Secure Test Browser is accessed as noted on the document linked below.

If additional devices are needed, Windows devices (laptops, desktops) may be used. The campus coordinator is responsible for installing the Secure Test Browser for 2025-2026 on Windows devices. Installation is completed once (according to the instructions below) in the current school year and is effective for all administrations.

✅Each campus coordinator for state assessments is expected to be knowledgeable of all devices, including headphones and headsets, on campus. Routine technology checks throughout the school year are encouraged to ensure all devices are accounted for and in working order.

What is your plan to ensure technology is in good working order, updated and ready for test days? Routine technology checks are recommended. Schedule a day for everyone to launch the Secure Test Browser (or something else) in class and establish a reporting system for teachers to document the check. You'll need to have a system to capture any problems and submit "Technology Help" requests if any devices are not functioning properly.

Schedule your campus technology checks at least 4-6 week prior to a test administration to allow time for any repairs or troubleshooting.

Campus coordinators for state assessments should be reading the weekly Principals' Newsletter. Additionally, I will send a weekly email most weeks. Please be sure to schedule time to read each weekly email.

If you need to catch up on my weekly email, find links on the Resources page of our PfISD State Assessments website. You'll find last week's email there if you missed it.

Find the archives of the weekly PfISD Principals' Newsletter at this link. If you're not receiving these, ask your principal to get you added to the mailing list.

Find the link and/or preregister at this link (must be logged in to Testhound).

When logged into Testhound, click "Help" to find more information and links to register or access recordings.

• From "Help", navigate to
• "Register for a Live TestHound Educational Session" or
• "Watch a Recorded Testhound Educational Session.

Upcoming Sessions

• Getting Ready for December STAAR EOC (High School) - October 15, 10-10:30
• Campus Reports - November 12, 10-10:30
• Setting Up Make-up Tests - November 19, 10-10:30
• Testhound Tune-Ups (live work sessions, bring your questions)
• Mondays, 2:30-3pm
• Thursdays, 9-9:30am

Click on the photo below for a coloring break.