Frequently Asked Questions

Read the Test Coordinator and Test Administration Manual completely before administering the OELPA. Have the students take the Student Practice Test to become familiar with the technology. 
Test administrators who will be testing students on paper should review the manuals for instructions regarding testing using paper materials as well as paper testing scripts and directions.

No, only students identified as an English learner take the OELPA.

No, an English learner must take the appropriate state tests in addition to the OELPA.

Yes, the English learner must take all four domain tests each year while identified as an English learner.

The speaking test is administered one-on-one to ensure the student's responses are not heard by others and to avoid distracting other students taking the test.

Read the OELPS Test Administration Manual, the ELPA21 Screener Step Two Speaking Scoring Guide, and the Teacher Hand Scoring System User Guide completely before administering the OELPS. Test administrators and students may take the Student Practice Test to become familiar with the technology.

The test administrator must be an employee of the district or school and hold a valid, current license, certificate or permit issued by the Ohio Department of Education. The test administrator need not be an English learner specialist.

Yes, both tests may be paused. The OELPA does not have a time limit for pausing; if paused and not resumed, the OELPA will be submitted for scoring at the end of the test window. The OELPS has a four-day limit for a pause; if the test is not resumed after four days, the test will be submitted for scoring. The TA may request a reopen or reset if the student needs to complete the screener before submitting for scoring.

The test administrator may assist the student in clicking on the NEXT button to move to the next item, may demonstrate how to move the cursor for a drag and drop item; may demonstrate how to move the page up or down or other technology tasks. The test administrator may type a response for the student, copying the response exactly as the student has written it on paper.

No, the test is accessed through the Test Administrator (TA) Interface, accessible from the test portal.

Chartered nonpublic schools are not required to administer the OELPA and/or the OELPS but are welcome to use them. There is no cost for the tests, scoring or reporting for the chartered nonpublic school. Chartered nonpublic schools participating in Title III funding program for English learners should consult with their public district about whether the OELPS and/or OELPA are used. 

The test administrator may request a reset or reopen. A reset will erase all student responses. A reopen will open where the student stopped the test.

Refer to the Ohio Accessibility Manual on the Department website and under the Administration Manuals and Guidance Documents resources folder on the portal.

Yes. Districts must Pre-ID every student who takes a test, regardless of whether the student tests online or on paper. For information on marking student eligibility and test mode, refer to the Guidance Document for Ohio Pre-ID Files, Ohio Pre-ID File Layout and the TIDE Upload Files, located under the TIDE Support Documents resource folder on the portal.

The Student Practice Site can be accessed via any supported web browser by clicking the Practice Tests quick link on the portal homepage. The Student Practice Test Site can also be accessed via the Cambium Assessment Secure Browser or Secure Test App, available for download by clicking the Secure Browsers quick link on the portal home page. The TA Practice Site can be accessed via any supported web browser by clicking the Teachers/Test Administrators or Test Coordinators user cards on the portal homepage and then clicking the TA Practice Site card.

Student Testing Site Tutorials, Item tutorials, the Practice Site Guidance Document, Scoring Guides and additional resources are available on the Student Practice Resources page, accessible via the Resources tab at the top of any portal page.

The screener administration time varies with each student. The average time is between 30 minutes and one hour.

If the student did not participate in any manner to Step One, the TA would stop the screener. Any manner includes verbal or non-verbal responses. It is not a reason to stop the screener if the student does not speak English; that is the reason to continue the screener to Step Two.

Contact the Department of Education, Office of Assessment statetests@education.ohio.gov.

The OELPA results generally are available to distircts in the Online Reporting System in the test portal in May following the administration. Printed OELPA Family Reports usually are sent to district in early June.

All domain tests (reading, writing, listening and speaking) are weighted equally.

The domain test performance levels are combined to determine the overall proficiency levels: Proficient is scores of 4s and 5s; Emerging is scores of 1s and 2s; Progressing is scores of any other combinations. Trial Mainstream is scores of 4s, 5s and one 3. Trial Mainstream is a category of Progressing used for programmatic and funding purposes.

