FAQs for Grades 3-6 CogAT (Level 9-17/18)

for Test Coordinators & Proctors

Updated: Jan 25, 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 20 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? ................................................................................ 5

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

Do I need to 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? ................................................................................................................................ 7

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

This upper-level (Grade 3 and up) CogAT test is different from the lower-level (Grade K-2) version.

Since there are less pictures, are there additional accommodations for English Language Learners? 8

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

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

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? ............................................................ 8

Creating Test Sessions ................................................................................................................................... 9

How should I name my test session? .................................................................................................... 9

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 to do? ............................................. 10

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

............................................................................................................................................................ 10

"Getting Started" Exercises ......................................................................................................................... 10

What is the “Getting Started” Exercise? Should I do it? .................................................................... 10

Could we show the Getting Started Subtest to the whole group using one student? ....................... 11

Timed Testing .............................................................................................................................................. 11

Who qualifies for being able to have their time extended by the proctor on the Online CogAT for

grades 3 and up? ................................................................................................................................. 11

In testing grades 3 and above on CogAT, I know the test is timed. When does the clock start and

will the student and proctor be able to keep track of how much time he/she has? ......................... 11

Is it possible to give students more time than 10 minutes for each subtest? .................................... 11

How do I add time to a student’s test? ............................................................................................... 12

If a student’s test is paused, will the CogAT Online test system remember which question the

student was working on and how much time remains for that student to finish a given subtest? ... 12

What happens when the student runs out of time? .......................................................................... 12

Should I plan to group students by those who need test time extended and those who don’t? ...... 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”)? ............................................................................................................................................ 13

Computer Problems during Testing ............................................................................................................ 13

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? .......................................................................... 13

Pausing vs. Saving the Test ......................................................................................................................... 13

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.................................................................................................................. 14

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? ........................................................ 14

Paper & Pencil ............................................................................................................................................. 14

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

When students finish testing is there anything that warns them if they forgot to answer questions

before submitting? .............................................................................................................................. 14

How can I close the Student Secure Brower after the student is done with the test? ...................... 15

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 20 students to log in if student

login information is printed and ready to go? Allowing 10 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 then log students into their machine. It will save you a nice chunk of time. When you successfully log in the students, their name will appear at the top of the screen with the drawing pad below. JUST MAKE SURE THE STUDENTS SIT AT THE RIGHT COMPUTER! Walk around the lab and check this before starting the test from your proctor computer.

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 most common reason is that you forgot to actually open/start the test session you created. Just go to your proctor computer and click the session you created so it opens in its own tab.

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 younger test-takers, there were issues with some students looking at each other’s answers 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.

Do I need to put out scratch paper and pencils for my students to use when taking the Online

CogAT? Yes. For the CogAT levels (9-17/18) – grades 3 and up, scratch paper and pencil is required 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. In short, plan for about 3 days of testing but give yourself at least 4-5 days for make-up testing. Here is the vendor’s suggesting testing time for the Grade 3-6 (Levels 9-12):

What is the recommended proctor to test taker ratio? It should be no more than 20 students for 1 proctor. Consider adding a proctor if you are testing more than 20 students. Contact Karen Forsloff in the Testing and Assessment Office to request another proctor account.

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 Verbal Battery. Students testing with this modification will receive a modified score that only includes the Non-Verbal and Quantitative Batteries. For Grades 1 and 3-6, we ask that you contact the ELL department if you need them to recommend students at your school who should have this accommodation. When you decide which students these should be, please send a list of those students’ names to Karen Forsloff (Karen.Forsloff@kent.k12.wa.us) in the Testing & Assessment Office by the deadline specified by our office. For more information see page 8 in the Directions for Online Administration for the CogAT Levels: 9-17/18. Test those students the same as you test the others; the accommodation works out to be a simple adjustment of the test score after the student finishes all 9 subtests.

This upper-level (Grade 3 and up) CogAT test is different from the lower-level (Grade K-2)

version. Since there are less pictures, are there additional accommodations for English Language

Learners?

Students may be permitted to use a glossary (no definitions) that translates an English word into one in

their home language. Use of a glossary is only permitted if the student uses one on a routine basis.

Please speak to your building ELL specialist to determine if this is necessary for some of your ELL

students.

