Presenter’s Notes for 2014 August Summer Summit Course 203 - User Defined Assessments in Homeroom Assessment Widget – Basic Training

  1. Intoductions – presenter and attendees
  2. Purpose: Course is for Teachers, Specialists and administrators. Learn to create test structures to upload district specific assessments using the Homeroom Assessments Widget.
  3. Planning ahead for your Assessment:
  • What type of assessment are you entering into Homeroom? For example, is it benchmark, progress monitoring, chapter test, etc.
  • How to name your assessment; provide handout for suggested naming conventions. Does your district have its own standards for naming conventions?
  • How is the test scored – numeric or letter score; Pass –Fail (Met – Not Met)?
  • If it is a scored assessment:
  • What is the minimum score and maximum score?
  • Does the assessment have performance levels?
  • If yes, you will need to have minimum passing score (threshold), and cut scores for each level.
  • Does the assessment have strands? For example: You may be administering giving a weekly diagnostic assessment (a progress monitoring assessment) you may want to see each week’s/months’ scores side by side. The weekly/monthly scores could be added as strands. Or-you may be administering a math assessment, tied to specific standards. The standard scores could be added as strands.

Creating the Assessment (notes for instructor: As you build the assessment for this class, Open new tab in Demo (Debby used Renton Copy 2) and switch to demo mode to show how what they enter into the test definition will appear when they are finished)

In the assessments widget, click the Upload Icon and choose Define – Edit test

Under Define New Assessment Enter the Test Name and Label. The test name should be a unique assessment name of the test. The label may be a shorter version of the Test Name or may be kept the same. In Homeroom the assessment test label is displayed in the assessment test selector in the assessments widget. (Show how it displays in demo)

Next enter the minimum, threshold (passing), and maximum scores for the test

Select the Subject Area

Since we are not doing a stranded test, we leave Parent Assessment unchanged

Skip Met-Not Met

Selection of Family is optional – you may select family if your test matches one of the selections that are available in this dropdown.

Scope

A key factor in creating a user-defined assessment is scope, or the level at which the assessment can be accessed and scores uploaded. The scope is determined by the user’s role.

  • Teachers can create assessments only for their classes.
  • Specialists and School Administrators can create assessments for classes and schools.
  • District Administrators can create assessments for all scopes, that is classes, schools, or district. Currently, if a District Administrator creates an assessment with the scope of "district", all users will be able to access that assessment's template and upload scores.It’s important to note that any person who has the permission to view a student's record will be able to view the results of a user-defined assessment, no matter the scope.

Cloning: You may administer some of your assessments more than once per year, for example a reading benchmark that you administer in the fall, winter, and spring. Instead of repeating these same you may clone the tests with small modifications.

To clone an assessment, return to the upload tool and select Define/Edit Test.

  • Select the Clone Existing Test button, and choose the assessment from the list. The assessment structure you had previously created is displayed.
  • Notice the Assessment Test Name and label are blank. Enter your new assessment test name, for example Reading Benchmark – Winter
  • Also update or change, your chronological ordinal to match your new administration
  • Save your test.

It’s important to note that you cannot clone an assessment created by another user. You can only clone assessments that you’ve created.

Downloading the Scores Template

Every time a user-defined assessment is saved, a dialogue box will appear prompting you to download the score template. Unless you are about to assess students, you can select Cancel. However, if you are about to, or have assessed, students and need to add their scores into Homeroom, you should generate a template for upload. The template is convenient because it contains the student names, student identifiers (SSID, Other ID), the name of the assessment, an administration date, and a column for the student scores. Plus, critical fields are locked and cannot be edited, which prevents errors. Therefore, the only thing you have to do is enter your students' scores.

From the dropdown box select the assessment and group of students who took the test

Then click theDownload Templatebutton.

Aspreadsheet is downloaded to your computer with a default name that includes the date, for example "AssessmentScoreUploadTemplate-12-12-13. Be sure to good practice good naming conventions by changing the name by adding the assessment name and date of administration.

Enter Student Scores

Once you’ve downloaded the assessment template, open the file. The students’ names and IDs are already populated. The column(s) inred are the requiredscores. Add a test Administration date for reference, and then manually enters the students' scores. Save the file.

Upload Student Scores & View Results

Once you’ve finished entering scores and saved the temple, navigate back to Homeroom and the Assessments widget. Select theUpload Scoresoption from the upload data tool and select the fall assessment. Then select theUpload Scoresbutton. A dialogue box prompts you to browse for the file containing the scores. Selects theChoose Filebutton and navigate to the spreadsheet you saved. Clicks the file to select it, and then clickUpload. You’ll receive a success message alerting you the student scores have been uploaded.Within a few minutes you’ll also receive an email from Homeroom with the results of the upload. It will tell you how many student records were added and if there were any errors. We suggest you retain the email message. In Homeroom, refresh your browser window to reload all data. Navigate to the Assessments widget, selects the student group, and locates the classroom assessment she created.

Check the color codes for the levels on the excel file download – the conditional formatting – ask Matt

We can email PowerPoint and links to help center: