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     THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

        89 Washington Avenue
        Room 775 EBA
       Albany, NY 12234

                           Office of Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education

Steven E. Katz, Director of State Assessment

Office for Standards, Assessment and Reporting

518-474-5902         518-486-5765 (fax)

                                                                                                                        December 2006

TO:                 Principals of Nonpublic Schools

FROM:           Steven E. Katz

SUBJECT:      January 2007 Grades 3–8 English Language Arts Tests

GENERAL INFORMATION

This memorandum supplements the information concerning the administration of the January 2007 Grades 3–8 English Language Arts Tests included in the enclosed 2007 School Administrator’s Manual for Nonpublic Schools. If you have questions about the information in this memorandum or the manual, you may call 518‑474‑8220. The School Administrator’s Manual contains the Deputy and Proctor Certificate and the Examination Storage Certificate, both of which must be completed by each school administering these tests and retained in the school’s files.

TESTING SCHEDULE

The Grades 3, 4, and 5 English Language Arts Tests must be administered between Monday, January 8 and Friday, January 12. Administer Grades 3 and 5 Books 1 and 2 in sequence on two consecutive days. Administer Grade 4 Books 1, 2, and 3 in sequence on three consecutive days. Schedule makeup tests for any days that remain in that first week and for the week of January 16–19.

The Grades 6, 7, and 8 English Language Arts Tests must be administered between Tuesday, January 16 and Friday, January 19. Administer Grade 6 Books 1, 2, and 3 in sequence on three consecutive days. Administer Grade 7, Books 1 and 2 in sequence on two consecutive days. Administer Grade 8, Books 1
and 2 in one continuous session on the first day and Book 3 on the following day. Schedule makeup tests for any days that remain in that first week and for the week of January 22–26.

If adjusting the schedule for school closures due to inclement weather and in administering makeup tests, whenever possible maintain the testing sequence, i.e., administer Book 1 first; followed by Book 2; followed, for Grades 4, 6, and 8, by Book 3. Students must complete all test books to receive a score report.

SHIPMENT AND CHECKING OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS TEST MATERIALS

Test and Scoring Materials

All test materials sent to schools by the Department will be delivered by United Parcel Service. (UPS deliveries may occur at any time between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.) Schools that do not receive their shipments of test materials by 12:00 noon on the last dates indicated in the chart on page 2 should track the shipments of test materials on the Internet:

1.      Go to: http://www.ups.com/tracking/tracking.html.

2.      Click “Track by Reference Number.”

3.      In the Reference Number field, type the BEDS code of the school where you indicated you wanted your tests to be shipped.

4.      If you are unable to track your shipment or notice some other irregularity, contact the Office of State Assessment via fax at 518-474-2021.

Nonpublic schools that do not receive their answer sheets for the Grades 4, 6, and 8 English Language Arts Tests by 12:00 noon on the last date indicated on the chart on page 2 should contact the Office of Information and Reporting Services at 518‑474-7965. Nonpublic schools that do not receive their answer sheets for the Grades 3, 5, and 7 English Language Arts Tests by 12:00 noon on the last date indicated on the chart on page 2 should contact the Regional Information Center from which the school has made arrangements to obtain them.

As soon as each shipment of test and scoring materials arrives at your school or other approved location, check it to verify that you have received all materials indicated on the shipping notice. Do not open shrink-wrapped packages of secure test materials until the day that part of the test is scheduled to be administered. You must store the test and scoring materials in a burglarproof safe or vault, except while they are being inventoried.

If your school determines that tests are missing from shipments from the Department, you may obtain copies of the regular editions of the test materials from the nearest regional center on the day of the test. Braille and large-type editions of these tests are not ordinarily available at most regional centers, nor are scoring materials. For additional supplies of these materials, contact the Office of State Assessment via fax at 518‑474-2021. Schools that will be asking the regional center to supply 25 or more copies of any one test book must complete the appropriate English Language Arts Test Materials Fax Form in the enclosed School Administrator’s Manual and fax it to the Department at 518‑474‑2021. (This is to ensure that the regional centers will have adequate supplies to accommodate all schools.)

The list of regional centers is available on the Department’s web site: www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/ elintela.html. You may pick up test materials from the regional centers only on the scheduled date for the administration of that part of the test. In New York City, nonpublic schools should pick up materials only from the regional centers that have been established to serve them. Contact the official in charge of the regional center before sending a representative to pick up test materials. Please give the regional center as much advance notice of your school’s need as possible. The person sent to pick up an emergency supply of test materials from a regional center must present authorization written on school letterhead stationery and signed by the principal that lists the materials to be picked up and authorizes the person to pick up those materials. The person obtaining test materials must provide picture identification and must countersign the authorization letter and leave it with the official in charge of the regional center.

Shipment of Scoring DVDs

CTB/McGraw-Hill will ship scoring DVDs to schools by Federal Express. The DVDs for Grades 3, 4, and 5 will be shipped for delivery on January 17–18. The DVDs for Grades 6, 7, and 8 will be shipped for delivery on January 24–25. DVDs will be shipped to all nonpublic schools that ordered the English Language Arts Tests. DVDs will not be available at any of the regional centers. Schools that have not received their DVDs by noon on the second day of the delivery window should contact CTB/McGraw-Hill by phone at
888-282-0059, by fax at 866-282-2251, or by e‑mail at nyhelpdesk@ctb.com. You must store the DVDs in a secure location until the makeup testing period is over.

TEACHER EVALUATIONS

Teachers are encouraged to submit their evaluations of these English Language Arts Tests via the Internet by using the Teacher Evaluation Form at www.ctb.com. Full instructions on how to access and use this form can be found at that web site and also on the last page of English Language Arts Tests Teacher Directions, which will be shipped to your school with your shipment of testing material.

SECURITY OF THE TESTS

The principal of each school ordering tests is responsible for making the necessary arrangements to safeguard all test materials by taking the following actions:

·       Place all test books, listening selection booklets, and scoring materials in a safe or vault as soon as they arrive at the storage location.

·       Distribute only the Teacher’s Directions as soon as practical after the shipment arrives.

·       Ensure that no one opens the sealed packages of secure test materials prior to the day each part of the test is scheduled to be administered.

·       Open the packages of test books just early enough to permit distribution of materials for each session. The listening selections for use with Book 2 should be distributed to the teachers up to one hour before test time to give them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the passage.

·       Check the safe or vault daily to ensure that the test and scoring materials stored there have not been tampered with and remain secure.

·       Safeguard the combination or key to the safe or vault to preclude access to the test materials by unauthorized persons.

·       Keep all scoring materials, including DVDs, in a secure location (except when being used for scoring) until the date by which students’ Grades 3, 5, and 7 answer sheets must be returned to the scanning centers and Grades 4, 6, and 8 answer sheets must be returned to the Office of Information and Reporting Services, as listed on the next page.

Enclosure