Presented by:

Research, Evaluation & Accountability

What in the world

have I gotten myself into?

FCAT

• website:

www.fcat.fldoe.org

• DOE website: www.fldoe.org

Materials were developed by the FDOE to assist teachers in preparing students for the FCAT. Districts receive sample test materials in the fall of each year. Schools should use sample test materials to familiarize students with the test format. Each student should receive sample test materials and the booklet Keys to FCAT: Information About the 2009 Test.

Students may take these materials home to parents after they have been used in the classroom because sample test materials are not secure. These materials can also be accessed online at www.fldoe.org.

Reading, Mathematics, and Science: Reprints of ’08 materials

No Writing Sample Test Materials

Shipments to districts in early November 2008

Per Legislature, delivery to schools should be after January 1, 2009

PDFs posted to DOE website in January 2009

Keys to FCAT• Print delivery and web posting mid-January 2009

Understanding FCAT Reports• Print delivery and web posting late

April 2009

FCAT Results Folder • Reduced quantities• Distribution

Grade 3 students only Overage for mobility Delivery early May 2009

2008-09 and 2009-10 FCAT Schedules

2008-09 Assessment Calendar

Updates• 2008-09 FCAT Schedule• Test Dates • March 10 – 19

• Grade 11 Science• Test Dates • March 12, 2009

Test Materials Shipment and Pickup Schedule Calendar of Events

All students enrolled in the tested grade levels (Grades 3-11) should participate in the FCAT test administration. Students must take the test appropriate for the grade level in which they are enrolled.

Home Education Program - Students must be registered with the District Office and may participate ONLY in the tests appropriate for their grade level.

Grades 11 and 12 Home Education Program students are not permitted to take the SSS Reading and Mathematics portions of the FCAT. However, Grade 11 Home Education Program students may take the Grade 11 SSS Science test in order to show annual progress in Science.

You will receive a student list from Nereida.

The parent/guardian is responsible for contacting the school to register the student for the selected assessments and for transporting the student to and from the school assigned testing location.

The parent/guardian is also responsible for providing the following to the testing location on or before the day of the test: all student information necessary to complete the student grid sheet, photo identification (if the student is unknown to the test administrator or other school staff), and emergency contact information.

These students will be coded with the school code 49-9998.

Results – The FCAT results arrive during the summer and are sent to the School Principal for distribution. No test results will be released from the REA office to students or parents.

Students enrolled in Private schools through the McKay Scholarship Program may participate in statewide assessments.

School districts are required to provide information to these students regarding the locations and times available for statewide assessments.

You will receive a student list from Nereida.

These students will be coded with the school code of 49-3518.

Students enrolled in PUBLIC schools through the McKay Scholarship Program are required to participate in the statewide assessments as outlined in their IEPs.

You will receive a student list from Nereida.

These students will be coded with your school code.

A private school student enrolled in the CTC Scholarship Program MAY participate in the statewide assessments.

A parent/guardian is responsible for contacting the district to register the student for the selected assessments and for transporting the student to and from the district-assigned location.

You will need to verify with Nereida if these students are enrolled in the CTC Program before scheduling any test administration.

These students will be coded with the school code of 97-9999.

These students are public school students enrolled in grades 3-8 and must participate in the FCAT program.

The school code is 78-0700.

If a student is enrolled in FL Connections, and will test at your school, you will receive a student list from Nereida.

Place all TO BE SCORED answer documents for FL Connections students in the envelope marked FL Connections Academy and seal it. You will use only one envelope for all grade levels.

These students are public school students enrolled in grades 3-8 and must participate in the FCAT program.

The school code is 79-0801.

If a student is enrolled in FL Virtual, and will test at your school, you will receive a student list from Nereida.

Place all TO BE SCORED answer documents for FL Virtual students in the envelope marked FL Virtual Academy and seal it. You will use only one envelope for all grade levels.

These students are enrolled in high school and can attend public schools, charter schools or the Home Education Program.

You will need to verify with Nereida if these students attend the FL Virtual School before scheduling any test administration.

ALL ELLs are expected to participate in FCAT Reading and Writing; however, if an ELL has been receiving services for one year or less AND the LEP committee determines that it is appropriate, the student may be exempt but must participate in an alternate assessment. (CELLA)

ALL ELLs are expected to participate in the FCAT Mathematics and Science tests no matter how long these students have been receiving services.

If a student is identified as an ELL and receives services in an approved ESOL program, provide the length of time the student has received services if this information is not pre-identified on the student label.

