State Assessment News & Updates

• April 2 - National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day
• April 15-17 - STAAR RLA ⭐
• April 18 - HOLIDAY! 🐰
• April 22-24 - STAAR Science & Social Studies ⭐
• April 19-May 1 - STAAR Mathematics ⭐
• May 23 - Staff Planning & Prep Day 📝
• May 26 - HOLIDAY! 🏖️

If you need to catch up, find links to this newsletter on the Resources page of our PfISD State Assessments website.

Find the lists of updates/deletions at this link and check your email for any campus-specific notices I may have shared.

If you must manually add a student, use our "Quick Guide..." available at this link.

🚫❌Campus coordinators will not adjust eligibility for alternate tests.❌🚫

All campuses should have 66% of SA2 tests submitted via DEI or M/N score codes documented and submitted in TIDE by Friday, April 4.

Find the current status by campus here.

A few campuses are finished & eagerly awaiting Early Bird Check in next week!

A few reminders...

• During the Test Window, all materials must be turned in to the campus coordinator when testing is concluded each day.
• All tests completed this week, must be submitted in DEI (TIDE) by the end of the day on Friday, March 28. Tests completed on Friday can be submitted in DEI on Monday, March 31.
• All campuses should be 33% complete with tests completed and submitted in DEI by Friday, March 28.

Remember when I mentioned that we can set our test dates within the state's window? Well, we cannot set test dates outside of the state's window, and somehow I managed to do this. Our Key Dates have been corrected.

• You may choose to delay the preview window until March 10-14 or use March 3-14 as your preview.
• All testing will begin on March 24, after spring break.
• My apologies for my confusion and the disruption to your plans.

STAAR Alternate 2 Scoring Documents will be transcribed by the designated campus coordinator into DEI (Data Entry Interface) no later the Friday of the same week the test was administered. Tests that are completed on Friday can be submitted in DEI the following Monday.

If you need a refresher on how to use DEI, there is a brief training in Cambium's LMS. You can also find some information in the DCCR at this link.

The campus coordinator must submit accommodations for each student after submitting student responses in DEI. Accommodations can be submitted in two ways. This is a separate process and does not happen in DEI.

Option 1 - Manually enter on student's profile in TIDE. See image 1 below.

Option 2 - Use "Upload Additional Student Fields" option.

1. In TIDE, navigate to "Upload Additional Student Fields," and use the Excel format of the template (See image 2 below.)
2. In the AttributeName field, choose "STAAR Alternate 2 Non-Embedded Supports." Choose the Subject & then the accommodation from the Value field. The Action in Column E will be "Add." (See image 3 below.)
3. Follow the on screen prompts to properly upload your file. Call if you have questions.

If you have ARD decisions for M/N score codes, go ahead and submit those in TIDE this week. List the student on your Score Code Documentation Google Sheet (details below under "Score Code Documentation"). Then, submit the score code in TIDE.

Find step-by-step instructions on the first tab of your campus Score Code Documentation Google Sheet.

If you need to confirm that all SA2 image cards are accounted for, use this "SA2 Image Card List."

Your check-in form is available here.

Find Key Dates for the upcoming STAAR administration at this link.

Make additional copies if you do not receive sufficient quantities. Find the materials at this link to make copies AFTER you receive the quantities I have ordered.

The home campus coordinator is responsible for communicating regarding students who will be testing off campus (including OC, students receiving homebound services, and other unique situations). Final details for upcoming STAAR administrations should now be in place.

Do your test administrators need to practice creating a proctored test session? Take a look at the "Test Administrator Practice Site."

Be sure every test administrator for the upcoming April administrations has been assigned the "Online Test Administrator" (OTA) user role in TIDE so they are authorized to create proctored sessions.

Find the link to the practice site at https://www.texasassessment.gov/testing-personnel.html. Scroll down to find the tile labeled "Test Administrator Practice Site."

We will have a new program for June 2025. Students will prep for 1-2 days (2 days of prep for EOC E1 & E2) and then take their test on the next day. More information is available here.

➡️Positions for a STAAR coordinator and teachers/test administrators are now posted.

STAAR EOC English I & II

Test Prep Days (2 days) - June 16 & 17

Test Days - June 18, students who need to take both EOC tests, will take the 2nd test on June 19

STAAR EOC Algebra I

Test Prep Day - June 23

Test Day - June 24

STAAR EOC U.S. History

Test Prep Day - June 23

Test Day - June 24

STAAR EOC Biology

Test Prep Day - June 25

Test Day - June 26

Each principal and campus coordinator is responsible for ensuring that all eligible students participate in the TELPAS & STAAR administrations, including alternate assessments. For students who do not participate, usually due to an absence in Skyward, we are required to retain auditable documentation for 5 years.

