Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) Security and confidentiality.
(1) All assessment instruments included in
the student assessment program are considered secure, and the contents of these
tests, including student information used or obtained in their administration,
are confidential.
(2) School
districts and campuses, the superintendent and campus principals in each school
district, open-enrollment charter schools and campuses, and the chief
administrative officer and campus principals of each charter school shall:
(A) implement and ensure compliance with
state test administration procedures and training activities;
(B) notify the Texas Education Agency (TEA)
as soon as the school district or charter school becomes aware of any alleged
or suspected violation of the security or confidential integrity of a test as
listed in paragraph (3) of this subsection;
(C) report all confirmed testing violations
to TEA within 10 working days of the school district or charter school becoming
aware of the violation in accordance with the reporting process stipulated in
the test administration materials;
(D) ensure that the only individuals with
access to secure test materials are school district or charter school employees
who have:
(i) met the requirements to
participate in the student assessment program;
(ii) received training in test security and
test administration procedures; and
(iii) signed an oath affirming they
understand their obligation to maintain and preserve the security and
confidentiality of all state assessments and student information, acknowledge
their responsibility to report any suspected testing violation, and are aware
of the range of penalties that may result from a violation of test security and
confidentiality or a departure from test administration procedures;
and
(E) ensure the
security of the test materials by:
(i)
verifying that all boxes of testing materials have been accounted for and match
the school district or charter school shipping notices upon receipt from the
state's testing contractor(s);
(ii)
requiring campuses to immediately inventory all testing materials received and
to notify the school district or charter school testing coordinator of any
shortages or discrepancies;
(iii)
immediately notifying the state's testing contractor(s) of any discrepancies
between the materials received and the school district, charter school, and
campus shipping notices;
(iv)
placing test booklets and answer documents in secure, limited-access, locked
storage when not in use;
(v)
collecting and destroying any scratch paper, graph paper, or reference
materials that students have written on, as well as any recordings, after the
completion of a test administration;
(vi) requiring that all secure materials
assigned to individual campuses have been accounted for and packaged in
accordance with the procedures for returning materials as detailed in the test
administration materials;
(vii)
requiring that all test item image cards and photocopies or reproductions of
secure test materials have been collected and returned to the school district
or charter school testing coordinator for return to the testing contractor(s);
and
(viii) maintaining inventory
and shipping records for five years.
(3) Violations of the security and
confidential integrity of a test include:
(A)
directly or indirectly assisting students with responses to test
questions;
(B) tampering with
student responses;
(C) falsifying
holistic ratings or student responses;
(D) viewing secure test content before,
during, or after an administration unless specifically authorized by TEA or by
the procedures outlined in the test administration materials;
(E) discussing or disclosing secure test
content or student responses;
(F)
scoring students' tests, either formally or informally;
(G) duplicating, recording, or electronically
capturing confidential test content unless specifically authorized by TEA or by
the procedures outlined in the test administration materials;
(H) responding to secure test
questions;
(I) fraudulently
exempting or preventing a student from participating in the administration of a
required state assessment;
(J)
receiving or providing unallowable assistance during calibration activities
(e.g., taking notes, providing answer sheets, or sharing answers);
(K) encouraging or assisting an individual to
engage in the conduct described in subparagraphs (A)-(J) of this paragraph or
in any other serious violation of security and confidentiality;
(L) failing to report to an appropriate
authority that an individual has engaged or is suspected of engaging in conduct
described in subparagraphs (A)-(K) of this paragraph or in any other serious
violation of security and confidentiality under this section;
(M) failing to implement sufficient
procedures to prevent student cheating; and
(N) failing to implement sufficient
procedures to prevent alteration of test documents by anyone other than the
student.
(4) If a school
district or charter school determines that a student has cheated or attempted
to cheat on a state assessment either by providing or receiving direct
assistance, the school district or charter school shall invalidate the
student's test results.
(5) Any
violation of test security or confidential integrity may result in the TEA:
(A) invalidating student test
results;
(B) referring certified
educators to the State Board for Educator Certification for sanctions in
accordance with Chapter 247 of this title (relating to Educators' Code of
Ethics) and Chapter 249 of this title (relating to Disciplinary Proceedings,
Sanctions, and Contested Cases); and
(C) lowering the school district's or charter
school's accreditation status or a school district's, charter school's, or
campus's accountability rating in accordance with Texas Education Code (TEC),
§39.003(d), or appointment of a monitor, conservator, or management team
to the school district or charter school in accordance with TEC, Chapter
39A.
(b) Test
administration procedures. Test administration procedures shall be delineated
in the test administration materials provided to school districts and charter
schools annually. Districts and charter schools must comply with all of the
applicable requirements specified in the test administration materials. Test
administration materials shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) general testing program
information;
(2) procedures for
maintaining the security and confidentiality of state assessments;
(3) procedures for test
administration;
(4)
responsibilities of personnel involved in test administration; and
(5) procedures for materials
control.
(c) Training
activities. School districts and charter schools shall ensure that test
coordinators and administrators receive training to ensure that testing
personnel have the necessary skills and knowledge required to administer
assessment instruments in a valid, standardized, and secure manner.
(d) Records retention. As part of test
administration procedures, the commissioner shall require school districts and
charter schools to maintain records related to the security of assessment
instruments for five years.
(e)
Applicability. The required test administration procedures and training
activities established annually in the test administration manuals and test
security supplements for prior years remain in effect for all purposes with
respect to the prior year to which they apply.