Should you wish to be removed from this email list or if someone in your district needs to be added, please contact Jessica Hassell at jhassell@esc6.net.

For the spring 2021 STAAR administrations, certain grade- and subject-level tests have online forms that do not include PNP options. Should a student start an online test without PNP and need to have PNP added, the previously started test must be reset. The system will restrict making PNP changes that require a test form change. Should you need to make a change to PNP after a test has been started but are restricted from doing so, you will need to contact the Texas Assessment Support Center and request a test reset. These test resets, which involve a test form change, will nullify any responses previously provided by a student on that test. Therefore, it is very important to verify PNP settings prior to the start of an online test.

Online Testing Information:
Testing group rosters and student test tickets for the April 2021 STAAR administrations will be available for downloading and printing through the STAAR Assessment Management System one week prior to the test administrations. For more online testing information (e.g., proctor test logins, online testing for out-of-district and out-of-school students), district testing coordinators should review Section 7 Online Testing of the Assessment Management System User’s Guide.

The online testing window for the April 2021 STAAR administration will close at 9:00 p.m. (CT) on May 7, 2021. Test attributes must be verified and updated by the close of the test window. As a reminder, test attributes include score codes, accommodations, designated supports, test indicators, agency use, local use, and new-to-Texas indicators. For information on updating test attributes and score codes, see Section 7.5.5 and Section 7.5.6 of the Assessment Management System User’s Guide.

Support Center:
The Texas Assessment Support Center will be providing extended hours of support from March 29–May 7, 2021, for the April 2021 STAAR administrations. Customer service representatives will be available to assist districts Monday–Friday, 7:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m. (CT) during this period.

For districts that would like to administer STAAR assessments on Saturdays during the extended online testing window, phone support will be available on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (CT), beginning Saturday April 10. Saturday testing and support will not be available on Saturday, April 17, because the system is scheduled to be offline. Phone support will only be available for questions related to Saturday testing. Districts should avoid scheduling STAAR assessments with a writing component on these days.

Initial Orders Materials Lists and Shipments:

Materials lists will be available in the STAAR Assessment Management System by:

• March 22, 2021, for Algebra I, Biology, and U.S. History, and
• March 29, 2021, for grades 3–8, Algebra II, and English III.

Districts may place additional orders in the Assessment Management System:

• April 5–27, 2021, for Algebra I, Biology, and U.S. History, and
• April 12–May 4, 2021, for grades 3–8, Algebra II, and English III.

Combined initial orders of secure and non-secure test materials are scheduled to arrive in districts:

• April 12–16, 2021, for Algebra I, Biology, and U.S. History, and
• April 19–23, 2021, for grades 3–8, Algebra II, and English III.

For some districts, precoded answer documents will arrive in a separate shipment by:

• April 23, 2021, for Algebra I, Biology, and U.S. History, and
• April 30, 2021, for grades 3–8, Algebra II, and English III.

Districts scheduled for freight shipments will receive test materials and precoded answer documents in a single shipment. For detailed information about materials shipments for this administration, district testing coordinators should review the Initial Orders Materials Lists and Shipments webpage.

Test Booklet Serial Number Report:

Districts will be able to download a cumulative CSV file of the Test Book Serial Number Report for a list of serial numbers of STAAR test booklets assigned and delivered to the district. The report will include serial numbers from initial shipments and will be updated nightly as orders for additional materials are fulfilled. To download the file, go to Reports > Orders > Test Booklet Serial Number Report in the Assessment Management System.

The Test Booklet Serial Number Report will be available beginning March 22, 2021, for Algebra I, Biology, U.S. History, and beginning March 29, 2021, for grades 3–8, Algebra II, and English III. This report will be available to districts as their orders are packed and serial numbers become available for the test booklets assigned to each district. A complete list of barcodes for districts’ initial orders will be available prior to delivery of initial orders. ETS will continue to send the bar code file containing serial numbers to specific vendors that work with districts.

The out-of-district (OOD) and out-of-school (OOS) Test Site Registration form for the June 2021 STAAR administration will be available March 29–May 14, 2021. Districts must register each participating OOD/OOS test site directly in the Assessment Management System. See Section 4.2 Volunteer Test Sites of the Assessment Management System User’s Guide for more information and detailed instructions.

• As a reminder, the STAAR Alternate 2 assessment window opens on March 29, 2021, and closes on May 7.
• The date provided in the Calendar of Events for “Student results available in Texas Assessment portals” is incorrect. The correct date for STAAR Alternate 2 is June 1, 2021.

As a reminder, the TELPAS and TELPAS Alternate registration and test administration windows have been extended to May 28, 2021. As a result of the window extension, reporting dates have also been extended. See the table below for all dates that have been adjusted.

For questions and assistance regarding the information in this communication, contact the Customer Service Center using the live chat feature, the Pearson Customer Support Form, or by calling 800-627-0225.

• Although the TELPAS assessment window has been extended until May 28th, the window for rater calibration stays the same so it will end this Friday, April 2nd.

• Your district does not have to utilize the whole window if it is not needed. You can complete all testing prior to May 28th according to your original local schedule.

• Once testing is completed, follow your local procedures to review all TELPAS ratings, tests and demographic info for completeness and accuracy. Pearson will upload once the window closes. Checking the Combined Status Report will help ensure that all information has been entered. (see user's guide for the Assessment Management System for help)

• The extended window has no impact on assessing new enrollees. For students who enroll after Feb. 22nd, the receiving district only needs to complete the online TELPAS assessments (listening, speaking, writing) if they were not completed by the sending district. Receiving districts do not have to complete any holistic ratings for students who enroll after Feb. 22.

Sandy Garcia - Special Programs Component Director

Region 6 Education Service Center

sgarcia@esc6.net

936.435.8253

The report can be found here: Legislative Report: State of Texas Transition to Online Assessments Feasibility Study-December 2020 (PDF posted 1/4/20).

The “Preparing for the Release of Spring 2021 Scores” webinar will take place Tuesday, March 30, 2021, 1:30–3:00 p.m. (CT). Select the link to register for the training. Web information, registration links, and recordings are also available in the District and Campus Coordinator Resources on the Training webpage.

For additional information on these topics, refer to the Assessment Management System User's Guide. For questions or assistance regarding the information in this communication, contact the Texas Assessment Support Center at 855-333-7770, STAAR3-8@ets.org, STAAREOC@ets.org, or via live chat through the Assessment Management System.

Click here for directions on how to import each Testing calendar into your Outlook or Google calendars.

The printed version of the 2020–2021 Calendar of Events varies slightly from the online version. The online version has been updated to reflect that the STAAR grade 8 science and social studies tests are also available online on May 6 and 7. These testing dates correspond with the testing dates listed on the Student Assessment Testing Calendar for the 2020-2021 School Year.

As mentioned in the March 5, 2021 bulletin, AEA grades 6–12 enrollment criterion has been updated from 50% to 90% in response to an AEA taskforce recommendation. This adjustment aligns with the original intent of limiting AEA provisions to middle and high schools. This update disqualified 22 campuses from AEA for 2021:

• 11 Alternative Education Campuses (AEC) of Choice
  • 8 PK–12 charter campuses
  • 2 ISD AECs that have not received ratings due to unique programs
  • 1 ISD AEC
• 11 Residential Treatment Facilities (which do not receive accountability ratings, even in a typical year, regardless of AEA status)

As a reminder, all districts and campuses will receive a Not Rated: Declared State of Disaster label regardless of AEA status for 2021. The 2021 AEA list will be used or informational purposes by TEA divisions such as AskTED, PEIMS, and the Charter Schools Division.

This notification is to inform you that 2021 alternative education accountability (AEA) registration is now open in Texas Education Agency Login (TEAL) Accountability and will close April 9, 2021. You must log in to either certify or rescind AEA registration. If not, the agency will process the lack of action as certification, and the district's 2021 AEA campuses will remain as provided in the attached 2021 AEA Preregistered Campus List.

While all districts and campuses will receive a Not Rated: Declared State of Disaster label in 2021, AEA information will be used for informational purposes by the AskTED, PEIMS, and Charter School teams at the agency.

