From jordan.heide at state.or.us Tue Dec 1 11:09:16 2015 From: jordan.heide at state.or.us (HEIDE Jordan) Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 19:09:16 +0000 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] HIGH IMPORTANCE: Impromptu Webinar on Classroom Activities Message-ID: Hi all, Smarter Balanced has provided ODE with supplemental information in regards to the Classroom Activity discussion you have all weighed-in on. We would like to schedule a call to discuss further, so please respond to this e-mail before the end of day, today with which of the following two times slots would work for you. *Please note that we have scheduled an hour, but may only take 30 minutes*: Thursday, December 3rd from Noon-1:00pm Friday, December 4th from 8:00am-9:00am We apologize for the late notice, but as you can understand, this discussion is extremely time-sensitive. Thank you! Jordan Heide Administrative Specialist Oregon Department of Education 255 Capitol St NE | Salem, OR 97310 | *503-947-5905 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stewartw at bctonline.com Tue Dec 1 11:16:03 2015 From: stewartw at bctonline.com (Bill Stewart) Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 11:16:03 -0800 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] HIGH IMPORTANCE: Impromptu Webinar on Classroom Activities In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <9FF02D28-D963-422F-9029-6DC1F8ED6F69@bctonline.com> Jordan, Thursday is, by far, the better option for me, but I might be able to make the 4th work, though I will be out of town with limited / low quality cell access. Please let us know ASAP so we can block out the correct time. Thanks, Bill Bill Stewart 503-805-8680 - c > On Dec 1, 2015, at 11:09 AM, HEIDE Jordan wrote: > > Hi all, > > Smarter Balanced has provided ODE with supplemental information in regards to the Classroom Activity discussion you have all weighed-in on. We would like to schedule a call to discuss further, so please respond to this e-mail before the end of day, today with which of the following two times slots would work for you. *Please note that we have scheduled an hour, but may only take 30 minutes*: > > Thursday, December 3rd from Noon-1:00pm > Friday, December 4th from 8:00am-9:00am > > We apologize for the late notice, but as you can understand, this discussion is extremely time-sensitive. > > Thank you! > > Jordan Heide > Administrative Specialist > Oregon Department of Education > 255 Capitol St NE | Salem, OR 97310 | ?503-947-5905 > > > > _____________________________________________________ > Assessment_Advisory_Committee mailing list > Assessment_Advisory_Committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us > http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/assessment_advisory_committee > Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for content. > Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s) or the sender of the message, by phone or email. > Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From staplesd at newberg.k12.or.us Tue Dec 1 13:13:51 2015 From: staplesd at newberg.k12.or.us (Don Staples) Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 13:13:51 -0800 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] HIGH IMPORTANCE: Impromptu Webinar on Classroom Activities In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I prefer Friday, but can certainly make Thursday work without too much trouble. Don Staples On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 11:09 AM, HEIDE Jordan wrote: > Hi all, > > Smarter Balanced has provided ODE with supplemental information in regards > to the Classroom Activity discussion you have all weighed-in on. We would > like to schedule a call to discuss further, so please respond to this > e-mail *before the end of day, today *with which of the following two > times slots would work for you. **Please note that we have scheduled an > hour, but may only take 30 minutes**: > > Thursday, December 3rd from Noon-1:00pm > Friday, December 4th from 8:00am-9:00am > > We apologize for the late notice, but as you can understand, this > discussion is extremely time-sensitive. > > Thank you! > > *Jordan Heide* > Administrative Specialist > Oregon Department of Education > 255 Capitol St NE | Salem, OR 97310 | ?503-947-5905 > > > > > _____________________________________________________ > Assessment_Advisory_Committee mailing list > Assessment_Advisory_Committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us > > http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/assessment_advisory_committee > Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for > content. > Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s) > or the sender of the message, by phone or email. > Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800. > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bbain at ttsd.k12.or.us Tue Dec 1 14:34:48 2015 From: bbain at ttsd.k12.or.us (Bain, Brian) Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 22:34:48 +0000 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] HIGH IMPORTANCE: Impromptu Webinar on Classroom Activities In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <016B0BFF1DF04E44B5C8ED9AACF3243A93882C22@EX1.ttsd.ttsd.k12.or.us> Neither is ideal, but either will work. Brian Bain District