Alaska College & Career Ready Assessment Requirement

1. Alaska College & Career Ready Assessment Requirement

3. Today’s Content 1. HB278- Repeal of High School Graduation Qualifying Exam. 2. Alaska’s College & Career Ready Assessment Graduation Requirement: • SAT, ACT, or WorkKeys. 3. Q & A.

4. What you can expect from me: • Information (Why, What, & How). • Resources. What I need from you: • Questions & feedback (please write down questions to ask at the end). • Help with sharing this information.

5. Alaska’s Education Opportunity Act Repeals the Alaska High School Graduation Qualifying Exam and replaces it with the student’s choice of a career-readiness assessment or college-readiness assessment. http://gov.alaska.gov/parnell/priorities/education/alaskas-education-opportunity-act.html

6. HSGQE Repeal Effective July 1, 2014 • The HSGQE is no longer required and will no longer be administered. • Students in grades 11 & 12 who have not yet passed all subtests are not required to take the HSGQE Retest (and the Retest will not be administered). • Adults with Certificates of Achievement (COA) are eligible for diplomas.

7. KEY COMPONENTS of New Statute & Regulations Student choice of career-readiness or college-readiness. • Career-readiness: WorkKeys • College-readiness: ACT or SAT A district may choose to offer both ACT & SAT

8. KEY COMPONENTS of New Statute & Regulations • “Take” defined as “receiving a valid score.” • Required in grade 11; available in grade 12. • EED will pay for one administration of one assessment. • 2014-15: grade 11 & 12 students who took WorkKeys in 2013-14 have satisfied the requirement; those who did not take WorkKeys will need to take a CCRA.

9. TEST WINDOW Schools must offer the mandatory assessments on “days in session,” as defined by regulation. • ACT/WorkKeys “Day 1, Day 2” model: • ACT “In-School” test administration: one day with one make-up day. • WorkKeys: paper/pencil one day following ACT In-school day with one make up day ORinternet window. • SAT “School Day” test administration: one day with one make-up day

10. Students choose assessment; Schools register students TIMELINE November 10 – February 13 Online WorkKeys Window Jan. 24 SAT National Test Saturday Feb. 7 ACT National Test Saturday Apr. 1 WorkKeys make-up March 3 ACT In-School Apr. 29 SAT make-up March 4 WorkKeys P/P Feb. 13 Online WorkKeys Window closes Mar. 31 ACT make-up Feb. 25 SAT School Day

11. Facilitating Student Choice • Inform students about which college-readiness test is available in district. • Inform students about differences and benefits of each assessment. • Check student availability for testing dates: • School Day/In-School OR make-up dates. • National Test dates (Saturday), if applicable. • Assist students with registration.

12. Saturday National Testing for ACT or SAT Available only to students who will not be available for In-School/School Day Testing due to scheduling conflicts. • Schools register students for Saturday testing in the fall. • Schools work with EED to ensure payment. • An unused paid National Test counts as the student’s one paid administration.

13. Accommodations: ACT, SAT • Only available to students with “professionally diagnosed and documented disabilities.” • Students must apply to ACT or SAT at least 7 weeks in advance for approval. • Accommodations are not available for English Learners.

14. Accommodations: WorkKeys • Guidance: “WorkKeys Supplement” to EED Participation Guidelines. • Most accommodations require a paper/pencil test. • No application needed; accommodations documented during testing. • Limited accommodations are available for English Learners.

15. Shipping Test Materials • ACT & SAT will ship test materials directly to schools. • Schools will return materials to ACT or SAT. • Shipping costs are included in the state contract; no additional costs to districts.

16. District Test Coordinator Responsibilities • Provide support and oversight for all schools. • Train site test coordinators. • Determine district and school date conflicts for offered assessments. • Support and/or facilitate student registration for offered assessment. • Ensure materials arrive & are returned on time.

17. Site Test Coordinator Responsibilities • Provide information to students & families; assist students with test selection. • Determine date conflicts. • Register students; due mid-October. • Train staff; establish test schedule. • Securely manage materials & shipping. • Administer test. • Support students who register for Saturday National testing.

18. Resources & Support • EED Program Manager, Shari Paul: shari.paul@alaska.gov. • EED-sponsored support webinars. • EED phone and online support. • EED web page with student-centered materials, documents, tools, & links to websites. • ACT & SAT recorded training modules. • ACT & SAT Help Desk.

19. Next Steps • Share information with all high school staff; what might they need to successfully implement the CCRA? • Distribute information to students, & families. • Ensure schools with grade 11 & 12 students have staffing for testing days.

20. When you think about the conversations you will have with students as they consider their choice of college & career ready assessments, what information will you want to share with them? What questions might you ask them?

21. Marty Murphy Photography elizabeth.davis@alaska.gov 465-8431