SECTION 210:10-13-4. Test security and validity

(a)   Test security. School administrators and their designees shall maintain security on tests administered under the auspices of the Oklahoma School Testing Program through following the procedures listed below:

(1)   Test coordinators. School superintendents shall designate both district and building test coordinators before October 1 of each school year. Names and telephone numbers of district test coordinators shall be recorded on the OSTP Questionnaire conducted in the fall semester of each school year. This questionnaire is the order form provided by the testing vendors for all tests in the OSTP including large print and Braille test forms.

(2)   Pretest information. The State Department of Education shall provide student/parent pretest information materials to schools for designated grade levels before testing.

(3)   Embargo of test materials. The State Department of Education shall require the contracting test publisher to place an embargo on the sale, sampling, and/or distribution of test materials utilized in the OSTP to any person or organization in Oklahoma (other than the official distribution of such materials purchased for the OSTP by the State Department of Education). This embargo is to be enforced from the first day of contract with the State Department of Education throughout use of this test for the OSTP and until the Department has given notice that the test series is no longer going to be used in the OSTP.

(A)   Violation of this agreement by a contracting test publisher can result in automatic and immediate forfeiture of the contract and reimbursement to the State Department of Education (by the contracting company) of any funds expended in the conduct of the OSTP.

(B)   No individual person or public or private entity shall obtain copies of any test materials utilized in the OSTP other than through the official distribution of test materials to public schools immediately prior to administration of the annual OSTP. Any person or organization attempting to order such materials from the contracting test publisher (or from other scoring companies handling OSTP or "off-grade" scoring and reporting) shall be reported by the contractor to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

(4)   Maintenance of the security of test materials prior to exam administration. All student test materials (i.e., test booklets, prompts for writing assessment, and answer documents) shall be bound by the test publisher in packages of designated lot sizes. No test booklets shall be viewed by any person other than the student taking the test at the time of testing, except in the case of special education, Section 504, or ELL accommodations which allow a test administrator to assist a student being tested. Test booklets shall be individually sealed, as practicable, to prohibit them from being opened.

(A)   When seals are used on test booklets, the following procedures shall be followed:

(i)   Test booklets shall remain intact until tests are distributed to students at the beginning of the test administration session;

(ii)   Each test booklet seal shall be broken only by the student who is administered the test, except where special education or Section 504 accommodations allow the opening of the test; and

(iii)   Unused test booklets shall remain sealed.

(B)   When seals are not used on test booklets, the following procedures shall be followed:

(i)   Test booklets shall remain closed until distributed to students at the beginning of the test administration session;

(ii)   Each test booklet shall be opened only by the student who is administered the test, except where special education or Section 504 accommodations allow the opening of the book and turning of pages by someone other than the students.

(5)   Inventory and accounting of test materials. All test materials shall be inventoried by the school district upon receipt from the test publisher/contractor. Any discrepancies representing shortages in the quantity of materials supplied and the quantity needed for tests administered shall be reported immediately to the contracting company by the district test coordinator. Immediately upon receipt and inventory of materials, all tests, and other materials shall be locked in a secure place by the district test coordinator or school administrator.

(A)   The site level distribution of test documents and materials may occur beginning one week prior to testing. Exceptions to the test materials distribution time limit needed by the largest districts in the state shall be registered with and approved by the State Department of Education Office of Assessment at least four weeks prior to the first designated testing window of each year.

(B)   During the days in which tests are being administered in each school district, all test administrators are responsible for locking all test materials in a secure place when the tests are not being utilized in the official test administration with students. This includes the time period between completion of the test administration and delivery of the answer documents and other test materials to the district test coordinator. Further, the building test coordinator is responsible for ensuring that materials are properly locked in a secure place at the times specified above.

(C)   Test booklets are not to leave school buildings at any time (i.e., students' test booklets are not to be taken home by an employee or the community member/test monitor before, during, or after test administration has been completed). Exceptions to test booklets leaving a school site shall be made at the discretion of the State Department of Education Office of Assessment for the purpose of secure transport to a site of instruction for the purpose of test administration, upon a written request from a District Test Coordinator. These requests must be registered with and approved by the Office of Assessment at least four weeks prior to the first designated testing window of each year.

(D)   An accounting is to be conducted on all test booklets. Unused test booklets are to remain in "shrink-wrap" (or otherwise packaged) when possible. All unused tests are to be returned to the test publisher. Failure to return test booklets to the appropriate companies will result in:

(i)   A school or district being reported to the State Superintendent; and

(ii)   Possible invalidation of the school's and/or district's scores by the State Department of Education Office of Assessment.

(E)   The contracting test publisher shall print electronically read identification codes on all documents containing secured test items prior to distribution of these materials to the public schools. Within all test program components of the OSTP, the contracting test publisher shall record the specific series of numbers (represented by the "bar codes") assigned to each school district and building site within a district. Inventory lists of test document bar codes by school site shall be provided for each district test coordinator.

(F)   The district test coordinator shall ship all answer documents and specified identification forms to the designated scoring/reporting company and all other test materials to the contracting test publisher in accordance with the schedule for return of materials provided in the Test Preparation Manual. If a district fails to return materials and answer documents in a timely fashion, the district may be penalized with additional costs and the test scores for the individual school(s) and/or district in question may be declared invalid. If a district fails to complete or incorrectly completes answer documents and/or demographic pages or other required testing-related materials, the district may be penalized with additional costs and may also receive a deficiency on the district accreditation report.

(G)   The contracting test publisher shall submit an inventory of test materials to the State Department of Education each year. This inventory shall document the quantity of materials distributed to each school district and received from each school district-- recorded by school site as indicated by the numbers represented by the "bar codes" printed on test materials. Quantities of writing assessment materials distributed to and retrieved from schools will be reported to the State Department of Education by the contracting test publisher.

(H)   School superintendents from whom incomplete quantities of materials have been received shall be notified of this discrepancy and shall be provided a date by which the remaining materials must be returned to the test publisher. The test publisher shall notify the Department of Education of all school districts from which test materials have not been received after this date. Names of these school districts shall be reported to the State Superintendent and may also receive a deficiency on the district accreditation report.

(6)   Prohibition against reproduction of test materials. Reproduction of any copyrighted test materials--including test documents, teachers' test administration manuals, and student pretest materials--is strictly prohibited. Photocopying or digital copying of these materials constitutes a violation of federal copyright laws. To ensure that all school employees and community members are aware of this regulation and the laws in support of same, the district or building test coordinator shall post a sign to this effect over each copy machine. The Federal Copyright Law--as it applies to the multiple-choice and/or Writing Assessment Component of the OSTP--prohibits the photocopying of any part of the student Test Booklet. This includes the lined writing pages, the writing prompt, and the student's written response. This portion of the set of test documents, as well as the writing prompt, is considered protected under the copyright guidelines. These items shall remain protected, and thus may not be copied, printed, or disseminated in any manner, until they are officially released by the OSDE.

(7)   Other test security violations. All of the following actions are prohibited as violations of test security:

(A)   Teaching test items to students (except in the case of an alternate special education assessment in which authentic performance tasks may be utilized ), changing students' answers, or in any manner providing answers to test questions for students before, during, or after test administration has been completed.

(B)   Using secured test items as instructional tools or for student "practice"--either verbatim as written or in reworded form. Note: Secured test items are those provided to measure student knowledge and/or skills on OSTP tests. Said items are to be differentiated from sample test items that are provided at the beginning of each subtest and used, according to official test administration procedures, solely for the purpose of understanding directions and marking answers.

(C)   Reading secured test items orally to students at any time before, after, or during test administration unless it is an IEP, Section 504, or ELL accommodation, in which case an affidavit shall be signed, prior to reading items, by the test administrator/reader stating they shall not reveal any test items, writing prompts, or other secured information to any person.

(D)   Allowing students to view and/or read the writing assessment prompts before test administration or discussing or exposing the theme or topic of the prompt.

(E)   Providing answers to secured test items. This includes provision of cues, clues, hints, and/or actual answers in any form--written, printed, verbal (oral), or nonverbal. In regard to the writing assessment component of the OSTP, prohibited actions include the provision of "hints" or any form of clues in regard to the manner in which students respond to the prompt (e.g., "brainstorming" about the topic of the prompt; offering suggestions regarding how to respond; assisting the student or class in organizing the response; and all other such deviations from the printed instructions for administering the test).

