Relating to the administration of the statewide summative assessment of student progress to students of online schools by school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and charter schools

Description

House File 190 allows a school district, accredited nonpublic school, or charter school providing instruction primarily over the Internet to administer the required State summative assessment in an online setting pursuant to conditions detailed in the Bill. The State Board of Education is required to adopt administrative rules to implement the provisions of the Bill.

Background

The Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) is the summative accountability assessment for all Iowa students that meets the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). 2018 Iowa Acts, chapter 1037 (Student Academic Achievement Assessments Act), named Iowa Testing Programs (ITP) within the University of Iowa as the test administrator for the statewide assessment. Iowa Testing Programs partners with Pearson to deliver, support, and provide training for the ISASP. Assessments for English language arts and mathematics are administered in grades 3 through 11. Assessments for science are administered in grades 5, 8, and 10.

State assessments administered to students in different educational settings may use a parallel testing format. Parallel testing is when different versions of a test are administered to students at the same time with each version covering the same content and difficulty level but using different questions. By using a second set of questions, test security concerns can be minimized. If parallel testing is not used, an additional option for supporting test security is to offer the virtual remote administration of the assessment after the in-person administration is completed.

The Department of Education (DE) currently receives a $3.0 million annual appropriation for the Statewide Student Assessment that partially offsets the cost of the assessment to school districts and accredited nonpublic schools. Schools are charged additional fees per test based on whether an online version or paper-and-pencil version is used.

Assumptions

• To support changes to the administration of the ISASP, Pearson will need to make design and software changes to support remote proctoring, which are estimated to cost $200,000.
• Pearson and ITP will provide training to support remote proctoring, which is estimated to cost $25,000 annually.
• If the ISASP is administered using a parallel testing format, ITP will be required to create a second set of dedicated forms per grade for remote test taking, necessitating 4.50 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, which are estimated to cost $600,000 annually for the following:
• 0.75 FTE position for a math specialist.
• 0.75 FTE position for a reading specialist.
• 0.50 FTE position for a language specialist.
• 0.50 FTE position for a science specialist.
• 0.50 FTE position for an editor.
• 0.50 FTE position for a program coordinator.
• 1.0 FTE position for a psychometrician.
• The current $3.0 million appropriation for the Statewide Student Assessment will continue to be used to partially offset the cost of the assessment for school districts and accredited nonpublic schools.
• The United States Department of Education will approve the online administration of the test to virtual students in the students’ home settings.
• Any necessary hardware or security monitoring software will be available or provided to the student to meet the proctoring requirements of the Bill.

Fiscal Impact

If parallel testing is used, ITP estimates the first-year implementation costs to be $825,000. Annual recurring costs are estimated to be $625,000. Iowa Testing Programs estimates an increase in fees charged to all schools to be $1.00 per test, per student, to cover the estimated increase in costs.

If parallel testing is not used, ITP estimates the first-year implementation costs to be $225,000. Annual recurring costs are estimated to be $25,000.

Sources

• Department of Education
• Iowa Testing Programs