FAQs for Grades K-2 CogAT (Levels 5/6-8)

for Test Coordinators & Proctors

Updated: Jan 4, 2016

STOP: FOR URGENT QUESTIONS DURING THE TEST CALL RIVERSIDE:

1-877-246-8337

THEN PRESS 1

Contents Secure Browser ............................................................................................................................................. 4

Is the Secure Browser for CogAT already on students’ computers? .................................................... 4

How can I be sure my students are testing with the newest secure browser? .................................... 4

Logging in Students ....................................................................................................................................... 4

What’s the easiest way to log in students? .......................................................................................... 4

Will the district provide hard copies of the proctor’s user guide for this test administration? ........... 4

Will the district provide hard copies of Student Test Tickets - that is, paper copies of student

information needed (Student ID, etc.) for each student to log into the CogAT? ................................. 4

How much time should test coordinators allow for a classroom of 15 kindergarten students to log in

if student login information is printed and ready to go? ...................................................................... 5

Can we log-in students before they come into the computer lab to save time? ................................. 5

What if I get an error logging in students even though all the login information and session code

seem to be entered in correctly? .......................................................................................................... 5

What happens if one of my students shuts down his/her computer before he clicked “Done” at the

end of the test? ..................................................................................................................................... 5

Setting up the Computer Lab ........................................................................................................................ 5

How can we make sure our computers won’t malfunction during the test? ....................................... 5

Do we need visual barriers between computers? ................................................................................ 6

Should I use touch screen computers if available? ............................................................................... 6

Where should I place students’ login information? .............................................................................. 6

What if I don’t have enough headphones?........................................................................................... 6

Can I put out scratch paper (and pencils) for my students to use when taking the Online CogAT? .... 6

Testing Time & Planning ............................................................................................................................... 6

How many days should I plan to test my students? ............................................................................. 6

What is the recommended proctor to test taker ratio? ....................................................................... 7

For the Online CogAT, does Riverside have any formal recommendations on lengths of breaks

between subtests? ................................................................................................................................ 8

I have a student who doesn’t speak English or Spanish (so the self-paced audio instructions won’t

help them) but he/she is still supposed to take the test? Are there any modifications for him/her? 8

After I create a test schedule for Online CogAT, who should I share it with other than folks in my

building? ................................................................................................................................................ 8

All 2nd graders are supposed to take the CogAT but are there any circumstances that would exempt

a student from taking it?....................................................................................................................... 9

I am trying to determine which subtests/batteries students need to make up. Is there a report I can

run that will tell me students’ status on completing subtests? ............................................................ 9

Creating Test Sessions ................................................................................................................................. 10

How should I name my test session? .................................................................................................. 10

How many test sessions can I be expected to activate during a proctor session? ............................. 10

For students testing with the ELL modification; what do I have them do while the rest of the class is

testing VERBAL/ Sentence Completion? ............................................................................................ 11

How do I create Test Sessions for students needing to make up several different parts of the test?

............................................................................................................................................................ 11

"Getting Started" Exercises ......................................................................................................................... 11

What is the “Getting Started” Exercise? Should I do it? .................................................................... 11

Could we show the Getting Started Subtest to the whole group using one student? ....................... 12

Proctor-led vs. Self-Paced ........................................................................................................................... 12

Should proctors administer a “proctor led session” or an “audio test session?" (a.k.a. “self-paced

session”)? ............................................................................................................................................ 12

Computer Problems during Testing ............................................................................................................ 12

Why is my test taker’s computer seem to be going crazy? The mouse is moving by itself and

doesn’t appear to be responding when I control it? .......................................................................... 12

Pausing vs. Saving the Test ......................................................................................................................... 12

What is the difference between “Saving and Closing” students’ test sessions and “Pausing and

Resuming” them? I see that pausing a session is recommended for test irregularities (i.e. disruptive

student). Which should be used if the students need to break for lunch or recess? ........................ 13

When the proctor Saves and Closes students' test sessions, will the students be able to go back and

revisit questions within the subtest they were working on?.............................................................. 13

Canceling a Test .......................................................................................................................................... 13

When would you recommend that a student’s test session be cancelled? ....................................... 13

Last Minute "Walk-in" Students.................................................................................................................. 13

If a student is not on my CogAT student roster and he/she wants to take the CogAT at the last

minute (a.k.a “walk-in-students”) may I give him/her the test? ........................................................ 13

Paper & Pencil ............................................................................................................................................. 13

If for, whatever reason, a student’s parents demand the student take the paper & pencil test, what

do we do? Can we use materials we have from last year? ................................................................ 14

Finished Testing .......................................................................................................................................... 14

How can I close the Student Secure Brower after the student is done with the test? ...................... 14

Training 2nd Grade Teachers ....................................................................................................................... 14

Will we get the recorded version of the CogAT Test Coordinator Training webinar for our use with

2nd grade teachers? ........................................................................................................................... 14

Secure Browser

Is the Secure Browser for CogAT already on students’ computers? Yes, the browser is currently on all student computers and ready to use. Look for the following icon on the desktop of a student’s computer:

How can I be sure my students are testing with the newest secure browser? Be sure you see the “NBL” prefix (see above picture) – this is the newer version of the secure browser. The previous version of the secure browser, which gave us many issues, does not have this prefix. If you don’t see it on the computers your students will be testing on, contact the IT department immediately. Although rare, there was an instance where the secure browser was intended to be pushed to all computers but didn’t make it to a school’s computer lab. If this happens to your building, to problem should be corrected overnight.

Logging in Students

What’s the easiest way to log in students?

The When logging in your students, only use the right side of the student's log in screen.

That is, just enter the student's ID and the Test Session Code. Don't bother entering the student's full

name, birth month and birth day.

Will the district provide hard copies of the proctor’s user guide for this test administration? Yes. The Testing & Assessment Office will provide printed material for the Test Coordinators of information pertinent to the version of the test given. We will also plan to print and distribute sets of quick, step-by-step guides to aid proctors on test day. The Riverside Helpline number (877-246-8337, press 1) is also printed on the Quick Guide.

Will the district provide hard copies of Student Test Tickets - that is, paper copies of student

information needed (Student ID, etc.) for each student to log into the CogAT?

No, but electronic versions will be mailed to test coordinators which can be easily printed out; these will be e-mailed at least a day before testing.

How much time should test coordinators allow for a classroom of 15 kindergarten students to

log in if student login information is printed and ready to go? For kindergarten students, some districts have the proctors log in for the students, others have their students log-in themselves but it really depends on how comfortable they are with using computers. Allowing 10-15 minutes should give you plenty of time. If you log in for the students, the student’s name will appear at the top of the screen after a successful login so students know which computer go to after entering the lab.

Can we log-in students before they come into the computer lab to save time? Yes. 10 minutes before the students enter the lab, start the test sessions and log students into their machine. When you successfully log in the students, their name will appear at the top of the screen with the drawing pad below.

What if I get an error logging in students even though all the login information and session code

seem to be entered in correctly? The student may be an ELL student with a modification who is supposed to take the Alt Verbal test, therefore the session code may be different. If this isn’t the case, call the Riverside Helpline number (877-246-8337, press 1)

What happens if one of my students shuts down his/her computer before he clicked “Done” at

the end of the test? Close out the current test session and reopen another one for the same subtest the student was working on. Have the student log into that one.

Setting up the Computer Lab

How can we make sure our computers won’t malfunction during the test?

Restart all computers at least a day before testing!

A healthy computer should be restarted at least twice a month. The IT Department finds approximately 60% of computers in the district are not restarted at least each month causing it to "misbehave". Computers that haven't been restarted in months may not even have the Riverside Secure Browser on them! Please frequently restart any computer to be used by a student taking the online CogAT. Problems with the Riverside secure browser (lagging mouse) appear to be caused by computers that haven't been restarted frequently enough or by computers that were only recently restarted after not having been restarted for months; computers like this will spend lots of time processing updates that should have been done months ago which slows them down for hours following the restart. We have had less complaints about this recently but please notify us if you are continuing to experience this problem.

Do we need visual barriers between computers? We strongly recommend them since it appears that many of the questions appear to be the same on every student’s test. During early administration of the CogAT with kindergartners, there were issues with some students looking at each other’s computer during the getting started sections.

Should I use touch screen computers if available?

Use them at your own risk. We have advocated that students use the computer mouse since several schools reported the secure browser logging them off when the touch screen was used. However, other schools have reported that the touch screens work fine for them. Schools using the computer mice appear to have less problems.

Where should I place students’ login information? Place it at their computers and keep them there for the duration of the test. Following the completion of the test, collect them and put them in a safe place to be used for the next testing session.

What if I don’t have enough headphones? Contact the Testing & Assessment Office and we’ll make sure you get the number of working headphones you need.

Can I put out scratch paper (and pencils) for my students to use when taking the Online CogAT? For the CogAT levels (5/6-8) - Grades K-2, scratch paper is not allowed. For the CogAT levels (9-17/18) – grades 3 and up, scratch paper is allowed but only for the Quantitative Battery.

Testing Time & Planning

How many days should I plan to test my students? The test vendor recommends testing no more than 1 battery (3 subtests) per day. Furthermore, they recommend scheduling both morning and afternoon testing periods and including short breaks between subtests given in the same period. Here is the vendor’s suggesting testing time for the Kindergarten (Level 5/6), Grade 1 (Level 7) and Grade 3 (Level 8) tests:

What is the recommended proctor to test taker ratio? What is the recommended proctor to student ratio? It should be no more than 15 students for 1 proctor. We have found that for kindergartners – especially for the first couple subtests – you should have at least 1 proctor for 5 students.