Assessment Coordinator Tigard-Tualatin School District 6960 SW Sandburg St, Tigard, OR 97223 503-431-4120 - bbain at ttsd.k12.or.us From: Assessment_Advisory_Committee [mailto:assessment_advisory_committee-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of Don Staples Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2015 1:14 PM To: HEIDE Jordan Cc: assessment_advisory_committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Subject: Re: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] HIGH IMPORTANCE: Impromptu Webinar on Classroom Activities I prefer Friday, but can certainly make Thursday work without too much trouble. Don Staples On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 11:09 AM, HEIDE Jordan > wrote: Hi all, Smarter Balanced has provided ODE with supplemental information in regards to the Classroom Activity discussion you have all weighed-in on. We would like to schedule a call to discuss further, so please respond to this e-mail before the end of day, today with which of the following two times slots would work for you. *Please note that we have scheduled an hour, but may only take 30 minutes*: Thursday, December 3rd from Noon-1:00pm Friday, December 4th from 8:00am-9:00am We apologize for the late notice, but as you can understand, this discussion is extremely time-sensitive. Thank you! Jordan Heide Administrative Specialist Oregon Department of Education 255 Capitol St NE | Salem, OR 97310 | ?503-947-5905 _____________________________________________________ Assessment_Advisory_Committee mailing list Assessment_Advisory_Committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/assessment_advisory_committee Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for content. Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s) or the sender of the message, by phone or email. Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jordan.heide at state.or.us Tue Dec 1 14:49:50 2015 From: jordan.heide at state.or.us (HEIDE Jordan) Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 22:49:50 +0000 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] Friday 12/4: Impromptu Webinar on Classroom Activities Message-ID: Hi all, The time slot that worked best for most of you is Friday, December 4th, at 8:00am. Here is the call-in information: Assessment Advisory: Classroom Activities Fri, Dec 4, 2015 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/699916093 You can also dial in using your phone. United States : +1 (571) 317-3129 Access Code: 699-916-093 More phone numbers Germany (Toll-free): 0 800 184 4222 Jordan Heide 503-947-5905 From: Assessment_Advisory_Committee [mailto:assessment_advisory_committee-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of HEIDE Jordan Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2015 11:09 AM To: assessment_advisory_committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] HIGH IMPORTANCE: Impromptu Webinar on Classroom Activities Importance: High Hi all, Smarter Balanced has provided ODE with supplemental information in regards to the Classroom Activity discussion you have all weighed-in on. We would like to schedule a call to discuss further, so please respond to this e-mail before the end of day, today with which of the following two times slots would work for you. *Please note that we have scheduled an hour, but may only take 30 minutes*: Thursday, December 3rd from Noon-1:00pm Friday, December 4th from 8:00am-9:00am We apologize for the late notice, but as you can understand, this discussion is extremely time-sensitive. Thank you! Jordan Heide Administrative Specialist Oregon Department of Education 255 Capitol St NE | Salem, OR 97310 | ?503-947-5905 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jordan.heide at state.or.us Thu Dec 3 10:12:02 2015 From: jordan.heide at state.or.us (HEIDE Jordan) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2015 18:12:02 +0000 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] ELPA21 Pause Rule Message-ID: This past summer, as ODE planned for Oregon's deployment of ELPA21 we adopted a new 60 minute pause rule based on the understanding that ELPA21 would be requiring a pause rule. Under a pause rule, students are no longer able to go back and review or edit item responses after a pause of a designated length of time. However, it has recently come to ODE's attention that ELPA21 will not be requiring states to impose a pause rule after all. Based on this recent clarification, ODE would like your feedback whether to rescind the new 60 minute pause rule for ELPA21 and reinstate our past policy of having no pause rule in effect for Oregon's ELPA21. To support timely communication to the field should we rescind the ELPA21 pause rule, we request your feedback by next Tuesday, Dec. 8. Please send your feedback to Jordan Heide at jordan.heide at state.or.us. Thank you as always for your time and consideration! Jordan Heide Administrative Specialist Oregon Department of Education 255 Capitol St NE | Salem, OR 97310 | *503-947-5905 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From holly.carter at state.or.us Tue Dec 8 15:22:17 2015 From: holly.carter at state.or.us (CARTER Holly) Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2015 23:22:17 +0000 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] classroom activity communication Message-ID: To: Assessment Advisory Committee Subject: Classroom Activity Communication Thank you all for engaging with us over the past couple weeks as we evaluated the new Smarter Balanced consortium policy on the classroom activity and decided how best to implement this policy in Oregon. As we discussed on our call last Friday, ultimately we decided to remove the classroom activities this year. To that end, we have developed the following communication which is being shared with key partners today and will go out statewide tomorrow. This was a difficult decision to make, and your input was instrumental. Thank you for your collaboration and partnership. Smarter Balanced Classroom Activity Requirement Removed for 2015-16 New for 2015-16, the Smarter Balanced Consortium has voted to remove the classroom activity as a required precursor of the Smarter Balanced performance tasks for Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This change in administration was made following the recommendation of the Smarter Balanced Technical Advisory Committee and a vote taken by the Smarter Balanced governing states. The decision to remove the classroom activity requirement is part of the Smarter Balanced Consortium's commitment to continuous improvement and represents a way to streamline the test administration process without negatively impacting access for students. To ensure that students would not be negatively impacted by the removal of the classroom activity, the decision to remove the classroom activity was informed by a multi-state review of all performance tasks to be used during the 2015-2016 testing period conducted by the Smarter Balanced Consortium. Given that the initial intent of the classroom activity was to provide students with additional background in the subject matter associated with the performance task in order to level the playing field, the purpose of the review was to confirm whether the performance tasks contain sufficient explanation and context on their own without relying on a pre-test classroom activity. The outcome of this review determined that the majority of performance tasks contain sufficient scaffolding and embedded accessibility supports (including glossaries and footnotes) so that they can stand alone, without the necessity for a pre-test classroom activity. The review also identified those performance tasks that could not adequately stand alone; these performance tasks have been eliminated to ensure that only those performance tasks with sufficient embedded accessibility supports to stand alone are presented to students. Moving forward, all performance tasks to be developed in future years will continue the practice of having embedded supports, and will not be written to include a classroom activity component. As a result of the discontinuation of the classroom activity, we anticipate seeing a variety of benefits, including: * Accessibility supports such as glossaries will be built directly into the performance tasks; * Performance tasks will be randomly assigned to students within a school and classroom without being associated with a common classroom activity, increasing test security; * Testing time will be reduced up to one hour (30 minutes each for Mathematics and ELA); * Logistical considerations related to the administration of the classroom activity will be eliminated, including printing of materials, tracking student participation, and providing make-up opportunities. ODE will update the 2015-16 Test Administration Manual and training materials related to administering the test to reflect the removal of the classroom activity. To support students through this transition, it is strongly recommended that teachers use the Smarter Balanced practice tests available through the OAKS Portal at www.oaks.portal.org to ensure students have an opportunity to practice responding to a performance task and to familiarize both teachers and their students with the wide variety of supports available to make the tests accessible to students. Holly Carter Interim Director of Assessment Office of Learning | Inst., Stand., Asmt, &Acc. Unit | Oregon Department of Education Phone: 503.947.5739 | Fax: 503.378.5156 | *holly.carter at state.or.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stewartw at bctonline.com Tue Dec 8 15:32:03 2015 From: stewartw at bctonline.com (Bill Stewart) Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2015 15:32:03 -0800 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] classroom activity communication In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks Holly! Seems clear to me and I expect it will work for DTCs and others too. It will be interesting to see if / how the media reacts. Thanks again!! Bill Bill Stewart's iPhone > On Dec 8, 2015, at 3:22 PM, CARTER Holly wrote: > > To: Assessment Advisory Committee > Subject: Classroom Activity Communication > > Thank you all for engaging with us over the past couple weeks as we evaluated the new Smarter Balanced consortium policy on the classroom activity and decided how best to implement this policy in Oregon. As we discussed on our call last Friday, ultimately we decided to remove the classroom activities this year. To that end, we have developed the following communication which is being shared with key partners today and will go out statewide tomorrow. This was a difficult decision to make, and your input was instrumental. Thank you for your collaboration and partnership. > > Smarter Balanced Classroom Activity Requirement Removed for 2015-16 > New for 2015-16, the Smarter Balanced Consortium has voted to remove the classroom activity as a required precursor of the Smarter Balanced performance tasks for Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This change in administration was made following the recommendation of the Smarter Balanced Technical Advisory Committee and a vote taken by the Smarter Balanced governing states. The decision to remove the classroom activity requirement is part of the Smarter Balanced Consortium?s commitment to continuous improvement and represents a way to streamline the test administration process without negatively impacting access for students. > > To ensure that students would not be negatively impacted by the removal of the classroom activity, the decision to remove the classroom activity was informed by a multi-state review of all performance tasks to be used during the 2015-2016 testing period conducted by the Smarter Balanced Consortium. Given that the initial intent of the classroom activity was to provide students with additional background in the subject matter associated with the performance task in order to level the playing field, the purpose of the review was to confirm whether the performance tasks contain sufficient explanation and context on their own without relying on a pre-test classroom activity. The outcome of this review determined that the majority of performance tasks contain sufficient scaffolding and embedded accessibility supports (including glossaries and footnotes) so that they can stand alone, without the necessity for a pre-test classroom activity. The review also identified those performance tasks that could not adequately stand alone; these performance tasks have been eliminated to ensure that only those performance tasks with sufficient embedded accessibility supports to stand alone are presented to students. Moving forward, all performance tasks to be developed in future years will continue the practice of having embedded supports, and will not be written to include a classroom activity component. > > As a result of the discontinuation of the classroom activity, we anticipate seeing a variety of benefits, including: > Accessibility supports such as glossaries will be built directly into the performance tasks; > Performance tasks will be randomly assigned to students within a school and classroom without being associated with a common classroom activity, increasing test security; > Testing time will be reduced up to one hour (30 minutes each for Mathematics and ELA); > Logistical considerations related to the administration of the classroom activity will be eliminated, including printing of materials, tracking student participation, and providing make-up opportunities. > > ODE will update the 2015-16 Test Administration Manual and training materials related to administering the test to reflect the removal of the classroom activity. To support students through this transition, it is strongly recommended that teachers use the Smarter Balanced practice tests available through the OAKS Portal at www.oaks.portal.org to ensure students have an opportunity to practice responding to a performance task and to familiarize both teachers and their students with the wide variety of supports available to make the tests accessible to students. > > > Holly Carter > Interim Director of Assessment > Office of Learning | Inst., Stand., Asmt, &Acc. Unit | Oregon Department of Education > Phone: 503.947.5739 | Fax: 503.378.5156 | *holly.carter at state.or.us > > > > > _____________________________________________________ > Assessment_Advisory_Committee mailing list > Assessment_Advisory_Committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us > http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/assessment_advisory_committee > Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for content. > Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s) or the sender of the message, by phone or email. > Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From holly.carter at state.or.us Tue Dec 22 16:33:09 2015 From: holly.carter at state.or.us (CARTER Holly) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2015 00:33:09 +0000 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] TIDE Focus Groups In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: To: Assessment Advisory Subject: TIDE Focus Groups AIR is recruiting TIDE users at the school and district level to serve on focus groups between January 11 and 22 to offer feedback on a redesign of the current TIDE system designed to improve the user experience. Based on logistics, participants can either join an in-person focus group or be interviewed one-on-one. Some of the interviews will be conducted remotely using conferencing software. Participants will be asked about their current TIDE use, including the types of activities they perform using TIDE, how they batch these activities, and which activities are most time consuming. They will then view and comment on prototype pages from an updated TIDE interface designed to address the most common issues raised by users in the past. Participation by TIDE users in Oregon will help to