Texas Middle School Fluency Assessment

Texas Middle School Fluency Assessment

Literacy Coach Users Guide

Version 2.0

HISD Proprietary and Confidential

Not for use outside of HISD without written permission

Texas Middle School Fluency Assessment (TMSFA)

Literacy Coach Users Guide

TMSFA:

· Based on analysis of prior year’s TAKS scores, dynamically identifies students required to take TMSFA;

· Based on “rules” defined by TEA, dynamically determines students’ overall TMSFA scores, score classifications, which students need to take the Word List test, as well as Word List test scores and intervention recommendations.

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I. Log In

Log in to the HISD Employee Portal (https://www.houstonisd.org/portal/site/Employee Portal/) and click on “TMSFA” on the HISD Applications Links list.

II. Home Page

The Home page is the first TMSFA screen users see after they log in, as indicated below. Note the “breadcrumbs”, links that reveal the trail the user took to arrive at the current screen.

Note: Breadcrumbs are not live links in TMSFA.

The TMSFA Menu is on the left side of the screen. Menu items are grouped by category for ease of use. Navigate to any item with a single click.

Note: The Menu is role-specific so users see only those pages they have access to.

From time to time, the Home page will also display temporary messages to users.

A. From Home, users may access About TMSFA to view background information on the application and the program it supports. Help is also available; clicking on Help reveals a user guide customized for the current user based on their level of access to the system.

III. Testing Matrix

A. Testing Matrix–Classroom

Testing Matrix–Classroom is used by teachers and other authorized users who wish to view TMSFA information at the classroom level. All ELA courses for the selected school are displayed in order by grade level then grouped by teacher. To access this page, click Classroom under Testing Matrix on the application Menu.

1) From this page, users may drill down to the lists of Remaining Students to input test results. This page is also used to access the lists of PRF and WRF Completed Assessments to view test records for individual students which have already been input.

2) To view a list of students for whom TMSFA results have not yet been input for the current test schedule, click the number of students in the Remaining Students column for the desired classroom or period. The following page will be displayed:

3) Click on the desired Student ID to go to the Score Sheet Input – Passage Reading Fluency (PRF) page as shown below:

4) Authorized users input all required PRF score sheet fields plus Examiner’s Notes if desired then click Save. They may also click Reset if desired to clear all fields. If the student was required to take the WRF due to PRF performance, TMSFA will display the Score Sheet Input – Word Reading Frequency (WRF) page (see below) and require the user to complete and save it as well.

5) Once the score sheets are saved, TMSFA performs all required calculations in order to arrive at PRF and WRF Average Equated Scores

and Recommended Intervention ratings as indicated below.

Literacy Coaches and System Admins may modify saved score sheets by clicking either Edit PRF or Edit WRF, making desired changes, then saving the record. Even if WRF scores are not modified, it will also be necessary to save that input page as well in order to complete the modification.

B. Testing Matrix–School

Testing Matrix–School is used by teachers and other authorized users who wish to view TMSFA information at the school/grade level. All ELA courses for the selected school are displayed in order by grade level then teacher last name. To access this page, click School under Testing Matrix on the application Menu.

1) From this page, users may drill down to the lists of Remaining Students to input test results. This page is also used to access the lists of PRF and WRF Completed Assessments to view test records for individual students which have already been input.

2) To view a list of students for whom TMSFA results have not yet been input for the current test schedule, click the number of students in the Remaining Students column for the desired classroom or period. The following page will be displayed:

3) Follow the same instructions for inputting test results as indicated in item III.A above.

C. Testing Matrix–Add Student

Testing Matrix–Add Student is used to add students to TMSFA who may not normally be included. For example, a student’s prior year Reading/ELA TAKS score may exceed the minimum vetical scale score, but the student may still struggle with reading and need special intervention. Or a struggling student may be new to HISD and not have a prior year Reading/ELA TAKS score recorded in Chancery.

Teachers of courses included in the TMSFA Courses Reference Admin Table may add their assigned students. Literacy coaches may add students enrolled at their assigned school/s. System Admins may add any HISD student.

