College and Career Readiness RICHARDSON INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT Where all students learn, grow and succeed

Dear Parents/Guardians: New legislative action included in Texas House Bill 5 requires that every Texas district measure students’ progress toward college and career readiness. Each school district chooses the method or assessment to determine readiness, using what is deemed best for students. After careful consideration, Richardson ISD determined that the Texas Success Initiative Assessment (TSI) is an excellent fit for our students. The TSI is an online, untimed assessment. Though the TSI is important, passing the TSI is not required for graduation. On April 19th and 20th sophomores will take the TSI writing, reading, and math assessment at school during the day. TSI results will help us assess if students are on track to be college and/or career ready by graduation. Passing scores will allow a student to enroll in college courses, like dual credit, and will allow students to be exempt from developmental classes in college. If you determine that your student should delay testing, a request to delay testing until next year would be approved. To request a delay of testing, please contact the high school counselor through an email or letter and include why you do not want your student to participate at this time. Test Exemptions PSAT Some students may be exempt based on exceptional PSAT scores from October 2014. The score necessary for exemption is: 50 in Critical Reading, 50 in Mathematics, and a Cumulative Score of at least a 107. The College and Career Readiness Specialist on each high school campus has access to PSAT scores and will notify exempt students prior to testing. Algebra II Only students enrolled in Algebra II will take the TSI Math exam and the reading and writing sections. All other students will only take the TSI reading and writing exams, unless the TSI math is requested by a parent. The Day of the Test Students will take the TSI on their home campus. This should not affect the students’ lunch schedules or their ability to eat in the cafeteria on this day. Our school is scheduled to take the TSI on April 19th and 20th. For more information about the TSI Assessment and to try practice test questions, please visit: accuplacer.collegeboard.org. Please call or email their counselor if you have questions relating to testing at your student’s campus. Thank you for continuing to work with us to ensure your student’s success. We want your student to leave us with a solid foundation of skills and a future full of opportunities. Sincerely,

Mel Fuller, Executive Director College and Career Readiness