Q: Can I use only the aids that are on the website?
A: Yes. According to TEA, it is the district’s responsibility to review each supplemental aid for grade-appropriateness content, as well as to ensure that it is factual and free from errors. All aids on the website have been approved and Mission CISD has decided to follow the lead of several districts that have successfully centralized this process. It is important to remember these points:
1. All aids are useable in the classroom for instruction. Their presence on the website only means that they are approved for testing.
2. You can submit more aids year round. It is requested that you submit them
through your campus testing coordinator for review by the district.
3. We can not approve every single rendition of the same aid. If a
mnemonic is approved but you use it in a different format with your students that is fine. For example, PEMDAS on the website is vertical, but it doesn’t have to be.
Q: Can I combine aids onto a single sheet or put them on index cards, etc…?
A: Yes, if it’s done right. We do not give “blanket accommodations” to students
receiving special education services, so we do not package the aids in the same
way for all students. However, campuses can combine them in any way that they
desire as long as individualization is taken into account. For example, Sally can
have her aids all on one sheet and Juan can have his front and back on two sheets
(as long as they are easy to read).
Q: What if we have trained our students to use a particular aid and another campus’ aid for that concept got approved instead of ours? Our students are only used to the one we are using.
A: Supplemental aids are tools to assist students in recalling information and concepts
they have already learned. The triggering of this memory should not be
dependent upon a certain formatting. Since this is the first year we are collecting
the aids into a central location, we are trying to work with campuses that have
this concern. By next year, we should all be using the same aids.
Q: What do I do if I find an error on an aid on the website?
A: Report it to your campus testing coordinator. He/She will report it further and have it corrected. Others who may be using it will be notified.