Spring 2011 NeSA-Reading Operational NeSA-Mathematics Operational NeSA-Science Field Test NeSA-Writing Online Pilot

1. Spring 2011NeSA-Reading Operational NeSA-Mathematics Operational NeSA-Science Field TestNeSA-Writing Online Pilot Technical Coordinator Training

2. Introduction All participant phones are currently muted. Submit questions as we go using Chat. At the end of the session, there will be a question-and-answer period. Use the “Raise Hand” button under the participant list to indicate you have a question. The Host will un-mute your phone in turn so you can ask your question.

3. Agenda System Overview System Requirements Computer Lab Configurations Installation Process Remote Installations Server Installations Firewalls/Filters Software Updates What’s New for 2011? Questions?

4. System Overview

5. System Requirements Management Tools and Tutorials (Browser requirements): Most popular browsers: Safari, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Chrome Accept cookies for session tracking PDF reader Adobe Flash Player (version 7r63, 9r16 recommended) Sound card (or onboard sound) and headphones or speakers needed for audio tutorials Display size of 800x600 or greater

6. System Requirements Student Testing Software – CAL 6.6 Operating System: Windows 98/NT/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7 Mac OSX 10.3 (with Java 1.4) or 10.4 and above Processor : 200 MHz Memory: 64 MB, 128 MB recommended Display: Monitors with a resolution of at least 800x600 Connectivity: Able to connect to the Internet and the LCS (if used) through http/https

7. System Requirements cont. No special Java installation required No need to install your own version of Java Windows: Java included as part of CAL installation CAL Java version does not interfere with other Java versions available in the workstations Mac: installed by default as part of Mac OS Extra requirements to support Visual Accommodation tools Processor : min 1GHz, 1.5GHz recommended Memory: min 512MB, 1GB recommended

8. System Requirements cont. Local Caching Software – LCS 5.1 Operating System: Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7 Mac OSX 10.4 (with Java 1.5) or 10.5 and above Linux Processor : 1.2 GHz Memory: 512 MB, 1 GB recommended Connectivity: Able to connect to the Internet via http/https A dedicated server is NOT required (but access to port 8100 is necessary)

9. Lab Configuration

10. Lab Configuration

11. Which Set Up Should Your School Use? Key elements: Reliability of Internet connectivity Bandwidth available Number of simultaneous testers With a reliable T1 connection a non-LCS setup can support up to 150 simultaneous testers. But if you expect to test more than 150 simultaneous users with at T1 connection or if you have an unreliable Internet connection, the LCS is strongly recommended. When in doubt, verify installation and infrastructure during administration of practice tests.

12. LCS: Easy installation, configuration and maintenance An instance of the LCS can support up to 1,200 simultaneous testers If you need to support more, you can set up multiple instances of the LCS LCS allows students to continue testing in the event of connectivity interruptions Automatic caching (and purging) of test data Automatic uploading of test responses Students test responses are continuously saved Communication between workstations and LCS is through HTTP(S) protocol LCS Monitoring Tool interface available for each LCS Local Caching Software

13. LCS Monitoring Tool

14. LCS Configurations

15. LCS Configurations

16. School Capacity Calculator Because of the LCS technology, Internet connectivity is not the primary factor when determining online testing capacity. Primary factors: Number of computers available for testing in your school. Number of Test Sessions Available per Day Number of test sessions you can schedule in your computer lab per day depends on the length of test sessions. Test sessions are not timed, but generally don’t exceed 90 minutes. Number of days available/allowed for testing. Determined by Nebraska Department of Education. For the NeSA-Writing Online Pilot for Grade 11, the NeSA testing window for reading, mathematics, and science is January 31 through February 18 (15 school days, minus holidays). For 2011, the NeSA testing window for reading, mathematics, and science is March 28 through May 6 (29 school days, minus holidays).

