Guidelines for Administering the PSSA for Students with the Mixed-Mode Response Accommodation

In accordance with the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Accommodation Guidelines, students who benefit from online testing but have limited or no capacity for extended keyboarding may use the Mixed-Mode response accommodation. Students use the Mixed-Mode accommodation because they are unable to type their own open-ended response(s) into the online version of the test but are able to handwrite a response using a pencil with the paper answer booklet. The student must respond to all multiple-choice questions online and must respond to open-ended questions in the paper answer booklet using their own handwriting. This is allowable for both non-IEP and IEP students.

The guidelines below must be followed by the Test Administrator when administering the Mixed-Mode accommodation. 

Preparation​​

• Students using the Mixed-Mode accommodation should be in a separate small-group setting from the general testing population.
• Students using Mixed-Mode accommodation must complete each section of the assessment in the order of the sequenced items.
  • To clarify, students must complete the online multiple-choice items and the paper open-ended items for a single section in the order they are presented before proceeding to the next section.
• When the Mixed-Mode accommodation is used with a group of students, Test Administrators must be aware that students will complete the online multiple-choice items at different rates. The Test Administrator must have a plan for managing the group's transition to the open-ended items in the paper booklets.
• The Test Administrator assigned to a student using the Mixed-Mode accommodation must have a copy of the Directions for Administration Manuals for both the online assessment and the paper assessment.
• The School Assessment Coordinator or designee should draw an "X" over each set of response bubbles to prevent the student from responding to multiple-choice questions in the paper booklet. 
  • Because DRC does not score the multiple-choice items from the paper booklet, the "X" will not interfere with scanning and scoring.
• The School Assessment Coordinator or designee must mark the accommodation “Mixed Mode: Student completed multiple-choice items online and open-ended items in the answer booklet" in both the student's answer booklet and the student's eDIRECT record.
  • The accommodation must be selected in eDIRECT prior to printing the student's online test ticket.
  • When the Mixed-Mode accommodation is selected:
    • Any open-ended responses recorded online will not be scored.
    • Any multiple-choice responses recorded in the paper booklet will not be scored.
• It is imperative that School Assessment Coordinators and Test Administrators confirm that the Form Number printed on the student's online test ticket matches the Form Number on the student's paper answer booklet.
• The paper answer booklet must be returned with the Student Precode Label or a District/School Label for the open-ended response to be scored.
  • When using District/School Labels, the student's first name, last name, PAsecureID, and date of birth must be bubbled exactly as they appear on the test session roster. If the student information on the answer booklet does not match the student's eDIRECT record, DRC will not be able to merge the two tests and the student will not get the correct score.

Administering the English language arts (ELA) Assessment​​

• The Test Administrator should follow the instructions in the Directions for Online Administration Manual to administer Section 1 (multiple-choice only) of the ELA assessment, including the “Start the Assessment-Code of Conduct for Test Takers" instructions.
  • Test Administrators should skip any instructions related to the procedures for answering multiple-choice items in the paper booklets.
• For Section 2, the Test Administrator should begin the session by addressing the procedures related to the use of paper booklets for responding to open-ended items: short-answer questions (grade 3) or text-dependent analysis prompts (grades 4-8).
  • The Test Administrator should read aloud the scripted directions from Part III, "Administer Section 2-ELA, "of the Directions for Administration Manual that are directly related to responding to open-ended items in the paper booklets.
  • Test Administrator should skip any instructions related to the procedures for answering multiple-choice items in the paper booklets.
• After confirming that the students understand the specific directions for responding to open-ended items, the Test Administrator should turn the student's attention to the online test.
• Next, the Test Administrator should read aloud the scripted directions from Part IV of the Directions for Online Administration Manual, "Administer Section 2-ELA," skipping any instruction related to the procedures for answering open-ended items in the online test. 
• After confirming that the students understand the specific directions for responding to multiple-choice items, the Test Administrator should let the students start Section 2 of the online test.
• When a student has completed the multiple-choice responses, he/she should exit the online test by selecting the End Test Button. 
  • On the review page, the constructed response items will be listed as unanswered.  This is expected.
• After the student has exited the online test for Section 2, he/she should immediately receive instruction to begin the open-ended items for Section 2.
  • The open-ended items must be administered within the same session.
• When all students have completed their open-ended responses, the Test Administrator should follow the instructions in the Directions for Administration Manual for ending a test session and collecting the secure materials.
• For Section 3 of the ELA assessment, the Test Administrator should follow the same steps as described above for Section 2. 

Administering the Mathematics and science Assessments

• The Test Administrator should begin the session by addressing the procedures related to the use of paper booklets for responding to open-ended items.
  • The Test Administrators should read aloud the scripted directions from Part III of the Directions for Administration Manual, including all "Getting Started with the Assessment" instructions and the text related to open-ended items in the "Administer Section I" portion of the Part III of the paper administration manual. 
    • Test Administrators should skip any instructions related to the procedures for answering multiple-choice items in the paper booklets.
  • After confirming that the students understand the specific directions for responding to open-ended items, the Test Administrator should turn the student's attention to the online test.
• Next, the Test Administrator should read aloud the scripted directions from Part IV of the Directions for Online Administration Manual, "including all "Start the Assessment-Code of Conduct for Test Takers" instructions.
  • After all students have completed the Code of Conduct, the Test Administrator should continue with the scripted directions related to multiple-choice items in the "Administer [subject] - Section 1" portion of the Part IV of the online administration manual.
    • The Test Administrator should skip any instructions related to the procedures for answering open-ended items in the online test. 
• After confirming that the students understand the specific directions for responding to multiple-choice items, the Test Administrator should let the students start Section 1 of the online test.
  • When a student has completed the multiple-choice responses, he/she should exit the online test by selecting the End Test Button. 
    • On the review page, the constructed response items will be listed as unanswered.  This is expected.
• After the student has exited the online test for Section 1, he/she should immediately receive instruction to begin the open-ended items for Section 1.
  • The open-ended items must be administered within the same session.
• When all students have completed their open-ended responses, the Test Administrator should follow the instructions in the Directions for Administration Manual for ending a test session and collecting the secure materials.
• For Section 2 of the Mathematics and Science assessments, the Test Administrator should follow the same steps as described above for Section 1.  The only variance will be that the "Get Started" instructions from the administration manuals should only be addressed before the first section.

​If there are any questions regarding these guidelines or the Mixed-Mode accommodation, contact PDE at RA-EDUNIQUEACCOM@pa.gov.​