ELL—Receiving ESOL services for:• Less than 1 year (1 on label)• At least 1 year, but less than 2 years (2 on label)• 2 years or more (3 on label)

In general, students with disabilities are expected to participate in statewide assessments; however, if a student with a disability has a current IEP and has been assigned to a special program according to State Board Rule 6A-6.0331, FAC, AND the student demonstrates cognitive ability that prevents him or her from taking the test even with allowable accommodations, the student may be exempt from taking the FCAT.

If a student with a disability is granted an exemption, the IEP must document why the assessment is not appropriate and what alternate assessment will be provided. This procedure follows the current requirement according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004.

A student with the accommodation of extra time must complete one session before continuing to the next session.

These codes are used to identify students with current IEPs who have been classified as exceptional according to State Board Rule 6A-6.0331, FAC. The school coordinator must provide the test administrator with a list of the students with disabilities and the appropriate code for each.

If the code is not on the pre-identified student label, the test administrator must grid the appropriate bubble. GRID ONLY ONE. If more than one code is gridded, none of the codes will be recognized as valid.

The test should be administered in a room that has comfortable seating, good lighting, and sufficient workspace. Make sure that the room is adequately ventilated and free of distractions.

Arrange the room so that each student will have enough workspace for the test materials. There must be sufficient space (at least three feet) between students to prevent cheating. Make sure that students are not facing each other when seated at tables and are not in seating (stadium or staggered) that allows them to easily view other students’ answers.

Remove or cover all visual aids in the room, such as posters showing mathematical and scientific concepts. Students may not have access to any unauthorized aids, including word lists, spelling lists, lists of adjectives and adverbs, word definitions, punctuation charts, transitional devices, organizational patterns, etc.

FCAT posters distributed by the FDOE may be left uncovered during testing. Discuss any concerns with your school coordinator.

Outside each door to the testing room, post a sign that announces TESTING—Please Do Not Disturb. You may use the sign provided in the Appendix of your manual.

If you are administering the test to 31 or more students, see the chart in the manual for the number of proctors needed.

The student grid sheet, the front of the answer document, captures student demographic information. The pre-identification information provided by each district was used to create student labels.

A document is pre-identified if it has a student label affixed to the lower left corner of the student grid sheet. If demographic information is missing from a student label, grid the information with a No. 2 pencil.

Affix the label in the box in the lower left corner of the student grid sheet

Do not remove labels once they have been affixed

Do not place a label over another label

The pre-identification information provided by your district was used to print student labels for all answer documents.

If the district supplied class code information, the student labels are sorted by class code; otherwise, they are sorted alphabetically by grade.

School personnel are responsible for ensuring that certain pre-identified student information is correct. You are NOT required to grid the missing numbers of the Social Security Number if the Pre-ID Roster reflects the correct Social Security Number.

Refer to the administration manual for directions regarding student labels with missing or incorrect information.

Please adhere to the following policies:

• Only the school coordinator and persons designated by the building/site administrator may open the shrink-wrapped packages and affix labels. Secure books must not be opened.

• Do NOT use student labels from previous administrations.

• Students are not permitted to handle test documents before or after testing.

• All secure materials must be returned to locked storage and remain there until testing.

Verify that the student is still enrolled and will be tested.

Verify the information on the Pre-ID Roster against the school’s student information database.

• The Pre-ID Roster includes each student’s complete Social Security Number or Florida Student number.

• Because the complete Social Security Number is not printed on the label, the Pre-ID Roster MUST be used to verify student information for the SSS administration.

• It is not necessary to check both the labels and the roster because the same file is used to create the roster and the labels.

• Use the Pre-ID label if the student last name, student ID number, district number, school number, AND grade level are CORRECT, even if other information is incorrect.

Students who are not tested on the regular administration date due to a temporary illness or disabling condition should be tested on a make-up day. All security and administration procedures must be followed while conducting make-up administrations.

Please remember that after ANY administration, initial OR make-up, materials must be returned immediately to the school coordinator and placed in locked storage. Secure materials should never remain in classrooms or be taken out of the building overnight.

Make-up testing may begin on Day 2 and continue through Day 10 as needed.

There should be no deviations from the established SSS FCAT administration schedule unless districts requested and received written approval from the FDOE prior to implementation.

Electronic Devices

Previous policy stated that “possession of electronic devices may be cause for invalidation. “Due to security breaches involving the use of electronic devices, the policy now states that: “Possession of any electronic device that reproduces, transmits, calculates, or records is cause for invalidation. “Possession” is defined as “within arm’s reach,” even if the electronic device is not visible. For example, students should not have cell phones in their pockets, clipped to their belts, or anywhere they can be easily accessed during testing.

