TELPAS General Information Updates for 2013-2014

1.  What is TELPAS? / ·  A federally required assessment designed to measure the annual progress that LEP students in grades K-12 make in learning academic English in the following four language domains:
Language Domains / Weight of Domain
Listening / 5%
Speaking / 5%
Reading / 75%
Writing / 15%
2.  Who participates in TELPAS? / ·  All K-12 LEP students including parental denials (waivers W-H).
3.  Who does not participate in TELPAS? / ·  Monitored students who met LEP exit criteria and reclassified as non-LEP do not take TELPAS.
·  PK LEP students.
4.  How do we know who the LEP students are on our campus? / ·  Ask LPAC chairperson/committee to provide a list or LEP roster from Chancery of all LEP students including Special Education LEP students and parental denials (waivers W-H).
5.  When is TELPAS
administered? / ·  In the spring of every school year.
6.  How long does TELPAS take? / There is a testing window that all districts have to administer TELPAS.
·  TELPAS Assessment window opens March 17 and will close April 9. (Subject to change per TEA)
7.  Who administers TELPAS? / ·  All campuses who have LEP students enrolled
8.  How is the TELPAS administered? / There are two approaches to assess students with TELPAS
·  TELPAS uses an online multiple-choice test to assess reading in grade 2-12.
·  TELPAS uses a Holistic Rating process and classroom performance to assess students. Raters must use the ELPS-TELPAS Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) to holistically rate:
-K-12 listening, speaking, and writing
-K-1 reading
-Grades 2-12 must use writing collections when
holistically rating students.
9.  When can we start collecting writing samples? / ·  Campuses can start collecting writing samples starting on or after February 17, 2014.
10.  What should the writing collection for grades 2-12 contain? / ·  At least five writing samples including:
-1 narrative writing sample about past event
-2 academic writing samples from the content
areas of math, science, or social studies and
- 2 other writing samples
11.  What is the sequence of the verifying and rating process? / ·  The teacher of record cannot serve as a verifier.
·  After the writing samples are assembled, the verifier must complete the “Writing Collection Verification Checklist” and sign that the collection meets the requirements before the rater can rate. Verifers must be trained. Verifer training begins January 13, 2014.
12.  Do we have to collect writing samples for grades K-1 students? / ·  Districts are not required to collect writing samples for students in grades K-1. The rating of writing for students in grades K-1 is based on classroom observation.
13.  How long should we keep writing collections? / ·  Writing collections must be kept on file in the ELL Folder for 2 years.
14. Who rates students? / ·  Qualified Raters will holistically rate K-12 LEP students.
·  All new raters must complete the online spring rater training.
15. When are raters trained? / ·  In the spring of 2014.
·  All new raters must complete the following trainings to serve as a rater:
New Raters-Online Basic Training Course (appropriate grade level) and Online Calibration (must score 70% or higher)
Returning Raters-Online Calibration (must score 70% or higher)
·  It is recommended that returning raters access the online training as a review to prepare for calibration.
16. Is there a set schedule for online reading multiple choice test given to LEP students in Grades 2-12? / ·  No. Campuses will schedule the online assessment dates within the testing window. Check with Student Assessment Department for clarification.
17.  Do we need to know Years in U.S. schools? / ·  Yes, you will need to know how many years each student has been enrolled in U.S. schools. It is based on the information documented in TAMS. If the Years in US Schools was incorrectly entered last year, it will be wrong this year.
18. When do we start counting years in U.S. school for TELPAS? / ·  Grade 1 should be considered the first year of enrollment in U.S. schools for TELPAS assessment, so start counting from grade one.
19. Are there any TELPAS exemptions? / ·  No. All ELLs in grades K-12, including ELLs with parental denials, are required to participate in the TELPAS assessment. There are some exceptions but no exemptions, please refer to the District and Campus Coordinator Manual or the TELPAS Manual for Raters and Test Administrators for few exceptions.
20. Where do we enter TELPAS ratings? / ·  The ratings that are recorded on the TELPAS Student Rating Roster must be entered in the Texas Assessment Management System (TAMS).
21. Which departments will handle questions about the various aspects of TELPAS? / ·  Multilingual Programs will handle calls concerning TELPAS Training and Calibration. Department personnel will check schools to see if their teachers have calibrated.
·  Student Assessment will handle any TAMS entry questions and issues.

Multilingual Programs Department/Student Assessment Department Revised 10-23, 2013

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