OELPS scores are usually available in the Online Reporting System within 2-3 hours of submitting the test. If the student completed Step 3, check if the test administrator scored the speaking and writing items in the Teacher Hand Soring System (THSS) on the test portal. If the student responded to items in Step Three of the OELPS, there are speaking and/or writing responses that need to be hand scored. See the Teacher Hand Scoring System User Guide for more information.

The OELPA and OELPS are scored using a multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) model in which every item contributes to all four domains, with the greatest weight given to items in that domain (e.g., reading items on the reading domain). It is possible for two students’ scale scores or performance levels to differ even if their raw scores in that domain are the same because their performance on the other domain items was not identical.

Rescores are not available for the OELPA or OELPS.

No, Trial Mainstream scores cannot be "banked" from year to year. Trial Mainstream is determined each year based on the OELPA overall proficiency level for that year. A student may be in Trial Mainstream one year and not the next year.

The exemption, when added before the student begins the test, prevents the exempted test from appearing for the student. If a score is reported for the test, that indicates the exemption was not in place when the student began the test and the student took the exempted test. Test exemptions must be configured for each student before the student begins the test

Both the OELPS and OELPA are online tests, with paper accommodated forms available for approved reasons. The reasons that allow the use of a paper format are: the student has an IEP or 504 plan; a cultural or religious reason that prevents the student using the online format; or the district or school does not have the technology to provide online testing.

Yes. For the OELPA, the district or school places the order through TIDE. For the OELPS, the district or school places the order through an email. For both tests, the district or school gives the quantity and must give the reason for the request giving one of the reasons why the student requires the paper format. If a reason is not given, the request will not be approved.

The test administrator accesses the tests through the TA Interface on the test portal. The tests cannot be accessed through TIDE.

No. The student responses are entered into the DEI only for the paper format.

No, any compatible device may be used. Earbuds or headphones may be used to allow the student to listen to the test. A microphone in the computer may be used to record the student  responses. A headset may be used to allow the student to listen to the test and record responses. Students and test administrators may test the compatibility of their headphones and microphone on the student practice test and/or during the beginning of each test.

To download the secure browser for your operating system, refer to Secure Browsers on the Portal home page and the Secure Browser Installation Manual.

Refer to the Online Systems Resources page for information regarding: TIDE Support Documents, Online Reporting System (ORS) Support Documents, User Guides and Tutorials.

Cambium Assessment intends to support a new version of a currently supported operating system within 90 days of official release. If Cambium Assessment is able to test the new operating system in less time, we will add the OS to the “supported” list when it is verified. If we find serious issues with a new operating system version, it can sometimes take longer than 90 days. For this reason, you should disable automatic operating system updates. For more information on supported operating systems refer the Online System Requirements document on the Ohio’s State Tests Portal.

Student testing requires the use of the secure browser or secure test app. Other sites, including the Test Administrator Interface and Practice Sites, can be accessed from a supported browser.

For Chrome and Firefox, which are released on rapid cycles (approximately every six weeks), Cambium Assessment does not block new versions from accessing the Test Administrator Interface and Practice Sites. We work closely with Google and Mozilla (respectively) to ensure compatibility between their browsers and our systems.

For Internet Explorer and Safari, Cambium Assessment does block new versions from accessing the Test Administrator Interface and Practice Sites until we can verify that all features work correctly. This typically takes 90 days but can be longer in some cases.

For all supported browsers, Cambium Assessment will periodically update the Online System Requirements document with newer versions as they have been verified.

Resources regarding technology preparation, system requirements, technical specifications, and installing the Cambium Assessment Secure Browser or Secure Test App are available on the Technology Resources page, accessible via the Resources tab at the top of any portal page.

Ohio TIDE can be accessed by clicking the TIDE card from the Teachers/Test Administrators or Test Coordinators user pages or directly at: oh.tide.cambiumast,com.

More information on accessing and navigating TIDE can be found in the TIDE User Guide located under the TIDE Support Documents resource folder on the portal.

Resources pertaining to TIDE can be located on the portal by clicking the Resources folder at the top of the Ohio portal page, then clicking Online Systems Resources and then TIDE Support Documents.

ORS can be accessed by clicking the Online Reporting System card from the Teachers/Test Administrators or Test Coordinators user pages or directly at: oh.reports.cambiumast.com.

More information on accessing and navigating ORS can be found in the ORS User Guide located under the ORS Support Documents resource folder on the portal.

Resources pertaining to ORS can be located on the portal by clicking the Resources folder at the top of the Ohio portal page, then clicking Online Systems Resources and then ORS Support Documents.

The TIDE User Guide, ORS User Guide and TA User Guide can be located on the portal by clicking the Resources folder at the top of the Ohio portal page, then clicking Online Systems Resources and then User Guides.

TIDE, ORS and Test Administrator tutorials can be located on the portal by clicking the Resources folder at the top of any Ohio portal page, then clicking Online Systems Resources and then Tutorials. The tutorials listed here are not required but do offer users valuable visual instructions on how to use these systems.

The OST administration manuals and other resources are located on the Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA) portal page on the Ohio's State Tests portal at: oh.portal.cambiumast.com.

OST resources can also be accessed from the Ohio’s State Tests portal homepage by selecting the Resources tab at the top of the Ohio portal page.

The OGT administration manual and appendices, OGT DEI user guide, and other OGT resources can be located on the Ohio’s State Tests portal homepage by selecting Ohio Graduation Tests Resources from the Resources tab at the top of the Ohio portal page.

The AASCD administration manuals and other AASCD resources can be located by selecting Alternate Assessments from the Home tab at the top left of the Ohio’s State Tests portal page or by selecting the Ohio Alternate Assessment Portal card from the Ohio Assessment homepage at oh.portal.cambiumast.com.

Step by step directions on activating user accounts and resetting passwords are available in the TIDE User Guide.

A summary of user roles can be found in the Online User Role Matrix. Additional information about user roles is in the TIDE User Management Guidance Document and the TIDE User Guide. These resources are available under the TIDE Support Documents resource folder on the portal. 

Personnel who will administer Ohio’s State Tests online need accounts to access online systems. DTCs (or a designee) need to create these accounts in TIDE. The person administering the tests will be assigned either the Teacher (TE) role or the Test Administrator (TA) role in TIDE. Doing so will provide these users an appropriate level of access to TIDE, the Test Delivery System, and the Online Reporting System (ORS).

Personnel that will administer Ohio’s State Tests on paper will need  to have an account with appropriate ORS access if the user will need to have access to student scores.

No. User accounts can be associated with multiple schools and districts. Test coordinators add users to each school where the user administers tests. For Ohio’s State Tests, students cannot join a session unless the user who created the session is associated with the same school where the student is preidentified. See the TIDE User Guide for more information about how to add a user to multiple schools.

Upcoming and archived Ohio assessment dates can be viewed by clicking the Important Dates quick link on the right side of the portal homepage. Users can view the Important Dates in either a list or grid view.

The three most recent announcements are displayed in the center column of the portal homepage. Each user page also displays the three most recent announcements relevant to that user on the right side of the page. The Announcements section contains an archive of all announcements and can be accessed by clicking the Announcements header at the top of any Ohio portal page.

For district personnel, Cambium Assessment suggests checking the Ohio portal on a daily basis during test windows to ensure that announcements and important dates are not missed. Once a week is recommended outside of test windows. The most recently added announcements are listed first and those less than one month old will have “New!” displayed to the left of the announcement header.

Prior to each Ohio assessment administration, the administration’s manual(s) will be posted to the Ohio portal under the Administration Manuals and Guidance Documents resources folder. The administration manual will typically contain a list of important dates for that administration near the beginning of the manual.