To put a student into test mode, sign into cowriter.com as an educator or administrator, go to Manage Students, select one or more students, click the Lock icon, then select the test the students will be taking from the dropdown and click Turn On.
Placing Co:Writer's Chrome App into Test mode for STAAR for Spelling Assistance* "STAAR-Spelling" disables all the features that are NOT allowed for a Spelling Assistance accommodation within the Chrome App as explained in the Technology User Guidelines.
Co:Writer's Chrome Extension will also share these test settings when turned on. The extension can then be used in compliance with the test as long as the online word processor also complies with the requirements.
Features disabled from Co:Writer when in the Test Mode for "STAAR-Spelling" are...
Any feature that will edit or aid a student’s response in areas other than spelling, such as automatic capitalization and punctuation, or grammar check; (Co:Writer will not automatically capitalize words unless they would be misspelled otherwise. For example, the beginning of a sentence starting with "this" will not be capitalized, but the word "Texas" will be capitalized because "texas" would be considered a spelling error. Co:Writer also does not automatically punctuate or check grammar.
Any feature that will save a typed response. (No writings are ever sent or communicated to a server or allowed to be shared anywhere outside of the local app/client computer. Co:Writer permanently and irretrievably deletes all student writing from the app/client computer immediately when a student signs out). *Note: Per guidance from TEA, Printing is enabled.* For printing while in Kiosk Mode, please make sure you have an external printer connected to your Chromebooks.
Internet capabilities. (Co:Writer's Chrome App does not have online access outside the application's functions and is Kiosk compatible).
Translation services. (if turned on, Co:Writer's translate feature works as an allowable "Bilingual dictionary" - word-to-word translations; no definitions or examples.
Any feature that will allow the ability to access other programs/features not allowed on the device. (Co:Writer does not access any other features outside the App).
*Disclaimer: Reference herein to any specific products, assessment, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring for Co:Writer Universal.