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.

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 who are testing using the Audio-Spanish option, you’ll have to create a separate test session for them. 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.

For students testing with the ELL modification, what do I have to do? Nothing. Riverside (the test vendor) recommends that we test all students the same way. Unlike the lower-level CogAT, the upper-level CogAT does not have and “ALT VERBAL” session. Students who you have requested the ELL modification will take all 9 subtests just like everyone else. However, following the completion of the test, ELL modified score will be calculated for these students. This composite omits the Verbal Battery altogether.

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 different subtests and grade levels of tests that need to be made up. Please seek an additional proctor if there are more than 5 different test sessions you need to create for make-ups. Also, keep in mind that you should tested grade 1 students separately from grades 3-6 because the former is not timed while the latter is.

"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, you can do it as many times as you like,

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 tool to use for practicing their proctor duties of approving students for testing, advancing students through the test, and 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.

Timed Testing

Who qualifies for being able to have their time extended by the proctor on the Online CogAT for

grades 3 and up? The test engine allows the proctor to add more time to any student’s subtest; students do not need to be coded in

advance (like those in the lower-level CogAT receiving the ALT VERBAL, ELL accommodation). However, unless the

student has an accommodation outlined in his/her academic plan, such as an IEP or 504 plan - that specifically calls

for extended test-taking time - the proctor should not add more time to a student’s test. English language learners

may need more time on the verbal battery to reduce the effect of a slow pace of work on their test performance

so speak with your building’s ELL specialist to get suggested extension times for these students (see page 10 of the

Directions for Online Administration for CogAT Levels: 9-17/18)

If computer issues arise - such as the lagging mouse issue - that prevent a student from completing the test in the

provided time limit, the proctor is free to use his/her judgement to add as many minutes as he/she feels is

reasonable to retrieve time lost to technical difficulties. Please document these incidents in your test incident

form.

In testing grades 3 and above on CogAT, I know the test is timed. When does the clock start and

will the student and proctor be able to keep track of how much time he/she has? The online test gives students 10 minutes to complete each subtest. The 10 minute time limit starts counting down after the practice question(s) at the beginning of each subtest. There is ample notice given to the student that the test will officially start. When the student starts the test, the time remaining (in minutes and seconds) is visible on the student’s screen:

Meanwhile, the proctor can see student’s progress, too, from his/her proctor view:

Is it possible to give students more time than 10 minutes for each subtest? Yes. The proctor can add more time to any a student’s test by clicking the Extend Time button while the student is actually taking the test. However, unless the student has an accommodation outlined in his/her academic plan,

such as an IEP or 504 plan - that specifically calls for extended test-taking time - the proctor should not add more time to a student’s test. English language learners may need more time on the verbal battery to reduce the effect of a slow pace of work on their test performance so speak with your building’s ELL specialist to get suggested extension times for these students (see page 10 of the Directions for Online Administration for CogAT Levels: 9-17/18).

How do I add time to a student’s test? If a student is approved to have more time added to his/her test, the proctor can only do it while the student is actively taking the test – not while the test is paused or when the subtest is already over (when 0 minutes remain). Thus, for students needing extended test-taking times, be sure to provide them that time immediately after the student starts taking the test. To add time, click the clock with the arrow next to the student’s name:

When adding time, the proctor can add between 1 and 99 minutes.

If a student’s test is paused, will the CogAT Online test system remember which question the

student was working on and how much time remains for that student to finish a given subtest? Yes.

What happens when the student runs out of time? The test will stop them after exactly 10 minutes regardless of whether they have answered the question they are working on. Here is an example of what a student would see:

After running out of time, the student’s subtest cannot be extended unless you contact Riverside support.

Should I plan to group students by those who need test time extended and those who don’t? If possible, you should absolutely do this.

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.”

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.

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? Currently, the assessment office does not have any upper-level paper CogAT tests so please do not offer this as an option. If the parents demand it, please contact the assessment office (X-7080) and we will do our best to try to accommodate this situation.

Finished Testing

When students finish testing is there anything that warns them if they forgot to answer

questions before submitting?

Yes. See below for an example of what a student sees before he/she ends the test. This makes sure

that students are not forgetting to enter an answer for every question.

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.