MySciLEARN User Guide for Teachers. For educators and providers using the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs

Transcription

1 MySciLEARN User Guide for Teachers For educators and providers using the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs October 2017

2 Copyright 1996 through 2017 Scientific Learning Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is supplied subject to the terms of the Scientific Learning Corporation license agreement. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Names, data, and other information used in examples and exercises herein are fictitious. Trademarks Fast ForWord and SciLEARN are registered trademarks of Scientific Learning Corporation, registered in the U.S. and certain other countries. MySciLEARN and Reading Assistant are trademarks of Scientific Learning Corporation. Third-party trademarks Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Mac, ipad, iphone, and itunes are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Android, Chrome, Chrome OS, Chromebook, Google Play, and Nexus 7 are trademarks of Google Inc. Samsung and Galaxy S are registered trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Galaxy Tab is a trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Apache is a trademark of the Apache Software Foundation. ATOS is a registered trademark of Renaissance Learning, Inc., and its subsidiaries, registered, common law, or pending registration in the United States and other countries. Lexile is a trademark of MetaMetrics, Inc., and is registered in the United States and abroad. Other brands and their products are trademarks of their respective holders. Trademark symbols are used only in the first occurrence of a trademarked name. Contact us Scientific Learning Corporation 1956 Webster Street, Suite 200 Oakland, CA (fax) Customer Support (US & Canada) (International)

3 Contents Contents 3 About this guide 7 What's new 8 How to use this guide 9 PDF guides & manuals 10 More resources 11 1 Getting started 12 MySciLEARN quick start 13 About MySciLEARN 14 Tour MySciLEARN 16 Log in as a staff member 26 Log in as a student 27 Manage your staff account 32 2 Students 36 About students 37 About student usernames and passwords 51 Add, edit, and delete students 52 Manage student groups 58 Manage licenses for your students 62 Change the grade for students 68 Change the Fast ForWord protocol for a group 69 Set student access to demos 72 Stop all product assignments 73 Set Auto Assign and RPI for students 75 Print student usernames and passwords 77 3 Fast ForWord assignments 78 About Fast ForWord assignments 79 Fast ForWord program protocols 83 Fast ForWord exercise intro languages 84 Create Fast ForWord assignments 85 Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign 86 Create your own Fast ForWord assignments 91 3

4 Contents Edit Fast ForWord assignments 93 Stop/delete Fast ForWord assignments 94 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments 97 About Reading Assistant Plus assignments 98 About Reading Assistant Plus content 102 About Reading Assistant Plus libraries 106 About Reading Assistant Plus assignment settings 109 Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments 119 Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments 125 Stop/delete Reading Assistant Plus assignments 127 Advance to the next Reading Assistant Plus library Reading Assistant assignments 131 About Reading Assistant assignments 132 About Reading Assistant content 136 About Reading Assistant libraries 139 About Reading Assistant assignment settings 142 Reading Assistant schedules 143 Reading Assistant instruction language 145 Reading Assistant glossary language 146 Reading Assistant content progression 147 Reading Assistant content placement 149 Reading Assistant speech recognition settings 154 Reading Assistant language support 156 Create Reading Assistant assignments 157 Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment 158 Create your own Reading Assistant assignments 163 Edit Reading Assistant assignments 165 Stop/delete Reading Assistant assignments 166 Advance to the next Reading Assistant library Reading Assistant custom libraries 170 About Reading Assistant custom libraries 171 View Reading Assistant custom libraries 173 Create Reading Assistant custom libraries 178 Publish Reading Assistant custom libraries 180 Unpublish Reading Assistant custom libraries 181 Edit Reading Assistant custom libraries 182 4

5 Contents Delete Reading Assistant custom libraries 187 Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries Fast ForWord programs 189 Start Fast ForWord student sessions 190 Exit Fast ForWord student sessions Fast ForWord programs on ipad 195 About Scientific Learning apps 196 Download Scientific Learning apps on ipad 198 Tips for using Fast ForWord apps on ipad 199 Start Fast ForWord sessions on ipad 201 Exit Fast ForWord student sessions on ipad 204 Troubleshoot Scientific Learning apps on ipad Reading Assistant Plus program 210 Set up Reading Assistant Plus equipment 211 Allow Reading Assistant Plus microphone access 214 Complete Reading Assistant Plus microphone check 220 Troubleshoot Reading Assistant Plus audio issues 222 Start Reading Assistant Plus student sessions Reading Assistant plug-in 229 About Reading Assistant Plug-in 230 Install Reading Assistant Plug-in 231 Update Reading Assistant Plug-in 234 Advanced plug-in installation (system administrators) 236 Uninstall Reading Assistant Plug-in Reading Assistant program 238 Prepare for Reading Assistant sessions 239 Set up Reading Assistant equipment 240 About Reading Assistant speech technology 243 Allow Reading Assistant microphone access in Chrome 244 Complete Reading Assistant microphone check 247 Troubleshoot Reading Assistant audio issues 249 Start Reading Assistant student sessions 251 Exit Reading Assistant student sessions 258 5

6 Contents 12 Reading Assistant on ipad 260 Tips for using Reading Assistant app on ipad 261 Allow Reading Assistant microphone access on ipad 263 Start Reading Assistant student sessions on ipad 265 Exit Reading Assistant student sessions on ipad RPI assessments 272 About Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) 273 Reading Progress Indicator FAQ 276 Set RPI access for students 282 Assign Manual RPI tests 284 Take RPI assessments 286 Void RPI assessments Monitor student sessions 289 Monitor student sessions from a browser 290 Monitor sessions from our mobile app 296 Download Session Monitor app 298 Use Session Monitor app 299 Troubleshoot Session Monitor app Program demos 309 Fast ForWord demos 310 Fast ForWord demos on ipad 315 Reading Assistant Plus tutorial 320 Reading Assistant tutorial 324 Reading Assistant tutorial on ipad 327 Glossary 329 6

7 About this guide About this guide Learn how this guide is organized, what's new, and how to get more help. What's in this chapter What's new 8 How to use this guide 9 PDF guides & manuals 10 More resources 11 7

8 About this guide What's new Nov 2, 2017 Added high interest/low reading level option when creating Reading Assistant Plus libraries. Added RPI correlation studies information to help. Released new user guides. Oct 19, 2017 Added the ability to stop all product assignments for groups of students in one easy step. Associate multiple instructors with a group of students at one time. Access a student s Reading Assistant Plus selection performance ratings from a single table. Added the ability for students to see their password as they log in on a computer. Released new user guides. Sep 21, 2017 Reading Assistant Plus released! Reading Assistant Plus begins a new era for the Reading Assistant program. This enhanced version of our digital guided reading tool has been completely redesigned and deployed on a new platform to support multiple devices. It introduces a brand new vocabulary activity, along with an updated and streamlined content structure that eliminates content packs and makes creating new libraries much easier. Lastly, it will support tons of new content, expanding the usability of the product across all grade levels. One program. Reading Assistant Plus meets all of your K-12 content needs within a single program. No more content packs. No need to reassign across content packs. Improved library assignment. With Reading Assistant Plus, educators can easily create reading libraries for their students using reading level ranges, and then customize those libraries by genre: Word Wall. The new Word Wall activity within each reading selection lets students explore important words from a passage prior to reading that passage. This vocabulary preview helps English learners build comprehension, while learning the pronunciation of important English words from the upcoming activities. Brand new content, with more on the way. This initial release of Reading Assistant Plus includes five new passages, with hundreds more planned for future releases. Implementation recommendations. See MySciLEARN Toolbox for some helpful recommendations on how to implement the program. OS/browser requirements. Windows 7/10, Mac OS X or later, Chrome OS Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Chrome browser 8

9 About this guide How to use this guide Read the following notes for tips on using this guide. If you're new to MySciLEARN, it's a good idea to review all of the topics in Chapter 1 Getting started before you start. For quick start steps, see MySciLEARN quick start in this guide. How the guides are organized MySciLEARN provides two user guides to help you set up and use the program, based on your staff role. MySciLEARN User Guide for Teachers Includes detailed steps for instructors on how to use MySciLEARN with their students. MySciLEARN User Guide for Administrators Includes step-by-step instructions for district managers and school managers on how to set up MySciLEARN at their school or district. Both guides are available in MySciLEARN Help. Documentation updates As part of our commitment to excellence, Scientific Learning regularly updates the help, PDF user guides, and other product documentation to reflect the continuous improvement and enhancement of our products. To ensure that you have the most recent PDF guides, check MySciLEARN Help for any updates. Staff role references Throughout the documentation, you'll see references to the standard staff roles of district manager, school manager, and instructor. Unless otherwise indicated, all general references to a standard staff role also apply to the custom roles based on that standard role. Check with your district manager if you have any questions about a specific custom staff role. 9

10 About this guide PDF guides & manuals MySciLEARN provides the following user guides and teacher manuals, accessible in MySciLEARN Help. You can also browse our extensive MySciLEARN Toolbox library for documents on how to successfully implement the programs. General user guides MySciLEARN User Guides: Administrator and Teacher User Guides MySciLEARN Reports User Guides: District, School, and Teacher User Guides MySciLEARN System Requirements MySciLEARN Content Server Guide MySciLEARN Student Update Administrator Guide Fast ForWord Program User Guide Fast ForWord Program ipad User Guide Fast ForWord Program ipad User Guide - Parents Reading Assistant Plus User Guide Reading Assistant User Guide Reading Assistant ipad User Guide Reading Assistant ipad User Guide - Parents Reading Assistant Plug-in Install Guide Offline resources for English learners Fast ForWord Offline Resources for English Learners Reading Assistant/Reading Assistant Plus Offline Resources for English Learners (Elementary) Teacher manuals Fast ForWord Language v2 Teacher Manual Fast ForWord Language to Reading v2 Teacher Manual Fast ForWord Literacy Teacher Manual Fast ForWord Literacy Advanced Teacher Manual Fast ForWord Reading Readiness Teacher Manual Fast ForWord Reading Level 1 Teacher Manual Fast ForWord Reading Level 2 Teacher Manual Fast ForWord Reading Level 3 Teacher Manual Fast ForWord Reading Level 4 Teacher Manual Fast ForWord Reading Level 5 Teacher Manual Reading Assistant Teacher Resource Guide Reading Assistant Plus Use the Offline Resources for English Learners as a resource guide 10

11 About this guide More resources MySciLEARN provides several methods for getting help. MySciLEARN Help Use the Help link at the top of any page in MySciLEARN to access MySciLEARN Help, which provides user-specific help topics and downloadable PDF guides. PDF manuals Prefer documents to online help? Download our user guides, specifications, and teacher manuals in PDF format. Access MySciLEARN Help to download them. MySciLEARN Toolbox MySciLEARN Toolbox provides access to all program training information, including teacher materials, video tutorials, and staff training. Access it from Knowledge base Our knowledge base provides troubleshooting articles and tips on using the software. Go to Support If you need further assistance or have more questions, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Customer Support Web Phone Hours (US & Canada) (International) Monday - Friday 5 AM - 5 PM PT 11

12 1 Getting started 1 Getting started If you re a new user, you re in the right place; learning the basics is the best way to get started. For this brief tour, you don t need to know anything about the programs. What's in this chapter MySciLEARN quick start 13 About MySciLEARN 14 Tour MySciLEARN 16 Log in as a staff member 26 Log in as a student 27 Manage your staff account 32 12

