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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The message below is being sent to you on behalf of:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sarah Drinkwater, Ph.D.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Assistant Superintendent<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Office of Learning/Student Services<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">______________________________________________
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">March 10, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">New Accommodation for Smarter Balanced ELA Assessment<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium voted last Friday (March 6, 2015) to adopt a new non-embedded accommodation for the Smarter Balanced ELA assessment. Effective immediately,
the Read Aloud non-embedded accommodation is allowed in grades 3-5 for all ELA reading passages for the 2014-2015 Smarter Balanced summative assessment administration. Please note that
<b>embedded <u>text-to-speech</u></b> is not available for ELA reading<span style="color:#1F497D">
</span>passages at grades 3 – 5. <span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similar to the accommodation for grades 6 – 8, the Read Aloud non-embedded accommodation is intended for only a limited population of students (estimated to be approximately
1-2% of students with disabilities participating in a general assessment). For example, a student who is blind and is not yet proficient in Braille). As an accommodation, there must be documented need in a student’s IEP or 504 plan.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For a detailed description of the new non-embedded read aloud accommodation for ELA reading passages at grades 3 – 5, as well as information on eligibility, please refer to
the <a href="http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/testing/admin/alt/ea/updates/oregonaccessibilitymanual.pdf">
Oregon Accessibility Manual</a>, which has been updated to reflect this new accommodation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Contact Brad Lenhardt at
<a href="mailto:Brad.Lenhardt@state.or.us">Brad.Lenhardt@state.or.us</a> if you have additional comments or questions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Ruby Sandberg, Executive Assistant
<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Oregon Department of Education<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Office of Learning l Student Services
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">503-947-5738 l FAX: 503-378-5156 l
<a href="mailto:ruby.sandberg@state.or.us"><span style="color:blue">ruby.sandberg@state.or.us</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">The Oregon Department of Education is an equal opportunity agency and employer.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt">Messages to and from this email address may be made available to the public under Oregon law.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
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