Volunteers Needed To Help Monitor State Testing At Tulsa Schools

Students in Tulsa Public Schools return to class Tuesday.

Some will start state testing the next day.

Some districts, like Jenks, started testing on Monday because schools have a slightly shorter window than usual to get it done.  That means they need more help than usual to monitor the tests.

TPS has tapped into staff, from bus drivers to the head office, but it’s not enough to meet the demand for testing monitors, a.k.a. proctors.

“We’re really pulling together to provide enough people to try and help cover the number of proctors needed,” said TPS testing coordinator Erin Lester.  “It’s still going to mean we need help from faith-based partners, volunteers, and parents to help fill that gap.

When testing starts Wednesday, the district will need 800 people to monitor students.  Even with all available staff, they still need several hundred volunteers.

The teacher walkout has made it tougher for districts to plan the required state testing.

For Tulsa students, testing was delayed by seven days, but the state testing window was expanded by five.  The district is now trying to finish testing in eight days instead of ten.

“Some of our larger schools may struggle, so we’re trying to do the best we can to help them find additional help with proctoring,” stated Lester.  “We have one school asking for 18 proctors in the morning and 18 people in the afternoon, which is an awful lot of people to help them accomplish this task.”

Each district has the same struggle.  As teachers and students are welcomed back to school, the difficulty is getting testing done in the time left on the calendar.

“We heard from our parents and our community that we didn’t want to be in school in June,” said Charlie Hannema from Broken Arrow Public Schools.  “Because of vacations and we have some seniors deploying to the military, to basic training, on June 3rd, so we really wanted to keep it in May.”

Tulsa Public Schools needs 400-500 test proctors to assist in administering the Oklahoma state assessments.  Test proctors are needed to ensure that all state assessments are administered according to their specified guidelines.  Due to this large need and the adjusted testing schedule, we are asking for all of our community partners to help by completing this online proctor certification course and being available to proctor assessments during the school day between Wednesday, April 18, and Friday, April 27.  The proctor certification takes about 20 minutes, and test proctors must bring a testing certificate with them on the day they proctor the test.  To help, please follow these steps:

1. Complete the online proctor certification course: https://oklahoma.onlinehelp.measuredprogress.org/training-modules-registration/.

2. Email a scanned copy of the certificate of completion to Mikeal Vaughn at vaughmi@tulsaschools.org, subject line: Test Proctor - Your Name.

3. Print a copy of the certificate and bring it to the testing site on the day you are scheduled to proctor.

Testing and proctoring schedules will be finalized by April 17, 2018, and shared via email.