February
2009
to: Principals of Public, Nonpublic, and Charter Schools
from: Thomas J. Schoeck 
subject: March 2009 Grades 3–8
Mathematics Tests
general information
This memorandum supplements
the information concerning the administration of the March 2009 Grades 3–8
Mathematics Tests included in the enclosed 2009
School Administrator’s Manual for Public and Nonpublic Schools. If you have
questions about the information in this memorandum or the manual, you may call
518‑474‑8220. The School
Administrator’s Manual contains the Deputy and Proctor Certificate and the
Examination Storage Certificate, both of which must be completed by each school
administering these tests and retained in the school’s files.
testing schedule
The Grades 3, 4, and 5
Mathematics Tests must be administered between Monday, March 2, and
Friday, March 6. Administer Grades 3 and 5 Books 1 and 2 in sequence on two
consecutive school days. Administer Grade 4 Books 1, 2, and 3 in sequence on
three consecutive school days. Schedule makeup tests for any days that remain
in that first week and for the week of March 9–13.
The Grades 6, 7, and 8
Mathematics Tests must be administered between Monday, March 9, and
Friday, March 13. Administer Grades 6 and 7, Books 1 and 2 in sequence on two
consecutive school days. Administer Grade 8, Books 1 and 2 in one continuous
session on the first day and Book 3 on the following school day. Schedule
makeup tests for any days that remain in the period March 9–13 and during the
period of March 16–20.
If adjusting the schedule
for school closures due to inclement weather and in administering makeup tests,
schools should make every effort to maintain the testing sequence, i.e.,
administer Book 1 first; followed by Book 2; followed, for Grades 4 and 8,
by Book 3. Students must complete all test books to receive an official test
score.
test and scoring materials
All test materials sent to
schools by the Department will be delivered by United Parcel Service. (UPS
deliveries may occur at any time between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.)
Schools that do not receive their shipments of test materials by 12:00 noon on
the last dates indicated in the chart on page 2 should track the shipments of
test materials on the Internet:
1. Go to: http://www.ups.com/tracking.html.
2. Click “Track by Reference.”
3. In the Shipment Reference
field, type the BEDS Code of the school where you indicated you wanted your
tests to be shipped.
4. Enter the Ship Date Range.
5. If you are unable to track
your shipment, or if you notice some other irregularity, contact the Office of
State Assessment via fax at 518-474-2021.
All schools administering
the Grades 3-8 Mathematics Tests in 2008-09 must have made arrangements to
receive their answer sheets and scanning services from a Regional Information
Center (RIC) or large-city school district office. RICs are data processing
centers operated by twelve BOCES that currently provide answer sheets and
scanning services for all public schools outside the five large-city school
districts. The RICs will also provide data to the Student Information
Repository System for participating schools. Participation in the Grades 3–8
testing program and the repository will allow nonpublic schools access to
reports showing longitudinal data for these individual students and for the
school as a whole. More information about the repository system is available on
the Department’s web site at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/irts/fieldmemo-datacollection2.htm.
Answer sheets will be shipped directly to schools from the RIC or large-city
school district office. (The New York State Education Department no longer
develops or ships answer sheets to schools.) If you have made arrangements with
a RIC for answer sheets and there is a delay in their delivery, contact your
RIC.
As soon as each shipment of
test and scoring materials arrives at your school or other approved location,
check it to verify that you have received all materials indicated on the
shipping notice. Do not open
shrink-wrapped secure test materials until the day that part of the test is
scheduled to be administered. You must store the test and scoring materials
in a burglarproof safe or vault, except while they are being inventoried.
If your school determines
that tests are missing from shipments from the Department, you may obtain
copies of the regular editions of the test materials from the nearest regional
center on the day of the test. Braille and large-type editions of these tests
are not ordinarily available at most
regional centers, nor are answer sheets or scoring materials. As soon as it is
determined that additional supplies of these materials (except answer sheets)
are needed, contact the Office of State Assessment via fax at 518‑474‑2021.
Schools that will be asking the regional center to supply 25 or more copies of
any one test book must complete the appropriate Mathematics Test Materials Fax
Form in the enclosed School Administrator’s
Manual and fax it to the Department at 518‑474‑2021. (This is
to ensure that the regional centers will have adequate supplies to accommodate
all schools.)