13 1 Getting started MySciLEARN quick start This topic provides a short list of tasks for getting started with MySciLEARN as an instructor. For district or school manager quick start steps, see the MySciLEARN User Guide for Administrators, available in MySciLEARN Help. Quick start for instructors (teachers) 1. Log in to MySciLEARN and click the Manage tab. See Log in as a staff member. 2. Add your students to the system (if they are not already enrolled) and create student groups. See Chapter 2 Students. 3. Assign the Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant products to your students. Chapter 3 Fast ForWord assignments Chapter 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments Chapter 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries 4. If your students will be using the program on ipad, download the Scientific Learning apps onto their ipads. See Download Scientific Learning apps on ipad. 5. Guide your students in logging in to the MySciLEARN Student Exercises and using the software. Chapter 7 Fast ForWord programs Chapter 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Chapter 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Chapter 11 Reading Assistant program Chapter 12 Reading Assistant on ipad Chapter 13 RPI assessments 6. Monitor your students as they use the program. See Chapter 14 Monitor student sessions. 7. Review the Results reports for your students. See the MySciLEARN Teacher Reports user guide, available in MySciLEARN Help. 13

14 1 Getting started About MySciLEARN MySciLEARN leverages the latest Internet technology and platform architecture to provide a reliable, scalable, and high-performance learning solution for the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs anytime, anywhere. To explore the program, see Tour MySciLEARN. How does MySciLEARN work? Hosted by Scientific Learning, MySciLEARN provides centralized management for the implementation of the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs, eliminating the need for an onsite server. Any computer or laptop with a web browser can connect to MySciLEARN either in the classroom or at home as long as that computer meets the minimum requirements. Students can also use an ipad mobile digital device to connect to MySciLEARN. MySciLEARN also allows schools to install and use Scientific Learning content servers to provide local access to some of the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant content. Content servers can be installed at the schools or the district on an as-needed basis. Note: MySciLEARN requires strict adherence to the minimum specifications requirements. Ignoring these rules can result in performance issues. If you have any questions or concerns, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Do I need to install any software to use MySciLEARN? In general, MySciLEARN clients do not require any software installation or setup other than a web browser. Note the following exceptions. When using the programs on ipad, you'll need to install the Scientific Learning program apps on the student's ipad. The Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs require Adobe Flash player in the student s web browser. Reading Assistant Plus does not use the Flash player and will ignore it if it s already installed. For Reading Assistant users who have not switched to Reading Assistant Plus, you may need to install the Reading Assistant Plug-in on the student's computer, depending on your browser or platform. The plug-in is included with MySciLEARN. You can install the plug-in before students start working, or follow the prompts to install it when Reading Assistant first opens. How secure is MySciLEARN? To provide secure access to the system, MySciLEARN requires that all staff members and students use a unique login and password. In addition, all of the data for MySciLEARN is hosted by Scientific Learning. If you have any additional questions about security, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. 14

15 1 Getting started How do I get started? As a MySciLEARN user, your tasks vary based on which staff role you've been assigned. For quick start steps based on your role see MySciLEARN quick start in this guide. 15

16 1 Getting started Tour MySciLEARN Overview Students and staff members use MySciLEARN by logging in to the program over the Internet. Each MySciLEARN user has their own unique login and password that enables secure access to the program and provides customized pages based on the user's role. Home. Provides a dashboard that serves as a home base for all staff. Manage. Allows staff to perform administrative and user management tasks. Results. Allows staff to review student results reports. Resources. Provides access to staff resources including help, support, and professional development tools. Student Exercises. This separate student training portal serves the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant products to students in the classroom or at home, and on any supported device. As a staff member, you'll use the first four pages, while your students will use the Student Exercises. Read on for a quick tour. 16

17 1 Getting started Student Exercises Only students can access the Student Exercises page. It appears when a student logs in to MySciLEARN, providing access to that student's product assignments, to RPI assessments, and to the product demos. 17

18 1 Getting started Home The Home page provides a dashboard that serves as a home base for all staff. It s the default view when logging into MySciLEARN. Based on your staff role, you ll see the last four weeks of results for your students, tips on how to get started with the programs, and access to MySciLEARN news and The Science of Learning blog. To get started, open a web browser on any computer connected to the Internet, point to and log in. See Log in as a staff member. 18

19 1 Getting started Manage The Manage pages allow staff to perform all administrative tasks for MySciLEARN, including managing the system settings, managing the schools settings, and managing all staff and student users in the system. Click the Manage tab to view them. Students All staff members can access the Students page. Use it to manage student enrollments and assignments. 19

20 1 Getting started Staff Only district managers and school managers can access the Staff page. Use it to create and manage other staff members. 20

21 1 Getting started Schools Only district managers and school managers can access the Schools page. Use it to manage the settings for your schools. 21

22 1 Getting started System Only district managers can access the System page. Use it to manage the system settings for the entire district. 22

23 1 Getting started Results The Results reports present Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant student usage data at the district, school, and student levels. All staff members can access the Results reports. See the MySciLEARN Results Reports user guides, available in MySciLEARN Help. 23

24 1 Getting started Resources The Resources page provides access to staff resources including help, support, and professional development tools. Additional resources When logged in as a staff member, the MySciLEARN pages provide additional links to help facilitate the use of the software. Students cannot access these links. Exercise Demos. Provides staff access to the demos for the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant products. Content Libraries. Provides staff access to the Reading Assistant content libraries. My Account. Provides access to your staff account, where you can view and edit your account information. Help. Provides access to the MySciLEARN Help system, along with all user manuals and guides. Log Out. Logs you out of the system. Contact. Provides Scientific Learning contact information. MySciLEARN Info. Provides the version number and credits. About Scientific Learning. Provides the Scientific Learning mission and a link to the corporate site. 24

25 1 Getting started Quick Links. This section in the lower right corner includes the following quick links: Student Login. Opens the Student Login page Support. Opens the Customer Support site. SciLearn.com. Opens the Scientific Learning corporate Web site. Feature-level help If you see What is this followed by a question mark icon, click the icon to open a help dialog and learn more about the feature. Click the More Help link at the bottom open a detailed Help topic on that feature. 25

26 1 Getting started Log in as a staff member As a staff member, use the Staff Login page at to access MySciLEARN. You'll need your login , the address associated with your account, and your password. Your login is automatically ed to you when your user account is created. That also provides a link for you to create your password. You can reset your login or password from your account page as needed. If you ve lost your password, use the link at the bottom of the Staff Login page to reset it. If you ve lost your login , you ll need a district manager or school manager to log in to MySciLEARN and retrieve it from your staff profile. 1. Connect your computer to the Internet. 2. Open a web browser and point to the MySciLEARN Staff Login page: 3. Enter your login and password on the Staff Login page and then click Log In. MySciLEARN checks your login and when validated, opens and displays the Home page. Click another tab as needed to access those pages: Manage, Results, Resources. You can also access the Student Exercises login from this page using the Go to Student Login button. 26

27 1 Getting started Log in as a student About student access Students use the Student Login page at to log in to MySciLEARN and access the programs. It requires that students enter their username and password. If a student forgets his or her credentials, a staff member can access this information from the Students page. To learn more see About student usernames and passwords. The steps to log in as a student vary based on workstation type: computer or mobile digital device. Some students may require guidance while performing this task, especially if the student is young, or if this is the first time the student is logging in. Log in on a computer As a student, follow these steps to log in to MySciLEARN on a desktop, laptop, or notebook computer. 1. Connect your computer to the Internet. 2. Open a web browser and point to the MySciLEARN Student Login page: If this is the first time the student has accessed MySciLEARN on this computer (or if the web browser s cache on the computer has been cleared), the software may ask the student to choose their school or district name: 27

28 1 Getting started 3. If needed, enter the first few letters of your school or district in the Choose School or District field to see a list of schools and districts, then select your school or district from the list and click Continue. If your school or district does not appear right away, keep entering letters until it appears: 4. Enter your student username and password and click Log In. Students can select the Show Password option if they d like to see the password text as they type. 28

29 1 Getting started MySciLEARN checks the username and password and when validated, opens the Student Exercises page. For details on using the programs see the following chapters: Chapter 7 Fast ForWord programs Chapter 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Chapter 11 Reading Assistant program Chapter 13 RPI assessments Chapter 15 Program demos Log in on ipad The student can open any Scientific Learning program app including the Reading Progress Indicator app to log in to MySciLEARN and view their assignments and the demos. However, to actually work on a product or demo, that app must be installed on ipad. For example, a student can open the Fast ForWord Literacy app, log in, and take an RPI assessment, as long as the Reading Progress Indicator app is also installed on his or her ipad. See Download Scientific Learning apps on ipad for information. 1. Connect the ipad to the Internet. 2. On the ipad Home screen, open a Scientific Learning app to connect to MySciLEARN and view the Student Login screen. 3. If this is the first time the student has accessed MySciLEARN on this device, the software may ask the student to choose their school or district name: 29

30 1 Getting started 4. If needed, enter the first few letters of your school or district in the Choose School or District field to see a list of schools and districts, then select your school or district from the list and tap Yes to confirm your choice. If your school or district does not appear right away, keep entering letters until it appears on the right: 5. Enter your student username and password and tap Log In. 30

31 1 Getting started MySciLEARN checks the username and password and when validated, opens the Student Exercises page. For details on using the programs see the following chapters: Chapter 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Chapter 12 Reading Assistant on ipad Chapter 13 RPI assessments 31

32 1 Getting started Manage your staff account Use this topic to help you view and edit your account. Staff account basics Each staff member has an account within MySciLEARN that includes the following information: Name Staff role (click View Role Details to see the permissions for your assigned staff role) Schools (all schools if you are a district manager) Login (username) Password (encrypted format only) Employee ID, if any Any additional information, if any A print button to print the account information An Edit button to edit the account details When you log in to MySciLEARN as a staff member, you can access your staff account from several places within the system. For steps on logging in see Log in as a staff member. From the My Account link at the top of any page From the My Account link on the Staff page Edit your staff account You can edit the following information in your staff account. Name Login (requires that you log in again) 32

33 1 Getting started Password Employee ID Additional Information 1 and 2 For steps on resetting a lost or forgotten password, see Reset your staff password. 1. Log in to MySciLEARN. 2. Access your account one of the following ways: 3. At the top of any page, My Account link. 4. Click the Staff tab and then click the My Account link on right side of the Staff page. 5. On your account page, click the Edit button. 6. Make any changes to the account information as needed and click Save. If you changed your login , the system will log you out automatically to apply the changes. You ll need to log back in using your new login . Reset your staff password Each staff member has a specific staff login that provides access to MySciLEARN. This staff login includes two items (for more details see Log in as a staff member). Login (username). This is the staff member's address that was entered into the system when the staff member s account was created. This item can also be viewed within the staff member s profile. Password. This is a unique alphanumeric code created by the staff member through a link in their account confirmation . Passwords must be at least six characters, contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number. For security purposes, staff passwords are not archived anywhere in the system. You can reset your own password as needed; for example, if you ve lost or forgotten your password, or you d like to change your current password for security reasons. At minimum, you'll need your login to reset your password. If you ve forgotten which address you're using as your login , contact your system administrator or Scientific Learning Customer Support for assistance. What you'll need: To reset a lost or forgotten password: your login To change your password: your login and your current password Reset your lost or forgotten staff password 1. Open the Staff Login page for MySciLEARN on a web browser. 2. Click the Forgot Your Password link in the lower right corner. 33