For the Online CogAT, does Riverside have any formal recommendations on lengths of breaks

between subtests? There is no formal recommendation for breaks. Most districts give younger students more frequent breaks, such as 10 minutes between each subtest but older students may only get a break between batteries.

I have a student who doesn’t speak English or Spanish (so the self-paced audio instructions won’t

help them) but he/she is still supposed to take the test? Are there any modifications for

him/her?

Although the Self-Proctoring (Audio) option accommodates ELL Spanish Speakers for all subtests, for ELL students of other languages, there is an option to omit the sentence completion subtest. Students testing with this modification receive a modified alternative score for the verbal battery. The Assessment Office collaborates with the ELL department to provide lists of students they recommend for this accommodation. Please consult your building’s ELL Specialist after you receive this list to determine if amends to this list need to be made. Afterward, send the final list of those students’ names to Karen Forsloff (Karen.Forsloff@kent.k12.wa.us) in the Testing & Assessment Office by the deadline specified on her original email. For more information see pages 9-10 in the Directions for Online Administration. Also know that these students will be testing in a different test session (with a different test code) in the Verbal Battery; see “Creating Test Sessions” area for more detail on this. Below is a visual diagram to help you better understand the district’s recommendation for the three different available test sessions:

After I create a test schedule for Online CogAT, who should I share it with other than folks in my

building?

Please share your building’s testing schedule with Karen Forsloff in the Testing & Assessment Office. Karen will relay this information to the IT team so they can plan to have a technical specialist in your building (if one is available) to help you if you experience computer/network issues during the test.

All 2nd graders are supposed to take the CogAT but are there any circumstances that would

exempt a student from taking it? Yes, the following circumstances would exempt a student from taking the CogAT:

Students who have an IEP that exempts them

Students whose special circumstance dictate that participation in the CogAT would not be meaningful, which means students who:

o Is self-contained and taking the WA-AIM (Portfolio) o Is a newcomer with no English skills o Has parents that refuse the test o Refuses to test

I am trying to determine which subtests/batteries students need to make up. Is there a report I

can run that will tell me students’ status on completing subtests? Yes. From the manage testing area, click the Student Lookup button:

Instead of entering an individual student’s Student IDs, First Name, Last Name, etc., just select your current location and hit the Search button to display all of the students at your school (This Example is for Cedar Valley):

Unfortunately, there is no way to export this list of students to Excel but you can go to the bottom of the page and ask the program to display 100 records per page:

Creating Test Sessions

How should I name my test session?

We recommend the following naming convention but as long as you have your school ID and your ID it

should be enough information to help you if/when we have to do some problem solving in the event of

an irregularity during testing – such as a student taking a test under another student’s ID.

How many test sessions can I be expected to activate during a proctor session? If you have a class of all English speakers who are all starting from the same place in the test, you’ll most likely have only 1 test session. However, if you have students with the ELL modification you’ll need a separate test session for them (only for the Verbal Battery). Also, if you have students who are testing using the Audio-Spanish option, you’ll have to create a separate test session for them, too. Each test session has a different test code so make sure when a student logs in that he/she use the test code that corresponds with the test session they should be taking. Below is the Battery/Subtest menu which include the 2 “ALT VERBAL” options for ELL students with modifications:

For students testing with the ELL modification; what do I have them do while the rest of the class

is testing VERBAL/ Sentence Completion? They will automatically be moved on to the next available session. For example, when all your English speakers have moved on to “Picture Classification”, your ALT verbal test takers will be starting Number Analogies since they skipped “Sentence Completion” and therefore that’s the third subtest they are slated to take. As long as these students are coded by the Testing & Assessment Department as “ALT VERBAL” students, this section will not be counted in their overall CogAT score. It has been reported that these students cannot even log into the Verbal/Sentence Completion subtest even if the proctor wanted them to experience it.

How do I create Test Sessions for students needing to make up several different parts of the

test?

Make-up test sessions may require you to create many different test sessions depending on the number of students making up the test and the different areas they need to make up. For example if you have 3 make up testers: one that needs to complete a subtest in the Verbal battery, another in the Quantitative battery, and another in the Nonverbal battery, the test administrator would need to create and open three different test sessions. The tricky part is making sure the students enter the correct session code to take the appropriate subtest they are making up. It’s probably best practice for you to log in each test taker in yourself to ensure they are entering the appropriate subtest.