The list of regional centers
is available on the Department’s web site: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa. You may pick up test
materials from the regional centers only
on the scheduled date for the administration of that part of the test. Contact
the official in charge of the regional center before sending a representative
to pick up test materials. Please give the regional center as much advance
notice of your school’s need as possible. The person sent to pick up an
emergency supply of test materials from a regional center must present
authorization written on school letterhead stationery and signed by the
principal that lists the materials to be picked up and authorizes the person to
pick up those materials. The person obtaining test materials must provide
picture identification and must countersign the authorization letter and leave
it with the official in charge of the regional center.
Some school districts
have contacted the Department to inquire whether they may use the rulers and
protractors that their students use every day in the classroom or whether they
must use the ones the Department provided last year for the Grades 3-8
Mathematics Tests. Schools may use the mathematics tools regularly used in the
classroom as long as they do not have pertinent information, such as
mathematics formulas, written on them and as long as they meet the specifications
listed below. Alternatively, schools may use the rulers and protractors
provided by the Department last year. In either case, students should be
encouraged to practice in advance of the actual test administration with the
tools they will use on the test. Please note that, as was explained in the
January 2008 memorandum, the Department will not be providing new rulers and
protractors for the 2009 tests.
Rulers will be used
with all of the Grades 3-8 Mathematics Tests. Protractors will be used only
with the Grades 5 and 7 Mathematics Tests.
Thank you for your ongoing contributions to
mathematics education in New York
State.
Grades
3–4 Mathematics Tests—Specifications for Rulers
·
Rulers may be
constructed of plastic, wood, metal, cardboard, or other suitable material.
·
Rulers
must be between 6" and 12" long.
·
Rulers
must include inch to 1/8" subdivisions; they may
include 1/16" subdivisions.
·
Rulers
must include centimeters.
· Rulers must be calibrated accurately with
another ruler that is known to be accurate.
Grades 5–8 Mathematics
Tests—Specifications for Rulers
·
Rulers may be
constructed of plastic, wood, metal, cardboard, or other suitable material.
·
Rulers
must be between 6" and 12" long.
·
Rulers
must include inch to 1/16" subdivisions.
·
Rulers
must include centimeters with millimeter subdivisions.
· Rulers must be calibrated accurately with
another ruler that is known to be accurate.
Grades 5 and 7 Mathematics
Tests—Specifications for Protractors
· Protractors must be constructed of clear plastic and
measure no shorter than 35/16" in diameter and no longer than
43/4"
in diameter.
· Protractors must be calibrated accurately
with another protractor that is known to be accurate.
new audio/pdf files for scorer training
Starting this school year,
PDF files of exemplars with associated audio files will be posted on
CTB/McGraw-Hill’s New York
State web site, www.ctb.com/nys, at 10 a.m. on the last day of each
test administration makeup period. The Questions and Answers for Scoring will be
posted on the Department web site at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/elaei/faq08.htm
at 5:00 p.m. on the last day of each test administration makeup period.
The PDF files and associated audio files are being provided instead of the
scoring DVDs that were used in previous years.
Audio and PDF files will be
available for downloading at any Internet-connected computer. Users will be
able to listen to and view them "live" or to save them for review at
a more convenient time. The audio files will be provided in different formats
so they can be played through Windows Media Player, MP3 players, Macs or iPods.
PDFs can be opened and printed on any Internet-connected computer that has
Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. If the Acrobat Reader is not already installed
on the computer, you may download it from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
teacher evaluations
Teachers are encouraged to
submit their evaluations of these Mathematics Tests via the Internet by using
the Teacher Evaluation Form at www.ctb.com/nys.
Full instructions on how to access and use this form can be found at that web
site and also on the last page of Mathematics Tests Teacher Directions,
which will be shipped to your school with your shipment of testing material.
security of the tests
The principal of each school
ordering tests is responsible for making the necessary arrangements to
safeguard all test materials by taking the following actions:
·
Place all test books and scoring materials in a safe or vault as soon
as they arrive at the storage location.
·
Distribute the Teacher’s
Directions as soon as practical after the shipment arrives.
·
Ensure that no one opens the sealed packages of secure test materials
prior to the day each part of the test is scheduled to be administered.
·
Open the packages of test books just early enough to permit
distribution of materials for each session.
·
Return tests to the safe or vault after each book has been
administered.
·
Check the safe or vault daily to ensure that the test and scoring
materials stored there have not been tampered with and remain secure.
·
Safeguard the combination or key to the safe or vault to preclude
access to the test materials by unauthorized persons.
·
Keep all scoring
materials in a secure location (except when being used for scoring) until the
date by which students’ answer sheets must be returned to the scanning centers (March
25, 2009, for
Grades 3 – 5 and April 2, 2009, for Grades 6 – 8).
Enclosure
