AK STAR Testing on a District Chromebook
This article is for students using a District Chromebook to do AK STAR testing.
The App for AK STAR is NWEA State Solutions Secure Browser
District Chromebooks which meet this year's system requirements for NWEA State Solutions Secure Browser, should already have it installed as a kiosk app, specifically configured to point to AK STAR. (For more details about how to launch and use kiosk apps on District Chromebooks, see the article Use Testing Apps on District Chromebooks.)
Is Your Chromebook Compatible?
According to the NWEA system requirements document, Chromebooks need to be running Chrome OS version 109.x or newer to pass the compatibility check. Per the Equipment Lifecycle Policy, our model 3120 and 3180 model Chromebooks do not meet this requirement and thus will not be usable for AK STAR testing.
Before testing begins, make sure that your testing Chromebooks are up to date. If needed, see Manually Update Chrome OS on a Chromebook.
If You Need to Disable the ChromeVox Feature
The setup guide for AK STAR testing contains the following blurb about disabling the ChromeVox accessibility feature. If you encounter a Chromebook with this feature turned on--most will not be--you'll want to follow these instructions.
ChromeVox is the built-in screen reader for Chrome OS. Students may have turned this feature on while using the Chromebook for instructional purposes. ChromeVox reads everything on the screen to the user, providing an accommodation that students should not have during testing. Visit http://www.chromevox.com/ for more information about ChromeVox.
To disable ChromeVox:
- Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Z to toggle ChromeVox.
Or:
- Select the account photo.
- Choose Settings.
- Select Advanced.
- In the Accessibility section, select Manage accessibility features.
- Under Text-to-Speech, set the screen reader to off.
NWEA Status Page
There is a system status page for NWEA, at https://status.nwea.org/, which should post/publish any outages or problems acknowledged on the NWEA side. You may want to bookmark this page prior to the testing window, and consider subscribing to it to get affirmative updates.
Other Resources
AK STAR System and Technology Guide: https://education.alaska.gov/assessments/akstar/AKSTARSystemTechnologyGuide.pdf
NWEA Online Readiness Tools: https://securebrowser.state.nwea.org/
Use Testing Apps on District Chromebooks: https://go.kpbsd.org/kb/18000001048