Requesting and Storing Component Retesting Materials for 2007

Steven E. Katz, Director of State Assessment
Office for Standards, Assessment and Reporting
518-474-8220 518-474-2021 (fax)

IMPORTANT: You must send your school’s completed request form for the May 2007 component retesting period to Measurement Incorporated no later than March 16, 2007. Requests for additional materials received by March 23 will be included in the school’s shipment. If your school requests additional materials after March 23, you will most likely have to obtain them from a regional center on the scheduled testing date.

This memorandum provides essential information about the May 2007 component retests. If you have any questions about this information, please call this office at 518-474-8220 or 518-474-5902. Accompanying this memorandum are the component retest request form, the testing schedule, and a set of memoranda explaining how to identify those students eligible for component retesting and how to determine which retest(s) they should take.

Request materials for the May 2007 component retesting period using the enclosed request form, which you must complete and send to Katie Gerhardt at Measurement Incorporated via fax at 866-291-6612 by March 16, 2007. This form must be signed by the principal. After your request has been processed by Measurement Incorporated, you will be sent a confirmation notice indicating the titles and quantities of component retests to be shipped to your school or Department-approved storage site. You must check the information on the confirmation notice carefully to ensure that the correct quantities of testing materials will be shipped to your school.

If you determine that you need additional materials after you have submitted your school’s request
form, you may send a supplemental request to Katie Gerhardt at Measurement Incorporated by fax
at 866-291-6612. If you request additional materials after March 23, you will most likely have to obtain them from a nearby regional center on the testing date(s).

REQUESTING ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING MATERIALS

Request only those quantities of component retests actually needed for administration to eligible high school students during the May 2007 testing period. Do not order sample copies on this form. Your compliance with these procedures will reduce the quantity of materials included in the secure shipment and help to ensure the timely delivery of materials actually needed for the May 2007 testing period.

· Regular test booklets: Request the exact quantity needed, plus no more than 5% for unanticipated increases. Since these tests will be shipped in multiples of 5, be careful not to intentionally state the quantities as multiples of 25.

· Large-type test booklets: Large-type test booklets are available for the English editions of all of the May 2007 component retests. Request the exact quantity needed for students specifically identified as requiring this accommodation, that is, students who are actually provided with instructional materials (e.g., textbooks, locally developed tests, etc.) in this format.

· Braille test booklets: Braille test booklets are available for all English editions of all of the May 2007 component retests. Request the exact quantity of booklets needed.

· Answer sheets: Hand-scorable answer sheets are printed as part of the test booklets for both the English and the alternative language editions.

· Teacher Dictation Copies and Teacher Directions: The shipment will include sufficient quantities of these materials, based on the number of test booklets requested.

· Scoring materials: On or about May 14, 2007, the Department will post all of the materials needed for scoring the component retest answer papers on its web site, http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/
osa/component.html. Schools may download these materials and print as many copies as they need. The Department will not be sending paper copies of the scoring materials to schools.

Limited-English-proficient (LEP) students may take the component retests in Mathematics A either in translation or in English, whichever is better for the student. LEP students may be provided with copies of the Mathematics A component retests in English as well as in the student’s first language. Translations for the component retests in Mathematics A will be provided in Chinese (Traditional), Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. Only English-language editions are provided for the component retests for the Comprehensive Examination in English, which may not be administered in any other language.

The secure materials for component retesting will be delivered to the same secure location where the school stored its high school-level examinations during the January 2007 Regents Examination period. If you need to make other arrangements for the secure storage of the May component retests, contact the Office of State Assessment to revise your school’s storage plan. If another school will be storing a component retest shipment for your school, please be sure that the school is notified and that the shipment will be stored in the Department-approved safe or vault immediately upon receipt.

Every principal requesting these testing materials must sign the affirmation at the bottom of the component retesting request form. Your signature indicates that you understand and agree to comply with the security requirements described in this memorandum and in the School Administrator’s Manual (http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/hsgen.html). The safe or vault used for storage of your school’s secure testing materials must have been approved by the Department for this purpose.

All secure materials must be stored in the containers in which they are shipped in the Department-approved safe or Department-approved walk-in vault. Approval of such storage facilities is contingent upon the facilities’ meeting all of the following criteria:

The Department will not ship secure testing materials to any location that has not received Department approval.

The principal of a school building without a Department-approved safe or vault must store the secure testing materials in an approved safe or vault in another school, school district building, or BOCES building. Principals who are unable to make arrangements for secure storage must notify this office via fax at 518‑474‑2021.

You must inform all school personnel permitted to accept delivery of component retest materials, either during or after school hours, of the procedures to be followed to safeguard the secure shipment. You must restrict access to any safe or vault where the component retests are stored so as to prohibit entry by students and other unauthorized persons. The person in charge of the secure materials must visually inspect the containers of test materials daily to ensure that they remain secure and intact.