Manage paper test sessions
❏ Ensure a Proper Testing Environment
Campus coordinators should work with principals to ensure the following testing conditions:
No element of the testing room environment should hinder any student’s performance.
A “Testing—Do Not Disturb” sign should be posted outside the testing room.
An instructional environment should be maintained during testing windows. It is not necessary to conceal or remove instructional or reference materials in testing areas, classrooms, or hallways unless they could provide assistance or are a direct source of answers for the subject-area or language domain assessment being administered.
Clocks (either analog or digital) in the testing room do not have to be covered or removed.
All desks or tables used for testing must be cleared of books and other materials not required for the test.
❏ Ensure Proper Testing Procedures
Districts are required to have procedures in place to prevent the use of cell phones and personal electronic devices during test administrations. Before allowing the use of approved technology during testing, including technology-based accommodations (e.g., accessibility features, designated supports), districts must review the Technology Guidelines for the Texas Assessment Program section. Technology cannot be used during a state assessment if its functionality creates a security concern that cannot be addressed.
Districts may establish specific days and start times for testing.
Students must be allowed to work at their own pace. Because the tests are untimed, each student must be allowed to have as much time as necessary to respond to every test question. Districts should exercise judgment about starting a test session after lunch, as some students may not have enough time to work at their own pace and to respond to all test questions before the end of the school day.
Districts are not required to test beyond the regular school day but are free to do so if necessary. Every effort should be made to administer tests to students absent on a given day of testing. If students are not present for the test session for which they were initially scheduled, they should be moved to another test session later in the testing window.
A trained test administrator must be present in each testing room at all times during testing.
Reinforcing, reviewing, or distributing testing strategies during an assessment is strictly prohibited.
After testing, test administrators must enter student responses into the Data Entry Interface (DEI).
❏ Answer Questions and Resolve Problems
District and campus coordinators should be aware of problems that could arise during testing and be available to respond to concerns from test administrators. If the information needed to resolve an issue is not covered in these Coordinator Resources:
contact Texas Testing Support at 833-601-8821 or TexasTestingSupport@cambiumassessment.com for questions about paper test materials
call the Student Assessment Division at 512-463-9536 for questions about testing policies and rules, designated supports, or testing irregularities
Unusable or Defective Test Materials
Districts are not required to return test booklets that have human contaminants (e.g., vomit, blood, other bodily fluids, etc.) to the contractor. Instead, the district should securely dispose of the contaminated materials and contact Texas Testing Support at 833-601-8821 or TexasTestingSupport@cambiumassessment.com to report the disposal.
Changing Testing Locations
Sometimes it may be necessary to move students to another testing location, for example, to consolidate those students who are still testing after four hours. In such cases, students should be instructed to place their test materials inside their test booklets and the test administrator should collect all test booklets. Test administrators and campus personnel must ensure a proper testing environment in the new location and maintain proper testing procedures during the transition. A new seating chart should be filled out for the new location with restart and stop times recorded.
Schoolwide Emergencies
If a schoolwide emergency disrupts testing, ensuring student safety is the top priority. Students should leave their tests where they are and follow the school’s emergency procedures. Test administrators must closely monitor their testing groups to ensure that students do not discuss the test. Once the emergency has been resolved, students should resume testing when instructed to do so.
If testing cannot be resumed on the same day, students' test materials should be collected. Then students may resume testing on the following day. Students should resume the test from where they left off and may not go back to test questions previously answered.
Campus coordinators should report schoolwide emergencies or other interruptions to the district coordinator. If the emergency prevents students from resuming testing, the district coordinator should call the Student Assessment Division for guidance on how to proceed.
Power Outages
If a campus loses power, the district should determine whether to release students or have them remain in the testing room until the outage has been resolved. If students are released from the testing room, their test materials should be collected. Then students may resume testing the following day. Students should resume the test from where they left off and may not go back to test questions previously answered.
Campus coordinators should report schoolwide emergencies or other interruptions to the district coordinator. If the emergency prevents students from resuming testing, the district coordinator should call the Student Assessment Division for guidance on how to proceed.
Students Who Choose Not to Respond
A district is required to provide testing opportunities to all students who are in attendance during the test administration. Unless a student is eligible for transcribing, the student is expected to record his or her answers in the test booklet within the allotted time. Students who choose not to participate or refuse to respond to test questions will have their tests submitted for scoring as both state and federal law require that all eligible students participate in state testing. Although state law provides families with the right to temporarily remove their child from a class or school activity if they have an objection to participation, it specifically does not allow families to do so to avoid a statewide assessment.