ensure that the updated TIDE system meets your needs. Below is additional information about the scope of the proposed focus groups: Sample AIR is looking to talk with the people who use TIDE the most. The mix of school-level versus district (or area) level users can be adjusted based on your understanding of how Oregon schools and districts use TIDE. However, AIR would like to avoid mixing people with different levels of responsibility, i.e., district- and school-level, in the same focus group. AIR also wants to represent large districts with full time staff assigned to test coordination and smaller districts and schools, where test coordination is only one part of a person's job. AIR is currently planning to conduct two focus groups, each with 4-7 STCs, and 2-3 interviews with DTCs or district-level TIDE users. (Note: Focus groups with STCs would need to be done with STCs from schools that are close to each other so that the STCs could travel to a central location for the focus group.) Duration One-on-one interviews are expected to last 90 minutes; focus groups will last 90 to 120 minutes and will be scheduled after school at convenient locations. Incentives Where appropriate, AIR will provide a $50 incentive for each participant. Thank-you incentives (in the range of $100) can also be considered for schools that host focus groups or for agencies that allow their employees to participate during work hours. Scheduling AIR would like to complete all the interviews and focus groups between January 11 and January 22. To help ensure that Oregon users are effectively represented, ODE requests your input on how best to recruit STCs, DTCs, and other district- and school-level users of TIDE. Of course, if you have individual recommendations, please feel free to share those as well. So that AIR can meet its timeline, we request that you please provide your input (or nominations) to Jordan Heide at jordan.heide at state.or.us by Wednesday, January 6. Thank you for any help you can provide us with this! Holly Carter Interim Director of Assessment Office of Learning | Inst., Stand., Asmt, &Acc. Unit | Oregon Department of Education Phone: 503.947.5739 | Fax: 503.378.5156 | *holly.carter at state.or.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bbain at ttsd.k12.or.us Wed Dec 23 08:32:56 2015 From: bbain at ttsd.k12.or.us (Bain, Brian) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2015 16:32:56 +0000 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] TIDE Focus Groups In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <016B0BFF1DF04E44B5C8ED9AACF3243A938DEA42@EX1.ttsd.ttsd.k12.or.us> To help ensure that Oregon users are effectively represented, ODE requests your input on how best to recruit STCs, DTCs, and other district- and school-level users of TIDE. Obviously recruiting through the regular channels, DTCs, AA update, and the Superintendents is useful, but make it clear that it's intended to reach STCs as well as DTCs. (ie: Forward this email to your School Test Coordinators.) I think you would want to gather participants from a range of districts based on size, geographic distribution and how they're supported with this tool through their ESD. (I imagine there are smaller districts where the ESD does much of the work for them.) I would certainly volunteer mine or Theda's services. Theda Pansevicius is our assessment assistant, who does a majority of the work with TIDE and STCs. She also has great ideas about how to make systems and business processes more thorough and efficient. To help in your distribution: Tigard-Tualatin is a suburban district of about 12,500 students and 18 STCs in the Portland Metro area with demographics that are very similar in distribution to the state's demographics, though slightly higher social-economically. Brian Bain District Assessment Coordinator Tigard-Tualatin School District 6960 SW Sandburg St, Tigard, OR 97223 503-431-4120 - bbain at ttsd.k12.or.us From: Assessment_Advisory_Committee [mailto:assessment_advisory_committee-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of CARTER Holly Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 4:33 PM To: assessment_advisory_committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Cc: Greenberg, Elizabeth Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] TIDE Focus Groups To: Assessment Advisory Subject: TIDE Focus Groups AIR is recruiting TIDE users at the school and district level to serve on focus groups between January 11 and 22 to offer feedback on a redesign of the current TIDE system designed to improve the user experience. Based on logistics, participants can either join an in-person focus group or be interviewed one-on-one. Some of the interviews will be conducted remotely using conferencing software. Participants will be asked about their current TIDE use, including the types of activities they perform using TIDE, how they batch these activities, and which activities are most time consuming. They will then view and comment on prototype pages from an updated TIDE interface designed to address the most common issues raised by users in the past. Participation by TIDE users in Oregon will help to ensure that the updated TIDE system meets your needs. Below is additional information about the scope of the proposed focus groups: Sample AIR is looking to talk with the people