(F)   Changing students' responses to secured test items and/or influencing or encouraging students to change their answers to test items at any time.

(G)   Deviating from any instruction provided in the official test administration manual or disclosure of any test information that materially inhibits the State Board of Education from exercising its duties set forth in 70 O.S. §1210.508 to develop, field-test, administer, and validate criterion-referenced tests and end-of-instruction assessments.

(8)   Test security forms. Test Security Forms provided by the State Department of Education's test contractor(s) shall be distributed by the district test coordinator with test materials to the persons designated on each form.

(A)   OSTP Test Security Forms shall be provided for the following:

(i)   Form 1: Superintendent and District Test Coordinator

(ii)   Form 2: Building Principal and Building Test Coordinator

(iii)   Form 3: Test Administrators and Test Monitors.

(B)   After completing the test administration, these forms shall be signed by the designated persons and returned to the district test coordinator. The district test coordinator shall return all signed forms to the respective scoring company. Failure to sign and return the appropriate forms may result in:

(i)   A school or district being reported to the State Superintendent; and

(ii)   Invalidation of a school's and/or district's test scores.

(C)   The contracting test companies shall provide the State Department of Education the signed OSTP Test Security Forms or a report of names of educators who signed SDE/OSTP Test Security Forms and an accounting of the number of tests and manuals:

(i)   Distributed to, and

(ii)   Returned from each school district.

(b)   Test administration. All test administration sessions shall be conducted according to the standardized procedures described in the test administrators' manuals

(1)   The standardized procedures include, but are not limited to:

(A)   Reading the directions to students verbatim;

(B)   Refraining from allowing students to read test items before test timing begins and/or beyond the completion specified for each section of each test; and

(C)   Ensuring that only the materials designated for student test use are on the student's desk during test sessions.

(2)   Every test administered within the OSTP shall be administered by an education-certified professional person employed by the school district.

(3)   All test administration sessions shall be monitored by an adult other than the test administrator. All test monitors shall be approved by the superintendent or school principal. Superintendents and principals may designate school employees or noncertified members of the community to serve as test monitors.

(4)   All test administration procedures including time specifications, State Board of Education Rules 210:10-13, and the Instructions for Test Monitors shall be distributed to test monitor(s) before test administration.

(5)   School administrators or their designee(s) shall assure that all test administration procedures replicate standardized testing conditions to preserve test validity. Such procedures are stated in the manuals for administering the test.

(c)   Test security violations. Any violation of security provisions in this Section may constitute a basis for invalidation of the test and test results. Such violations shall be reported to the State Superintendent and the school district board of education, and may result in a school's and/or school district's test scores being declared as invalid.

(d)   Penalties for test security violations. In addition to any other penalties set forth in this Section, the State Board of Education may revoke the teaching, counseling, administrative, and/or other certificate(s) issued by the State Board of Education to one or more individuals upon a finding of willful violation of any of the provisions set forth in (a)(7)(A) through (a)(7)(G) of this Section.

[Source: Added at 10 Ok Reg 2143, eff 5-4-93 (emergency); Added at 11 Ok Reg 1977, eff 5-26-94; Amended at 13 Ok Reg 265, eff 9-8-95 (emergency); Amended at 13 Ok Reg 1321, eff 5-13-96; Amended at 14 Ok Reg 3312, eff 5-5-97 (emergency); Amended at 15 Ok Reg 2227, eff 6-11-98; Amended at 17 Ok Reg 2886, eff 7-13-00; Amended at 18 Ok Reg 753, eff 1-24-01 (emergency); Amended at 18 Ok Reg 3001, eff 7-12-01; Amended at 20 Ok Reg 155, eff 10-10-02 (emergency); Amended at 20 Ok Reg 816, eff 5-15-03; Amended at 21 Ok Reg 184, eff 11-6-03 (emergency); Amended at 21 Ok Reg 1192, eff 5-27-04; Amended at 26 Ok Reg 91, eff 10-7-08 (emergency); Amended at 26 Ok Reg 1433, eff 6-11-09; Amended at 31 Ok Reg 1147, eff 9-12-14; Amended at 36 Ok Reg 752, eff 7-25-19]