General

1. What alternative testing locations may be used for the Texas Assessment Program?

District testing personnel may set up alternative testing sites at locations other than the home campus, such as performing arts centers, recreational centers, students’ homes, or any other site supervised by a trained test administrator where testing personnel can ensure equitable access and maintain test security. All of the following test administration guidelines must be followed at any testing site:

• There must be at least one trained test administrator for every 30 students. 

• Sufficient time to complete the assessment must be ensured for every student.

• Sufficient internet bandwidth must be ensured for all students.

2. What is the difference between a proctored and an unproctored test session in the Test Delivery System (TDS)?

Proctored test sessions:

• can be started immediately after the session is created or can be scheduled in advance and started by the test administrator at the scheduled start time;

• must have a test administrator logged into the Test Administrator Interface of TDS to monitor the session and see student progress in real time; and

• are limited to a maximum of 200 students.

Unproctored test sessions:

• are scheduled in advance and automatically open at the scheduled time;

• can be monitored for student progress using the Monitoring Test Progress card in the Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE); and

• are not limited to a maximum number of students.

Refer to How to Create Test Sessions for more information on proctored and unproctored test sessions.

3. Which students are classified as “New to Texas”?

A student in grades 3–12 who starts the current school year in another state or country and transfers into a Texas public school district during the same school year is considered new to Texas for that school year. The new-to-Texas classification applies to the entire testing cycle each school year, and the student should be marked with this classification in TIDE for the first testing opportunity of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR^®) or for STAAR Alternate 2.

A student who starts the current school year in Texas (i.e., in a Texas public school district, charter school, home school, or private school), moves outside of Texas, and then transfers into a Texas public school district or open-enrollment charter school during the same school year is not considered new to Texas, regardless of how many times he or she moves in and out of Texas during that school year.

4. What should district testing personnel do if a student begins an operational assessment that the student is scheduled to take on a different day (e.g., a student starts a science assessment instead of a social studies assessment)?

If the student has already begun responding to questions on the wrong assessment, the student should complete that assessment on the same day. The student may then take the correct assessment on a different day within the testing window.

5. What happens to the paper test materials if a student who was marked to receive a paper by request administration of STAAR moves to another district before the testing window?

• If the student moves to a new district that is participating in the optional paper by request process and that has not met its maximum three percent, the student may ask for a paper by request administration in the new district. Testing personnel in the receiving district should obtain the paper test materials from the sending district or order them during the additional orders window.

• If the student moves to a new district that has met its maximum three percent, the student will not be able to take a paper by request administration.

• If the student moves to a new district that is not participating in the optional paper by request process, the student will not be able to take a paper by request administration.

Score Codes

6. What score code should district testing personnel use for a student who is not tested?

Both federal and state law require that students enrolled in public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools take the STAAR assessment in order to measure their understanding of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Federal and state law also specify that all emergent bilingual (EB) students in kindergarten through grade 12 enrolled in public schools or open-enrollment charter schools must participate in the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS). EB students are required to be assessed annually with an English language proficiency assessment until they meet EB student reclassification criteria.

As all eligible students must be accounted for, district or campus testing coordinators are required to enter score codes using the Appeals/Score Codes card in TIDE during the specific testing window for students who are not tested. When entering specific score codes in TIDE, the coordinator must also enter a rationale. For specific score code scenarios, refer to the Enter Student Information in TIDE page in these Coordinator Resources.

7. What score code should district testing personnel use for a student who is unable to finish testing during the scheduled testing window?

For a student who is unable to finish testing, district or campus coordinators must determine if the student’s assessment should be scored. If the determination is that the assessment should be scored, no action needs to be taken. An “S” score code will be automatically applied at the end of the testing window without requiring further action by the student or by district personnel. If the determination is that the assessment should not be scored, an “O” score code and a rationale should be entered using the Appeals/Score Codes card in TIDE.

8. What score code should district testing personnel use for a student who is homebound and cannot test?

District testing personnel must make an effort to test homebound students, as all enrolled students are required to be accounted for. A trained test administrator may administer the assessment at the student’s home or at another facility as long as district testing personnel can ensure equitable access and maintain test security. If testing is not possible and if the student is:

• able to participate in instruction but not in testing, use score code “O.”

• unable to participate in instruction or testing, use score code “A.”

