Colorado: A Partnership for Student Success

Topics

• Overview
• Timeline
• Training
• School Setup and Off-Site Test Centers
• Accommodations and Supports
• Practice Resources
• Prepare for Test Day
• After Testing
• Educator Reporting
• Student Score Reporting
• Contact Us
• Resources

Overview

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) chose the SAT Suite of Assessments for state testing because of the suite's strong alignment to Colorado's academic standards and its free practice tools. In spring 2023, Colorado public school students will take the following exams:

• Grade 9: Colorado PSAT 8/9
• Grade 10: Colorado PSAT 10
• Grade 11: Colorado SAT or SAT with Essay

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Timeline

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Training

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School Setup and Off-Site Test Centers

AI Codes

College Board will provide each school with an attending institution (AI) code during the process to establish schools as test centers. We use AI codes to identify schools and connect students' scores to institutions. In most cases, your AI code will be the same as it was last year. Test coordinators will receive an email in late December confirming their school's AI code.

School Establishment

College Board will contact districts and schools by early September to begin the establishment process. This process begins with test coordinators completing the school establishment survey for the Colorado SAT Suite of Assessments spring testing. This survey collects critical information about how a school will be set up for the 2023 School Day administration. It’s important to plan time to complete the school establishment survey, because this information will be used throughout the year.

Off-Site Test Centers for SAT and PSAT

Most schools will use their building as the test location. However, if you need more space or your school is a virtual school, coordinators can request an off-site testing location. To request an off-site testing location:

• Identify the number of locations that you will need per assessment for off-site testing. An accurate number is necessary for College Board to send the appropriate amount of return kits for testing materials.
• Submit the off-site testing location form with the required information to www.sat.org/offsiterequest. You will receive email confirmation of your off-site request once your form is submitted.
• Complete your off-site requests no later than midnight ET, December 16, 2022.

Each off-site location must be assigned an off-site test coordinator. This coordinator ensures that the test location meets the requirements for test materials security, room configuration, seating, and test day staffing as described in the coordinator manuals. Off-site test coordinators are also responsible for knowing which students are testing at their location.

Email communications and test materials for the test administration will be sent to the school’s primary test coordinator at the school’s primary location. The primary test coordinator is responsible for arranging the secure transfer of the test materials to the off-site testing location.

Off-Site Testing for Expelled Students

If a student is expelled and isn't allowed at school to take the Colorado SAT or PSAT-related assessments, the school or district can submit an off-site request to test this student at another location, such as the district office. If the expulsion occurs after the December deadline, please call Customer Support to ensure additional test material return kits are ordered.

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Accommodations and Supports

Students with Disabilities

Making sure that students with disabilities can test with accommodations is important to us. Students who need to take the PSAT 8/9, PSAT 10, or SAT with nonstandard materials must have their accommodations approved by College Board's Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD).

Accessing SSD Online

The SSD coordinator works with the test coordinator to administer assessments for students with accommodations.

SSD coordinators must use SSD Online to request accommodations for students. To access the system, SSD coordinators must:

• Have a College Board professional account.
• Complete the SSD Coordinator Form (.pdf/312 KB). If you have multiple SSD coordinators, they'll each need to fill out a separate form.
• Receive an access code to link their SSD Online account to their College Board professional account (first time only). It may take 1–2 days to receive the access code.

You can submit accommodations requests when these steps are complete:

• You get your AI code.
• You get your SSD Online access code.
• Your school chooses an SSD coordinator.

Accommodations Requests

Schools must submit accommodations requests for all students taking the Colorado-provided PSAT 8/9, PSAT 10, and SAT. Most students already approved for school accommodations through an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or 504 Plan will be approved automatically for SAT School Day.

Many students only need their accommodations approved once, making it easy for them to take future College Board tests.

Submit accommodations requests through SSD Online. There are two types of requests:

• College Board–approved: Students with these accommodations can send their scores to colleges. Once approved, most students remain approved for all College Board tests.
• State-allowed: These accommodations are defined by the CDE. Scores are sent to students, schools, and the state, but they aren't valid for college admission. The accommodations apply only to state testing and must be requested for each state administration.

Educators with students using accommodations for other state tests still need to use SSD Online.

