Appendix E: CAT Pause Rule Scenarios

Pause rule scenarios apply to the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments and the CAST. Refer also to the Pause Rules for Assessments web document for additional information.

Scenarios:

  1. If the CAT portion of the test or a CAST discrete item block is paused for 20 minutes or less, the student can return to previous test pages and change the response to any item the student has already answered within a segment.

  2. If the CAT portion of the test or a CAST discrete item block is paused for more than 20 minutes, the test will return the student to the last page with unanswered items when the student resumes testing. If a page has both completed items and items to which there is not a complete response, the student may change any answers on that page (i.e., screen). The student may not return to previous pages and cannot change answers to items on previous pages.

    1. Example: A single test page has items 4–10. A student answers items 4–7 and pauses the test for more than 20 minutes. When the student resumes testing, the student can change answers to items 4–10 but cannot return to items 1–3 on an earlier page.
    2. Example: A page contains items 9–11 and a student answers all of those items before pausing the test for more than 20 minutes. When the student resumes testing, the student will begin on item 12 and cannot return to items 1–11.
    3. Example: Prior to a pause, a student navigates back to a previous item and deletes an answer. The system is then paused while that student is on that particular item. After a pause greater than 20 minutes, the system is designed to place the student on the last unanswered question. In this case, an item to which the student had responded previously is now blank. When the student answers that item and selects [Next], the TDS proceeds to the next unanswered item, skipping items, as those items would have received a response previously.