INTRODUCTION TO INSIGHT ONLINE TESTING

September 20, 2012

WebEx Protocol

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Participant phone lines will be muted to eliminate background noise.

Use ‘raise hand’ or ‘chat’ features to ask questions during presentation.

This presentation is available on eDIRECT: Under Documents EOCEP Fall/Winter 2012-13 & ELDA Spring 2012

administrations Available at district user level

Agenda3

Introductions & Opening Remarks Benefits of Online Testing Comparability Studies System Requirements & Installation Test Setup & Precode Training Tools & Student Experience Online Testing Logistics EOCEP & ELDA Online Testing Plan Training & Support Questions

Introductions & Opening Remarks4

South Carolina Department of Education Richland 2 DTC

John Arnold, guest speaker Data Recognition Corporation (DRC)

Members of the South Carolina Project Team Andy Gasser & Gene Rees (INSIGHT Technical

Experts)

Benefits of Online Testing5

Students: Comfortable with technology – they are

“digital natives” Presentation of items individually allows

“clean” appearance Everything needed for the test is available

within the system (reference sheet, calculator, ruler, etc.)

Scores are available quickly

Benefits of Online Testing (cont.)6

Test Administrators/Coordinators: Few materials to sign out and keep secure

(Customized materials and tickets) Reduced time required for preparation Less hassle of moving/staging test booklets and

answer documents Grades are posted quickly

Easier to get grades finalized Can allow for greater instructional time

Adding a new student to test online is simpler than paper testing

Keeping track of who has/has not tested is simplified

Comparability Studies7

Spring 2005: Algebra, English, Biology, and Physical Science Districts volunteered; students took alternate

forms of paper/pencil and online test Results:

Algebra and English:  slightly better performance paper/pencil

Biology and Physical Science:  slightly better performance online

Effect sizes were small, meaning that the differences were not large enough to be practically significant

Comparability Studies (cont.)8

Spring 2006: English and Physical Science Samples of online testers and

paper/pencil testers: English: 4,160 online; 30,703 paper/pencil Physical Science: 3,893 online; 26,131

paper/pencil Results:

Scores were comparable; slightly higher (.5 raw score points or less) for online group

System Requirements for Student Test Engine

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Windows Installer: 256 MB of RAM or greater Updated graphics drivers with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or

greater Mouse; Keyboard 100 MB of available hard disk space or greater 700 MHz or faster processor Must have connectivity to the Internet

Supported Operating Systems: Microsoft® Windows® XP with SP 1 or greater Microsoft® Windows Vista® Microsoft® Windows® 7 Microsoft® Server 2003 Microsoft® Server 2008

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Macintosh Installer: 256 MB of RAM or greater Updated graphics drivers with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768

or greater Mouse; Keyboard 10 MB of available hard disk space or greater 400 MHz or faster processor (PowerPC not recommended) Must have connectivity to the Internet

Supported Operating Systems: Apple® Mac OS X® 10.5 Apple® Mac OS X® 10.6 Apple® Mac OS X® 10.7

System Requirements (cont.) for Student Test Engine

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Same system requirements with one exception: requires 1 Gig of available hard disk space or greater

Runs on a computer within the local network Increases reliability by caching student responses

when Internet connection fails; Responses will be automatically transmitted by LCS every 15 minutes

Reduces Internet traffic by caching test content The student interface must be configured to use

an LCS

Local Caching Service (LCS)

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Installed using an installation wizard; requires administrative rights

Configured during the software installation, can also be modified through the System Readiness Check application

LCS highly recommended whenever possible and also if testing more than 150 simultaneous users

LCS mandatory for the oral administration online testing accommodation and for ELDA listening test

Local Caching Service (cont.)

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Easy process; testing engine and LCS installed in minutes Several remote installation and shared environment solutions DTCs will be notified via email when installers are available Must have eDIRECT account with “Online Testing – Secured

Resources” permission to access installation software Windows and Mac installers will be available via eDIRECT

under Test Setup / General Information Mac installation requires a reboot of each computer once

download is complete Local Caching Service (LCS) Installation Instructions & FAQs will be available on

eDIRECT Automatic updates available

Installation

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System ReadinessCheck Runs as part of

the installation Can be run

afterwards or on-demand for debugging purposes

Installation (cont.)

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Used for the following functions: Manage test sessions Access and modify student demographic data Print Student Test Tickets

Available via eDIRECT User accounts must have the appropriate permissions;

more information will be shared at Regional Workshops

Test Setup

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Student Test Tickets with login information are generated automatically; contains all information needed to begin test

Test Administrators must verify that each student has their correct ticket (one ticket needed per grade/subject)

Tests are activated once a student logs in with the username and password provided on the ticket

Student Test Tickets are secure; they must be distributed, collected and accounted for, and securely destroyed following testing

Test Setup

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All student records from the November precode update file will be loaded into eDIRECT

Student records where the online testing flag = ‘Y’ will be considered online testers and automatically assigned to a test session; demographic information may be modified in eDIRECT

Student records where the online testing flag = ‘N’ will be considered paper/pencil testers; demographic information may not be modified in eDIRECT

Paper/pencil testers can be changed to online testers New students can be added, as needed Information on precoding online accommodations will be

provided via email

EOCEP Precode

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Tutorial (with audio) Guides administrators and students through testing

experience including testing tools and navigation Available via eDIRECT (login not required)

Online Tools Training (OTT) Opportunity for test administrators and students to

become familiar with online testing tools Review as many times as desired Items should not be considered representative of an

actual test Available via eDIRECT (login not required)

Training Tools

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Demo of INSIGHT This link can be used by anyone to download and explore a public version of the INSIGHT online testing system. Once downloaded, select the option for automatic updates. www.drcedirect.com/insight Login:  INSIGHT Password:  user2012

Student Experience

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Scheduling Computers / Labs: Paper testing requires planning for classroom space;

online testing requires both space and computers Although teachers assigned to computer labs lose

their classroom during testing, they can plan ahead to have their students doing activities that do not require computers

Setup and Preparation: Turning on computers and logging in ahead of time is

an important time-saving step Student Test Tickets can be printed on colored paper

for easier recognition

Online Testing Logistics

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Online testing is optional, but highly recommended

Students testing with regular, loose-leaf, or sign language test booklets may test online

Students requiring oral administration may test online Use of LCS is mandatory System requirements may differ slightly

(more information provided at Regional Workshops)

Schools supply headsets

EOCEP Online Testing

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EOCEP Fall/Winter Key Dates

Date Event

October 15–17 Regional Workshops

October 16 TAMs and DTC Supplements delivered to districts

November 5 Tutorial and Online Tools Training (OTT) available

November 19 Materials delivered to districts

November 26 Test Setup in eDIRECT available

December 3 State Testing Window opens

December 3 Precode (Pre-ID) Labels delivered to districts

January 29 State Testing Window closes

February 4 Alternative testing window opens (through March 29)

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ELDA Online Testing

Grades Form

Subject

Item Types

Other Info

K, 1-2 A All Subject

s

Inventories

0-3 point inventories will be entered online by Test Administrators

3-5, 6-8, 9-12

A Reading

MC Students enter responses online

3-5, 6-8, 9-12

A Writing MC, CR, ER

Students enter responses online; students will type CR/ER responses in text boxes

3-5, 6-8, 9-12

A Listening

MC Students enter responses online; audio component

ELDA online testing is available for the following grades and subjects:

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Online testing is optional, but highly recommended

Students testing with regular or loose-leaf test booklets for Reading, Writing, or Listening may test online

Audio component for Listening test Use of LCS is mandatory System requirements may differ slightly

(more information provided at Regional Workshops) Schools supply headsets

Online testing is not available for Speaking test

ELDA Online Testing (cont.)

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ELDA Spring Key Dates

Date Event

January 9 TAMs and DTC Supplements delivered to districts

January 21 Tutorial and Online Tools Training (OTT) available

TBD Pretest Workshops

TBD Tech Coordinator Training

February 4 Test Setup in eDIRECT available

February 5 Materials delivered to districts

February 11 Precode (Pre-ID) Labels delivered to districts

February 19 State Testing Window opens

April 12 State Testing Window closes

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Regional Workshops (Oct 15-17) Documentation available:

Workshop Presentations STC/TA Training Tool TAM for Online Testing Installation Document

Training & Support

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South Carolina Project Team Direct Line: 1-800-451-7834

Fax: 1-866-237-9314

E-mail: scproject@datarecognitioncorp.com

eDIRECT: https://sc.drcedirect.com

Training & Support (cont.)

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Questions?