who use TIDE the most. The mix of school-level versus district (or area) level users can be adjusted based on your understanding of how Oregon schools and districts use TIDE. However, AIR would like to avoid mixing people with different levels of responsibility, i.e., district- and school-level, in the same focus group. AIR also wants to represent large districts with full time staff assigned to test coordination and smaller districts and schools, where test coordination is only one part of a person's job. AIR is currently planning to conduct two focus groups, each with 4-7 STCs, and 2-3 interviews with DTCs or district-level TIDE users. (Note: Focus groups with STCs would need to be done with STCs from schools that are close to each other so that the STCs could travel to a central location for the focus group.) Duration One-on-one interviews are expected to last 90 minutes; focus groups will last 90 to 120 minutes and will be scheduled after school at convenient locations. Incentives Where appropriate, AIR will provide a $50 incentive for each participant. Thank-you incentives (in the range of $100) can also be considered for schools that host focus groups or for agencies that allow their employees to participate during work hours. Scheduling AIR would like to complete all the interviews and focus groups between January 11 and January 22. To help ensure that Oregon users are effectively represented, ODE requests your input on how best to recruit STCs, DTCs, and other district- and school-level users of TIDE. Of course, if you have individual recommendations, please feel free to share those as well. So that AIR can meet its timeline, we request that you please provide your input (or nominations) to Jordan Heide at jordan.heide at state.or.us by Wednesday, January 6. Thank you for any help you can provide us with this! Holly Carter Interim Director of Assessment Office of Learning | Inst., Stand., Asmt, &Acc. Unit | Oregon Department of Education Phone: 503.947.5739 | Fax: 503.378.5156 | *holly.carter at state.or.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stewartw at gladstone.k12.or.us Wed Dec 23 08:59:32 2015 From: stewartw at gladstone.k12.or.us (Bill Stewart) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2015 08:59:32 -0800 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] TIDE Focus Groups In-Reply-To: <016B0BFF1DF04E44B5C8ED9AACF3243A938DEA42@EX1.ttsd.ttsd.k12.or.us> References: <016B0BFF1DF04E44B5C8ED9AACF3243A938DEA42@EX1.ttsd.ttsd.k12.or.us> Message-ID: All, I agree with Brian's comments re diverse representation - schools of all shapes, sizes, location, prosperity and color need to be represented, as well as multiple levels of users. Will the number/size of the focus groups suggested really allow that? Re this statement - *"...**offer feedback on a redesign of the current TIDE system designed to improve the user experience."* This implies TIDE is somehow 'broken', which might be true....are you going ASK if there is a need for change or is that a foregone conclusion? I presume (hope) that the focus groups will get more specific / focused tasks to address...otherwise you might end up with such a broad array of responses that any conclusion could be hard to consider as a mandate for change. ALSO...I wonder/worry about the time & date slots indicated. Effective communication TO schools will likely not be possible until Jan 4 or after. By the time the necessary exchanges take place, it seems like starting on Jan. 11 could be unrealistic. "After school" could work well for some, but might not for others... and the actual 'after school' time when folks in different districts could start might vary a lot. Quite few districts use after school time for standing meetings (both teacher and admin). I urge some degree of flexibility re timing so that the breadth and diversity of representation is not hampered. Overall, I agree that taking a look at potential / essential upgrades to TIDE is worth doing! Thanks for asking! Bill On Wed, Dec 23, 2015 at 8:32 AM, Bain, Brian wrote: > > > *To help ensure that Oregon users are effectively represented, ODE > requests your input on how best to recruit STCs, DTCs, and other district- > and school-level users of TIDE.* > > > > Obviously recruiting through the regular channels, DTCs, AA update, and > the Superintendents is useful, but make it clear that it's intended to > reach STCs as well as DTCs. (ie: Forward this email to your School Test > Coordinators.) I think you would want to gather participants from a range > of districts based on size, geographic distribution and how they're > supported with this tool through their ESD. (I imagine there are smaller > districts where the ESD does much of the work for them.) > > > > I would certainly volunteer mine or Theda's services. Theda Pansevicius > is our assessment assistant, who does a majority of the work with TIDE and > STCs. She also has great ideas about how to make systems and business > processes more thorough and efficient. > > > > To help in your distribution: Tigard-Tualatin is a suburban district of > about 12,500 students and 18 STCs in the Portland Metro area with > demographics that are very similar in distribution to the state's > demographics, though slightly higher social-economically. > > > > > > Brian Bain > > District Assessment Coordinator > > Tigard-Tualatin School District > > 6960 SW Sandburg St, Tigard, OR 97223 > > 503-431-4120 - bbain at ttsd.k12.or.us > > > > *From:* Assessment_Advisory_Committee [mailto: > assessment_advisory_committee-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] *On > Behalf Of *CARTER Holly > *Sent:* Tuesday, December 22, 2015 4:33 PM > *To:* assessment_advisory_committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us > *Cc:* Greenberg, Elizabeth > *Subject:* [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] TIDE Focus Groups > > > > To: Assessment Advisory > > Subject: TIDE Focus Groups > > > > AIR is recruiting TIDE users at the school and district level to serve on > focus groups between January 11 and 22 to offer feedback on a redesign of > the current TIDE system designed to improve the user experience. Based on > logistics, participants can either join an in-person focus group or be > interviewed one-on-one. Some of the interviews will be conducted remotely > using conferencing software. > > > > Participants will be asked about their current TIDE use, including the > types of activities they perform using TIDE, how they batch these > activities, and which activities are most time consuming. They will then > view and comment on prototype pages from an updated TIDE interface designed > to address the most common issues raised by users in the past. > Participation by TIDE users in Oregon will help to ensure that the updated > TIDE system meets your needs. Below is additional information about the > scope of the proposed focus groups: > > > > *Sample* > > AIR is looking to talk with the people who use TIDE the most. The mix of > school-level versus district (or area) level users can be adjusted based on > your understanding of how Oregon schools and districts use TIDE. However, > AIR would like to avoid mixing people with different levels of > responsibility, i.e., district- and school-level, in the same focus group. > > > > AIR also wants to represent large districts with full time staff assigned > to test coordination and smaller districts and schools, where test > coordination is only one part of a person?s job. > > > > AIR is currently planning to conduct two focus groups, each with 4-7 STCs, > and 2-3 interviews with DTCs or district-level TIDE users. (Note: Focus > groups with STCs would need to be done with STCs from schools that are > close to each other so that the STCs could travel to a central location for > the focus group.) > > > > *Duration* > > One-on-one interviews are expected to last 90 minutes; focus groups will > last 90 to 120 minutes and will be scheduled after school at convenient > locations. > > > > *Incentives* > > Where appropriate, AIR will provide a $50 incentive for each participant. > Thank-you incentives (in the range of $100) can also be considered for > schools that host focus groups or for agencies that allow their employees > to participate during work hours. > > > > *Scheduling* > > AIR would like to complete all the interviews and focus groups between > January 11 and January 22. > > > > To help ensure that Oregon users are effectively represented, ODE requests > your input on how best to recruit STCs, DTCs, and other district- and > school-level users of TIDE. Of course, if you have individual > recommendations, please feel free to share those as well. So that AIR can > meet its timeline, we request that you please provide your input (or > nominations) to Jordan Heide at jordan.heide at state.or.us by *Wednesday, > January 6.* Thank you for any help you can provide us with this! > > > > > > *Holly Carter* > Interim Director of Assessment > > Office of Learning | Inst., Stand., Asmt, &Acc. Unit | Oregon Department > of Education > > Phone: 503.947.5739 | Fax: 503.378.5156 | *holly.carter at state.or.us > > > > > > > > > > _____________________________________________________ > Assessment_Advisory_Committee mailing list > Assessment_Advisory_Committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us > > http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/assessment_advisory_committee > Hosted by the Oregon State Library. The Library is not responsible for > content. > Questions related to message content should be directed to list owner(s) > or the sender of the message, by phone or email. > Technical questions? Call 503-378-8800. > > -- Bill Stewart Special Projects Gladstone SD stewartw at gladstone.k12.or.us 503-805-8680 - cell -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From CARLSON_CATHERINE at salkeiz.k12.or.us Wed Dec 23 08:43:23 2015 From: CARLSON_CATHERINE at salkeiz.k12.or.us (Catherine Carlson) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2015 16:43:23 +0000 Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] TIDE Focus Groups In-Reply-To: <016B0BFF1DF04E44B5C8ED9AACF3243A938DEA42@EX1.ttsd.ttsd.k12.or.us> References: <016B0BFF1DF04E44B5C8ED9AACF3243A938DEA42@EX1.ttsd.ttsd.k12.or.us> Message-ID: Holly, I think distribution to DTCs and STCs is the best way to recruit participants. I have a very skilled teacher in my department who is very familiar with TIDE and supports school users of TIDE, so she could provide good feedback, as could a number of our more experienced STCs if they're willing. Catherine Carlson Coordinator Testing & Evaluation/Student Records Department Salem-Keizer School District 