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Adult and Community Learning Services

Assessment Update, February, 2008

Upcoming required BEST Plus Recertification

This is a reminder of the February 14th email memo to Directors regarding the required BEST Plus recertification. To ensure scoring accuracy in FY08, BEST Plus test administrators who recertified last year must recertify this year. Those whose certificates are valid through April 2009 do not need to recertify at this time. Recertification entails successfully completing Scoring Activity #2. To ensure successful completion of the activity, please review the BEST Plus Scoring Refresher Toolkit first. You need to submit Scoring Activity #2 to your SABES Regional Center between now and Friday, March 28, 2008. If you do not return your scoring activity by this date, you will not be able to administer the BEST Plus until you re-take the initial BEST Plus training, refresher, and scoring activity.

In order to recertify, you will need the following materials:

• A 3-ring binder entitled, "BEST Plus Scoring Refresher Toolkit," with two accompanying DVDs or VHS videos
• A white booklet entitled, "BEST Plus Scoring Refresher Workbook, Test Administrator's Edition"

If you do not have these materials at your program, please contact your SABES Regional Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator to borrow a set.

By April 30, your Regional SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator will review your work and inform you of your status. Scores will fall into three categories, based on the scoring system developed by BEST Plus test developers: "Recommended," "Acceptable," or "Unacceptable." Staff successfully completing the scoring activity will receive a letter and certificate valid though April 30, 2009. Staff that receive a borderline "Acceptable" or "Unacceptable" score in any one of the three rubric areas will have an opportunity to receive remediation in order to continue to administer the BEST Plus.

Upcoming required REEP Recertification

Also in the February 14th email from Anne was a reminder about the REEP recertification. On March 14, eight new homework essays will be mailed to you. You will be asked to score the essays and return the essay score sheet to your SABES Regional Center by Wednesday, April 30, 2008. If you do not return your homework by this time, you will need to re-take the REEP scoring training. Your Regional SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator will then review your work and send out a certificate and/or letter to you by May 31, 2008.

If you score the essays with 75% accuracy (6 out of 8 essays within one point of the actual score), your SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator will send you a certificate certifying you through May 30, 2009. If practitioners score less than 75% accuracy (5 out of 8 essays), your SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator will work with you on your essay scoring. If 4 essays or less are scored correctly, then you will need to re-take the REEP Scoring Training. You may not score until you re-take the training and again pass the REEP Scoring Homework essays.

Here are some reminders about the REEP policies. REEP Training is divided into two parts: 1) REEP Administration Training and 2) REEP Scoring Training. If you haven't been trained yet in the REEP and you plan to administer or score the test this fiscal year, you'll need to take both before you may use the test. Please look for a schedule of trainings at www.sabes.org; or call your SABES Regional Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator. If you have other questions about the REEP assessment, please refer to the FY07 Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual for the REEP, found at http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/assessment/.

TABE Forms 7/8 Information Update

The test publishers of the TABE, McGraw-Hill Contemporary, will be discontinuing Forms 7/8 of the TABE on March 31, 2008. Our state, however will continue to use Forms 7/8 for FY08 and most likely in FY09 as well. If you need to purchase any Form 7/8 materials, please do so before the end of March.

MAPT

To get to the MAPT login page, it is best to use the link available on the ACLS site at http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/assessment/. The web address has changed in the time since staff were trained in the summer of 2006, and it is not reliable to use any other address. We have tried to reorganize the ACLS Assessment web page at the link above, and put the link for the test at the top of the page. If you have suggestions for making it a simpler or clearer web page, we'd love to hear your feedback-we don't know unless you tell us!

Questions? Please contact Jane Schwerdtfeger at janes@doe.mass.edu