17. School Capacity Calculator Compute your school testing capacity, for example, if a school has 125 computers available for testing, can schedule 2 test administrations per day, and has 25 days available for testing their school testing capacity will be: This tool is available at http://nesa.caltesting.org

18. Testing Software Installation First Time Installations (auto updates covered later) eDIRECT ? connects to http://nesa.caltesting.org (once there, click on the Downloads link) Windows and Mac Installers CAL will provide Mac Package Installers upon request, an email link will be provided on the Mac Downloads page CAL Configuration (“Preferences” Program) Proxy settings (automatic detection) Automatic updates Local Caching Software Troubleshoot Your settings are stored within the installation directory: <NeSA Installation Folder>\conf\system.properties

19. LCS Installation Download LCS from… eDIRECT ? connects to http://nesa.caltesting.org (once there, click on the Downloads link) Windows, Mac, Linux LCS Manager LCS Port Configuration: default port 8100 Proxy setting Troubleshoot Your settings are stored within the installation directory under \conf\lcs.properties Log file: \log\lcs.log within the installation directory

20. Setup workstations to use LCS Run CAL “Preferences” program Available at <CAL Installation Folder>/Preferences

21. Remote Installations Windows MSI installers available Software Management Tools Active Directory – Group policy Novell ZENworks Desktop Management Policy-driven automation Can use an imaging solution to maintain a standard operating environment Apple Remote Desktop Remote configuration: Configure one workstation and “Push” configuration file to all workstations: <NeSA Installation Folder>\conf\system.properties

22. Server Installations Support for Thin Client Environments: Windows Terminal Services (RDP) Citrix (ICA protocol) Xtenda Make sure resources are sufficient for number of users per server 36 MB RAM needed by CAL, plus server session set up Shared (network) drive installation also supported

23. Firewalls and Filters Use of HTTP(S) on port 80 and 443 URLs: http://nesa.caltesting.org https://nesa.caltesting.org http://nesa3.caltesting.org https://nesa3.caltesting.org http://updates.caltesting.org Able to download and upload binary data and these MIME types: application/octet-stream text/html multipart/form-data Text/xml (LCS only)

24. Software Updates Automatic updates available Mac 10.5.8 and 10.6 exception MSP patches available for Windows users MSP can be used with Active Directory and ZenWorks to massively deploy upgrades NOTE: In 2011, the automatic update will not include the Dictionary database needed for NeSA-Writing

25. Software Updates To install the dictionary database and be ready for the NeSA-Writing assessment, schools will have the following options: OPTION 1: Receive an automatic update of the new NeSA CAL software release on January 24 and manually download and install the dictionary database to all workstations. The dictionary database patch will be available for download on the NeSA website (http://nesa.caltesting.org/download/index.html) on January 24.

26. Software Updates OPTION 2: Do a completely new installation of the CAL Version 6.6. A fresh installation of the software WILL include the database dictionary and no extra download will be required. CAL version 6.6 will be available for download on the NeSA website (http://nesa.caltesting.org/download/index.html) on January 24. Options 1 and 2 are available to schools with the NeSA CAL software already installed in their workstations. Schools new to NeSA online testing will need to follow option 2 only.

27. What’s New for 2011? CAL Software Update Science Practice Tests – not NeSA items NeSA-Writing Online Pilot NeSA-Writing Practice Test Ability to print student writing responses Writing Practice Test student responses are saved as a HTML file on their desktop (additional configuration steps may be required) Writing Online Pilot Test responses are saved as a HTML file in Management Tools

28. What’s New for 2011? Full Screen by default Settings Button Other Visual Accommodations Tools still available Special password (zoom) to access tools in Practice Tests and Tutorials Flag in Student Editor for the NeSA-Reading and NeSA-Mathematics Operational Tests, NeSA-Science Field Test, and NeSA-Writing Online Pilot Immediate Online Score Results Raw scores for Reading and Mathematics Practice Tests displayed when test is ended Raw scores and percent correct for the NeSA-Reading and NeSA-Mathematics Operational Tests available in Management Tools

29. You may continue to use the chat box, or you can also use the ‘Raise Hand’ feature to ask a question over the phone For questions after this training, have your District Technology Coordinator contact us at: E-mail: necustomerservice@datarecognitioncorp.com Toll Free: (866) 342-6280 Fax: (763) 268-3007 Questions?