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 Thomas J. Schoeck, Ed.D., Bureau Chief Office of Standards, Assessment and Reporting

 

		Date: Septembert 2007
To:	Principals of Public and Nonpublic Schools
From:	Thomas J. Schoeck, Bureau Chief
Subject:	Procedures for Requesting and Storing the January 2008 Examinations

This memorandum provides essential information about requesting and storing the January 2008 examinations. In addition, all persons coordinating the administration of State examinations should be familiar with the publication Regents Examinations, Regents Competency Tests, and Proficiency Examinations: School Administrator’s Manual, 2001 Edition. You may access this manual on the Department’s web site at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/hsinfogen/hsinfogenarch/sam2001.pdf.
Enclosed with this memorandum are the schedule for the January 2008 Regents Examination period (DET 504), the School Data Sheet, the School Record of Examinations Requested (DET 501), and Instructions for Submitting Your Examination Request Online (DET 502). Also included, only for those schools that do not have a preapproved ongoing examination storage location, is the Examination Storage Plan (DET 599).

Requesting Examination Materials

All regular, large-type, and braille editions of examinations administered during the January 2008 Regents Examination period and all translated editions of Regents Examinations must be requested by use of the Department’s online examination request system.
Initial online requests for January examination materials must be submitted no later than November 21. Specific directions for using the online request system are enclosed with this memorandum. Within two business days after your request has been processed, you will be sent a confirmation notice via e-mail indicating the number of examinations to be shipped to the school. It is of utmost importance that you carefully check the confirmation notice for accuracy to ensure that the correct quantities of examination materials will be shipped to your school.
Principals who find after the November 21 submission deadline that they need additional materials may return to the online examination request system to revise or add any supplemental quantities needed. Telephone requests will not be accepted. The Department will accept and enter on the school’s behalf only those requests submitted by fax for examination editions or quantities that cannot, because of Department policies, be submitted online by the school (for example, alternative language editions of the Regents Competency Tests). Check all confirmation notices as soon as you receive them so supplemental requests, if needed, may be placed no later than December 6.
Administrators determining they need additional examination materials after that date will likely have to obtain them from a nearby regional center on the day of the examination.

Requesting English Language Examination Materials
Request only those quantities of examinations actually needed for administration to students in January. If you need sample copies of tests for review purposes, fax a request on the school’s letterhead to this office
at 518‑474‑2021; these will be shipped after the January examination period. This procedure will reduce the number of test booklets included in the secure shipments and help to ensure the timely packing of all examination materials.
Guidelines for requesting specific materials:

• Regular test booklets: Request the exact quantity needed, plus no more than 5% for unanticipated increases.
• Restricted editions: The Regents Comprehensive Examination in French; the regular English editions of the Regents Competency Tests (RCTs) in Global Studies, Mathematics, Science, and United States History and Government; and the alternative language editions of all RCTs are available only in restricted form. Each copy of a restricted test is numbered and sealed in its own individual envelope and must be returned, whether used or unused, to the Department. The teacher dictation copies and the rating guides for the Regents Comprehensive Examination in French, and the rating guides for the RCTs in Global Studies and United States History and Government are also restricted and must be returned to the Department. Therefore, request only the exact number of restricted editions required. Do not request sample copies or extra copies. Administrators are responsible for returning to the Department all restricted examination materials shipped to their school.
• Large-type and braille test booklets: Large-type and braille test booklets are available for all examinations. Request the exact number of booklets needed for students whose Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 Accommodation Plan (504 Plan) specifically requires either of these accommodations. Sample copies of past examinations in large type and braille may be obtained from the New York State Resource Center for the Visually Impaired, 2-A Richmond Avenue, Batavia, NY 14020 (585-343-5384).
• Answer sheets:

Regents Examinations: Hand-scorable answer sheets are part of most test booklets. Schools may substitute other types of answer sheets. Separate answer booklets will be provided for the Regents Comprehensive Examination in French and Spanish. Essay booklets will be provided for the Regents Examinations in English, Global History and Geography, and United States History and Government.
Regents Competency Tests: All schools will be sent answer booklets and student identification sheets for the RCT in Writing. The Department has replaced the no-carbon-required answer pads with answer booklets similar to those provided for the Regents Examinations in Comprehensive English and in social studies. Separate answer sheets, which may be machine scored or hand scored using scoring overlays provided by the Department, are provided for the other RCTs. Schools may substitute other types of answer sheets. When submitting your online request, indicate on the RCT request page whether you want the Department to send the machine-scorable answer sheets for those examinations.

• Teacher dictation copies, scoring keys, and teacher directions: Sufficient quantities of these materials will be included in the examination shipment, based on the number of test booklets requested.
• Performance test for the Regents Examination in Physical Setting/Earth Science: Sufficient quantities of the performance test materials will be included in the shipment of nonsecure materials, based on the number of test booklets requested.
• Part One materials for the Regents Comprehensive Examinations in French and Spanish: Sufficient quantities of Part One: Speaking for the modern languages will be sent to each school based on the number of test booklets requested.
• Regents-endorsed diplomas: These may be requested online along with the school’s request for Regents Examinations and will be shipped with the nonsecure testing materials for the January 2008 examination period.
• Braille or large-type auxiliary test materials: Teacher directions, teacher dictation copies, scoring keys, etc., for English editions of State examinations may be requested for use by teachers with visual disabilities. These materials will be prepared only when a written request from the principal is received via fax to 518-474-2021 by October 26.

Requesting Materials For Students With Limited English Proficiency

Limited-English-proficient (LEP) students may take State examinations either in an alternative-language edition or in English, whichever is more appropriate to the student’s reading skills. The Regents Examinations in Mathematics A, Global History and Geography, United States History and Government, Living Environment, and Physical Setting/Earth Science are available in five languages other than English: Chinese (Traditional), Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. Only English-language editions are provided for other Regents Examinations. All translated editions of Regents Examinations must be requested within the online request system.
The alternative-language editions of the RCTs cannot be requested via the online request system. These editions must be requested in a separate letter signed by the principal and faxed to the Department at     518-474-2021. The letter must specify the exact quantity of each test needed in each language.
The RCTs in Science, Global Studies, and United States History and Government are offered in six languages other than English: Chinese (Traditional), French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The alternative-language editions of the RCT in Mathematics are available in the 29 languages listed below:

The principal of a school building that does not have a Department-approved safe or vault must arrange to store Regents boxes containing secure examination materials in an approved safe or vault in another school, school district building, or BOCES building. Principals experiencing difficulty making arrangements for secure storage of examination materials should notify this office at 518-474-8220.
Principals must inform all school building personnel permitted to accept delivery of Regents boxes, either during or after school hours, of the procedures for safeguarding secure examination shipments. Access to any safe or vault where locked Regents boxes are stored must be restricted so as to prohibit entry by students and other unauthorized persons. The locked Regents boxes must be visually inspected daily by the person in charge of the examinations to ensure that they have remained secure.
The vast majority of schools administering secondary examinations have found it convenient to establish, with only a single round of correspondence, an “ongoing” storage plan. Such a plan continues from one academic year to the next, unless and until a school’s principal notifies us of the need for change. Please review the “School Information” page on the online examination request system to determine whether your school must submit a new Examination Storage Plan (DET 599) for the January 2008 Regents Examination period. If a new storage plan is required, please help us simplify your paper flow and ours by initiating an ongoing storage plan. To amend the storage information for your school, you must send a fax to 518-474-2021 with the school name and address where you have arranged for the examinations to be securely stored. This office will then request written verification of the storage arrangements from the person in charge of your proposed “host” storage location before secure examination materials can be shipped to that address.

Enclosures