"Getting Started" Exercises

What is the “Getting Started” Exercise? Should I do it? Yes – especially for students taking the test for the first time. Getting Started just walks the student through how to take an online assessment in DataManager. It is not a required session and has no link to data. It’s designed as a practice session for the student to login and learn how to advance through the questions. For new proctors it’s also a good chance to practice their proctor duties of approving students for testing, advancing students through the

test, and then ending testing. After the “Getting Started” Session, students will be required to log into the system again to start the actual test.

Could we show the Getting Started Subtest to the whole group using one student? Yes. This is a great way to cover how to do the test, especially with a group of younger test takers. Since Getting Started isn’t required, there is no effect on scoring if only one student completes the Getting Started Tutorial.

Conducting the Getting Started with the entire class using one of your student’s logins and watch on the

overhead with the computer audio on loudspeakers. Ask questions and perform demonstrations to the

kindergartners to confirm their understanding of the following:

Repeat Directions Button

Volume Control

Back Button

Go Button – (especially when this button is green, which means it’s ready to be clicked).

When you do the Getting Started, try getting a few problems intentionally wrong to demonstrate functionality.

Proctor-led vs. Self-Paced

Should proctors administer a “proctor led session” or an “audio test session?" (a.k.a. “self-paced

session”)? The KSD HiCap Department requests that all testing be “self-paced” or “Audio” – not “proctor-led.” However, we have found kindergarteners benefit from a more verbal assistance in understanding how to navigate the test. This can be taught in the “Getting Started” exercise - see above on advice concerning younger test takers on “Getting Started”. Additional guidance may also be needed for younger test takers for the first 2 practice questions of the subtest (for example, the Verbal Battery: Picture Analogies) where you can verbally walk the Kindergarten students through these examples, too.

Computer Problems during Testing

Why is my test taker’s computer seem to be going crazy? The mouse is moving by itself and

doesn’t appear to be responding when I control it? We have learned that the cause of this is the use of the first secure browser. Make sure you are using the latest secure browser “NBL Riverside Secure Browser” (see the first section of this FAQs document where we answer questions on logging students into the test).

Pausing vs. Saving the Test

What is the difference between “Saving and Closing” students’ test sessions and “Pausing and

Resuming” them? I see that pausing a session is recommended for test irregularities (i.e.

disruptive student). Which should be used if the students need to break for lunch or recess? Saving and Closing the test logs the student out of the session completely. Pausing doesn’t log the student out of the assessment but instead sends the student to the drawing screen where they wait for the proctor to resume the test. Pausing is generally used if you want to give your kids a short break (e.g. 1-hour) in between sessions. It’s not recommended to pause a student’s test for more than 2-hours since his/her computer may automatically power off, disrupting the test session.

When the proctor Saves and Closes students' test sessions, will the students be able to go back

and revisit questions within the subtest they were working on? If the session is saved, the student will be able to go back but if the proctor ends the session and moves the student to the next subtest the student won’t be able to go back and review their answers.

Canceling a Test

When would you recommend that a student’s test session be cancelled? This should rarely be done. Cancelling a session when a student is logged in will log out the student from the session and not save the student scores. Only do this if you find a student taking the wrong test after he/she already started. Riverside has told us that a student who has had their subtest test session canceled may go back in and take the same subtest again but they will start from the beginning with no answers saved from their prior attempt.

Last Minute "Walk-in" Students

If a student is not on my CogAT student roster and he/she wants to take the CogAT at the last

minute (a.k.a “walk-in-students”) may I give him/her the test? KSD does not allow proctors to add “last minute/walk-in” students. In the case of nominated grades, only students whose parents submitted a form in accordance with the HiCap Department’s deadline are eligible to take the test and will appear in the testing database. In the case of 2nd grade CogAT - where all students have the opportunity to take the test – if a student is not on the list of students to test, please notify Karen Forsloff in the Testing & Assessment Office and provide the student’s full name, birth date, and primary homeroom teacher’s name.

Paper & Pencil

If for, whatever reason, a student’s parents demand the student take the paper & pencil test,

what do we do? Can we use materials we have from last year? Please contact the assessment office (X-7080) ASAP if this occurs and we will try to accommodate this situation.

Finished Testing

How can I close the Student Secure Brower after the student is done with the test? If the secure browser doesn’t automatically close after the proctor selects “End Testing All” for all test sessions,

you can go to the student’s computer and hit Ctl+Shift+Q and the browser should close.

Training 2nd Grade Teachers

Will we get the recorded version of the CogAT Test Coordinator Training webinar for our use

with 2nd grade teachers? No. You may use provide teachers with the Quick Guides, links to Videos and Proctor Guides which cover all material covered in the hour session. Although the Assessment Office considered creating its own tutorial video on proctoring the Online CogAT, it was determined unnecessary given the Quick Guides and CogAT Test Coordinator’s presence in the building.