Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 7 - Education K-12 › Part 109 - Student Assessment Handbook › Chapter 2 - Creating a District and School Test Security Plan › Section 7-109-2-C - Handling Materials

Current through June 25, 2024
Storage and Access to Secure Test Materials
1. Except during actual test administration all secure test
				  materials must be kept under lock and key, and access must be limited to
				  individuals identified in the test security plan as responsible for their
				  security.
2. An individual with access to the secure storage area is
				  defined as a trained individual that physically has keys or access to the keys
				  and the secure storage areas.
3. The School Test Coordinator, Assistant School Test
				  Coordinator and the District Test Coordinator are the only individuals that
				  should have access to the secure storage area.
4. The secure storage area must be an area that does not have
				  a high volume of traffic.
5. Secure test materials should not be stored with medical
				  supplies, cumulative folders, financial records, or materials used for special
				  activities. The need for any of the above listed materials could occur at any
				  time, thereby creating a need to enter the area secure storage area where
				  testing materials are being stored.
6. Because number combinations used to unlock vaults remain
				  the same and the personnel changes that can and have occurred in school
				  districts vaults should not serve as an area to store secure materials.
7. Locking Fire proof cabinets can serve as the secure
				  storage area.
8. A log tracking date, time, purpose, and names of all
				  stakeholders that enter the secure storage area should be created and
				  maintained.
9. Your test security plan must spell out in detail the names
				  of all personnel with keys to the secure storage area and the location.
Additional Guidance from Appendix F for Test
				  Storage
Except during actual test administration, secure test
				  materials are kept under lock and key, and access to secure test materials is
				  limited to individuals identified in the test security plan as responsible for
				  their security. While secure test materials are in the district, anyone listed
				  as having access to the secure storage area must be accompanied by a second
				  person when entering the secure storage area. To ensure that security is
				  maintained from year to year, it is the responsibility of the district each
				  year to review the list of individuals who have access to the secure storage
				  area and to ensure that only those individuals listed have access to the secure
				  area by way of keys or vault combination.
1. Secure test materials are kept in locked storage before
				  testing at both the district and school levels.
2. Access to secure test materials is limited to those
				  individuals identified in the test security plan. Test administrators and
				  proctors will have access as described in the district test security plan.
				  Access to test materials means handling the materials, not reviewing and
				  analyzing test items, unless reading accommodations are required. The
				  superintendent or a specified designee shall designate the personnel who are
				  authorized to have access to test materials.
3. Test materials are not to be removed from security
				  packaging prior to the time indicated on instructions from the Office of
				  Student Assessment.
4. Secure test materials are kept in locked storage after
				  testing at both the district and school levels unless otherwise directed by the
				  Office of Student Assessment.
(Appendix F, Section IV,
				  3)
Additional Guidance from Appendix F for Test
				  Distribution
All secure test materials are accounted for before, during,
				  and after testing as specified in the District Test Security Plan. Test
				  administrators and proctors will have access as described in the district test
				  security plan. Access to test materials means handling the materials, not
				  reviewing and analyzing test items, unless reading accommodations are required.
				  The superintendent or a specified designee shall designate the personnel who
				  are authorized to have access to test materials.
1. All secure test materials are accounted for before testing
				  at the district level.
2. All secure test materials are accounted for before testing
				  at the school level.
3. Test administrators account for all secure test materials
				  before students are allowed to leave the testing room.
4. All secure test materials are accounted for after testing
				  at the school level.
5. All secure test materials are accounted for after testing
				  at the district level.
6. All secure materials are returned according to the
				  schedule published by the Office of Student Assessment. In the event that a
				  secure testing document has been contaminated by bodily fluids or other
				  health-related hazards, the district test coordinator will follow procedures
				  for disposal as outlined during District Test Coordinator training, and include
				  these procedures in the District Test Security Plan.
7. If supplementary materials, such as scratch paper, maps,
				  and manipulatives are provided, procedures for disposal are outlined in the
				  District Test Security Plan and followed.
(Appendix F, Section IV,
				  4)
In the District Plan Section C
A. Receiving and securing materials: Include specific
				  information about where materials will be delivered and stored and the secure
				  storage area, as well as, the process that will be used for identifying all
				  those who will have access to the secure storage area.
B. Distributing materials to individual schools, to include
				  the date the materials will be distributed to schools.
C. Retrieving materials from individual schools.
D. Verifying all materials are accounted for as they are
				  packed for return to the test vendor.
In the School Security Plan Section C
A. Procedure for distributing materials to each test
				  administrator.
B. Outline the procedure to distribute materials to students
				  and to account for materials before students leave the testing area.
C. Procedure for returning materials to the school test
				  administrator.
D. Security measures, if applicable, for allowing teachers to
				  review Braille test materials, to transfer answers for large print/Braille, and
				  to read tests that are allowed under the Accommodations Manual to students with
				  IEP'S, etc.
E. List of all individuals who have access to the secure
				  storage area.
F. List or schedule of test administrators, proctors, hall
				  monitors, and relief personnel who will be involved in each test
				  administration. (Please note that the test administrators must be licensed in
				  compliance with Appendix F. (See Section IV, 5a.)).