State Assessment News & Updates

• Feb. 24 - March 11 - PfISD TELPAS Window (note this window is different across the state)
• March 4 - SAT at high school campuses
• March 12 - TELPAS Holistic Ratings Uploaded into TIDE
• March 13 - TELPAS Check-in - TELPAS is complete! 🎈
• March 23 - First Day of STAAR Alternate 2 - testing must begin today
• March 27 - Work Session (register in Kickup)
• March 27 - STAAR Alternate 2 is 25% complete

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

Each user is responsible for securing an assigned user account and ensuring it is kept secure. User accounts, in any system, are not to be shared for any reason. As the campus coordinator for state assessments, you are responsible for oversight of certain user accounts.

A few basic rules...

• Usernames and/or passwords must be kept secure and will not be shared.
• It is not acceptable for any user to allow someone else to use their account.
• User rights must be aligned with the user's position.
• In TIDE, most campus users will be assigned the TE user role and assigned to a group of students via rosters.

In TIDE, some user accounts have been deleted.

• You are not authorized to assign Campus Coordinator rights to any user. These accounts will be deleted.
• Principal user rights may be assigned only to principals, assistant principals or administrative interns. Any others will be deleted.
• The Campus Report Viewer may be used sparingly and must be aligned to the user's job description.

I'm looking for a few experienced campus coordinators who might be interested in allowing a group of test administrators to use Google Chat (from their computer only) to contact the campus coordinator for assistance during upcoming STAAR administrations.

Give me a call if you're interested to tell me how you think it would work on your campus. To be eligible, you've had no testing irregularities on your campus this school year AND you served as the campus coordinator on your campus in 2024-2025.

I am routinely looking for new students in Skyward to add to TIDE. I will look for students newly identified as EB and add this to TIDE after it is correctly marked in Skyward.

Newly enrolled students are not eligible to participate in TELPAS until I have verified their EB status is correct in TIDE.

You may continue to add new students as needed according to the instructions on our Quick Guide. You may also use the request form below. You are not authorized to edit EB or SE fields in TIDE.

🔥Hot tip: If the student was previously enrolled in another Texas campus or district, including within PfISD, call me with the student's TSDS ID. I can very easily transfer the student for you. This can help to avoid mistakes.

You can request to add students for TELPAS, TELPAS Alternate or STAAR Alternate 2 by adding the student's information to the request form linked below.

This is not required for TELPAS or TELPAS Alternate as I am already routinely checking Skyward for newly enrolled/identified students. However, it can be helpful if you will add the student to this list.

If you know the student is transferring from another Texas school, you can also call me to see if I can quickly transfer for you.

If you receive any requests from anyone not enrolled on your campus to participate in Spring STAAR, please refer the request to Kelly and provide the link below to the family.

Eligible students may be enrolled in a virtual (online) Texas school. This can be a recruiting tool if we offer to test them at their neighborhood campus. Homeschool students (not enrolled in a Texas school) are not eligible to participate in STAAR.

Additionally, students who are not currently enrolled in any school, but have not previously passed one or more EOC assessments are eligible to test.

OOS/OOD requests may be submitted on the PfISD form available on our website.

• You may need to place an additional order at this time if there have been changes since verification of student eligibility in December.
• Consider newly enrolled students and/or newly identified students. If a student has withdrawn since December, you may repurpose those materials for another eligible student or keep them (unused) secured throughout the window.
• Find your list of materials here. Review this list before ordering additional materials.
• Find the appropriate form number for your campus on the materials list linked above. If you are not receiving any of the materials you need to order, you will use the "any form" option on the order form.
• Additional orders are expected to arrive after spring break, during the administration window.
• Do not provide notice that you're receiving "extra" materials. The materials listing are what you are receiving and that cannot be changed.

During the Preview window, March 5-12, test administrators are allowed to check out materials and keep them in their room until the end of the school day. When not in use, materials must be secured in a locked cabinet or drawer.

Materials must be returned to the campus coordinator no later than the end of the school day during the preview window.

Make a plan with each test administrator to ensure materials in use during the preview window are secured when not in use and returned to you at the end of the day.

🚫There is no preview allowed on Friday, March 13.🚫

Sign up for your check-in appointment at this link. You may revisit to change your appointment as needed.

The following need to sign up immediately: Latoiya, Rhett, Lisa, Patricia, Ina, Felicia, Stephanie, Milton, Rita, Cari

I have ordered reference materials for grade 3-8 math, Algebra I and grade 8 science. Expect these to be delivered to you by March 27. Please call me no later than April 2 if you have not received these.

Every student taking one of these tests will receive a hard copy of these reference materials. For math, students will also receive the grade-appropriate grid paper.

Important: If you happen to have old copies laying around, be sure to destroy any copies of the grade 8 science reference materials. This year's version is updated to reflect the new TEKS, and it's important you use the updated version.

If you need to make additional copies, find them at this link. (Please don't run copies now! Wait to receive your delivery.)

Access Key Date below to keep your work on schedule. Please check the document periodically for updates. A printed copy is not your best friend.

Each campus has received a spreadsheet to be used to create the proper uploads.

Be aware that the upload function for holistic ratings is currently limiting the upload to 100 lines. Each student has 4 lines on the upload, so this effectively limits your upload to 25 students with 4 lines each.

Almost every campus has more than 25 students on their Ratings Rosters (combined). You will need to create separate files to upload with no more than 100 lines per file. One way to mitigate this problem is to upload KG and 01 in separate files, but that will not work for every campus. Because of enrollment, this will not impact TES & BES.

Call me if you need help separating your file. You'll need to leave the header row and then include no more than 100 student rows on each file. Please do not upload the same student/domain for any reason.

Holistic ratings are due complete in TIDE by March 12.

You may also want to watch the 12 minute video linked below that addresses how to upload into TIDE. Note the video says files with more than 100 lines will be processed offline. I'm told this is inaccurate and the file will be rejected.

The much-requested TELPAS Check-in Checklist is ready for you. There are a number of items you have already completed and can initial.

Be aware that when you initial an item complete, this implies you have carefully verified the task is complete and accurate.

Watch for an email with instructions to access your secure folder for submitting documents. This is coming soon.

You will continue to add and verify "years" for newly enrolled students.

• Instructions are available here.

Please verify that students are properly identified in TIDE to participate in TELPAS Alternate. You may need to work with your ARD facilitator and STAAR coordinator. Second graders have also been identified in TIDE. Call with questions about TELPAS Alternate.

• Instructions are available here.

Below are photos from our STAAR campus coordinator training.

Please email me with any of your campus plans to work on addressing test anxiety - students and staff. You might want to make a plan with a counselor and others on campus.

If you're looking for some books to help ease anxiety related to upcoming administrations, here are some suggestions. I purchased about 10 of these for each elementary school, and they should be available in the library or from the counselor. I have a few extras of some titles in my office, and you can call me to borrow. Find the list at this link.

I have updated a set of generic seating charts that you can use for consolidation. You'll want to print these to have available.

You may also choose to reassign students in Testhound and print a new seating chart. However, this is not required!

These seating charts are only allowable for consolidated test sites.

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

• Make-up Testing/Marking Students Absent - March 11, 10-10:30
• Verifying Accommodations, March 18, 10-10:30
• Campus Reports, March 25, 10-10:30am
• Testhound Tune-Ups (live work sessions, bring your questions)
• Mondays, 2:30-3pm
• Thursdays, 9-9:30am

Easter crochet projects are my favorite. Here are a few you can try.