34 1 Getting started 3. Enter your login in the Login field. Your login is your actual address. If you're not sure which address you're using with MySciLEARN, contact your administrator (either a district manager or a school manager). He or she can access your staff profile to look up your login and then send it to you. 4. Click Send Reset Instructions. A confirmation screen appears, indicating that the system sent you an with a link that allows you to create a new password. Follow the instructions in the to create the password. The password must be at least six characters, contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number. When the new password is created, you can use it immediately. Change your current staff password 1. Log in to MySciLEARN and access your account one of the following ways: 2. At the top of any page, My Account link. 3. Click the Staff tab and then click the My Account link on right side of the Staff page. 4. On your account page, click the Edit button. 34

35 1 Getting started 5. Follow the instructions to enter your new password and confirm it, and click Save. 6. The password must be at least six characters, contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number. The next time you log in, you will be able to use your new password. 35

36 2 Students 2 Students Use this chapter to learn how to add, manage, edit, and delete students and groups in MySciLEARN. What's in this chapter About students 37 About student usernames and passwords 51 Add, edit, and delete students 52 Manage student groups 58 Manage licenses for your students 62 Change the grade for students 68 Change the Fast ForWord protocol for a group 69 Set student access to demos 72 Stop all product assignments 73 Set Auto Assign and RPI for students 75 Print student usernames and passwords 77 36

37 2 Students About students Where do I start? Access the Students page The students list Search the students list The student profile Where do I start? Before your students can work on the Scientific Learning products, you ll need to add those students to the system, set up student groups, and create student assignments. Use the Students page to manage these enrollment tasks. See the following topics to learn about managing students: To learn how to use the Students page, see the rest of this topic. To add students to the system, manage student settings, and create student groups, see the rest of the topics in this chapter. To assign the Fast ForWord programs to your students, see Chapter 3 Fast ForWord assignments. To assign the Reading Assistant program to your students, see Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments. To assign the Reading Assistant Plus program to your students, see Reading Assistant Plus assignments. Access the Students page Use the Students page to create and manage the students at your schools. 1. Log in to MySciLEARN as a staff member. See Log in as a staff member. 2. Click the Manage tab > Students tab. All staff members can access the Students page, but each role has a unique view of that page. See The students list. 37

38 2 Students The students list When you log in to MySciLEARN and access the Students page, the software reviews your staff role, permissions, and school access, then presents a list of students based on that information. The students list displays different information as you view an individual school, filter by group, or filter by staff. You can also use navigation tools to search for students. This topic provides information on the different ways you can navigate and use the students list. Instructor view School manager view District manager view Browse by School filter Filter by My Groups Filter by Staff Search the students list 38

39 2 Students Instructor view When you log in as an instructor and access the Students page, it opens and displays your school. Within your school, the students are organized and available as follows: All of the students associated with you appear in the student list. Use the Filter by My Groups list to filter the student list by group; just select that group. To clear the filter, select All Groups at the top of the filter. To temporarily reorder the columns in the list, drag and drop the columns in any order. By default, instructors can access these features and perform these tasks: Add, edit, and delete all of their students and manage all of their groups Assign, edit, and delete product assignments for their students Use the More Actions menu to manage their students, groups, and assignments Monitor training sessions for their students School manager view When you log in as a school manager and access the Students page, it opens all of your schools. If you are associated with only one school, the Students page opens for that school and displays all of the students in that school. If you are associated with multiple schools, the Students page displays all of the students in your schools. To filter the list by school, select a school from the Browse by School filter. To clear the filter, select All Schools at the top of the filter. When you select a school, you can continue to filter the student list as follows: Use the Filter by My Groups list to filter the student list by group; just select that group. To clear the filter, select All Groups at the top of the filter. 39

40 2 Students Use the Filter by Staff list to filter the student list by staff member; just select that staff member s name. To clear the filter, select All Staff at the top of the filter. To temporarily reorder the columns in the list, drag and drop the columns in any order. By default, school managers can access these features and perform these tasks: Add, edit, and delete students Assign, edit, and delete product assignments Use the More Actions menu to manage students, groups, and assignments Import students from a file Monitor student work sessions District manager view When you log in as a district manager and access the Students page, it opens and displays all of the students in all of the schools across the district. To filter the student list by school, select a school from the Browse by School filter. Then, you can continue to filter the student list as follows: Use the Filter by My Groups list to filter the student list by group; just select that group. Use the Filter by Staff list to filter the student list by staff member; just select that staff member s name. To clear any of the filters, select the All Schools/All Groups/All Staff options at the top of the corresponding filter. To temporarily reorder the columns in the list, drag and drop the columns in any order. District managers can access all features and perform all tasks on the Students page: 40

41 2 Students Add, edit, and delete any student in the system, and manage all groups in all schools Assign, edit, and delete product assignments for any student in the system Use the More Actions menu to manage students, groups, and assignments Import students from a file into any school Monitor trainings sessions for any student in the system Browse by School filter When browsing a school on the Students page, the students list provides the following information for that school: Last/First. The first and last name of all students in that school, sorted by last name. When a student is training or taking an RPI assessment, an orange icon appears next to that student s name School. The name of the school you are viewing School Staff. The staff members associated with the student Groups. The groups to which that student belongs Settings. Provides access to the following settings for a student, with buttons that show current state (green = on, gray = off): Turn Fast ForWord Auto Assign off and on (RPI must be on). 41

42 2 Students Turn Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment on and off (RPI must be on). This feature is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time. Turn RPI off and on. When off, both Auto Assign options are disabled. If you are associated with only one school, you won t see the Browse by School filter, but you will see the same details for your individual school: If you are associated with more than one school, the Students page will include the Browse by School filter, which allows you to select and view an individual school. If you are a school manager or district manager and you have access to more than five schools, the list of schools will collapse when you select a school in the Browse by School filter. To open the list and see all of your schools, click View List. The Browse by School filter will expand to include all schools. 42

43 2 Students Filter by My Groups The Filter by My Groups filter only appears when you are viewing a school. When you filter the school view by a group, the students list displays the following details for each student in that group: Last/First. The first and last name of each student in the group, sorted by last name. Assigned Products The student s assigned products and product status. Protocol The protocol (schedule) for each assigned product. Lang The language for each assigned product. English Spanish GR The student s grade. Settings Provides access to the following settings for a student, with buttons that show current state (green = on, gray = off): Turn Fast ForWord Auto Assign off and on (RPI must be on). Turn Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment off and on (RPI must be on). This feature is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time. Turn RPI off and on. When off, both Auto Assign options are disabled. 43

44 2 Students When training, an orange icon shows next to the student s name. Tips for viewing assigned products By default, the group view shows all product assignments for your students. However, you can filter the group by individual product; for example, you can select Reading Level 1 from the Filter by Product menu to see only those students with that product assignment. In addition, each product assignment that appears in the group view includes the following status information in the Assigned Products column: New The student has not started working on the product (this is different from 0%, where the student has actually started working on the product but has not yet completed 1%) If the student has started working on the product, a completion status appears as follows: The Fast ForWord products display a percent complete score for the product. Both Reading Assistant products display the total number of selections worked on out of the total number of selections in the library, for the current library only Products appear in red when their license or Support Package agreement has expired or has not yet started. Hold the cursor over the product name for details. For information on enabling those students to continue working, see Manage licenses for your students. Filter by Staff The Filter by Staff filter is only available for district managers and school managers, and only appears when viewing an individual school. When you filter the school view by a staff member, the students list only 44

45 2 Students shows the students associated with that staff member. To return to the original view and see all students, click All Staff at the top of the Filter by Staff list. Search the students list Use the following navigation tools on the Students page to find a specific student: Use the Search feature at the top of the Students page to search for a student by first name, last name, or student ID. If you're an instructor, the Search feature will only show results for students that are associated with you. Click the Last name, First Name, or School columns at the top of the student list to sort the list alphanumerically. Click again to reverse the sort order. Use the Pagination bar at the bottom of the page to scroll through the list pages. When you ve located your student, click the student s name to view the student s profile. For details on the viewing a student s profile, see the rest of this topic. The student profile Each student has a student profile. To view the student profile, click the student in the students list. A student s profile includes basic student information and tasks related to managing that student. Basic student information Assignments 45

46 2 Students Auto Assign and Reading Progress Indicator Groups School Staff Additional items Basic student information Along with the student's name, this section in the top left corner provides basic student information. Use the Edit button to change this information. See Edit student information. School Grade 46

47 2 Students Username Password Date of Birth Gender Other demographic information such as English language learner (ELL). For a complete list of possible student info see Required student information. Assignments This section in the top right corner of a student s profile lets you manage that student's assignments. To learn more about assignments see Fast ForWord assignments, Reading Assistant assignments, and Reading Assistant Plus assignments. 47

48 2 Students When manually assigning products, you can add new assignments for products with valid licenses. You can also edit, stop, resume, or delete an existing assignment. When using Auto Assign to automatically assign products, the system manages the entire assign process for you. However, you can edit an existing assignment if needed (not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time). A License button appears next to each product, allowing you to manage the licenses and Support Package agreements for the assigned products. See Manage licenses for your students to learn more. Note: A warning icon appears next to the License button if the student is using an expired license or Support Package agreement, or if all of the available licenses and agreements for a product are expired. If there are no available licenses to manage, the button turns gray and cannot be used. Check with your school manager or district manager for details about the licenses at your school. Fast ForWord Auto Assign appears when the student is using that feature. If it cannot assign a product, a Warning (!) icon appears, advising staff to manually assign a product to the student. Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment appears when the student is using that feature (not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time). New appears next to any assignment that has not been started yet. A percent complete score appears when a Fast ForWord assignment has been started. The following information appears when a Reading Assistant or Reading Assistant Plus assignment has been started: Library name, number of completed selections, and total number of selections; for example: 6 of 14 If the student has earned a Complete status alert, a green checkmark appears. Resume appears next to the assignment if it has been stopped. A Session Activity section appears when the student is actively training and shows current product status: Fast ForWord product and exercise, the number of minutes left in the exercise, the number of trials completed in the exercise Reading Assistant/Reading Assistant Plus library and selection, and the number of minutes completed in the session (if the student is using a schedule) Auto Assign and Reading Progress Indicator This section allows you to enable or disable Fast ForWord Auto Assign or Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment for the student, and void the most recent assessment for a student. See Set Auto Assign and RPI for students. 48

49 2 Students If the student has completed an RPI assessment, assessment results appear in the Reading Progress Indicator panel. Initial assessment: grade equivalent, percentile Follow-up (last) assessment: grade equivalent, grade equivalent gain, percentile, percentile gain. If the assessment was manually assigned, Manual appears next to that assessment Groups This section lists the groups to which the student belongs. See Manage group membership. School Staff The section lists the school staff associated with that student (district managers/school managers only). 49

50 2 Students Additional items The student profile also includes the following items: More Actions menu. This menu at the top of the screen lets you delete a student's profile (see Delete students), or if you re a district or school manager, transfer that student to another school. Print button. Use this button at the top of the screen to print a copy of the student's profile. 50

51 2 Students About student usernames and passwords Create student usernames and passwords Each student needs a username and password to log in to the application. You can create student usernames and passwords several ways. See the following topics for steps: Add new students Edit student information Import new students from a file (distrct/school managers only) When creating usernames and passwords, you can allow the system to automatically generate them or you can manually create them (see each task for steps). To manually create them, follow these guidelines. Choose a simple username for younger students, so it is easier to remember. All student usernames must be unique across the district. When creating a student password, enter a minimum of five alphanumeric characters. Student passwords are not case sensitive; the system will save all letters as lowercase. Access student usernames and passwords You can view student usernames and passwords at any time. View a student s username and password within their student profile. See The student profile. Print a list of all student usernames and passwords. For details see Print student usernames and passwords. 51

52 2 Students Add, edit, and delete students To learn more about students see About students. If you re a district or school manager, you can import large numbers of students at one time using a CSV file Add new students Before students can access the program, you must add (enroll) the students into the system. Use the Students page to add students. Required student information The following information is required when adding a student. All other fields are optional. To automatically generate a unique student username and password, use the Autogenerate Username and Autogenerate Password buttons next to the Student Username and Student Password fields. For tips on choosing your own student usernames and passwords, see About student usernames and passwords. First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth (these three identifiers together must be unique across the district) Student Username (must be unique across the district) 52

53 2 Students Student Password (not case sensitive; the system will save all letters as lowercase) Grade, Gender, English Language Learner (ELL), Special Education, School Additional student information You can opt to enter more information for a student, as needed. Middle Initial (MI) School Staff (selections are limited based on your staff role) Group (selections are limited based on your staff role) Student ID (must be unique across the district) Parent 1 and 2 Race/Ethnicity (only one option allowed): Aboriginal, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic/Latino of any race, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Other, White Title 1 Migrant Student Additional Info 1, 2, 3 Additional Classifications (can select more than one): Dyslexia, Down Syndrome, Phonological Disorder, Autism, Asperger s Syndrome, Expressive Communicative Disorder, Developmental Delay, Special Learning Disability, Attention Deficit Disorder, Rett s Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Receptive Communication Disorder Add a new student to MySciLEARN 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Click the +New Student button to open the New Student screen. If there are no students in the system yet, a note appears in the middle of the screen with a New Student button. Click that button instead. The New Student screen appears: 53

54 2 Students 3. On the New Student screen, enter the student s first name, last name, and date of birth into the profile. This information must be unique across the system. To check this use the Check For Name And Date of Birth Duplicates button. If a duplicate exists, verify whether this is the same student or a different student. If it is the same student, you can check with a district manager to request that the student be transferred to your school. If it is a different student, change the student name for this new student. 4. Enter the rest of the required student information into the profile: username, password, grade, gender, ELL status, SES status, school Student usernames must be unique across the system. Use the Autogenerate Username button. Passwords are not case sensitive. Use the Autogenerate Password button. 5. Enter any additional information for the student, as needed. If you enter a student ID, it must be unique across the district. Click the Show Additional Information at the bottom of the screen to view the rest of the student information fields, then enter any relevant information. 6. Add the student to a group by selecting that group under Group. 54

55 2 Students To add the student to multiple groups, press and hold the Shift key on Windows or the Command (Apple) key on Macintosh while selecting the groups in the list. If you don't have any groups yet, you can cancel this process and create a group before you add the student, or you can continue and the student will be automatically added to Default Group (see About the Default group). 7. If you are a district manager or school manager, select school and staff associations in the profile, as needed: Select a school from the School menu, if needed. Associate the student with instructors under School Staff. An instructor must be associated with a student to work with that student. To select multiple staff members, press and hold the Shift key on Windows or the Command (Apple) key on Macintosh while selecting the items in the list. Or, select staff associations on the Student Profile page after you save the new student. 8. Click Save to create the student profile and end the process, or click Save and Add to create the student profile and add another new student. If you are an instructor, the student is automatically associated with you. If the student is using Fast ForWord Auto Assign or Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment, the process is complete. If not, or if you are using Reading Assistant Plus, you must manually assign a product to the student. See the following topics for details: Chapter 3 Fast ForWord assignments Chapter 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments Edit student information Use the Student Profile to review and update a student s profile; for example, if any of their information has changed, such as Parent or Title 1 status. To edit other information in a student's profile, see the following topics: Edit Fast ForWord assignments Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments Edit Reading Assistant assignments Set Auto Assign and RPI for students Associate students with instructors (district or school managers only) 55

56 2 Students 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the student in the students list. See The students list. 3. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. 4. Click the Edit button under the student s name to open the student information for edit. For details on the information available for edit, see Required student information. 5. Make any necessary edits and click Save. Delete students You can permanently delete a student from the system; for example, if the student moves to a new district that is not using MySciLEARN, or the student will no longer use the Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant products. 56

57 2 Students Warning! This option permanently deletes that student and his or her data from MySciLEARN, and you will not be able to recover it. If a student is only completing a product or is transferring to another school, do not delete the student. Instead, perform one of these tasks: Stop/delete Fast ForWord assignments Stop/delete Reading Assistant Plus assignments Stop/delete Reading Assistant assignments Transfer students to another school 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the students in the students list. See The students list. 3. Select the checkbox next to those students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. From the More Actions menu, select Delete Student Profile. 5. On the confirmation message, click Delete Profile. 57

58 2 Students Manage student groups What is a student group? MySciLEARN works best when you organize your students into groups. Groups are designed to help you manage students that have something in common. Think of a group as a class within a school. For example, you can organize groups based on the school year and one of the following criteria: Training time and date. 1st Period Fall 2010, 10am Spring 2011 Classroom or teacher. Mr Perez Training location. In Class Fall 2010, Spring 2011 At Home Demographic data. ELL , 3rd Grade 2010 Students must belong to at least one group. However, students can belong to more than one group; this will not impact their experience with the Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant products. Use the Students page to manage groups of students. About the Default group Because all students must belong to at least one group, MySciLEARN provides a default group for each school. The Default group functions just like any other group in your school, providing access to the group functions on the Students page and the teacher reports on the Results page. Just like any other group at the school level, district managers and school managers are automatically associated with the Default group, but instructors are not. This provides additional security and privacy for students at the school. District managers and school managers can associate instructors with the Default group as needed. Students who are not associated with any group will be added to the school's Default group. For example: When transferring a student to another school, that student will be added to that school's Default group (district and school managers only). When importing students from a file, if you don't specify a group in the import file, those students will be added to the Default group (district and school managers only). When removing a student from that student's only group, the student will be added to that school's Default group. See Manage group membership. Also, when deleting a group that includes students who are not in any other groups, those students will be added to that school's Default group. See Delete a group. When an instructor who does not own any groups adds a new student, that student will be added to the Default group. See Add, edit, and delete students. Note: The Default group cannot be renamed or deleted from the system. 58

59 2 Students Add a group You can organize your students into groups using several methods: By using the +New Group button and the More Actions menu on students list (covered in this topic) By using the Add to Group button inside a student s profile. By using the New Group button inside a staff member s profile. Follow these steps to add a new group from the students list. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. If you do not plan to add students to the new group right away, click the New Group button under the Filter by My Groups and add a new group. You can add students to the group later. See Manage group membership. 3. Locate the students in the students list. See The students list. 4. Select the checkbox next to the students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 5. From the Add To/Remove From Group menu, select Add to New Group. 6. Enter a significant and unique name for the group in the New Group Name field and click Add Students to Group. See What is a student group? for tips on naming a group. The new group is created and automatically associated with you. To associate the group with other staff members, contact your school manager or district manager. Manage group membership All students must belong to at least one group. This topic provides instructions for managing the students in a group, including adding students to a group and removing students from a group. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 59

60 2 Students 3. Locate the students that you would like to add to or remove from the group. If you are removing students from a group, select that group in the Filter by My Groups option on the left of the Student page. If you are adding students to a group, locate the student in the students list. See The students list. 4. Select the checkbox next to the students you're moving, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 5. From the Add/Remove from Group menu, add/remove the student to/from a group, then confirm the action to complete the task. When removing students from a group, the students must belong to at least one other group. If not, the students will be automatically added to the school's Default group. Rename a group Use the following instructions to rename an existing group; for example, if the name is no longer significant, or if it is being confused with another group name. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 3. From the Filter by My Groups list, select the group you d like to rename. 4. Select Rename/Remove next to the Group name to open the group for edit. 5. Type the new group name in the group name field and click Save. 60

61 2 Students Delete a group Groups can be deleted when all of the students have been removed from that group and the group is no longer needed. For example, at the end of the school year, you can remove a group for students who have completed the Fast ForWord products and have been either deleted from the system or moved to other groups. Students who are not in another group will be automatically added to the school's Default group. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 3. From the Filter by My Groups list, select the group you d like to delete. 4. Select Rename/Remove next to the Group name to open the group for edit. 5. Click the trash icon next to that group name to move the group to the trash, then click Confirm Delete Group to complete the task. 61

62 2 Students Manage licenses for your students About license management As an instructor, use the Manage Licenses option on the Students page to manage how your students use the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant program licenses. To manage licenses at the higher levels see the MySciLEARN User Guide for Administrators, or visit MySciLEARN Help. The Manage Licenses option lets you control how your students use new product licenses and Support Package agreements. For example, let s say your Fast ForWord product licenses are expiring at the end of the year, and you need to purchase more licenses for next year. If you buy a site license, the system will automatically move your students to the new license the next time they use the Fast ForWord program, on a first-come-first-served basis. If you buy per student licenses, the system lets you decide which students should be moved, and then lets you manually move those students to the new licenses as needed. To move an individual student or a group of students to a new license, see the rest of this topic. If you re a school manager, you can move all of the students on one school license to another using the Manage school licenses feature. Note: You can only move students to licenses and agreements for the same product. For example, let s say you have a group of students who are using the Fast ForWord program. You can move those students from one Fast ForWord license to another Fast ForWord license, but you cannot move those students to a Reading Assistant license. To let your students to use another licensed product, simply assign that product to those students (see Chapter 3 Fast ForWord assignments,chapter 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments, and Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments). Manage licenses for an individual student from their profile 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate your student in the students list. See The students list. 3. Click the student s name to open that student s profile and view the Assignments panel. 62

63 2 Students Note: A warning icon appears next to the License button if the student is using an expired license or agreement, or if all of the available licenses and agreements for a product are expired. If there are no available licenses to manage, the button turns gray and cannot be used. Check with your school manager or district manager for details about the licenses at your school. 4. Click the License button next to the product with the license you want to manage. The Manage Licenses screen opens and shows all of the valid licenses and Support Package agreements for that product. If the student s current license is valid (not expired), it appears in the dialog highlighted in yellow. The same is true for the student s Support Package. 63

64 2 Students Tip: If you are moving the student to a per student license, make sure that you have an available per student license and/or Support Package for the student. 5. Choose the new product license, or skip this step if you are simply moving the student to a new Support Package. The system checks to see if there is a Support Package available for the new product license and adds it to the list, if needed. 6. Choose the new Support Package and click Apply. The student is moved to the new product license and/or Support Package agreement and can immediately start training. Manage licenses for one or more students from the Students page 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Select the group with your students. Your students must be in a group to manage licenses from the Students page. See Manage student groups. To locate your group, use the Browse by School and Filter by My Groups options on the left of the Students page. 64

65 2 Students 3. Select the checkbox next to your students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. From the More Actions menu at the top of the students list, select the menu item based on the product your students are using (if there are no available licenses or agreements for a product, that menu item does not appear): For Fast ForWord students, select Manage FFW Licenses. For Reading Assistant and Reading Assistant Plus students, select Manage RA Licenses. The Manage Licenses screen opens and displays all of the valid licenses for that product, along with a list of the students to be moved. You can copy and paste this list into a text file for later use as needed. 5. Choose the new product license, or choose the current product license if you are simply moving them to a new Support Package. The system checks to see if there is a Support Package available for that license and adds that Support Package to the list: 65

66 2 Students 6. Choose the new Support Package and click Apply. All of the students are moved to the new product license and/or Support Package agreement and can immediately start training. Troubleshoot license management for your students Use this table to help troubleshoot any issues you may have. If you still have questions or concerns, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support for assistance. 66

67 2 Students Question When managing site licenses, the Quantity number is smaller than the Used number (I see a quantity of 1 license, with 351 used). Can you explain what these numbers mean? Answer With site licenses, here s how the numbers work: Quantity shows the total number of product site licenses with the same start and end dates. Usually this number is 1, because schools don t often have more than one site license for the same product with the same terms. Used shows the number of students using the site license. This number is usually larger than the Quantity, and is generally only limited by the number of students at your school. Per student licenses look a little different: Quantity shows the total number of per student licenses for the product. This number is usually large, because schools often purchase multiple per students licenses for a product at the same time with the same terms. Used shows the number of students using the available per student licenses. This number is always lower than or equal to the Quantity. I have a perpetual site license at my school with a corresponding Support Package. When I look at the License section, it shows that I have zero (0) available agreements for the site license. What s going on? My school has a perpetual product license that we ve been using along with a Support Package that just expired. How do I move my students to our new Support Package? My school had a product license that expired last year. We just purchased a new product license, and now I want to move the students that were on the original license to the new one. However, I don t see the original expired license on the Schools Licenses screen and there s no Manage button for it. What should I do? For site licenses, the number that appears for Available or Avail Qty does not relate to the use of licenses or agreements by your students. Instead it indicates number of Support Package agreements available for transfer at the district level. As long as the Support Package is valid and the Quantity field shows 1 or more, your students will be able to use the product site license. If your new Support Package is for a site license, you don t need to do anything; the students will automatically move to the new site license when they start using the product. If your new Support Package is for per student licenses, use the Manage Licenses feature at the school, group, or student level to choose which students will get the new agreements. If you don t see the Support Package in the Manage Licenses dialog, try choosing the current product license first. Expired product licenses are removed from the School view after six months, so it s not possible to manage them at the school level. If you purchased a site license, you don t need to do anything; the students will automatically move to the new site license when they start using the product. If you purchased per student licenses, use Manage Licenses feature at the group or student level to choose which students will get the new licenses. 67

68 2 Students Change the grade for students The Change Grade option allows you to change the grade for multiple students at one time. For example, at the end of the school year, you can prepare for the next school year by setting the grade a year ahead for all of the students in your class or school. Each student s grade is incremented or decremented independently. For example, let's say that two students are in Grade 4 and two students are in Grade 5. When you select all four students and select Increment +1, the first two student s grades will change to Grade 5 and the second two student s grades will change to Grade 6. You can increment the grade +1, +2, +3 grades or decrement the grade -1, -2, -3 grades. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the students in the students list. See The students list. 3. Select the checkbox next to the students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. From the More Actions menu, select Change Grade. 5. Select the option you d like to apply to your students and click Change Grade. Increment +1 Grade/+2 Grades/+3 Grades Decrement -1 Grade/-2 Grades/-3 Grades 68

69 2 Students Change the Fast ForWord protocol for a group A Fast ForWord product s protocol determines which exercises are worked on in that product, how often those exercises are worked on, and the length of time spent working in each exercise on a given day. These protocols have been proven to help maximize the benefits of the products. To learn more see Fast ForWord program protocols. The protocol for a Fast ForWord product is set when you assign that product to your students. The Change Fast ForWord Protocol feature lets you move multiple students to another protocol in one easy step. When you change the protocol, MySciLEARN updates all of a student's existing Fast ForWord assignments, including assignments at 100%. To change the protocol for a student on an individual basis for example, to change the protocol for just one Fast ForWord assignment use the Edit Assignment feature (see Edit Fast ForWord assignments). If your school plans to implement the new protocol for all students going forward, consider also updating the default protocol at the school level. That way, all new student assignments will automatically use the new protocol and you won't have to change it later. More about changing the protocol Any assignments made by Fast ForWord Auto Assign will be included. See Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign. Reading Assistant assignments or "stopped" Fast ForWord assignments will not be included. See Stop/delete Fast ForWord assignments. Because Reading Readiness only uses 30-minute protocols, only the number of days will be updated for those assignments. For example, let's say that you want to move a group of students to the 3-day/50-minute protocol, and a few of those students have a Reading Readiness assignment. The Reading Readiness assignments will be set to the 3-day/30- minute protocol, while all of the other Fast ForWord assignments will be set to the 3-day/50- minute protocol. See Fast ForWord program protocols. It takes about one second per Fast ForWord assignment to change the protocol. The key to estimating the amount of time is to consider both the number of students and the number of Fast ForWord assignments per student: 100 students with 1 assignment each (100 assignments): 1-2 minutes 100 students with 5 assignments each (500 assignments): 5-7 minutes Best practice: The best time to change the protocol is at the beginning of the week, before your students start training. This will avoid any impact on their weekly participation and attendance scores. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the students in the students list. See The students list. 69

70 2 Students To view the current protocols for all of the student assignments on the list, filter the list by group (see Filter by My Groups). 3. Select the checkbox next to your students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. From the More Actions menu, select Change Fast ForWord Protocol. 5. Select a new protocol for your students. First choose the number of day per week (3 days or 5 days), then choose the number of minutes per day (30, 40, 50, or 90 minutes). The new protocol will be set for all of a student's Fast ForWord assignments, including assignments at 100%. Any Reading Assistant assignments or "stopped" assignments will be skipped. To change the protocol for one Fast ForWord assignment at a time, you'll need to edit the student's assignment manually. Exit this task and see Edit Fast ForWord assignments. 6. Click Change Protocol. Depending on how many students you've selected and the number of Fast ForWord assignments being changed, this process may take some time. The dialog displays a bar to indicates progress. When the change is complete, the system displays the status, along with any errors for assignments that could not be changed. For changed assignments, the student will see the new protocol immediately. Students who have already used the program that day will see the new protocol on the next day. 70

71 2 Students 71

72 2 Students Set student access to demos MySciLEARN provides demo versions of the Fast ForWord exercises, along with a Reading Assistant tutorial. By default, all students have access to the demos. MySciLEARN lets you to remove demos access for a student; for example, if that student is spending too much time in the demos instead of working on the products. For more about demos see Chapter 15 Program demos. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the students in the students list. See The students list. 3. Select the checkbox next to the students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. From the More Actions menu, select the appropriate action. Add access to demos Remove access to demos 72

73 2 Students Stop all product assignments Perform this task when a student or group of students have finished working on all of their product assignments, and you still want to keep a record of that student s work. When you stop all product assignments, the software removes all of those products from the Exercises screen and shows Resume next to the product names in the Assign screen. The product data will remain intact, and the results will continue to appear in the Results reports. If you click Resume for a product, the student will resume the product from where he or she left off. This feature stops all product assignments for the selected students. To stop an individual assignment for a student, see the following topics: Stop a Fast ForWord assignment Stop a Reading Assistant Plus assignment Stop a Reading Assistant assignment Note: You cannot stop an assignment for a student who is actively training, or who is using Fast ForWord Auto Assign or Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. See Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign and Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if you are associated with more than one school. 3. Select a group from the Filter by Group list, if needed. 4. Select the checkbox next to one or more students, or select All at the top to select all students on the screen. 5. Select Stop All Product Assignments from the More Actions menu. All of the assignments for the selection students are immediately stopped and student access is removed. 73

74 2 Students The student data remains intact in MySciLEARN. The product is removed from the Student Exercises screen. Resume appears next to the product name on the Student Profile screen. Clicking Resume will resume the product, and the student will start where he or she left off. 74

75 2 Students Set Auto Assign and RPI for students The Auto Assign and Reading Progress Indicator panel in a student's profile provides access to the following features, detailed in these topics. To learn more about RPI see Chapter 13 RPI assessments. To learn how to manually administer assessments see Assign Manual RPI tests. Set RPI access for students Void RPI assessments Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment (not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus) Tip: If most of your students are going to use the same settings, set those options at the school level (district/school managers only). That way, all students at the school will automatically use the preferred setting upon enrollment. 75

76 2 Students 76

77 2 Students Print student usernames and passwords All enrolled students must use a username and password to log in to MySciLEARN.The Students page allows you to print the usernames and passwords for your students. For more information see About student usernames and passwords. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the students in the students list. See The students list. 3. Select the checkbox next to the students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. From the More Actions menu, select Print Usernames and Passwords to open a new page with the new the usernames and passwords. If a new page does not open, check your browser s security settings; it may have pop-ups blocked. In this case, follow your browser s instructions to allow pop-ups for the website. 5. To save the information, you can print the page, or you save the file as a text (.txt) file and then import that information into a word processing or spreadsheet software program. 77

78 3 Fast ForWord assignments 3 Fast ForWord assignments Before your students can use the Fast ForWord programs, you ll need to create assignments for them. Use this chapter to learn how to create and manage Fast ForWord program assignments for your students. To learn more about managing students, such as how to add student to the system, see Chapter 2 Students. What's in this chapter About Fast ForWord assignments 79 Fast ForWord program protocols 83 Fast ForWord exercise intro languages 84 Create Fast ForWord assignments 85 Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign 86 Create your own Fast ForWord assignments 91 Edit Fast ForWord assignments 93 Stop/delete Fast ForWord assignments 94 78

79 3 Fast ForWord assignments About Fast ForWord assignments Where do I start? Before your students can work on the Fast ForWord programs, you must create Fast ForWord assignments for your students. You can create individual student assignments or group assignments. See the following topics to get started. If you have not yet added students to the system see Add, edit, and delete students. To learn about Fast ForWord protocols and other settings see Fast ForWord program protocols and Fast ForWord exercise intro languages. To create new assignments for your students see Create Fast ForWord assignments. To manage active assignments see Edit Fast ForWord assignments and Stop/delete Fast ForWord assignments. To assign a different program see Chapter 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments. Access Assign for a student When you log in to MySciLEARN and click the Students tab, the Students page opens and displays schools and students based on your staff role and the permissions for your role. All staff members can access the Students page. 1. From the Students page, select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Locate the student and click the student s name to open that student s profile. The Assignments panel appears at the top right of the screen. Student profile assignment options When manually assigning products, you can add new assignments for products with valid licenses. You can also edit, stop, resume, or delete an existing assignment. 79

80 3 Fast ForWord assignments When using Auto Assign to automatically assign products, the system manages the entire assign process for you. However, you can edit an existing assignment if needed (not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time). A License button appears next to each product, allowing you to manage the licenses and Support Package agreements for the assigned products. See Manage licenses for your students to learn more. Note: A warning icon appears next to the License button if the student is using an expired license or Support Package agreement, or if all of the available licenses and agreements for a product are expired. If there are no available licenses to manage, the button turns gray and cannot be used. Check with your school manager or district manager for details about the licenses at your school. Fast ForWord Auto Assign appears when the student is using that feature. If it cannot assign a product, a Warning (!) icon appears, advising staff to manually assign a product to the student. Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment appears when the student is using that feature (not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time). New appears next to any assignment that has not been started yet. A percent complete score appears when a Fast ForWord assignment has been started. The following information appears when a Reading Assistant or Reading Assistant Plus assignment has been started: Library name, number of completed selections, and total number of selections; for example: 6 of 14 If the student has earned a Complete status alert, a green checkmark appears. Resume appears next to the assignment if it has been stopped. A Session Activity section appears when the student is actively training and shows current product status: Fast ForWord product and exercise, the number of minutes left in the exercise, the number of trials completed in the exercise Reading Assistant/Reading Assistant Plus library and selection, and the number of minutes completed in the session (if the student is using a schedule) Access Assign for a group When you log in to MySciLEARN and click the Students tab, the Students page opens and displays schools and students based on your staff role and the permissions for your role. All staff members can access the Students page. 1. From the Students page, select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Select a group from the Filter by My Groups list. The Manage Assignments menu appears at the top of the screen. 80

81 3 Fast ForWord assignments Group assignment options By default, the group view shows all product assignments for your students. However, you can filter the group by individual product; for example, you can select Reading Level 1 from the Filter by Product menu to see only those students with that product assignment. In addition, each product assignment that appears in the group view includes the following status information in the Assigned Products column: New The student has not started working on the product (this is different from 0%, where the student has actually started working on the product but has not yet completed 1%) If the student has started working on the product, a completion status appears as follows: The Fast ForWord products display a percent complete score for the product. Both Reading Assistant products display the total number of selections worked on out of the total number of selections in the library, for the current library only Products appear in red when their license or Support Package agreement has expired or has not yet started. Hold the cursor over the product name for details. For information on enabling those students to continue working, see Manage licenses for your students. The group view includes additional options: 81

82 3 Fast ForWord assignments Assigned Products The student s assigned products and product status. Protocol The protocol (schedule) for each assigned product. Lang The language for each assigned product. English Spanish GR The student s grade. Settings Provides access to the following settings for a student, with buttons that show current state (green = on, gray = off): Turn Fast ForWord Auto Assign off and on (RPI must be on). Turn Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment off and on (RPI must be on). This feature is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time. Turn RPI off and on. When off, both Auto Assign options are disabled. 82

83 3 Fast ForWord assignments Fast ForWord program protocols When assigning a Fast ForWord program to a student, you can choose the protocol for that assignment. A Fast ForWord product s protocol determines which exercises are worked on in that product, how often those exercises are worked on, and the length of time spent working in each exercise on a given day. These protocols have been proven to help maximize the benefits of the products. By default, each of the Fast ForWord programs presents two to three exercises each day, for a total of 30 minutes each day, five days a week. For those who require more flexibility, the software provides alternate protocols to meet different student requirements. For example, if your students have extra time each day to work on the Fast ForWord programs, a protocol with a longer daily participation time may be more appropriate. Choose from any of the available protocols (listed below). Note that Reading Readiness uses only the 30-minute protocols. 30 minutes a day, 3 or 5 days a week 40 minutes a day, 3 or 5 days a week 50 minutes a day, 3 or 5 days a week 90 minutes a day, 3 or 5 days a week Use the following topics to manage the Fast ForWord program protocols. Setting Fast ForWord default protocols for a school. Learn how to set the default protocols for all future Fast ForWord program assignments at the school (district managers and school managers only). Create your own Fast ForWord assignments. Learn how to set the protocol for a student or a group of students while assigning the Fast ForWord program. Edit Fast ForWord assignments. Learn how to change a protocol for an individual student's existing Fast ForWord assignment. Change the Fast ForWord protocol for a group. Learn how to change the protocol for multiple students and existing Fast ForWord assignments at one time. For tips on how to determine which Fast ForWord protocol will best meet the needs of your students, see MySciLEARN Toolbox. 83

84 3 Fast ForWord assignments Fast ForWord exercise intro languages When assigning a Fast ForWord program to a student, you can choose the introduction language for that assignment. Each of the exercises in the Fast ForWord programs begins with an introduction that explains how to work on that exercise. By default, these instructions are presented in English. However, MySciLEARN also provides these introductions in Spanish. District managers and school managers can change the default introduction language for all new students at a school. Access this option from the Schools page. The Assignment option allows you to select the program introduction language for an individual student or for multiple students within a group during the manual assignment process. Access this option from the Students page. See Create your own Fast ForWord assignments. The Edit Assignment option allows you to change the Fast ForWord program introduction language for an individual student after the program has been assigned. Access this option from the Students page. See Edit Fast ForWord assignments. 84

85 3 Fast ForWord assignments Create Fast ForWord assignments Before a student can work on a Fast ForWord product, the product must be assigned to the student. MySciLEARN provides two ways to assign the Fast ForWord products to students. See the following topics to learn which method will work best for your students. Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign. Read this topic if you want the software to assess your students and automatically assign the appropriate Fast ForWord product to each student. This is the default assignment method in MySciLEARN. Create your own Fast ForWord assignments. Read this topic if you want to decide which Fast ForWord products you d like to assign to your students. Note: If your school is using per student licenses, products can only be assigned to a new student when a license is available. If you have any questions, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. 85

86 3 Fast ForWord assignments Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign This topic answers some frequently asked questions, then walks you through the process of using Auto Assign with your students. About Fast ForWord Auto Assign What is Fast ForWord Auto Assign? The Fast ForWord Auto Assign feature in MySciLEARN streamlines the student assignment process by quickly, efficiently, and accurately identifying the most appropriate Fast ForWord program for a student and then automatically assigning that product to the student. As the student completes his or her assignments, it continues to identify and assign appropriate Fast ForWord programs until the student has completed the entire Fast ForWord program suite. Why use Fast ForWord Auto Assign? This easy-to-use assignment feature provides the following advantages: Accelerates implementation. Because Fast ForWord Auto Assign does not require any additional assessment time beyond taking an RPI assessment, students can maximize their time on Fast ForWord program use and other learning activities. In addition, staff members can spend more time with their students instead of scoring and analyzing assessments or managing supplementary assessment materials. Motivates students. Because students are immediately placed in the most appropriate Fast ForWord program, students spend less time on products that are too easy or too hard, resulting in enhanced motivation and maximized reading gains. What does it do? When enabled, Fast ForWord Auto Assign automatically assesses a student s reading level and then places the student in the most appropriate Fast ForWord program based on his or her needs. Fast ForWord Auto Assign uses specific criteria to determine a student s reading level, such as Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) assessment scores, the student s grade, and any educational classifications such as ELL or SES. In addition, it checks the students product history records to note which, if any, Fast ForWord programs have already been completed. Once it determines the appropriate product for the student, it automatically assigns that product to the student. When the software determines that the student is ready to move to the next Fast ForWord program, it stops that product assignment and automatically assigns the next appropriate product. Can I use it for all of my students? Pre-Kindergarten students and students who are using multiple Fast ForWord programs cannot use Fast ForWord Auto Assign. All other students are eligible to use it, provided they meet the assignment criteria. If you have any issues see Troubleshoot Auto Assign. 86

87 3 Fast ForWord assignments Why does it require RPI? Fast ForWord Auto Assign uses RPI assessment scores to determine product placement. You must have Reading Progress Indicator enabled for the student to use it. See Chapter 13 RPI assessments. Can I use it with Reading Assistant? Fast ForWord Auto Assign will not assign the Reading Assistant product; however, you can use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment to automatically assign Reading Assistant while using Fast ForWord Auto Assign. See Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. Note that Auto Initial Assignment is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time. If you enable that feature, it will place your students in Reading Assistant instead of Reading Assistant Plus. Why can t I stop, delete, or edit assignments? When using Fast ForWord Auto Assign, you may notice the following assign features are missing. This is by design. For more information on student profiles, see About students. Stop. When a student works on a product, the Stop button normally appears in the Assignments panel next to a product assignment. The Stop button is not needed because Auto Assign automatically stops products for you. When Auto Assign stops a product, the Resume button will still appear. You can use this button to resume a stopped product; however, Auto Assign will be disabled for that student when you click Resume for a product. See Stop/delete Fast ForWord assignments. Delete. The Delete Assignment feature is removed because Auto Assign does not allow product deletions. If you need to delete a product for a student, you ll need to disable Auto Assign for that student. See Stop/delete Fast ForWord assignments. Edit. The Edit option in the Student Profile Assignments panel is not available until Fast ForWord Auto Assign has placed the student. See Edit Fast ForWord assignments. What if I want to create my own assignments? You can easily disable Fast ForWord Auto Assign and create your own Fast ForWord assignments, if needed. See Create your own Fast ForWord assignments. I'm having problems, what can I do? If you run into any issues with Fast ForWord Auto Assign see Troubleshoot Auto Assign. Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign By default, MySciLEARN enables the Fast ForWord Auto Assign feature at the school level. You can change this setting as follows: 87

88 3 Fast ForWord assignments Use the school level setting to automatically turn it on/off for all new students enrolled at your school. Use the student level setting to turn it on/off for an existing student or group of students at your school. This topic covers this task, along with some troubleshooting tips. How it works When Fast ForWord Auto Assign is turned on for a student, the software evaluates the student s eligibility and starts the auto assign process as follows. If the student is eligible and has no active assignments, the software will immediately start the auto assign process. If the student already has an active assignment, the software will wait for the student to complete the current assignment and then start the auto assign process. If the student is not eligible for Fast ForWord Auto Assign, a notification message will appear. See Troubleshoot Auto Assign for details. For schools using per student licenses, note that the software can only assign the product when a license is available. To learn more see Manage licenses for your students. If you turn the feature off, you'll need to manually assign the program to the students. See Create your own Fast ForWord assignments. If you turn Auto Assign back on, the feature will re-evaluate the student and assign a product accordingly. Set Auto Assign for your students 1. In the MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Select the school in the Browse by School list, if needed. 3. Locate the students in the students list. See The students list. 4. Perform one of the following tasks to set the option: For an individual student using the student s profile: 1. Click a student s name to open that student s profile. 2. In the Auto Assign and Reading Progress Indicator section, click the Settings button. 3. Under Fast ForWord Auto Assign, select the availability option you d like to set for this student and click Apply: To turn on, select Auto Assign. RPI must also be on. To turn off, select Manual Assign. For one or more students using the students list: 1. In the Settings column, click the FFW Auto Assign button (A) to turn it on or off. On (green) RPI must be also on. Off (gray) For one or more students using the More Actions menu: 1. Select the checkbox next to the students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 88

89 3 Fast ForWord assignments 2. From the More Actions menu, select the appropriate action, then confirm it: Turn FFW Auto Assign Off Turn FFW Auto Assign On Troubleshoot Auto Assign If the software is unable to auto assign a product to a student, it disables Fast ForWord Auto Assign for that student and displays an error message at the top of the screen. Use the following table to help you correct the errors, then enable Fast ForWord Auto Assign again for that student. If the problem persists, or you d like help with this task, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support for assistance. Error message Student is enrolled in grade PreK. Error details and solutions Students who are in Pre-Kindergarten cannot use Fast ForWord Auto Assign, and the feature has been disabled for the student. To allow the student to use Fast ForWord Auto Assign, you ll need to change the student s grade to K or higher, and then enable Fast ForWord Auto Assign for the student. See Change the grade for students. Student is assigned more than one Fast ForWord product. Students who have more than one active Fast ForWord product assignment cannot use Fast ForWord Auto Assign, and the feature has been disabled for the student. To allow the student to use Fast ForWord Auto Assign, you ll need to Stop all but one of the currently assigned Fast ForWord products, and then enable Fast ForWord Auto Assign for the student. See Stop/delete Fast ForWord assignments. No license available. The school is using per student licenses, and there are no more licenses available for this assignment. Fast ForWord Auto Assign has been disabled for the student. To correct the issue, you must free up or purchase a per student license, and then enable Fast ForWord Auto Assign for the student. See Manage licenses for your students. Contact Customer Support if you have any questions. 89

90 3 Fast ForWord assignments Error message The product identified as the student's next assignment is already in their product use history. Review the student's profile and manually assign the appropriate product. The product identified as the student's next assignment is Reading Level 5, which is already in their product use history. Review the student's profile and manually assign the appropriate product. Fast ForWord Auto Assign could not be enabled because RPI is disabled for this student. Error details and solutions The student has already completed the Fast ForWord product. Fast ForWord Auto Assign has been disabled for the student. To allow the student to work on the Fast ForWord products, review the student's profile and manually assign the appropriate product. See Create your own Fast ForWord assignments. The student has completed all of the available Fast ForWord products. Fast ForWord Auto Assign has been disabled for the student. To allow the student to work on the Fast ForWord products, review the student's profile and manually assign the appropriate product. See Create your own Fast ForWord assignments. Students must have RPI enabled to use Fast ForWord Auto Assign. To allow the student to use Fast ForWord Auto Assign, enable RPI for the student and then enable Fast ForWord Auto Assign for the student. See Set RPI access for students. 90

91 3 Fast ForWord assignments Create your own Fast ForWord assignments About creating assignments The Assign feature lets you manually create your own Fast ForWord assignments. If you have not yet added students to MySciLEARN, see Add, edit, and delete students. Notes By default, MySciLEARN enables Fast ForWord Auto Assign for all schools. To use the manual assignment method, you ll need to disable Fast ForWord Auto Assign for the student. See the following topics for steps: Set Auto Assign for your students You can only assign products when a license and Support Package agreement is available. For more information see Manage licenses for your students. If you have any questions, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Scientific Learning does not recommend assigning more than one product to a student at a time. However, MySciLEARN does provide this option for use by administrators who want to carefully tailor a learner s experience to maximize learning time. Create an assignment for a student or group 1. Make sure that Fast ForWord Auto Assign is disabled for the student. see Set Auto Assign for your students. 2. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 3. Perform one of the following tasks: For an individual student from a student s profile: 1. Locate the student in the students list. See The students list. 2. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. 3. Click the New Assignments button in the Assignments section. For a student or a group from the students list: 1. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Select your group from the Filter by Group list. 3. Select the checkbox next to one or more students, or select the checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. Select Assign New from the Manage Assignments menu. 4. On the Assign New Product screen, select a Fast ForWord product. If needed, select an alternate protocol or introduction language, then click Assign. 91

92 3 Fast ForWord assignments You can only assign products that have an available license and Support Package agreement (see Manage licenses for your students). When choosing a protocol, first choose the number of day per week (3 days or 5 days), then choose the number of minutes per day (30, 40, 50, or 90 minutes). For more about protocols see Fast ForWord program protocols. 92

93 3 Fast ForWord assignments Edit Fast ForWord assignments When needed, you make changes to a student s Fast ForWord product assignment. For example, you can select an alternate protocol to meet specific time requirements. For detailed descriptions of these settings, see Fast ForWord program protocols and Fast ForWord exercise intro languages. You can only edit assignments for an individual student. If you're using Fast ForWord Auto Assign, you can edit the assignment settings for a Fast ForWord product once the student has been assigned that product. To learn more see Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign. Best practice: The best time to change the protocol is at the beginning of the week, before your students start training. This will avoid any impact on their weekly participation and attendance scores. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the student in the students list. See The students list. 3. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. 4. In the Assignments section, click the Edit icon next to the Fast ForWord product. 5. On the Edit Assignment screen, make the edits to the Fast ForWord product as needed, then click Save. Change the protocol as needed. This change will take effect on the next training day. First choose the number of day per week (3 days or 5 days), then choose the number of minutes per day (30, 40, 50, or 90 minutes). To learn more see Fast ForWord program protocols. Change the introduction language as needed. This change will take effect immediately. 93

94 3 Fast ForWord assignments Stop/delete Fast ForWord assignments About stopping/deleting assignments When you assign a Fast ForWord product to a student, you can go back at any time and remove that assignment for either an individual student or multiple students within a group, by either stopping or deleting that assignment. Choose from the following two removal options: Stop. Remove student access to the Fast ForWord product but leave the student's product data intact. Delete. Remove student access to the Fast ForWord product and permanently delete the student's product data from the system. Tip: To stop all product assignments for a group of students, see Stop all product assignments. Stop a Fast ForWord assignment Perform this task when a student has finished working on a Fast ForWord product and you still want to keep a record of that student s work; for example, if that student plans to continue working on another Scientific Learning product. When you stop a Fast ForWord product assignment, the software removes the product from the Exercises screen and shows Resume next to the product name in the Assign screen. The product data will remain intact, and the results will continue to appear in the Results reports. If you click Resume, the student will resume the product from where he or she left off. You can stop an individual assignment from a student s profile. To stop all assignments for a group of students, see Stop all product assignments. Note: You cannot stop an assignment for a student who is actively training, or who is using Fast ForWord Auto Assign. To learn more see Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the student in the students list. See The students list. 3. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. If you are using Fast ForWord Auto Assign, make sure it s turned off. See Set Auto Assign for your students. 4. In the Assignments section, click the Stop icon next to the product you d like to stop. The assignment is immediately stopped and student access is removed. The student data remains intact in MySciLEARN. The product is removed from the Student Exercises screen. Resume appears next to the product name on the Student Profile screen. Clicking Resume will 94

95 3 Fast ForWord assignments resume the product, and the student will start where he or she left off. Delete a Fast ForWord assignment Perform this task when the student will no longer work on the assigned Fast ForWord product and you do not want to keep any record of the student s work on the product. You can also perform this task if you assigned the product by mistake. When you delete a Fast ForWord product assignment, the student s product access is removed from the Student Exercises page. Additionally, the student s data for that product is permanently deleted from the MySciLEARN. If you assign the product again, the student will start at the beginning of the product. You can use the delete assignment feature as follows: Delete an individual student's assignment from that student s profile. Delete assignments for a group of students from the students list. Warning! Deleting a Fast ForWord product assignment permanently removes all the student's product data files from MySciLEARN. The product can be assigned to the student again; however, the student's original results will be lost, and the student will start from the beginning of the product. You cannot delete an assignment for a student who is actively training, or who is using Fast ForWord Auto Assign. To learn more see Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Perform one of the following tasks to delete the assignment. If you are using Fast ForWord Auto Assign, make sure it s turned off before you start. See Set Auto Assign for your students. For an individual student using the student s profile: 1. Locate the students in the students list. You can filter the student list by using the Browse by School, Filter by My Groups, or Filter by Staff options on the left, or you can search for a student using the Search feature at the top of the screen. 2. Click the student s name to open the profile. 3. In the Assignments section, click the trash icon next to the Fast ForWord product assignment. 95

96 3 Fast ForWord assignments For one or more students using the students list: 1. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Select your group from the Filter by Group list. 3. Select the checkbox next to one or more students, or select the checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. Select Delete Assignment from the Manage Assignments menu. 5. Select the Fast ForWord product assignment from the product menu (or, to delete all product assignments, choose All Products from the menu), then click Delete. 3. On the delete assignment confirmation message, click Confirm Delete. If the student has worked on the product, the product is removed from the Assignments section and that student s data files for that product are permanently deleted from the system. Otherwise, the assignment is simply erased as if it never existed. You can assign the deleted Fast ForWord product again; however, the student will start from the beginning of the exercises. 96

97 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Before your students can use the Reading Assistant Plus program, you ll need to create assignments for them. Use this chapter to learn how to create and manage Reading Assistant Plus assignments for your students. To learn more about managing students, such as how to add student to the system, see Chapter 2 Students. If you're using Reading Assistant, see Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments. What's in this chapter About Reading Assistant Plus assignments 98 About Reading Assistant Plus content 102 About Reading Assistant Plus libraries 106 About Reading Assistant Plus assignment settings 109 Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments 119 Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments 125 Stop/delete Reading Assistant Plus assignments 127 Advance to the next Reading Assistant Plus library

98 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments About Reading Assistant Plus assignments Where do I start? Before your students can work on the Reading Assistant Plus program, you must create Reading Assistant Plus assignments for your students. You can create individual student assignments or group assignments. See the following topics to get started. If you have not yet added students to the system see Add, edit, and delete students. To learn about content organization see About Reading Assistant Plus content and About Reading Assistant Plus libraries. To learn about assignment settings see About Reading Assistant Plus assignment settings. To create new assignments for your students see Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments. To manage active assignments see Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Stop/delete Reading Assistant Plus assignments. To assign a different program see Chapter 3 Fast ForWord assignments and Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments. Access Assign for a student When you log in to MySciLEARN and click the Students tab, the Students page opens and displays schools and students based on your staff role and the permissions for your role. All staff members can access the Students page. 1. From the Students page, select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Locate the student and click the student s name to open that student s profile. The Assignments panel appears at the top right of the screen. Student profile assignment options When manually assigning products, you can add new assignments for products with valid licenses. You can also edit, stop, resume, or delete an existing assignment. 98

99 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments When using Auto Assign to automatically assign products, the system manages the entire assign process for you. However, you can edit an existing assignment if needed (not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time). A License button appears next to each product, allowing you to manage the licenses and Support Package agreements for the assigned products. See Manage licenses for your students to learn more. Note: A warning icon appears next to the License button if the student is using an expired license or Support Package agreement, or if all of the available licenses and agreements for a product are expired. If there are no available licenses to manage, the button turns gray and cannot be used. Check with your school manager or district manager for details about the licenses at your school. Fast ForWord Auto Assign appears when the student is using that feature. If it cannot assign a product, a Warning (!) icon appears, advising staff to manually assign a product to the student. Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment appears when the student is using that feature (not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time). New appears next to any assignment that has not been started yet. A percent complete score appears when a Fast ForWord assignment has been started. The following information appears when a Reading Assistant or Reading Assistant Plus assignment has been started: Library name, number of completed selections, and total number of selections; for example: 6 of 14 If the student has earned a Complete status alert, a green checkmark appears. Resume appears next to the assignment if it has been stopped. A Session Activity section appears when the student is actively training and shows current product status: Fast ForWord product and exercise, the number of minutes left in the exercise, the number of trials completed in the exercise Reading Assistant/Reading Assistant Plus library and selection, and the number of minutes completed in the session (if the student is using a schedule) Access Assign for a group When you log in to MySciLEARN and click the Students tab, the Students page opens and displays schools and students based on your staff role and the permissions for your role. All staff members can access the Students page. 1. From the Students page, select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Select a group from the Filter by My Groups list. The Manage Assignments menu appears at the top of the screen. 99

100 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Group assignment options By default, the group view shows all product assignments for your students. However, you can filter the group by individual product; for example, you can select Reading Level 1 from the Filter by Product menu to see only those students with that product assignment. In addition, each product assignment that appears in the group view includes the following status information in the Assigned Products column: New The student has not started working on the product (this is different from 0%, where the student has actually started working on the product but has not yet completed 1%) If the student has started working on the product, a completion status appears as follows: The Fast ForWord products display a percent complete score for the product. Both Reading Assistant products display the total number of selections worked on out of the total number of selections in the library, for the current library only Products appear in red when their license or Support Package agreement has expired or has not yet started. Hold the cursor over the product name for details. For information on enabling those students to continue working, see Manage licenses for your students. The group view includes additional options: 100