<<LINK INCLUDED HERE IN YOUR THE EMAIL YOU RECEIVED on 2.20.2025.>>

“S” (for score) is automatically assigned to a test submitted by a student with no further action required by the campus coordinator. All other tests require documentation that is auditable.

The deadlines are very tight with absolutely no flexibility due to TEA's deadlines. All score codes are required to be submitted in TIDE no later than:

• STAAR Alternate 2 – due April 14 (or April 7 for Early Birds)
• April STAAR RLA – due no later than 4pm on April 17 (BEFORE April 18 holiday)
• April STAAR SC/SC – due no later than noon on April 25
• May STAAR Mathematics – due no later than noon on May 2

Detailed instructions are included on the first tab of the document linked above.

You may want to train another administrator or trusted staff person to help monitor attendance, prepare for make-ups and maintain this documentation for each day of testing. While score codes will be submitted in TIDE only at the very end of the administration, you will not wait until the end of the administration to begin putting this documentation together.

It is imperative that great care is taken when documenting score codes in TIDE. Making corrections is not always possible, and score codes impact state accountability calculations.

Score code documentation and submission in TIDE is a priority, as noted above. After score codes are documented and submitted in TIDE, the campus coordinator will ensure required documentation is saved in the designated locations. Required documentation is due no later than:

• STAAR Alternate 2 – due April 14 (or April 7 for Early Birds)
• April STAAR RLA – due no later than noon on Monday, April 21
• April STAAR SC/SC – due no later than noon on Monday, April 28
• May STAAR Mathematics – due no later than noon on Monday, May 5

Each campus has a "Documentation" folder that includes subfolders by administration with subfolders for each of the required documents. Refer to your check-in document for instructions.

Find your folders here: S:\StateAssessments\<<YOUR CAMPUS>>\2024-2025\Documentation

To ensure each campus is well-prepared to begin the upcoming administrations, here are some technology-related tips that may be helpful.

Let me know if you have any tips to share.

My colleague in Comal ISD put together a fantastic YouTube playlist of videos highlighting each of the tools embedded in the online platform.

Be sure your students know how to use these tools. The "Graph/Draw" tool is especially important!

Find the playlist here.

The Test Administration Manuals state that, "For EB students who request assistance, test administrators are allowed to paraphrase, translate, repeat, or read aloud these directions and the directions that introduce particular test sections or question types, as long as the substance of the directions is not changed."

In Pflugerville ISD, on test days, we will only allow translations by the test administrator, as stated in the manuals. If a teacher routinely translates directions for a student, please be sure the assigned test administrator is also able to translate on student request. (The student must make the request on test days.)

For students who routinely request directions to be translated and use other means (not the teacher) during instruction, you may choose to translate test administration directions in the weeks prior to testing for a teacher to review with the student prior to the day of the test. This includes the use of an online translation. This must be done by a trained test administrator or the campus coordinator who is responsible for the accuracy of the translation. These directions will not be used on the day of the assessment.

Full disclosure - I can't recall who told me this. Maybe Robert Herrera at DMS or Tiffany Greene at WES???

Use the option to print multiple tickets to a page (available in Testhound & TIDE) and provide scissors for each test administrator. This makes the tickets faster to count and sign out and reduces opportunities to lose individual tickets. Test administrators can easily cut these apart as they distribute to students in their test site.

IMPORTANT: If you're printing tickets from Testhound, understand that you are still required to confirm that each student is assigned to your campus in TIDE with the correct eligibility and test attributes fields.

Are your student alerts all up-to-date? It's STAAR season, so be sure to log in daily to review all alerts and clear up any questions right away.

Each test administration should be built with students and test administrators assigned to a room no later than 1 week prior to the test administration. Changes may continue to occur, but the bulk of the work should be completed no later than 1 week prior to each administration.

Upcoming Training Opportunities - Preregister at this link (must be logged in to Testhound).

• Testhound Tune-Ups (live work sessions, bring your questions)
• Thursday, April 3, 9-9:30 AM CT
• Monday, April 7, 2-2:30 PM CT
• Tuesday, April 8, 1:30-2 PM CT
• Wednesday, April 9, 10-10:30 AM CT
• Thursday, April 10, 9-9:30 AM CT
• Consolidating Rooms on Test Day, Wednesday, April 2, 10-10:30 AM CT

Testhound is brushing up on math skills at CWES. 🐶

Share your puppy pics here, please! Include the name of your campus when you save your photo in the designated folder.