Testing with Accommodations

If students need two days of testing, they should test on consecutive days. If a student is absent on the second day, they can continue when they return.

All testing must be done by the last day in the window, and there's no makeup test date for students listed on the Nonstandard Administration Report (NAR).

Supports for EL Students

College Board offers many supports for English learners (EL) including translated test directions, approved word-for-word dictionaries, and 50% extended testing time. Students using these supports will receive college and scholarship reportable scores.

Translated Test Directions

English learners taking the SAT Suite of Assessments during the school day will have access to translated test directions. In addition, schools may provide "on the fly" translations, using a district- or school-approved translator for languages not provided by College Board. Please note that these supports aren't available for weekend SAT administrations.

Approved Word-to-Word Dictionaries

To make the SAT Suite of Assessments more accessible, English learner students can use approved word-to-word dictionaries. A defined list of dictionaries and glossaries has been approved by College Board for the SAT, PSAT 10, and PSAT 8/9. Students should be familiar with the dictionary they plan to use on test day.

A few days before the test, schools must collect the dictionaries students plan to use. School staff must check the books for any inappropriate writing or inserts. On test day, coordinators will distribute the books back to students to use during testing. The books should be collected right after testing.

Schools may allow students to use any one of these supports during testing. Usage doesn't require pre-approval from College Board, and scores can be sent to scholarship programs and colleges.

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Practice Resources

College Board offers many free ways to practice.

SAT

• Official SAT Practice from Khan Academy^®
• Paper-and-pencil practice tests
• SAT Practice Tests for Assistive Technology

PSAT 10

• PSAT 10 Practice Tests
• PSAT 10 Practice Tests for Assistive Technology

PSAT 8/9

• PSAT 8/9 Practice Test (including Assistive Technology version)

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Prepare for Test Day

College Board will provide materials and trainings to help test coordinators prepare for test day. As materials for the 2022–23 school year become available, we'll include them in this Colorado Resource Repository.

Student Consent Forms

Students and families choose the information they want to provide. Before or on test day, students can complete the Student Optional Questionnaire. The questionnaire includes basic information about the student (name, school, grade level, state student ID, sex, and date of birth), along with optional questions about student interests.

We use answers from the optional questions for various purposes, including connecting students to colleges and scholarship opportunities. Student or parent consent is required to participate in the optional questionnaire portion of the PSAT 10 and SAT.

Test coordinators must collect student consent forms during preadministration or before test day. Schools should keep signed consent forms until students graduate or permanently leave. Schools don't need to return forms to College Board or CDE.

Schoolwide Student List

To create a schoolwide student list:

1. Pull a list of all eligible students from your local student information system.
2. Work with the SSD coordinator, using the nonstandard administration report (NAR), to identify students testing with accommodations.
3. Compare the lists to identify the students testing in a standard room. For SAT, get the detailed roster report from the educator reporting portal to see which students will take the SAT with Essay.
4. Review the "Build Your Schoolwide Student List for Testing" section in the coordinator manual for more information.

Conducting the Preadministration Session

The preadministration session allows students to complete the following activities directly on their answer sheet, saving time on test day.

• Fill out personal information fields on the answer sheet.
• Complete the PSAT 10 and SAT optional questionnaire. For these exams, students may opt in to Student Search Service^®.
• For SAT, students can select up to 4 colleges or scholarship programs to send their SAT scores to.

Student or parent consent is required to participate in the optional questionnaire portion of the PSAT 10 and SAT. There's no optional questionnaire for PSAT 8/9, so consent isn't needed before the preadministration session.

Schools should schedule their preadministration session once they receive their pre-ID labels and answer sheets. At least two weeks before the preadministration session, schools should plan to distribute the student guides and consent forms to students. Then students can review the resources with their parents and decide if they'll complete the optional questionnaire. Here are the estimated durations for preadminstration:

• SAT preadminstration: 60 minutes
• PSAT 10 preadminstration: 30–45 minutes
• PSAT 8/9 preadminstration: 15–30 minutes

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After Testing

Testing Material Pickups

Test coordinators will schedule their own return material shipments for the primary test date, the end of the accommodated testing window, and the makeup date, if UPS does not make a daily stop at your school.

