State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Alternate

STAAR Alternate

September 1,

2010 TETN # 7960

Handouts

Copyright © 2011 Texas Education Agency. All rights reserved. Reproduction of all or portions of this work is prohibited without express written permission from the Texas Education Agency.

STAAR Alternate for 2011-2012

Beginning this fall for the 2011-2012 school year, STAAR Alternate will be the only

alternate assessment offered for studentswith significant cognitive disabilities.

TAKS-Alt will not be administered to grades 10 and 11 as will be required for TAKS,

TAKS-Accommodated, and TAKS-Modified.

Information regarding how to select the End-of-Course STAAR Alternate assessments will be provided after decisions have been

made.

Differences between TAKS-Alt and STAAR Alternate

T TAKS-Alternate

Teachers must have viewed modules 1-4 and passed the qualifications for TAKS-Alt modules 1-3 before administering the

assessment.

Teachers were provided five opportunities to pass

each of the TAKS-Alt qualifications at 80%.

T STAAR Alternate

All teachers must view and pass the qualifications

for the new STAAR Alternate modules 1-4

before administering the assessment.

Teachers are provided only two opportunities to

pass the new STAAR Alternate qualifications at

80%. After additional training with a supervisor, the teacher may be given one more opportunity as

determined by the supervisor.

Module

Requirements

Differences between TAKS-Alt and STAAR Alternate

T TAKS-Alternate

Assessment tasks within a subject could be selected at different complexity levels.

No transition tasks were identified.

Only one student action was demonstrated for each

predetermined criterion.

More than one response mode option for each

predetermined criterion could have been identified.

T STAAR Alternate

Only combinations of Level 3 and Level 2 tasks will be allowed within a subject. Students being assessed with level 1 tasks must stay at all

level 1 tasks for that subject.

Tasks are identified as transition if the task relates to how the skill would be used in the community once the student leaves public

school.

Students must demonstrate all actions listed in each predetermined

criterion to receive credit for demonstrating the predetermined

criterion.

Only one response mode per verb in the predetermined criteria can be identified and the student must

demonstrate that one response to get credit for the predetermined

criterion.

Assessment Tasks

More Rigorous!

Differences between TAKS-Alt and STAAR Alternate

T TAKS-Alternate

The number of primary and generalization observations was

determined by the teacher to capture a fair, typical student

performance.

Generalization could be demonstrated with a change in

personnel, materials, or environment.

No changes in materials for the observation from those used during

instruction were required.

Three points for a prompted Demonstration of Skill performance

was given.

No documentation for a No Response Observed (NRO) designation was required.

T STAAR Alternate

Only two completed observations are allowed for the primary observation and

only two completed observations are allowed for the generalization

observation.

Generalization can only be demonstrated with a change in materials.

The assessment observation must use new materials than were used during

instruction to make sure that students are demonstrating skills and not just

repeating the same response they gave during instruction.

No points for a prompted Demonstration of Skill performance are given.

Page 1 of the documentation form for the one attempted observation per subject is

required for all NRO designations.

Administration

Process

Changes involving

the rubric

may be added at a later date.

All documents will be updated to reflect

these changes.

The TAKS-Alt Resources page will be removed on June 17th.

New documents for the vertical alignments, curriculum frameworks, essence statements, and assessment tasks

are posted to the new website.

Supplementary documents will be reviewed, updated, and posted throughout the summer.

Some of the TAKS-Alt supplementary documents have been consolidated into one document or have been

eliminated.

STAAR Alternate Resources Page

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/special-ed/staaralt

Exceptions: Social Studies English I, II,III

Does the student have a significant cognitive disability?

Does the student require specialized supports to access the general education

curriculum and environment?

Does the student require intensive, individualized instruction in a variety of

instructional settings?

Does the student access and participate in the grade level TEKS through prerequisite

skills?

Does the student primarily demonstrate knowledge and skills through performance

tasks?

Participation Questions for ARD Committees

STAAR Alternate Training Focus

The new STAAR Alternate modules will be the main source of training. More information will be provided in the fall

regarding the additional training requirement by a supervisor before the third opportunity for qualification is

given.

All online system information for administrators will be provided by Pearson through web ex presentations and

the User’s Guide for the Texas Assessment System.

The September 9, 2011 TETN will provide policy updates, introduce new documents, introduce a 2011-2012

timeline, and highlight sections of the new modules.

The October 20,2011 TETN will be restricted to the ESC region centers and their invitees regarding questions and

concerns raised after the modules have been viewed.

The January 4, 2012 TETN will provide information regarding monitoring of the online system data and the

test administrators.

Important Dates

Online system surveys will be available until May 27th at

The viewing window for the District and Campus Testing Coordinators will be from May 16, 2011 until June 24,

2011.

Modules 1,2, and 3 will be released around August 29, 2011.

Module 4 will be released around October 3, 2011.

The Online System will open for DTCs on August 29, 2011.

Assessment Window dates are January 2, 2012 until April 13, 2012.

http://www.TexasAssessment.com/TAKSAltAdminSurvey1011

http://www.TexasAssessment.com/TAKSAltTeacherSurvey1011

In May of 2011, the Confidential Student Reports will provide stage change information;

however, no growth measure information will be provided since TAKS-Alt will no longer be used

for assessment.

When there are two years of STAAR Alternate data for a student, the growth measure

information will be included on the Confidential Student Report.

Growth Model for STAAR Alternate