SPRING 2002 DISTRICTWIDE TESTING FOR GRADES 2-11,
SAT 9 (Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition)

Brief Explanation:

This circular details testing procedures for districtwide testing in all schools as required by the STAR program. The STAR program includes all students in Grades 2-11 including English Learners and Special Education/504 students except those whose IEP or ISP specifically allows for testing with an Alternate Assessment or those students who have been opted out of testing by their parent(s). The following subtests are required and must be administered to all students:

All non-required SAT 9 subtests have been removed from the STAR test booklets. These subtests are no longer available. Testing of students in Grades 1 and/or 12 is optional.

Testing Dates (including make-ups)

Testing Levels

Attachment A (SAT 9 Scope and Sequence Chart: Administration Information Grades 2-6, 6-8,
and 7-11) provides information about each level including administration time for each subtest.

Materials Delivery

Grades 2-11 test booklets, answer documents, Directions for Administering, California Standards Booklets and Grades 2-4 practice tests and practice test Directions for Administering are being shipped to the district by Harcourt Brace Educational Measurement and will be delivered to schools via truck mail on the school's first delivery day after district-level inventory has been completed. Note: Practice tests for Grades 2-4 may be used consumably. All of the materials listed above must be returned to the publisher within state mandated time lines.

District-provided practice tests for Grades 5-11 (one test for every two students) and teacher manuals were distributed to all schools for spring 1998 testing. These practice tests were to be used non-consumably. Each site will receive pads of consumable answer sheets to be used by students along with a black-line master of the answer sheet. Grades 5-11 practice tests are to be retained at the school site after testing for use in future years.

Exceptions/Exemptions

• Special Education: It is expected that students in the Resource Specialist Program, Non-Severe special day class, ED special day class and some students in PACE special day class will participate in the state and districtwide assessments. Please, reference Site Operations Circular No. 1045, dated January 11, 2001, from the Center for Student Support and Special Education. This circular can be found on the district web page, www.sandi.net, under Bulletins and Circulars. It is quite explicit with respect to students with a Special Education IEP or 504 Plan ISP regarding participation in assessment programs. The statute that authorizes the STAR program, SB 366, requires that the California Standards Tests and the designated norm-referenced achievement test (Stanford 9) be administered to all students in grades 2 through 11, with limited exceptions. This requirement applies to all students with disabilities at these grade levels unless the student is being tested with an alternate assessment as documented in the student's individual educational program (IEP) or 504 Plan. The IEP team determines HOW individual students with disabilities participate in assessment programs, NOT WHETHER.
  
  
• Students with an Individual Services Plan/ISP (504 Plan): Students with an ISP are required to participate in state assessments unless otherwise specified in their ISP. With few exceptions, students with an ISP will participate in the STAR Program.
  
  
• Students whose IEP/ISP requires that accommodations (e.g., extended time) be provided are to be tested with the required accommodations. Please, be reminded that accommodations are not allowed unless they have been in use in the regular instructional program.
  
  
  • Students served by the Program for Visually Impaired requiring large print or a Braille
    version will be provided with the appropriate SAT 9 materials. Materials for these
    students will be provided by the district based on school and grade level
    information provided by site staff.
    
    
  • Students NOT SERVED by the Program for Visually Impaired but whose IEP/ISP
    requires large print test materials will be provided with the large print version.
    
    
• Students whose IEP/ISP provides for testing with an alternate assessment may be tested with SAT 9 at the discretion of the parent(s) or the school (with parent approval).
  
  
• English Learner (EL) Students: All EL students are required to take the SAT 9 regardless of the length of time they have been in California Public Schools.
  
  
• Students in Other Special Programs: Students enrolled in continuation schools, independent study, hospital instruction, home schooling, and/or community day school must be tested by a credentialed staff member unless covered by the Special Education/504 Plan provisions as outlined above or opted out of testing by parent/guardian request as described below.
  
  
• Students Opted Out of Testing by Parent/Guardian Request: A parent or guardian may submit to the school a written request (Attachment B) to excuse her/his child from any or all parts of the SAT 9.
  
  The parent or guardian must initiate such a request and no school official shall solicit such a written request on behalf of any child. The parent or guardian must complete attachment B. Each test that is NOT to be administered to a student must be initialed. A signature is also required.
  