Test coordinators should arrange for packages to be picked up before the end of the test day, or at the latest by the next school day after the test administration.

Detailed instructions on how to schedule test material pickups will be provided before test day.

Not Tested Reasons

For Colorado School Day, schools must return a completed answer sheet for every student. Each answer sheet should include the student's responses or the appropriate Not Tested Reason indicating why the student didn't take the test.

Before packing and returning test materials, test coordinators should ensure each nonparticipating student’s answer sheet has the Not Tested Reason bubbled in correctly in the "Special Reporting Use Only" field. Additionally, and to help with the student biographical data validation process, test coordinators should create a list of students whose answer sheets are being returned with a Not Tested Reason code. Once this list is created, please give it to your district assessment coordinator.

Before returning answer sheets, verify that:

• A label is affixed (if provided).
• The student's first and last names, date of birth, and state assigned student ID (SASID) are gridded on the answer sheet.
• The "Special Reporting Use Only" field is completed per the instructions in the coordinator manual. Please note that in most cases, an invalidation code will be gridded for students who didn’t participate in testing. In other cases, an invalidation code may be used for students who participated in the test but are newcomers to the U.S. or part-time public/part-time homeschooled students.

Failure to adhere to these instructions may impact CDE participation calculations.

Remember to verify answer sheets after both primary testing and makeup testing. Answer sheets for students who don’t participate must be coded and returned with other completed materials.

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Educator Reporting

Managing Access to the K12 Reporting Portal (.pdf/1.91 MB)
Presentation from a webinar for Colorado that gives instructions for managing access to the K12 Reporting Portal.

You'll get scores through the K–12 score reporting portal. This portal includes:

• The Reports page, where you can configure, run, and print online reports.
• The Download page, where you can securely download score data files to import into your student information system.

Score Report Help for Colorado Educators

This interactive tutorial will help you learn how to access and use online score reports and data files in the score reporting portal.

Getting Access to the Score Reporting Portal

You need two things to access student scores in the score reporting portal:

• A College Board professional account. If you don't have an account, create one.
• Permission from your institution's access manager. In Colorado, each district assessment coordinator has been designated as the reporting portal's access manager. There may be up to three access managers in your district. You'll need to work with your access managers to get permission to use the portal. To find your school's access manager:

1. Log in to your College Board professional account.
2. From the Tools and Services menu, click K–12 Assessment Reporting.
3. If you don't see K–12 Assessment Reporting, you don't have access.
4. Scroll down to Add Additional Tools and Services > K–12 > K–12 Assessment Reporting > Request Access.
5. You should see the name and contact info of your access manager. Note that clicking Request Access from the portal dashboard doesn't notify your access manager. You still need to contact your access manager directly for access.

When you have access, sign in to the score reporting portal to view student scores.

For detailed help using the score reporting portal, go to Help Center: K–12 Reporting Portal. Topics include running and understanding reports, printing reports and labels, and managing user access.

Resources for Getting Access

Video: Score Reporting Portal Access for Colorado District Assessment Coordinators
This training is designed to help Colorado educators learn how to access and manage the K-12 score reporting portal.

Colorado Educator Access Scores Flyer (.pdf/117 KB)
A flyer providing step-by-step instructions for creating a College Board online educator account and accessing score reports.

Understand Educator Score Reports

The information, resources, and tools here can help you understand score reports and share tips with your students.

Comparing SAT and ACT Scores

Free concordance tools are available to help you compare SAT and ACT scores.

You can also compare old SAT and new SAT scores:

• Concordance Tables: New SAT Scores to Old SAT Scores (.xlsx/36 KB)
• Concordance Tables: Old SAT Scores to New SAT Scores (.xlsx/40 KB)

Interpret Scores

Get the inside story on SAT scores and find out what the numbers mean.

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Student Score Reporting

Students with a College Board account can access online student score reports. Score reports provide a substantial amount of feedback, and it might be hard for students to know where to start. Mean scores, percentiles, and benchmarks can help them put scores in perspective. Subscores and cross-test scores can help them identify strengths and weaknesses.

Take a tour of an online student score report with this interactive demo.

Help students sign in to their score reports.

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Contact Us

Call our Colorado Educator Hotline at 866-917-9030 (choose option 1) or email us.

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Resources

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