Performance Reporting has streamlined the AEA campus registration process for 2021. Campuses newly eligible for AEA are automatically preregistered for 2021. Alternative education campuses (AECs) that were registered for AEA in 2020 and continue to meet eligibility are automatically reregistered for 2021. Campuses must meet either the 75 percent at-risk criterion or the prior-year TSDS PEIMS at-risk safeguard provision. Additionally, campuses must have at least 90 percent of their students enrolled in grades 6–12, as verified through 2020–21 PEIMS fall enrollment data. Please note, the grades 6–12 enrollment criterion has been updated for 2021 from 50 percent to 90 percent following an AEA taskforce recommendation.

Districts may choose to remove a campus from the AEA list by submitting an AEA rescission form. The 2021 AEA Preregistered Campus List is currently available on the 2021 accountability page.

If a campus is not correctly identified on the preregistered list as a residential treatment facility, the district must correct the campus residential facility status by updating AskTED. Once AskTED is corrected, please notify Performance Reporting by email.

AEA Criteria

• Campus Type In order to be eligible for AEA, the campus must be designated as an Alternative Instructional Unit in AskTED. Campuses without this designation were removed from the 2021 AEA Preregistered Campus List.
• At-Risk Enrollment In order to be eligible for AEA, each AEC must have at least 75 percent of its student population identified as at risk, as verified through 2020–21 PEIMS fall enrollment data. The prior-year TSDS PEIMS at-risk safeguard is applied to 2020 AECs that do not meet this criterion. AECs that do not have 75 percent at-risk enrollment or benefit from the safeguard were removed from the 2021 AEA Preregistered Campus List.
• Grades 6–12 Enrollment Following AEA taskforce recommendations announced in the 2021 Accountability Framework, each registered AEC must have at least 90 percent of its students enrolled in grades 6–12, as verified through 2020–21 PEIMS fall enrollment data. Campuses that do not have at least 90 percent grades 6–12 enrollment were removed from the 2021 AEA Preregistered Campus List.

Dropout Recovery Schools (DRS)

In accordance with TEC, §39.0548(a)(1), an AEC is designated as a DRS if at least 50 percent of the students enrolled are 17 years of age or older as of September 1, 2020.

2021 Final AEA Campus List

The 2021 Final AEA Campus List will be available in early May 2021. It will be posted on the 2021 accountability page and shared with TEA’s AskTED, PEIMS, and Charter School teams.

2021 Final AEA Charter List

The 2021 AEA Final Charter List will also be published in early May 2021. The following open-enrollment charter schools will be identified as AEA Charters:

• Charter schools that operate only registered AECs
• Charter schools that operate both non-AEA campuses and registered AECs with at least 50 percent of the students enrolled at registered AECs, as verified through 2020–21 PEIMS fall enrollment data. Charter schools that operate both non-AEA campuses and registered AECs with fewer than 50 percent of the students enrolled at registered AECs do not qualify for AEA registration.

If you have questions regarding AEA, please contact the Performance Reporting Division at (512) 463-9704 or performance.reporting@tea.texas.gov.

Contact Information
Texas Education Agency
Performance Reporting Division
(512) 463-9704
performance.reporting@tea.texas.gov

Performance Reporting will release several products in TEA Login (TEAL) Accountability next week.

As a reminder, district staff need a TEAL account to view confidential student listings and reports. You can request access on the TEAL Login Page. If you have any issues creating a TEAL account, please submit a request for assistance through the TEA Help Desk.

The Local Accountability Guide and Frequently Asked Questions provide information about plan requirement and example components. They can both be found on the local accountability webpage.

Districts wishing to learn more about the local accountability system and how to develop a district local accountability plan can participate in an hour-long overview webinar with time for Q & A.

Registration links are available for upcoming webinar dates in March and April. The webinar schedule through August 2021 is available here.

Tuesday, March 30, 2021 at 9 am

Wednesday, April 7, 2021 at 10 am

Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 3 pm

Friday, April 30, 2021 at 12 pm

Please contact the local accountability system team at LAS@tea.texas.gov for additional information or to set up a virtual meeting to discuss specifics related to your district.

