[Assessment_Advisory_Committee] TDS downtime in December

[HERMENS Jordan]

Good afternoon,

The OAKS Test Delivery System (which includes the training site and practice tests) is currently scheduled to be offline December 26 to December 28 in preparation for the launch of our operational OAKS Science, Social Sciences, and ELPA tests in January. AIR is strongly recommending taking this opportunity to conduct extensive load testing prior to the launch of the Smarter Balanced tests (scheduled for March). However,  to support this critical QC step, we would need to take the Test Delivery System offline for more than the three days currently scheduled, and  AIR is proposing to take the Test Delivery System offline from December 15 to December 26. TIDE and Online Reporting would not be affected.

Before scheduling this extended downtime, ODE would appreciate your input to determine the impact of this proposed downtime on districts' ability to complete TA training. With DTC training happening later  than in years past, ODE recognizes that districts will need to push back their TA training schedules accordingly. We'd like to take districts' training schedules into account so that we can ensure they have access to the training site and practice tests as part of their training regimen.
*       To what extent are many districts likely to be conducting TA training December 15 - 26?
*       To the extent that some TA training may be scheduled for December 15 - 26, can the impact on districts be sufficiently mitigated by communicating about the downtime now?

So that we can confirm the downtime schedule with our vendor and communicate to the field in a timely fashion, we'd appreciate your feedback by noon on Friday (10/6). Thank you for your consideration,



Jordan Hermens
Oregon Department of Education
255 Capitol St NE | Salem, OR 97310 | *503-947-5905



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