  The original form should be kept on file at the site and appropriate teachers notified. A copy of the form should be given to the parent or guardian. (Note: Attachment B is to be used only in the event of a parent or guardian request. (It is not to be mailed or given to all parents.)
  
  Principals will be asked to certify the number of students tested with an alternate assessment per her/his IEP or ISP and the number of students "OPTED OUT" of testing by parent(s) or guardian(s) on SAT 9 on the Principal's Certification/Apportionment Form (Attachment C) sent to schools with their testing materials.
  
  Note: A school's API will be invalidated if the school's proportion of parental waivers compared to its STAR enrollment (enrollment on first day of testing window) is equal to or greater than 10 percent. A school must test at least 85 percent of its students in EACH STAR content area (including California Standards Test sections used in the API) for it to receive an overall API, pursuant to the proposed CCR, Title 5, Section 1032(d)(6).

Testing with Accommodations

Special Education students and 504 Plan students may be provided accommodations if so indicated in their IEP or 504 Plan. Attachment D indicates the only accommodations that may be provided and how to grid the "ACCOMMODATIONS" section of the SAT 9 test booklet or answer document. Accommodations for EL's are district EL's who have been enrolled in the district less than 12 months AND who are at the "Beginning" level of proficiency based on the most recent English language development assessment. Note: All other types of accommodations are not applicable for SAT 9 testing purposes and Out of Level Testing is not an option. It is imperative that teachers complete these sections correctly.

Characteristics of SAT 9 Test Administration

• No SAT 9 testing is required at kindergarten or Grades 1 and 12.
  
  
• Students in Grades 2-11 at all schools (except those students being tested with an alternate assessment or whose parents have opted them out of testing) must be administered all required subtests listed on page 1.
  
  
• The use of calculators is prohibited on SAT 9 unless indicated as an accommodation/adaptation for a Special Education/504 student and is part of the regular classroom instruction.
  
  
• Pre-identified answer documents were ordered for students enrolled at sites as of mid-January for traditional track schools and early March for STYR schools. This means a barcode label is pre-printed on Grade 2 and 3 test booklets and on Grades 4-11 answer folders.
  
  
  • Students are not to print or grid/bubble in any demographic/identification information on answer documents except as described below. A teacher or other adult is responsible for completing required fields on pre-identified and/or blank answer documents as outlined in the "Annotated for SDCS Test Site Coordinator's Manual" and other training materials received at the April 9, April 10, April 11, April 17, April 18 or May 21 "Nuts and Bolts" of Test Administration meetings.
    
    
  • "Parent Education Level" section of answer documents: Middle level and high school students ONLY may grid/bubble in the "Parent Education Level" section if so instructed. Teachers are to complete this section on the answer documents of elementary students. Teacher/examiners should examine this box upon completion of testing and mark the "Declined to state or unknown" bubble for those left blank.
    
    
  • If preprinted information on the barcode label is incorrect, the answer document must be returned with the site's nonscorable materials and a new (blank) answer document must be completed for that student with ALL demographic information gridded onto the document.
    
    
  • Schools testing students in Grades 1 or 12 will not receive pre-identified answer documents. Demographic information must be hand-entered and bubbled in on all student answer documents.

Special Attention Topics

It is especially important to note that:

• There is a different test for each grade with each grade level having a different color front cover. Answer documents are color-coded to match the correct test booklet. Be certain that students receive the appropriate test booklet and/or answer document for their grade level.
  
  
• Although some levels of tests are written so they can be administered in a multigraded classroom (e.g., same number of items, same time intervals for the respective subtests), it is not recommended unless extreme caution is exercised. The concern is due to the possibility of a wrong-level test booklet being administered.
  
  
• All answer documents will be shipped to the publisher and will not be returned to the district. As a result, once answer documents leave the district, there will be no way to ascertain if a student or class was administered the wrong level of test and no way to rescore answer documents and/or recalculate results.
  
  
• Sites are responsible for the processing of all answer documents. Teachers should carefully follow the "Completing Forms and Preparing Materials for Scoring - District Instructions for Classroom Teachers" materials provided by their Test Site Coordinator. Test Site Coordinators are responsible for final processing, including review of scorable materials to certify that all required demographic information has been gridded/bubbled, correct packaging, and delivery of both scorable and nonscorable materials to Annex 10 on or before the required return date and time.

Test Procedures

The importance of the proper administration of the SAT 9 cannot be emphasized strongly enough. It is the responsibility of the Test Site Coordinator to train all teachers/examiners/proctors in correct security, administration, processing, and packing procedures. Each Test Site Coordinator received training materials at the April 9, April 10, April 11, April 17, April 18 or May 21 "Nuts and Bolts" of Test Administration meeting. Security procedures must be strictly followed and no one may have access to or receive secure test materials unless they have previously signed and submitted a "STAR 2002 Test Security Affidavit."

Return of Test Materials

Test materials must be delivered to Annex 10 located at the Eugene Brucker Education Center no later than 4:30 p.m. on the dates indicated below. (Note: Regardless of the date SAT 9 materials are returned, all SAT 9 testing [including make-ups] must be completed by the final day of the testing window listed on page 1.)

Note: Test materials may not be sent by audio-visual delivery or by school mail. Materials may be delivered as early as 7 a.m. Scorable and nonscorable materials must be packed separately. Grade 1 and/or 12 test materials must be packaged separately from materials for Grades 2-11. Cartons should not be sealed but all required labels should be affixed. Do not complete the "Box ____ of ____" section on the carton flap. Do complete that section on your preprinted orange labels (for cartons with scorable materials) and green labels (for cartons with nonscorable materials). Schools wishing to return their test materials early, all test materials, should bring them to Annex 10 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

When preparing scorable documents for return, place all non-barcoded answer booklets/documents at the top of each grade level or at the top of each teacher's materials if you are ordering and paying for site by teacher reports.

The following materials (and only these materials) should be retained on site:

• rulers provided for testing (new rulers will be provided for next year's testing so rulers may be discarded, used by teachers in their classrooms, or given to students).
  
  
• the district provided practice tests and practice test teacher manuals at Grades 5 - 11 (retain for use next year).
  
  
• "SDCS testing pencils" (retain for use next year).

Mandated Cost Activities Time Log

It is essential that all staff members, permanent or hourly, complete the Reimbursable Activities Time Log - Star (Attachment E), if they had some association with the STAR SAT9. This enables your site to receive 20 percent of the district's paid reimbursement claim that is attributable to your site's reimbursable activity for each state-mandated activity. In addition, your site will receive 100 percent of the time spent completing each time log or timesheet. Note that on the bottom of each timesheet or log, there is a space to identify the time spent completing the form.

Contact the Mandated Cost Unit at (619) 725-7568 if you would like further information on the Mandate Reimbursement Program.

Certification of Security and State Required Information on Number of Students Tested and Exempted:

• The principal must complete and sign (the front and the back) the attached Certification/Apportionment Form (Attachment C) and return it in the special red envelope (which will be provided by the Testing Unit at the "Nuts and Bolts" training sessions) along with:
  • all completed (and signed) "STAR Inventory Control Form(s) - School,"
  • all signed, original copies of the "STAR 2002 Test Security Affidavits" (one for each person who had access to secure test materials at any time),
  • the "Principal's Certification/Apportionment Form," with both sides completed and signed.
    
    

  Note: The apportionment side of the form needs exact counts for all grade levels tested. Enrollment on the first day means your student enrollment for each grade level to be tested on your site's first day of SAT 9 testing. The number of students who were tested with an alternate assessment per her/his IEP or ISP and the number of students who were opted out of testing by parent(s) or guardian(s) is also required.

• The Test Site Coordinator must also sign the Certification/Apportionment Form.

• The Test Site Coordinator is also responsible for delivering and submitting the required documents described above (in the special red envelope) to Testing Unit personnel at the same time as the site test materials are delivered. The red envelope with these documents should not be packed in cartons with other test materials. Sites should make a copy of these documents for their files.

These tests are used for assessing individual pupil achievement and program progress. Please explain this to your teachers and encourage them to instruct their pupils to do as well as possible and to observe pupils to ensure that they are following the proper instructions.

If you have any questions regarding information in this circular, call Denise Ormsbee at (619) 725-7059, dormsbee@mail.sandi.net; Nick Bohl at (619) 725-7068, nbohl@mail.sandi.net or Bob Raines, the district STAR coordinator at (619) 725-7058, braines@mail.sandi.net. If you need additional test materials, please send your request to Shirley Sawyer via e-mail (ssawyer@mail.sandi.net) or fax (619 725-7070).