9. What score code should district testing personnel use for a student who is suspended?

If a student is suspended during the entire testing window, use the Appeals/Score Codes card in TIDE to set an “A” score code. However, since most suspensions last 1–3 days, it is likely that a suspended student will be able to be assessed during the testing window.

10. What score code should district testing personnel use for a student who has been expelled?

In many cases, if a student has been moved to an alternate campus, disciplinary alternative education program, or juvenile justice alternative education program, the student should test there. Refer to the Administrations in Alternative Education Settings page in these Coordinator Resources for more information.

• If the expelled student is still enrolled in the district but not able to test, use score code “A.”

• If the expelled student did not start a test and no score code was entered, there is no test record for the administration. Since the student is no longer enrolled in the district due to expulsion, the district testing coordinator may remove the student from TIDE.

• If a student is expelled after starting his or her assessment and is no longer enrolled, the online test record should be removed. Use the “Do Not Report” option on the Create Requests page available through the Appeals/Score Codes card in TIDE to remove the online test record.

11. What score code should district testing personnel use for an asylee/refugee who qualifies for an exemption from taking a STAAR grades 3–8 assessment?

If a student qualifies for an exemption from a STAAR grades 3–8 assessment due to their status as an asylee/refugee, district or campus coordinators should enter an “O” score code and a rationale of “Asylee/Refugee” using the Appeals/Score Codes card in TIDE during the testing window.

Accommodations

12. Do district testing personnel need to record accommodations if students did not use them?

• For STAAR and TELPAS, district testing personnel should record the accommodation that is documented and made available to a student even if the student did not use the accommodation during testing. This includes accommodations that are made available to a student in an unexpected or emergency situation. District personnel should enter the accommodation in the appropriate fields in TIDE according to the directions included in the Enter Student Information in TIDE page.

• For STAAR Alternate 2, only accommodations that are used during the administration are indicated in TIDE, and the notation is made after the student has completed testing.

13. What should district testing personnel do if an accommodation has been incorrectly provided to a student (e.g., a calculator is provided to a grade 7 student taking a mathematics assessment)?

If the student is still testing, the test administrator must remove or disable the accommodation and allow the student to complete the assessment. The assessment should be submitted, and a Procedural Testing Irregularity form for an accommodation error must be completed. If the student has completed and submitted the assessment, a Procedural Testing Irregularity form must still be completed. This form can be accessed on the Manage Forms page through the Administration and Security Forms card in TIDE.

14. What should district testing personnel do if they fail to provide a student with an online accommodation that is required by his or her individualized education program (IEP)?

If the error is discovered while the student is testing, the error may be able to be corrected, and the student will be able to continue testing with the required accommodation.

• To turn on the following accommodations, the student must log out, district testing personnel must turn on the accommodation in TIDE, and the student must then log back in:

  • Text-to-Speech

  • Speech-to-Text

  • Basic TI Calculator

  • Spell Check

  • Permissive Mode

  • Word Prediction (Co:Writer)

• To turn on the following accommodations, the student must have responded to or begun a response to fewer than five questions and must log out, the district coordinator must submit an appeal in TIDE for the assessment to be reset, the accommodation must be turned on in TIDE, and the student must log in to the new assessment using the same test ticket and session ID:

  • Content and Language Supports

  • Refreshable Braille

  • ASL Videos

• For content and language supports, refreshable braille, and American Sign Language (ASL) videos, if the student has responded to or begun a response to five or more questions, the accommodation error CANNOT be corrected, and the assessment cannot be reset. District or campus coordinators must determine if the absence of the accommodation warrants the invalidation of the assessment. If it does, an “O” score code and a rationale of “Testing incident” must be entered using the Appeals/Score Codes card in TIDE. If an invalidation is not warranted, no action needs to be taken. An “S” score code will be automatically applied at the end of the testing window without further action by the student or by district personnel. District and campus coordinators should consider whether the assessment is required for graduation and should also inform the parents of the error.

If an accommodation error is discovered after the student has finished testing, the error cannot be corrected. District or campus coordinators must determine if the absence of the accommodation warrants the invalidation of the assessment and follow the steps in the previous paragraph.

For all these circumstances in which district testing personnel failed to provide a student with an accommodation that is required by his or her IEP prior to the beginning of the assessment, a Procedural Testing Irregularity form for an accommodation error must be completed. This form can be accessed using the Submit task available through the Administration and Security Forms card in TIDE.

15. What should district testing personnel do if Spanish Text-to-Speech (TTS) is not working for students testing in Spanish?

The student must log out of the assessment, district testing personnel must install or enable a Spanish voice pack, and the student must then log back in to the assessment. Refer to the Assistive Technology Manual in these Coordinator Resources.

Because TTS uses the local device’s native accessibility voice pack, district personnel must ensure that a Spanish voice pack is installed and activated on a student’s device prior to the test administration. It is recommended that district personnel test the functionality of Spanish TTS on each applicable device before it is used by a student for an assessment.

For all circumstances in which district testing personnel failed to provide a student with a Spanish voice pack for TTS as required prior to the beginning of the assessment, a Procedural Testing Irregularity form for an accommodation error must be completed. This form can be accessed using the Submit task available through the Administration and Security Forms card in TIDE.

Special Populations

16. What parts of the STAAR Alternate 2 assessment can be translated into the language the student is routinely instructed in?

The assessment is administered in English, so only the bold print in the presentation instructions may be translated into the language in which the student primarily communicates. If the student receives this accommodation, “Translated Student Materials” should be marked on the student's scoring document and indicated in TIDE.

17. What should district testing personnel do if they provide the wrong STAAR language version (English versus Spanish) to a student?

If the error is discovered while the student is testing, the student may be able to continue testing with the correct language version. Based on how far the student has progressed in the assessment and how much time remains in the school day, district or campus coordinators must determine if the assessment should be:

• reset, and a new testing opportunity with the correct language version should be administered and scored;

• continued with the current language version and scored; or

• invalidated because the wrong language version is an inappropriate assessment of the student’s knowledge and skills.

For a new testing opportunity with the correct language version, the assessment needs to be reset. To do this, the student must log out of the assessment. District or campus coordinators must submit a “Do Not Report” request, reset the incorrect assessment using the Appeals/Score Codes card, and update the student’s presentation to the correct language version in TIDE. The student must then log in to the new assessment with the correct language. The student will resume testing at the beginning of the assessment with the correct language. The student must complete the assessment within the same school day unless the student has an Extra Day accommodation.

To invalidate the assessment, district or campus coordinators must use the Appeals/Score Codes card in TIDE to enter an “O” score code and “Testing incident” as the rationale.

If the language version error is discovered after the student has finished testing, the error CANNOT be corrected. District or campus coordinators must determine if the wrong language version of the test is an inappropriate assessment of the student’s knowledge and skills and warrants the invalidation of the assessment. To invalidate the assessment, follow the steps above to enter an “O” score code.

For all circumstances in which district testing personnel failed to provide a student with the correct language version of STAAR prior to the beginning of the assessment, a Procedural Testing Irregularity form for an eligibility error must be completed. This form can be accessed using the Submit task available through the Administration and Security Forms card in TIDE.

18. What should district testing personnel do for a student receiving special education services who has failed the first administration of a STAAR end-of-course (EOC) assessment and whose admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) committee has determined that the student does not need to pass the assessment to graduate?

District or campus coordinators should remove the EOC eligibility flag and the retester flag in TIDE for the corresponding administration. Refer to the Registration section of these Coordinator Resources for more information.

19. What should district testing personnel do for an EB student who is not retaking the STAAR English I EOC assessment because of the special provision?

District or campus coordinators should remove the EOC eligibility flag and the retester flag in TIDE for the corresponding administration. Refer to the Registration section of these Coordinator Resources for more information.

20. What should district testing personnel do if a student was tested with TELPAS but should not have participated in a particular domain based on an ARD committee decision?

If this error is discovered during the testing window, district or campus coordinators should mark the online assessment with “Do Not Report.” The student’s test eligibility for a special administration will need to be updated in TIDE. Then the coordinator can submit an “X” score code for the ARD exempted domain and provide a special administration of the assessment for the other domain.

If this error is discovered after the testing window, it will need to be corrected during the data verification window. The district coordinator should change the score code for the online assessment record to an “O” for a testing incident.

For all circumstances in which district testing personnel unnecessarily tested a student in a particular domain based on his or her IEP, a Procedural Testing Irregularity form for an eligibility error must be completed. This form can be assessed using the Submit task available through the Administration and Security Forms card in TIDE. District personnel should inform the parents of the testing error.