Test Security and Confidentiality

Maintaining the security of all components of the Texas Assessment Program is critical for ensuring fair and equal testing opportunities for all Texas students. Test security for the Texas Assessment Program includes, but is not limited to, preserving the confidentiality of students' individual assessment results and personally identifiable information used or obtained in the administration of an assessment. Training on test security and administration procedures should be provided annually to ensure a standardized test administration and the best testing experience for Texas students. Annual training is especially important for understanding and implementing new or updated policies and procedures. Given the many uses of student performance data and the need to assure educators, parents, students, and the public that test results are meaningful and valid, it is imperative that all individuals participating in the Texas Assessment Program preserve the integrity of test content and student data through strict adherence to the instructions and procedures contained in these Coordinator Resources and the test administration materials. Lack of annual training typically results in testing incidents that may impact students' test scores, campus and district accountability ratings, and, ultimately, an educator's teaching certificate.

The superintendent and campus principals in each school district, the chief administrative officer of each charter school, and the leadership of any private school administering state assessments, including December, spring, and June administrations as well as any field testing, mandatory sampling, and optional testing, must develop procedures to ensure test security and confidentiality. These administrators must also ensure that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Student Assessment Division is notified in accordance with assessment program reporting requirements of any conduct that potentially violates the security or confidentiality of an assessment. Failure to properly report that an individual has engaged in conduct that potentially violates the security or confidentiality of an assessment and failure to cooperate with TEA in an investigation are themselves violations and could result in disciplinary action.

District and campus testing coordinators have the following responsibilities:

• Ensure that all district personnel who participate in state assessments or handle secure testing materials:

  • meet the eligibility requirements detailed in the appropriate test administration materials,

  • have been trained in test security and administration procedures, and

  • sign an Oath of Test Security and Confidentiality.

• Ensure that all staff members who handle test materials:

  • have been trained prior to the administration, and

  • are made aware that:

    • the materials may contain secure test content, and

    • any viewing, discussing, or recording of this confidential information is strictly prohibited.

• Inform test administrators who have permission to view secure content for the purpose of providing an approved designated support or as part of the program-specific test administration process, including submitting student responses in the Response Entry system (RE), that it is strictly prohibited to:

  • respond to test questions,

  • record the information they see,

  • score an assessment, or

  • discuss the content of an assessment at any time.

• Ensure that noncertified staff members who access secure materials or administer assessments are supervised by certified staff members.

  • The certified staff member may be, for example, a supervising teacher, a campus principal or assistant principal, or a campus coordinator.

  • The certified staff member must be made aware that if the noncertified staff member is involved in a violation of test security or confidentiality, the supervising certified staff member is subject to disciplinary action.

• Verify that procedures are in place to collect and promptly destroy test session IDs and any reference materials, scratch paper, graph paper, or recordings used during the test administration. Student test tickets must also be collected after completion of the test administration. All test tickets not being kept for reuse must be destroyed after each test administration. If test tickets are saved to reuse for state testing throughout the school year, they must be kept confidential based on FERPA guidelines and destroyed at the end of the school year.

Secure Materials

The state-mandated, optional, field-test, and pilot assessment instruments that are part of the Texas Assessment Program are secure assessment instruments and include the following:

• State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR^®)

• STAAR Alternate 2

• Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS)

• TELPAS Alternate

• STAAR Interim Assessments

Test questions from state-mandated assessments (i.e., STAAR, STAAR Alternate 2, and TELPAS) must remain secure until the questions are released and available in the Centralized Reporting System (CRS) or on the Practice Test Site or the TEA website.

Test questions from optional, field-test, and pilot assessment instruments for the Texas Assessment Program are not typically released and must remain secure. This includes test questions from STAAR Interim Assessments, which are available in CRS for viewing only.

Student test tickets are not secure but do contain personally identifiable information. Therefore, student test tickets must be kept confidential based on FERPA guidelines.

Maintaining Security of Test Materials

Test security involves accounting for all secure and confidential materials before, during, and after each test administration. The Materials Control Form should be used to account for all secure paper materials. All secure and confidential materials must be handled in strict accordance with the instructions contained in these Coordinator Resources and the test administration materials.

District and campus coordinators must identify a suitable location where secure and confidential materials can be kept in locked storage when not in use. Access to these secure locations should be limited to no more than a few essential personnel. Secure and confidential materials must not be removed or distributed until they are needed for test administration. District coordinators should regularly affirm that all campuses are following these storage requirements.