Testing Guidelines• If a student starts a test and leaves campus without

finishing (for an appointment, illness, etc.), he or she will NOT be allowed to complete the test.• NO EXCEPTIONS will be made once the student

leaves the campus; therefore, if you have concerns about a student, you should not allow the student to begin.

• Consider administering the test to that student on one of the make-up days.

Use ALL of the allotted time in each session of the SSS and not end a session early.

Test administrators must NOT administer the FCAT to their family members. Students who are related to their assigned test administrator should be reassigned to an alternate test administrator.

Prior to test administration, remind students that they are not permitted to have notes or scratch paper in their possession, even if they do not use them.

In each testing room, schools must maintain an SSS Security Log, provided in Appendix C of your manual.

Forms located at www.ctb.com/fcat

• Comment FormsEnsure that the online comment forms are reviewed BEFORE testing

• so that feedback will address the concerns of the FDOE and the

• contractor.• Test Administrator• School Coordinator• District Coordinator

• Required Administration Information

• Missing Materials

• Administration Irregularities and Breaches

Schools must maintain the following infromation for each testing room:

• Students assigned to the room (provide Student Name and Student ID Number

• Attendance information—Present, Present but Invalidated, Absent, Withdrawn

• Test Group Code (Grades 3-AD)

• Unique security numbers of secure documents assigned to each student

Copy and file all required administration information for future reference. Return the originals to the school coordinator.

When creating your own Security Checklist remember to add the following information:

Letters and numbers from the original Security Checklist

School name

Grade level

Subject area

Test book or answer book

 

TO: District Assessment Coordinators   SUBJECT: Test Group Code Instructions for the Spring 2009

FCAT Administration

Test group codes will now be used on answer documents for ALL grades, including grades 3 and 4.

Test group codes identify groups of students tested together. The test administration scripts in the manual instruct students to grid the four-digit code on the back of their answer documents.

Test group codes are provided on the attached Excel spreadsheet. Distribute the spreadsheet along with this memo to all appropriate school coordinators.

When completing the attached spreadsheet, schools are only required to complete the “Room #” column. The other fields on the spreadsheet are not required, but may be helpful in managing test administrations and records. Assign one code from the spreadsheet to each testing room. A test group code may be used more than once in the same testing room for different subjects tested; however, it may not be used again for the same subject test.

A supply of FCAT calculators has been provided to each district by the FDOE. No other calculators may be used. The school coordinator and test administrators must ensure that one working FCAT calculator is available for each student in Grades 7-AD for use on all Mathematics tests and in Grades 8 and 11 for use on the Science test. Calculators may not be used by students in Grades 3-6.

Calculator practice sessions should be conducted prior to the scheduled test administration dates, using the information contained in the SSS sample test materials.

Students in Grades 6-AD are provided Mathematics Reference Sheets for use on the SSS Mathematics sessions.

Science Reference Sheets/Periodic Tables of the Elements are provided to students in Grades 8 and 11 for use during the SSS Science sessions only.

Students will remove Mathematics Reference Sheets and Science Reference Sheets/Periodic Tables from the test books on the day of the appropriate test, according to the directions in the scripts. These sheets may be referred to at any time during the appropriate test.

After students complete the appropriate test(s), the test administrator should collect all Mathematics Reference Sheets and Science Reference Sheets/Periodic Tables, and the school coordinator should destroy or return them as directed by the district coordinator.

Take lots of deep breaths…force yourself to do this!

Request a test pre-slug from the Data Entry Clerk at your school four to five weeks in advance of testing.

The test pre-slug should contain social security number, birthday, exceptionalilities, ethnicity, and gender.

Ask the Data Entry Clerk to pull up the ELL’s or ESE’s from the 702 screen.

Give the test pre-slugs to the teachers that will be test administrators.

Have a good team of reliable people to work with.

Work with administrators all the way through the testing process.

Plan - plan – plan and train people thoroughly (not just proctors – everyone in the school needs to know what their duties will be during testing).

Hold training sessions to relay information face-to-face.

Know Nereida’s extension by heart…and do not be afraid to use it! 66158

Double and triple check everything!

DON’T

Assume people will read e-mails or memos.

Let anyone “forget” about a meeting – if they don’t show up, hold them accountable and arrange another session.

Assume things will go smoothly – plan for any catastrophe. (Fire Alarm goes off)

DO NOT throw anything away until all is said and done…like June or until all student test results have been received.

DO NOT wait until the last minute.

DO NOT hesitate to reach out for help.

ESE ALTERNATE

ASSESSMENTJANUARY 12-

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

CELLA

APRIL 14 – MAY 15, 2009

SAT10MAY 26-29, 2009

Grades 1, 4, and 7

Grade 3 Pending FCAT Test Results