New Regulatory Requirements
Under new regulator-imposed requirements, TVS students completing a booklet-based home study program will be required to pass (rather than merely complete) the "Participation Questions" portion of their student materials. This is intended to fulfill the regulatory mandate for "procedures used as an equivalent to the classroom requirement for student participation" (California Code of Regulations (CCR) §345.30(e)(2), §345.31(f)(3)(B). Consequently, booklet students, going forward, will be required to correctly answer at least 70% (16 of the cumulative 22) of the participation questions before their final exam may be graded. Further, regulators have determined that TVSs must actively present students with feedback on the final examination (CCR §345.30(d)(1)(J)), rather than merely passively addressing student queries about the final exam questions that they might have missed.
TSC's Simple Solution
As your TVS curriculum provider, Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) has made these compulsory changes easy to address with an update the CA Course Provider Administration website.
Administering the Participation Questions
TVS personnel administering book students will have to grade each student's Participation Questions response form and, if a student gets a passing score, check the box in the student's record in the CA Course Provider database to indicate that. The system will not allow a student's final exam to be scored until that student has achieved a passing score on their participation questions. Students who fail to achieve a passing score on their participation questions must have their student materials returned to them so they can correct any wrong answers they provided. Students should return corrected answer sheets to the school so the participation questions can be graded again.
Providing Reasoning and the Correct Answer on the Final Exam
Administrative personnel must also enter students' answers to the final exam questions. The computer will score the students' test and will automatically generate and send an email to the student specifying: the question(s) that student answered incorrectly, the incorrect answer given, the correct answer, and the reasoning behind the correct answer. If a student did not provide your school with an email address, this information must be sent to the student's mailing address.
TSC representatives will be contacting schools to explain the administrative website updates and provide training on the new procedures.
New sample instruction sheets (the first page of the student forms sent to booklet students), in English and Spanish versions, are available for download from the CA Course Provide Administrative website booklet materials download page (must be logged in).
Please inform all administrative staff working for your school of these procedural changes and ensure that they are properly trained to distribute the new instruction sheets and use the new functionality on the CA Course Provider Administration website. Schools are responsible for these changes, effective April 4, 2016.
If you have any further questions about this mandatory administrative procedural change, please feel free to contact your TSC representatives.