503-399-5590 FAX 503-391-4088 Supporting student achievement through information, professional development, and assessment services From: Assessment_Advisory_Committee [mailto:assessment_advisory_committee-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of Bain, Brian Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 8:33 AM To: CARTER Holly; assessment_advisory_committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Cc: Greenberg, Elizabeth Subject: Re: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] TIDE Focus Groups To help ensure that Oregon users are effectively represented, ODE requests your input on how best to recruit STCs, DTCs, and other district- and school-level users of TIDE. Obviously recruiting through the regular channels, DTCs, AA update, and the Superintendents is useful, but make it clear that it's intended to reach STCs as well as DTCs. (ie: Forward this email to your School Test Coordinators.) I think you would want to gather participants from a range of districts based on size, geographic distribution and how they're supported with this tool through their ESD. (I imagine there are smaller districts where the ESD does much of the work for them.) I would certainly volunteer mine or Theda's services. Theda Pansevicius is our assessment assistant, who does a majority of the work with TIDE and STCs. She also has great ideas about how to make systems and business processes more thorough and efficient. To help in your distribution: Tigard-Tualatin is a suburban district of about 12,500 students and 18 STCs in the Portland Metro area with demographics that are very similar in distribution to the state's demographics, though slightly higher social-economically. Brian Bain District Assessment Coordinator Tigard-Tualatin School District 6960 SW Sandburg St, Tigard, OR 97223 503-431-4120 - bbain at ttsd.k12.or.us From: Assessment_Advisory_Committee [mailto:assessment_advisory_committee-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of CARTER Holly Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 4:33 PM To: assessment_advisory_committee at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Cc: Greenberg, Elizabeth Subject: [Assessment_Advisory_Committee] TIDE Focus Groups To: Assessment Advisory Subject: TIDE Focus Groups AIR is recruiting TIDE users at the school and district level to serve on focus groups between January 11 and 22 to offer feedback on a redesign of the current TIDE system designed to improve the user experience. Based on logistics, participants can either join an in-person focus group or be interviewed one-on-one. Some of the interviews will be conducted remotely using conferencing software. Participants will be asked about their current TIDE use, including the types of activities they perform using TIDE, how they batch these activities, and which activities are most time consuming. They will then view and comment on prototype pages from an updated TIDE interface designed to address the most common issues raised by users in the past. Participation by TIDE users in Oregon will help to ensure that the updated TIDE system meets your needs. Below is additional information about the scope of the proposed focus groups: Sample AIR is looking to talk with the people who use TIDE the most. The mix of school-level versus district (or area) level users can be adjusted based on your understanding of how Oregon schools and districts use TIDE. However, AIR would like to avoid mixing people with different levels of responsibility, i.e., district- and school-level, in the same focus group. AIR also wants to represent large districts with full time staff assigned to test coordination and smaller districts and schools, where test coordination is only one part of a person's job. AIR is currently planning to conduct two focus groups, each with 4-7 STCs, and 2-3 interviews with DTCs or district-level TIDE users. (Note: Focus groups with STCs would need to be done with STCs from schools that are close to each other so that the STCs could travel to a central location for the focus group.) Duration One-on-one interviews are expected to last 90 minutes; focus groups will last 90 to 120 minutes and will be scheduled after school at convenient locations. Incentives Where appropriate, AIR will provide a $50 incentive for each participant. Thank-you incentives (in the range of $100) can also be considered for schools that host focus groups or for agencies that allow their employees to participate during work hours. Scheduling AIR would like to complete all the interviews and focus groups between January 11 and January 22. To help ensure that Oregon users are effectively represented, ODE requests your input on how best to recruit STCs, DTCs, and other district- and school-level users of TIDE. Of course, if you have individual recommendations, please feel free to share those as well. So that AIR can meet its timeline, we request that you please provide your input (or nominations) to Jordan Heide at jordan.heide at state.or.us by Wednesday, January 6. Thank you for any help you can provide us with this! Holly Carter Interim Director of Assessment Office of Learning | Inst., Stand., Asmt, &Acc. Unit | Oregon Department of Education Phone: 503.947.5739 | Fax: 503.378.5156 | *holly.carter at state.or.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: