Frequently Asked Questions about Scoring
What is the Teacher Assessment Scoring Center for the OELPS?
The Teacher Assessment Scoring Center (TASC) is the system through which authorized district and school staff enter and submit scores for students’ spoken and written responses from Step Three of the OELPS. The TASC is a component of and accessed through the Centralized Reporting System (CRS). The TASC User Guide, posted on the portal, provides step-by-step instructions to staff who will score OELPS Step Three student responses in TASC. There is no card on the Teachers and Administrators page on the portal. The OELPS and TASC Webinar demonstrates how to use the TASC.
The CRS will not report results until the constructed responses from Step Three are scored in the TASC.
Which user roles can access the Teacher Assessment Scoring Center (TASC)?
To access the TASC, staff will need to be assigned one of these roles;
- District Test Coordinator (DTC),
- District Administrator (DA),
- Building Test Coordinator (BTC) or
- Teacher (TE) role.
Staff with the Test Administrator role (TA) do not have access to the TASC. If staff assigned the TA user role are to score the OELPS Step Three student responses, the district test coordinator should consider assigning the acceptable user roles.
Are the four domains weighted for the OELPS or OELPA?
No. All domains (reading, writing, listening and speaking) are weighted equally.
How are the overall proficiency levels determined for the OELPA and OELPS?
For the OELPS and OELPA, the domain test proficiency levels are combined to determine the overall proficiency levels.
OELPA: K-12
- Proficient is domain performance levels of all 4s and 5s; the student exits the English language program.
- Emerging is domain performance levels of all 1s and 2s;
- Progressing is any other combination of domain performance levels.
Students with an overall proficiency level of Emerging or Progressing on the OELPA continue in English learner status.
OELPS: K-12
- Proficient is domain performance levels of all 4s and 5s. Students who score Proficient are not identified as English learners;
- Emerging is domain performance levels of all 1s and 2s.
- Progressing is any other combination of domain scores.
OELPS for the Beginning of Kindergarten (OELPS-BK):
The OELPS-BK is the Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener for the Beginning of Kindergarten. Students enrolling in kindergarten in the first half of the kindergarten year (on or before December 31) are administered the OELPS-BK.
- Proficient is domain performance levels of all 3s and higher. Kindergarteners with an overall proficiency level of Proficient are not identified as English learners;
- Emerging is domain performance levels of all 1s and 2s;
- Progressing is any other combination of domain scores.
OELPS Kindergarten (OELPS-K):
The OELPS-K is the Ohio English Language Proficiency Screener administered to kindergarteners enrolling in the latter half of the kindergarten year (after December 31).
- Proficient is domain performance levels of all 4s and 5s. Students who score Proficient are not identified as English learners;
- Emerging is domain performance levels of all 1s and 2s;
- Progressing is any other combination of domain scores.
Students with an overall proficiency level of Emerging or Progressing have been identified as English learners.
I scored the OELPS speaking test and my student had perfect scores but the domain score was not 5. What happened?
The OELPS and OELPA 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. For example, scores on reading items most affect the reading domain performance level, but also affect the listening, writing and speaking domain performance levels. Thus, it is possible for two students’ domain scale scores or performance levels to differ even if their raw scores are the same because their performance on the items in the other domain items was not identical.