The 2021 STAAR Grades 3-8 Reporting Student Data File Format and 2021 STAAR End-of-Course Reporting Student Data File Format have been posted here.

The Student Portal is updated on a bi-monthly basis to reflect changes submitted by districts. The raw score to scale score conversion tables are posted here.

For the spring 2021 STAAR administrations, certain grade- and subject-level tests have online forms that do not include PNP options. Should a student start an online test without PNP and need to have PNP added, the previously started test must be reset. The system will restrict making PNP changes that require a test form change. Should you need to make a change to PNP after a test has been started but are restricted from doing so, you will need to contact the Texas Assessment Support Center and request a test reset. These test resets, which involve a test form change, will nullify any responses previously provided by a student on that test. Therefore, it is very important to verify PNP settings prior to the start of an online test.

Districts can opt in to receive printed STAAR Alternate 2, TELPAS, and TELPAS Alternate report cards through the Assessment Management System. The deadline to opt in for printed STAAR Alternate 2 report cards is May 7, 2021. The deadline to opt in for printed TELPAS report cards and TELPAS Alternate report cards is May 29, 2021. Districts that do not opt in will not receive printed report cards.

For questions or help with accessing and interpreting STAAR results, districts and parents can email assessment.reporting@tea.texas.gov or call (512) 463-9704.

Have you been wondering about the impact of the College, Career, or Military Readiness (CCMR) Outcomes Bonus? The CCMR Outcomes Bonus Report provides a history of the bonus and performance overviews of the Class of 2018 and the Class of 2019.

Additional CCMR Outcomes Bonus information can be found in the documents below and on the Performance Reporting Resources webpage.

• CCMR Outcomes Bonus Data Sources
• CCMR Outcomes Bonus Data Processing Timeline
• CCMR in Academic Accountability Versus Outcomes Bonuses

The data in the CCMR Tracker lag. While the 2021 CCMR Tracker will contain students who were in grades 9–12 on the 2020–21 PEIMS snapshot, the 2021 version will not contain results from school year 2020–21 as those data have yet to be reported.

The 2021 CCMR Tracker will be released in two stages this year.

• March 31, 2021: CCMR outcomes reported though TSDS PEIMS, TSIA results, and OnRamps course completion through the 2019–20 school year
• July 2021: CCMR outcomes for SAT, ACT, AP, IB, and level I/II certificates through the 2019–20 school year

The table below provides the years included in the first release of the 2021 CCMR Tracker for each indicator.

March 29–April 9: 2021 Alternative Education Accountability (AEA) Auto-Registration Process in TEAL

March 31: First 2021 College, Career, and Military Readiness Tracker Release in TEAL

April 2: Final 2021 Accelerated Testers Listing Release in TEAL

April 16–May 17: 2021 Accountability Manual Public Comment Period

April 26–May 7: 2021 Campus Pairing Process in TEAL

Late May: 2020 Annual Graduates CCMR Verifier Release in TEAL

July: Second 2021 CCMR Tracker Release in TEAL

Texas Education Agency
Student Assessment Division
1701 N. Congress Avenue, Room 3-122A
Austin, Texas 78701
Phone: (512) 463-9536
Fax: (512) 463-9302

ETS Customer Service
(STAAR Grades 3–8, EOC, and Interim Assessments):
Phone:(855) 333-7770
Email:
STAAR3-8@ets.org
STAAREOC@ets.org

Pearson's Customer Service Center
(STAAR Alternate 2, TELPAS. and TELPAS Alternate):
Phone: (800) 627-0225
Email: TxPearsonAccess@support.pearson.com

Jessica Hassell, M.Ed.

Assessment, Accountability & School Improvement Specialist

Teacher Incentive Allotment Lead

Regional Testing Coordinator

Region 6 Education Service Center

Email: jhassell@esc6.net
Website: https://www.esc6.net/
Location: 3332 Montgomery Rd, Huntsville, TX, USA
Phone: 936-435-8334