Complex transcribing is allowed only for students who have a Texas Education Agency (TEA)-approved Accommodation Request Form. This designated support applies to the writing portion of TELPAS assessments. Complex Transcribing allows a test administrator who serves as the scribe to record in the student’s online test a student’s dictated or signed responses to test questions that require the student to construct an answer (e.g., constructed-response, sentence rewrite, and text entry questions) when a student with a disability is unable to accomplish this task independently.

Before transcribing a student’s dictated or signed response, test administrators must be trained in the transcription procedures outlined below to understand the boundaries of the assistance being provided. These procedures must be followed to ensure the accuracy and validity of the student’s test results.

General Information

• The student must be given the full time allotted to complete the test. All the student’s responses must be initially recorded by the end of the allotted time. The scribe may transfer the student’s recorded or speech-to-text captured responses from a word processor into the student’s online test after the testing period has ended, as needed. It is allowable for the student to review the transcription and make any edits within the test time allotted. However, if the test administrator transfers the student’s final responses into the student’s online test after the testing period has ended, the student may NOT edit his or her responses. It is recommended that the test administrator ensure that he or she can understand the student’s intended responses before the student leaves the testing room.

• Student responses cannot be scored unless they are entered in the student’s online test.

• If the test administrator uses a word processor to type the student’s response as the student dictates, special functions such as spelling and grammar assistance must be disabled. The test administrator must follow the specific procedures listed below.

• The student may dictate responses into a recording device if this is the procedure routinely used in the classroom. The test administrator must then follow the specific procedures below.

• For additional information regarding the role of a test administrator who transcribes for a student who is deaf or hard of hearing, refer to the General Instructions for Administering State Assessments to Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing page of these Coordinator Resources.

• The TELPAS Non-Embedded Supports field should be updated under the Non-Embedded Supports panel in TIDE prior to testing to indicate this support was made available to the student.

Test Security

• District testing personnel must maintain test security and confidentiality when providing complex transcribing during testing. All standard test security policies and procedures must be followed. Refer to the Test Security section of these Coordinator Resources for more information.

• Test administrators who are authorized to provide complex transcribing must complete a specific part of the test security oath regarding transferring student responses. Tampering with or changing student responses is strictly prohibited and is a serious testing violation.

• Students who receive complex transcribing may need to be tested individually so that other students will not be disturbed or distracted and to ensure the confidentiality of the assessment. It is the responsibility of district and campus testing personnel to determine the most appropriate way to administer the assessment to students who are receiving complex transcribing. 

• Scribes may answer questions about test directions or procedures. Scribes are never allowed to answer any questions related to the content of the assessment itself. If a student asks a scribe a question that he or she is not permitted to answer, the scribe may respond, for example, “I cannot answer that for you; just do the best you can.” 

• Secure test materials and associated student responses may NOT be photocopied, scanned, or saved to use this accommodation. Any handwritten notes or responses to test questions must be destroyed after testing. All voice recordings must be erased or destroyed after testing. 

• The role of the scribe is to enter in the student's online test exactly what the student has dictated. Scribes may ask the student to repeat the dictated work to accurately record what the student intended. The scribe may NOT: 

  • translate the test question or a student’s response to the question into another language (except sign language); 

  • rephrase or elaborate on the test question;

  • give a student opening or closing sentences; 

  • give a student an outline for organizing his or her response; 

  • give a student ideas about how to develop his or her response;

  • respond to the test question;

  • discuss the test question or a student’s response with anyone before, during, or after testing;

  • provide nonverbal assistance; 

  • edit or alter a student’s response in any way unless directed to do so by the student;

  • provide feedback regarding the effectiveness of a student’s response; 

  • make notes about the test question or a student’s response;

  • write notes in the Notepad tool or in the Sticky Notes tool in the online test unless directed to do so by a student; or

  • score a student’s response or discuss with a student how he or she performed.

Specific Procedures

• The test administrator may transcribe a student’s prewriting and drafts onto scratch paper prior to transcribing the final response into the student’s online test. The scribe must indicate to the student the space allowed for his or her response to the test question so that the response will fit in the space provided in the online test. It may be helpful for the scribe to be positioned so that the student can see the amount of space available as the scribe is transcribing. When typing the response directly into the student’s online test, a character count is available for this purpose. For TELPAS writing, the constructed-response character count is 1000 characters. Sentence rewrite text boxes allow for 100 characters.

• The test administrator should transcribe exactly what the student dictates. Unless the student has indicated otherwise, the response should be transcribed in all lowercase letters and no punctuation should be included.

• Once the student has completed dictating his or her response, the test administrator should:

  • cover it or move so that he or she is positioned in such a way that the student cannot see the response;

  • ask the student how to spell one word longer than three letters from each line of text. If a word of this length is not available on a line of text, the test administrator can ask for any word in that line; and

  • select a variety of words that are indicative of the student’s spelling ability.

NOTE: The test administrator should replace his or her initial spelling with the student’s dictated spelling of each word.

• The student must then be given the opportunity to review and edit what the test administrator has recorded. At this time, the student should indicate punctuation and capitalization. If the student’s response was longer than the allowed character count, the student may use this time to revise the response so that it fits into the online text box. The test administrator can remind the student of the number of characters that can be typed into the student’s online test. The test administrator may NOT require the student to revise the response.

• Documentation of the accommodation and who provided it should be kept locally as there is no way to indicate this specific support information in TIDE.

Complex Transcribing for TELPAS Writing Holistic Assessment

Students in grades 2–12 who meet the eligibility criteria for a special administration of the TELPAS reading and writing assessment will need to be holistically rated for writing. TELPAS ratings of writing collections are based on writing samples compiled from authentic classroom activities. Since the TELPAS writing samples are from authentic classroom activities, the same accommodations routinely used during classroom instruction are acceptable for the writing samples used in a TELPAS writing collection. This includes complex transcribing as a designated support. Complex transcribing is allowed only for students who regularly depend on this designated support to complete written assignments and who cannot use basic transcribing effectively.

Complex transcribing for a special holistic administration for TELPAS writing does not require TEA approval; therefore, district testing personnel do not have to submit an Accommodation Request Form. However, to ensure the reliability and validity of the ratings for this domain, the guidelines listed in the TELPAS Rater Manual must be followed when collecting these writing samples.

Refer to the Special Instructions and Considerations section of the Complex Transcribing policy document for more information.