1) Users input a valid HISD student ID in the Student ID field then press Tab

to confirm the student’s first and last names.

2) Click Add Student to save the record and add the new student to TMSFA.

3) The student will automatically appear on appropriate Classroom and School Testing Matrices based on his/her Chancery record.

Note: Users must look up the student’s ID in Chancery then input it correctly in TMSFA.

III. Reports

Role-appropriate reports have been added to TMSFA in version 2. Literacy Coaches have access to Student Test History, Class Summary, and Testing and Anaylsis reports as described below.

A. Student Test History

Student Test History provides Literacy Coaches a means to lookup and view an individual student’s TMSFA test history.

1) Lookup Student Test History – To access this page, click Student Test History under Reports on the application Menu. The following page will be displayed:

Input either the desired Student ID or the student’s Last Name and/or First Name then click Search. Lookup Student History – Results will be displayed.

2) Click on the Student ID to see that student’s TMSFA Test History as shown below.

B. Class Summary

The Class Summary report provides a means to view a summary of TMSFA data for a selected campus and teacher for an entire school year.

1) Reports – Class Summary Report – Selection Criteria – To access this page, click Class Summary under Reports on the application Menu. The following page will be displayed:

Literacy Coaches must select only School Year and may specify

Teacher if desired.

2) The Class Summary Report appears below:

Class Summary displays TMSFA data for each eligible and/or tested student which is alpha-sorted by, grade, teacher and period. Within period, the students are sorted by last name, first name.

Using the commands found above the report name as indicated below, you may move from page to page in the report, print it, zoom in or out on each page, select an export format to export the report data out of TMSFA and refresh the page.

Note: You must select an export format in order to export report data. Thereafter, the Export button will be enabled and ‘clickable’.

C. Testing & Analysis Report

The Testing & Analysis report provides data in totals format for selected school(s) for an entire school year.

1) Reports – Testing & Analysis Report – Selection Criteria – To access this page, click Testing & Analysis Report under Reports on the application Menu. The following page will be displayed:

Literacy Coaches must select only School Year.

2) The Testing & Analysis Report appears below:

The Testing & Analysis Report displays TMSFA results for each school. The report is sorted by campus and grade. For each testing period (BOY, MOY, EOY), totals are provided based on Assessments (Qualified, Completed) and Intervention Recommendations (C, F & C, DF & C). Subtotals are provided by region along with overall District Totals at the end of the report.

Note: You must select an export format in order to export report data. Thereafter, the Export button will be enabled and ‘clickable’.

D. Printing Test Materials

Printing TMSFA testing materials can be done from either the Classroom or School Matrices and works the same way in each case.

1) Classroom Matrix – To print test materials for a whole class:

a. Click Print next to the desired class as indicated below.

b. The following Print Test Packets dialog box will appear.

c. Click “Print full test packet….” to automatically print a comprehensive set of materials for all untested students in the selected class. Once you select this option, all other options will become unavailable. Click Print and TMSFA will open a new browser window where you will print the test materials as you would any other PDF document.

Or click Cancel to return to the Classroom Matrix.

d. Alternatively, you may elect to print only subsets of testing materials as indicated above. “1 copy of Reading Passages…” and “1 copy of Word Lists…” are defaulted but may be deselected if desired. Click Print and follow the same process described above.

Or click Cancel to return to the Classroom Matrix.

Note: Printing from the School Matrix enables you to print testing materials for an entire grade rather than a class. In all other respects,it is identical to printing from the Classroom Matrix.

2) Classroom Matrix – To print test materials for one or more individual students:

a. Click Remaining Students in the desired class as indicated below.

b. The following page will be displayed:

c. Click on Print Packet for each student for whom you wish to print test materials. Then click Print and proceed as described in 1b – 1d above.

TMSFA v2.0 Page 15 of 15

System Admin Users Guide April 22, 2010

HISD Proprietary and Confidential

Not for use outside of HISD without written permission