Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS)

CLAS-E Writing Assessment Recertification due February 28, 2013

January 28, 2013 Dear Program Directors: Please read this important information about the annual CLAS-E Recertification process, and please forward this email to CLAS-E Test Administrators on staff. Each year, practitioners who are currently certified to administer and score the CLAS-E Writing assessment need to participate in a recertification process to ensure that test administrators are scoring consistent with the test's scoring rubrics. In order to continue to administer and score the TABE CLAS-E Writing assessment, test administrators need to complete the certification scoring packet, which uses actual Massachusetts ABE student responses. Program Directors were asked to distribute the recertification packet to the test administrators on staff as soon as this email is received. If you need a copy of the packet, contact your regional SABES Curriculum Assessment Coordinator. Practitioners will have one month to score the expository writing samples in the recertification packet and mail or fax them to their regional SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator by Thursday, February 28, 2013. Test administrators not meeting this deadline will be notified, along with their program director, and they will not be certified to administer or score CLAS-E and will need to re-take the CLAS-E training. Contact information for the SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator is in the packet. Test administrators will be notified of their score and certification status by Friday, March 29, 2013 via email. (Practitioners receiving their Initial Certification in FY13 will recertify in FY14.) Test administrators should use the score sheet in the recertification packet to list their scores and provide clear rationales in the space provided. This year, we also will distribute the recertification packet scoring key and score rationales on March 29th. The goal is for test administrators to be able to use the feedback to score as consistently as possible with the CLAS-E Rubrics, and thus be consistent statewide. Test administrators with a score of 80% or better (4 or fewer errors) will be certified to score and administer the TABE CLAS-E. Those passing will have their name and certification status entered into the SMARTT Professional Development database. (Note: test administrators will not receive a certificate; they should print out the email indicating their certification status to give to their program director and retain a copy for their own records.) Test administrators with 5 errors will receive technical assistance from their regional SABES CAC, who will also make a final determination if the TA has been successful. Those with 6 or more errors will need to attend a face-to-face remediation and then re-take the test. These practitioners may not administer or score until fulfilling these requirements. Test administrators should prepare for scoring the certification packet. One, make certain that test administrators first review all relevant publisher and SABES training materials, including the SABES CLAS-E Supplementary Scoring Guide, and the June 2012 ACLS Assessment Policies for Using the TABE CLAS-E ( which may be found at http://www.doe.mass.edu/acls/assessment/). Two, of special importance will be to use the rubrics in the CLAS-E Writing Scoring Guide. Finally, test administrators should make certain they are using the correct rubric for each item they are scoring. Test administrators must do their own work. They may not share this scoring packet with anyone. Test administrators should fax or email only the score sheet to their regional SABES Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator. Thank you for your work. With Literacy in Mind. Anne Serino
ABE State Director, Adult and Community Learning Services,
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Last Updated: February 5, 2013