Experience Online Testing Georgia User Guide 2015

Transcription

1 Experience Online Testing Georgia User Guide 2015 Developed and published under contract with Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) by CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC, 20 Ryan Ranch Road, Monterey, California,

2 Introduction Welcome to Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015! Many students will take the Georgia Milestones tests online this year. The Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 site lets students see what testing online is like. Parents and educators are welcome to try it, too. Georgia Milestones test measure what students in grades 3 through High School have learned. Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 has demonstration tests from three grade bands for you to explore: Grades 3 5, Grades 6 8, and High School. The items on the demonstration tests are general and are organized into the three grade bands in the content areas of English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. The items do not necessarily represent the specific grade-level content that students learn daily in their classrooms. The primary purpose is to let students experience, firsthand, the functionality of the online testing platform. The sample tests are not graded, so have fun! Before you start a demonstration test, be sure to go through the Tool-tips tutorials, using the links located on the right side of the Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 landing page. The tutorials will guide you through using the tools available to students during Georgia testing, such as the highlighter, blocking ruler, and screen reader. Test Question Types There are new questions on these demonstration tests, representing the types of questions students will see in Spring The following pages describe each question type in more detail. Equation and Expression Entry Question: This is a type of Constructed Response question that requires students to create their own numeric answers, expressions, or equations. 2

3 response area key pad move back a space allows you to clear all answer choices and start again move forward a space undo, redo, and delete keys 3

4 Written Response undo and redo select text cut, copy, and paste text response area click in this space and use your keyboard to enter a response 4

5 Directions for Taking the Demonstration Tests When you are ready to try some of the demonstration tests, access the Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 site at this link: Click the link of the demonstration test you would like to try. When the Log In screen appears, click Log In. You do not need to fill in additional information, as the Login ID, Password, and Access Code have been pre-filled for you. The Welcome Guest screen will appear next. This screen tells you how many questions are in the demonstration test that you selected. Click Start to begin the test. 5

6 Tool Bar Next, the first test question will appear. The Grade 3-5 Test Practice is displayed below. In this example, students will read the article on the left side of the screen and answer questions on the right. Scroll Bar Navigation Bar shows whether you answered the question Answering Test Questions use to mark questions for later review After you answer a question, a white check mark will appear over the question number in the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen. The check mark over a number is an indication that you have completely answered the question. To mark any question that you would like to review later, you can click the yellow Mark for Review button in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. The numbered box at the bottom of the screen for that question will be shaded yellow, and the Mark for Review button will change to the darker yellow Unmark button. Click the Unmark button and the yellow in the numbered box will disappear. Equation and Expression Entry questions provide a Reset button. The reset button allows students to clear all entries at once and start again. 6

7 Tips for Answering Test Questions Read the directions for each test question. For some items, there are multiple tabs that contain information that help you answer the questions. Click a tab to read what is written there. click a tab to read the passage before answering shows whether you answered all parts of the question At the end of the test, the following screen will appear. It will ask you whether you have finished taking the test. If you select No, go back to the test, you will be taken back to the test questions. If you select Yes, I have finished, the final screen (below) will thank you for taking the test. At that point, you can press 7

8 Continue to return to the test landing page. (If you do not press Continue, you will return to the test landing page automatically in 5 seconds.) 8

9 Accommodations Students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), Individual Accommodation Plans (IAPs) and EL/TPC Plans may be permitted certain accommodations while taking the Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 assessments. For online testing, these accommodations are activated in the system in advance of testing and include such support as Screen Reader (read-aloud feature), High Contrast (background color change), and Large Font (size adjustment to font). Accommodations features are included with the Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 demonstration tests and are explained in more detail below. The Accommodations panel is located on the landing page above the Tool-tips link. The following accommodations choices appear: You may select one or more supports as you explore the Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 demonstration tests, but note that these accommodations should only be used on Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 assessments if designated on a student s IEP, IAP, or EL/TPC plan. Otherwise your demonstration test experience will be very different from the real Georgia Milestones test experience. Screen Reader Selecting Screen Reader on the accommodations link will allow test directions and eligible test questions to be read aloud. You can learn more about how the Screen Reader accommodation works in the Screen Reader tutorial under Accommodations Tips. On Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 (as on Georgia Milestones assessments) some questions may be read aloud and some may not. Restrictions on which questions can be read aloud and which cannot are built into the test. Questions that assess reading comprehension are not read out loud. Also, answer 9

10 choices that might clue students to select a certain response if read aloud are not read out loud (e.g., answer choices for spelling questions). On Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015, if you have selected the Screen Reader accommodation, you can click on text when you are taking a demonstration test and the text will be read aloud. If a question is not eligible to be read aloud, the Screen Reader will tell you (e.g., This is a reading comprehension question. It will not be read aloud. ). There are three speeds for Screen Reader: Slow, Medium, and Fast. The system defaults to Medium, but Slow or Fast may be selected as appropriate. We recommend using the Medium speed and prompting the system to repeat the text read aloud as often as needed. Note: Speed controls are not yet available for the ipad. In addition, the volume control does not appear on the ipad you must use the volume control buttons on the ipad itself. We recommend practicing with the screen reader feature on a desktop or laptop computer, rather than on an ipad or tablet. High Contrast Selecting High Contrast on the accommodations link will display test questions in a black background with white text. This allows the words and graphics to stand out, making them easier to see. 10

11 Large Font Selecting Large Font on the accommodations link will display test questions in 18-point type. Experience Online Testing Georgia 2015 is supported on the following systems: Windows 7, 8, 8.1 with Chrome browser version 39 or 40 Mac OSX 10.8, 10.9, with Chrome browser version 39 or 40 Chromebook (latest) ipad, ios 7, 8 Safari Browser 11

12 Test Taking Checklist Access the site at: Select the appropriate demonstration test. Click on Log In to access your test. Click on Start at the Welcome screen. Follow the directions to answer each test question. At the end of the test, check to make sure you have answered ALL of the questions. A white check mark should appear over EACH number in the navigation bar to ensure you have answered ALL parts of a question. Click Finish Test. Select Yes, I have finished when the next screen appears. This screen serves as your final exit of the test. Select Continue on the Thank you for taking the test. Good-bye! screen. This will direct you back to the landing page. 12