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Disclaimers and Notices

December 2003

TO: District Superintendents of Schools

Superintendents of Public and Nonpublic Schools

Principals of Public Schools

Principals of Nonpublic Schools

FROM: Gerald E. DeMauro

SUBJECT: January 2004 Grade 8 English Language Arts Test

GENERAL INFORMATION

This memorandum supplements the information concerning the administration of the January 2004 Grade 8 English Language Arts (ELA) Test in the enclosed 2004 School Administrator’s Manual. If you have questions about the information in this memorandum or the manual, you may call 518-474-8220. The opening pages of the School Administrator's Manual contain the Deputy and Proctor Certificate and the Examination Storage Certificate, both of which must be completed by each school administering this test and retained in the school's files. In addition, a Scoring Operation Certificate has been added to the manual. The certificate must be signed by the person overseeing scoring operations and must be kept on file for one year.

TESTING SCHEDULE

The Grade 8 ELA test must be administered on two days between January 12 and 16, 2004. Schedule Sessions One and Two in that sequence on separate days. Schedule makeup tests on any days that remain in the week of January 12-16 following the regular administration of Sessions One and Two as well as during the January 20-23 makeup period. If adjusting the schedule for school closures due to inclement weather and in administering makeup tests, maintain the testing sequence, i.e., administer Session One first, followed by Session Two, whenever possible. Students must complete all test sessions in order to receive a score report.

This year, schools will not be required to administer Grade 8 ELA field tests. However, approximately 100 schools will be randomly selected to participate in a 15-20 minute Trend Test used to verify the accuracy of the operational test results. Schools that have been selected for the Trend Test were notified by CTB/MrGraw-Hill during or after the week of November 17, 2003. Further information on the Trend Tests is posted on the Department's website at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/.

SHIPMENT AND CHECKING OF TEST MATERIALS

Contents	Sender	Delivery Date
Machine-Scorable Answer Sheets for Public Schools (for Book 1)	Regional Information Centers/ Large-City School District Offices	No Later Than January 5
Machine-Scorable Answer Sheets for Nonpublic Schools (for Book 1)	State Education Department, Office of Information and Reporting Services	January 5
Secure Grade 8 English Language Arts Listening Selections (for use with Book 2); Regular, Braille and Large-Type Edition Books 1 and 2; Nonsecure Teacher’s Directions	State Education Department, Test Distribution Unit	January 7-9
Secure Scoring Materials for Schools (for use in scoring Book 2)	State Education Department, Test Distribution Unit	January 22-23
Secure Scorer Videotapes for BOCES, School District Offices and Nonpublic Schools in Packages Labeled "NYSTP ELA Grade 8/ Time-Sensitive Materials/Open Jan. 22-23" (for use in scoring Book 2)	Measurement, Inc.	January 22-23

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 p.m. on the last dates indicated above should track the shipments of test materials on the Internet:

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

Click the Reference Number tab.

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

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

Schools that do not receive the answer sheets by 12:00 noon on January 5, 2004 should contact, as appropriate, their Regional Information Center/Large-City School District office or the Office of Information and Reporting Services at 518-474-7965.

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 secure test materials until the day that the test is scheduled to be administered. You must store the test and scoring materials in a 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 Grade 8 ELA Test Materials Fax Form in Appendix I of 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.)

Appendix C of the School Administrator’s Manual contains a list of the regional centers. You may pick up test materials from the regional centers only on the scheduled date for the administration of that part of the test. 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 Videotapes

Measurement, Inc. will ship scoring videotapes by Federal Express for delivery on January 22-23. Videotapes will be shipped only to public school district offices, BOCES, charter and nonpublic schools. Videotapes will not be available at any of the regional centers. Schools that have not received their videotapes by noon on January 23 should contact Measurement, Inc. by phone at 877-516-2403, by fax at 919-425-7733, or by email to Rosanna Terz at rterz@measinc.com. You must store the videotapes in a secure location until the makeup testing period is over.

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 and scoring materials in a safe or vault as soon as they arrive at the storage location. Only the Teacher's Directions may be distributed to teachers as soon as the shipment arrives.
See that no one opens the sealed packages of secure test materials prior to the day each 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 Session Two may 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 insure that the test and scoring materials stored there are secure and have not been tampered with.
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 videotapes, in a secure location (except when being used for scoring) until February 12, the date by which students' answer sheets must be returned to the scanning centers.