Assessment Rules

Same Form Post-test 

Rule:  Back-to-back assessments without an alternating instrument/form/level in between cannot be saved without selecting an error/override comment.

A back-to-back assessment is one that is entered with the same instrument/form/level with no alternating assessment in between.  

• The number of days between assessments is irrelevant.  Number of days is not limited to the same fiscal year or a specified number of days.

• The only exception is the BEST Plus 2.0 / Computer adaptive assessment.

For example:

1. Student is pretested with CASAS Math GOALS 2 / 921M / A 

2. Student is post-tested with CASAS Math GOALS 2 / 921M / A 

The CASAS Math GOALS 2 / 921M / A assessments are back-to-back since the pre and post tests were given with the same instrument/form/level. 

In this scenario, the user must select an error/override comment on the assessment card in order to save the assessment record. 

The error/override comment selection on the list display:    

• Incomplete test on alternate form

In this example, CASAS Math GOALS 2 / 921M / A is NOT a back-to-back assessment since an alternate assessment was given in between.  The error/override comment message will not display. 

1. Student is pretested with CASAS Math GOALS 2 / 921M / A 

2. Student is post-tested with CASAS Math GOALS 2 / 922M / A               <----------ALTERNATE ASSESSMENT

3. Student is post-tested with CASAS Math GOALS 2 / 921M / A 

Hours or Credits Between Assessments

Hours Between Assessments

The assessment overrides are based on the hours dates after the pretest. For example, 45 hours are required to be CASAS posttest eligible. If a student’s pretest and hours are on these dates:

1. Pretest: 7/1/2024

2. 10 Hours: 7/1/2024

3. 10 hours: 7/15/2014

4. 10 hours: 8/1/2024

5. 15 hours: 8/15/2024

The student would not have enough hours to be eligible for a posttest until 8/16/2024.

Notice above that the pretest and the first hours date are on the same date of 7/1/2024. 

Hours on the same date as the assessment are counted in the Instr Hrs Since Last Assess in Subj Area.

A posttest on 8/15/2024 would not have enough hours since the hours on 8/15/2024 are counted in the hours SINCE last assessment.  But there are 45 hours between 7/1/2024and 8/15/2024 so a posttest may be entered on 8/16/2024without triggering the override reason. 

The error/override comment selection on the list display:    

• Taking last GED test

• Transferring institutions

• Exiting the program

• Needs updated test score

Five Credits Between Assessments

Credits in LACES

Rules for the 5-credit minimum override:

For an enrollment credit to count for a posttest, the start and end date of the enrollment must overlap the period between the pretest and posttest. 

1. When the end date of the class is before the pretest assessment date, the class enrolled credit does not count. 

2. When the start date of the class is after the posttest assessed date, the class enroll credits do not count.  

3. Classes with start and end dates that overlap multiple assessment periods may count towards multiple posttests. 

To verify the number of Enrollment Credits a student has:

1. Select the enrollments tab. 

2. Change the enrollments view to “Enrollment Grades” to see the Enrolled Credits column. 

3. Only enrollments with Start and End Dates that overlap the period between the pretest and posttest will count towards posttest eligibility.

A student must have a total of 5+ Enrolled Credits that overlap the period between the pretest and posttest will count towards posttest eligibility.  This can be a single enrollment that has 5 Enrolled Credits or multiple enrollments that have a combined number of Enrolled Credits that is 5 or more.

Assessment Integrations

Assessments sent from external vendors are also affected by the assessment rules outlined above.  

A back-to-back assessment will not be imported, and an error message will display:

*The learner's last assessment with this vendor and subject was administered on this same form/level, and no override reason provided. 

An assessment will not be imported if the student has too few hours or too few credits between assessments and the error message will display:

*Student does not have the minimum required hours (45.00) nor enrollment credits (5.00) for this assessment, and no override reason was provided.

When an error message displays, the import file may be downloaded and the error/override comment entered on the import file, then manually re-imported at the local agency.  

Automatic Move Forward Assessments on Enrollment

Overview

Washington state required that eligible assessments be automatically moved forward into a new fiscal year when a student generates an enrollment record, eliminating the need for programs to perform manual or batch move-forward actions.

The feature is configured for WA with a MaxDaysToMoveAssessmentsForward value of 230 days. The 230-day window is calculated relative to the student's new enrollment date in the new fiscal year — not from the fiscal year start date.

How It Works
Trigger Conditions

The automatic move-forward is triggered when a student who was enrolled in the prior fiscal year generates a new enrollment record in the current fiscal year. Enrollment can occur through any of the following paths:

• Student → Enroll (Class)

• Student → Enroll (Group)

• Class → Enroll

• Group → Enroll

• Pairs: Tutor → Match, Student → Enroll (Pair), or Pair area

• WA enrollment/import integration

Note

The automatic move-forward is triggered at each of the above enrollment points. The WA integration import also triggers the same logic when students are enrolled via import.

The 230-Day Window

Washington's MaxDaysToMoveAssessmentsForward is set to 230 days. This window is calculated from the student's enrollment date in the new fiscal year (Option 4B):

Example Scenario

A student has a Reading assessment dated May 18 of the prior fiscal year. With a 230-day window based on the enrollment date, the student must enroll in the new fiscal year by January 3 of the following year (230 days after May 18) for the assessment to be eligible for automatic move-forward. If the student enrolls after that date, the assessment falls outside the window and will not be moved forward.

Assessment Eligibility Rules

Not all assessments are eligible for automatic move-forward. The following rules apply:

•        Only level-defining assessments are eligible.

•        All subject areas (Reading, Math, etc.) from the prior fiscal year are evaluated.

•        For each subject area, only the assessment generating the highest Educational Functioning Level (EFL) within the 230-day window is moved forward.

•        Assessments that are expired or out of range are not eligible, even if they fall within the 230-day window.

•        Out-of-range score rules apply to moved-forward assessments.

Highest EFL Selection Logic

When a student has multiple assessments in the same subject area within the 230-day window, the system selects the one with the highest EFL to move forward. The following example illustrates how this works:

In the example above, the April 3 Reading assessment is selected over the June 12 Reading assessment because it produced the higher EFL (ABE L5 vs ABE L4). Both dates fall within the 230-day window. The Math assessment is moved forward as the only eligible Math assessment in the window.

 Record Origin Tracking

As part of this feature, a RecordOriginID field was added to the Assessments table. This field identifies how each assessment record was created. The following origin values are relevant to the move-forward feature:

Where Record Origin Appears

•        Student → Assessment tab grid ("All" view and "Pop Pre/Post" view both show an Origin column)

•        Assessment View and Search screens

•        Audit Detail for any create/update/delete action on an assessment, including those triggered by auto move-forward

•        DRC integration imports display "DRC" as the origin; manual DRC imports do not set this field

Historical Records: Existing assessments prior to this feature were updated with a best-effort origin value. Because there is no reliable way to distinguish historical manual entries from historical imports (except for integrations that included an ExternalProviderID), some historical records may not reflect the precise origin.

 Configuration

The automatic move-forward feature is controlled by a configuration property in LACES.