Policies

Texas Academy of Biomedical Sciences adheres to the following policies when providing opportunities for students to take the Texas Success Initiative Assessment.

• All TSIA sessions conducted at TABS or any Tarrant County College campus must be requested through TABS.
• Students may test an unlimited number of times in person free of charge, but remote testing might require payment of a proctoring fee.
• Remote testing sessions will only be approved if all of the following conditions are met.
  • Testing in person would represent an undue burden on the student or the student's family
  • Testing is required because of an urgent academic need
  • Approval has been granted by both the student's counselor and a member of the school's leadership team
• Because seats at exam sessions are limited, a student may not test any given portion more than once in any two-month period without approval from the student's counselor.
• It is the responsibility of the student to report scores to all stakeholders.
  • TABS will not send score reports to any institution except TCC and other Fort Worth ISD schools.

Failure to follow all exam policies could result in score invalidation, disciplinary action or both. A complete list of exam policies can be found at https://accuplacer.collegeboard.org.

• Examinees must not give assistance to or receive assistance from any third party, whether in person or through a digital medium. This includes removing test material from the exam room in any form or fashion.
• Examinees must not engage in any activity that would disrupt the standardized testing environment.
• Examinees must not wear hoods or hats during testing, unless for religious purposes.
• Examinees must not open any applications or navigate to any websites aside from using a browser to access the exam.
• Examinees must not impersonate other individuals. Unless otherwise stipulated by the proctor, the examinee must display a valid photo I.D. face up on the desk at all times
• Before testing begins, examinees must submit all smart devices (including but not limited to phones and watches) to the proctor. Further, headphones and watches of any kind may not be worn during the exam. The full list of prohibited items—as specified by College Board—is listed below.

Prohibited items

• Any device capable of recording audio, photographic, or video content, or capable of viewing or playing back such content
• Unauthorized testing aids
• Calculators (test takers with a prescribed accommodation and those taking an accommodated format exempted) Test taker provided keyboard, computer, or laptop, unless there is a documented disabling condition that requires the use of a very specific device
• Cellular phones, tablets, pagers, smartphones, walkie-talkies, PDAs, or wireless communication devices
• Dictionaries (standard and/or bilingual), books, pamphlets, or other reference materials
• Digital cameras
• Digital watches, smartwatches, or wristwatch cameras
• Flash/Thumb drives or any other portable electronic device
• Food, beverages, or tobacco products
• Listening devices such as radios, media players (with or without headphones), or recorders
• Nonmedical electronic devices
• Paper of any kind (scratch paper must be provided and destroyed by the test center administrator; test takers cannot use or discard their own scratch paper)
• Slide rules, protractors, compasses, or rulers
• Weapons, firearms, or other items prohibited by law or test center/campus safety and security policies.

College Board defers to school officials when academic dishonesty is suspected.

If an examinee is caught with a prohibited device or caught consulting prohibited materials, the examinee will be dismissed and the exam session invalidated. In addition, TABS reserves the right to conduct an investigation, which could include reviewing any prohibited devices to verify that exam content was not removed from the testing environment.

If school officials have reasonable suspicion that academic dishonesty occurred, they may, with approval from school leadership, conduct an investigation into the incident and, if warranted, recommend invalidation of the exam session. The final decision is left to school administration.

Penalties for academic dishonesty can include:

• Invalidation of the exam session
• School-based disciplinary action
• A requirement to retest immediately for verification of student performance
• A temporary or permanent ban from a given testing site
• A temporary or permanent ban from taking the TSIA at any testing site
• A temporary or permanent ban from taking any College Board assessment