101 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Assigned Products The student s assigned products and product status. Protocol The protocol (schedule) for each assigned product. Lang The language for each assigned product. English Spanish GR The student s grade. Settings Provides access to the following settings for a student, with buttons that show current state (green = on, gray = off): Turn Fast ForWord Auto Assign off and on (RPI must be on). Turn Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment off and on (RPI must be on). This feature is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time. Turn RPI off and on. When off, both Auto Assign options are disabled. 101

102 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments About Reading Assistant Plus content Use the following topics to learn how Reading Assistant Plus organizes student content. Content structure and design Based on age and reading ability, learners have a wide range of reading needs. To address these needs, Reading Assistant Plus provides engaging content across a variety of levels, including: Hundreds of leveled reading selections aligned with state standards, including science, history, and social studies A range of reading levels to allow for differentiated instruction A variety of genres to support elementary to high school curriculum, including both literature and informational text at all reading levels High interest/low reading level selections across a variety of reading levels, for students in middle school and beyond needing intensive reading support Use the following table to get familiar with the basics on content structure and design. Library Reading level Selection Activity Content progression Schedule A set of selections (texts) that can be assigned to a student. See About Reading Assistant Plus libraries. Reading Assistant Plus lets you create your own libraries within assignments. The difficulty level of the selections within a student s library. See Reading levels. An individual text to be read by the student. For a complete list of selections within the program see Reading Assistant Plus content list.to learn more see the MySciLEARN user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. A set of required tasks within a selection. Each selection includes three main activities: Preview and Read on My Own, Read and Record, and Take the Quiz; along with a short Word Wall activity to preview vocabulary within the selection. How a student moves (progresses) through the content in their assigned library. Locked only lets the student move through the content as it is ordered within the library. Student-selected lets the student choose the order in which they move through the selections. Unlocked lets teachers demo the program, providing access to any activity in any selection at any time for classroom instruction. See Content progression.to learn more see the MySciLEARN user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. The length of time a student spends using Reading Assistant Plus each day. You can choose which schedules your students use, if any. See Schedules.To learn more see the MySciLEARN user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. 102

103 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Reading levels Because every classroom includes students with a range of reading abilities, each selection in Reading Assistant Plus has been carefully evaluated for readability and then leveled using the following widelyadopted leveling systems. Use these reading levels to help assign the most appropriate content to your students. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps. ATOS grade equivalent The Lexile Framework for Reading Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level ATOS grade equivalent To help identify the complexity of the readings, each selection has been assigned a grade equivalent from Renaissance Learning s ATOS Readability Formula. For example, a grade equivalent of 1 identifies text that is suitable for a typical first-grade reader, while a grade equivalent of 2.5 identifies text that is suitable for a typical second-grade reader who is halfway through the year. The ATOS Readability Formula may not be as accurate for selections with fewer than 150 words. Those selections show an asterisk within the program. The Lexile Framework for Reading The text of each selection in Reading Assistant Plus has been analyzed by MetaMetrics to determine the Lexile text measure. Each Lexile text measure is based on two strong predictors of a text s difficulty: word frequency and sentence length. The text-analyzing software assigns a Lexile measure based on these analyses: Text that contains many common or high-frequency vocabulary words yields a low Lexile measure. Text that contains words that do not occur frequently in common usage, such as subject-specific academic words, yields a higher Lexile measure. Sentence length is a general predictor of difficulty. The analysis software counts the number of words in each sentence and calculates an average sentence length. Text with a shorter average sentence length yields a lower Lexile measure than text with a longer average sentence length. Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level Each selection in Reading Assistant Plus has been associated with a Guided Reading Level based on the widely accepted research done by Fountas & Pinnell, as presented in Leveled Books, K 8: Matching Texts to Readers for Effective Teaching (Heinemann, 2005). Guided Reading Levels A Z with A being least difficult are determined through an analysis of the text with respect to genre, text structure, content, themes and ideas, language and literary features, sentence complexity, vocabulary, words (length and complexity), illustrations, and text features. Reading Assistant Plus includes a few selections that exceed the highest Guided Reading Level (Z). Those selections are leveled as NA within the program. 103

104 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments More about reading levels Non-prose text such as poetry cannot be analyzed and leveled according to the same criteria as prose, so non-prose selections are labeled NP. To help you create assignments that include non-prose text, only those NP selections that fall approximately within the chosen reading level range will appear. This way, high school students won t be assigned nursery rhymes and first graders won t be reading Charles Bukowski. Because reading levels do not correlate across readability measures, you may notice some slight variations across the measures. The reading levels for a selection will vary across the measures. For example, a selection might have an ATOS level of 7.5 (the middle of 7th grade), a Lexile measure of 950 (7th - 8th grade), and a Guided Reading Level of NA (high school to adult). The number of selections in a reading level range will often vary across the measures. For example, the default ATOS range includes approximately 20 selections while the default Lexile measure includes approximately 30 selections. High interest/low reading level content Reading Assistant Plus provides high interest/low reading level selections across a variety of reading levels, for students in middle school and beyond who need intensive reading support. For example, the selection Skateboarding! includes content designed to appeal to an older student, but written at a 3rd grade reading level to accommodate a struggling reader in middle or high school. This is also referred to as high/low or hi/lo content. You can choose to include high/low content while making new student libraries. To learn more see Include high/low selections (optional). Reading Assistant Plus content list You can view the selections available in Reading Assistant Plus, along with their associated reading levels and complete texts, during the assign process. Follow these steps: 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Choose a student from the list and click the student s name to open that student s profile (it s OK if they have a Reading Assistant Plus assignment, but they cannot have a Reading Assistant assignment). For students without an assignment, click the New Assignments button in the Assignments section and choose Reading Assistant Plus. For students with an existing assignment, click the Edit button to open the student s Reading Assistant Plus assignment. 3. Choose Make New Library from the Choose a Library menu, then select any reading level measure: ATOS GE, Lexile Measure, or Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level. 4. Move the reading level sliders all the way to the left and right so that all selections are in view. 5. Select Include High/Low selections (high interest/low reading level). 104

105 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments 6. Scroll through the selections to see the titles and the associated reading levels for all three measures. Use the Filter by Genre menu to see how the selections are classified. Click a selection title to view the entire selection text. 7. Click Cancel to exit the assignment without making changes. 105

106 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments About Reading Assistant Plus libraries About libraries A library is a set of Reading Assistant Plus selections (texts) that can be assigned to an individual student or a group of students. Reading Assistant Plus lets you create your own libraries based on three reading level measures: ATOS grade equivalents, The Lexile Framework for Reading, or Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Levels. This lets you tailor the reading experience directly to the needs of your students. For example, you can create libraries that: Start at lower reading levels or higher reading levels. Focus on a single reading level or include a wide range of levels. Include high interest/low reading level content for middle and high school students who need intensive reading support. Center around a specific genre one you re currently studying or one that appeals to the individual interests of a student; for example, nonfiction history or poetry. Libraries are created and edited within a Reading Assistant Plus assignment. Read on to learn more about libraries. For steps on creating libraries see Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments. Library organization The content within a library is automatically organized by reading level, with selections progressing from easier to harder text complexity. Within each reading level, selections are listed alphabetically. For selections that are individual chapters within a series, the entire series will appear in the library if the average reading level of the series falls within the selected range. Otherwise, none of the selections in the series will be included. Although this organization cannot be changed for a library, it can be customized based on which selections you decide to include in the library, and which content progression method you choose for the assignment. Students with locked progression will start at the beginning of the library and progress through the selections in order, from the lowest reading level to the highest reading level, while students with student-selected progression will be able to choose their starting point. To learn more see Content progression. Designing libraries MySciLEARN provides various settings and tools to help you create the most appropriate library for a student. For example, you can choose specific content and subjects at specific reading levels. To learn more see Library settings. When creating a library, try to choose the reading level that best suits the student s reading ability, and then adjust the assignment throughout the year as needed. Here s an example of how that might work: At the beginning of the year, use the student s assessed reading level score to determine the best starting point in the program. 106

107 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Add content to the student s library. Start with selections at the student s current independent reading level, and include higher reading levels as needed based on the student s needs. Include high interest/low reading level content as needed. Choose enough content for a single semester or an entire school year, depending on when you next plan to modify the student s library. Regularly check in with the student to make sure the student is reading content at the appropriate level. Then, after the student s next reading assessment, review the student s progress in the library. Students who are progressing at grade level and making growth probably won t need any adjustments. Other students might need more selections, fewer selections, or selections at different reading levels. See Changing libraries to learn more. To design a library see Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments. Tip: To further configure how the student uses a library, use the About Reading Assistant Plus assignment settings. For example, you can choose the following: How the student progresses through the content: locked or student-selected How much time the student spends in the program each day Which language to use for the instructions and glossary in a selection How strict or lenient the program should be when listening to and correcting the student during a recording Publishing libraries When creating or editing a library, you can save it one of two ways: You can keep the library within the current assignment only (default). By default, all libraries are included in the assignment in which they were created. Those libraries exist within that assignment and cannot be used by anyone else at the school. Since they are not shared, they will remain open within their specific assignments so they can be edited at any time. You can publish the library so it can be used by other students. Published libraries are available not only to you, but to all other instructors at your school. However they cannot be modified or edited once they are published, even for the student(s) in the original assignment. Once a library is published, it is permanently locked and cannot be edited. To publish a library, create a unique name for it. Use a meaningful name for the library. For example: ATOS (the reading level measure/range in the library) Smith Fall 2017 (the instructor name and semester/year) If you ve created a library for a specific student that you d like to publish, avoid using the student s name in the library name. Instead, use general descriptive text that others at your organization will find useful. To publish a library, see Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments. 107

108 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Important: Published libraries cannot be edited or renamed once they are saved, even for the original assignment. Also, published libraries cannot be deleted once created. They will be added to the Choose Library menu and will be available to everyone at your school. Changing libraries You can change a student's library assignment at any time. For example: When a student has completed all of the selections in the current library, you can add more selections or choose a new library for the student. If the student is struggling with a particular selection to the point where he or she is becoming too frustrated to make significant progress, you can move the student to content at a lower reading level. If the content in a library is too easy for the student, you can move the student to content at a more challenging reading level. To change a library assignment see Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments. Note that you can only change library assignments at the individual student level. When you change the library assignment: The software will automatically adjust the assignment and place the student at the first selection that has not been completed in the library, unless the student was working on a selection that appears in both libraries; in this case, the student will need to complete that selection first. If you ve assigned a new library, the Student Profile screen will adjust the assignment status to reflect the new library. The student will have access to the new library only. The student s results and audio recordings for the original library will remain intact, and will still be available in Results reports. 108

109 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments About Reading Assistant Plus assignment settings Use this topic to learn about the assignments settings for Reading Assistant Plus. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps on setting these options. General assignment settings Schedules A Reading Assistant Plus schedule determines the length of time spent training in the product each day. When assigning Reading Assistant Plus, you ll need to determine the daily work time for the student as follows. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps on setting a schedule. Use a schedule Automatically notifies the student after a set number of minutes (default). Reading Assistant Plus provides schedules to help time the student s work session each day. For example, when the student completes the current selection after working for the scheduled number of minutes, the software will notify the student that time is up. The student can either exit or continue the session. The schedule always starts over on the next work session, even if the schedule has time remaining. Each assignment includes multiple schedule options: None, 20, 30, or 40 minutes. The schedule is set to 20 minutes by default. Opt out of a schedule Does not track how long the student uses the program. The None option lets you opt out of the schedules entirely and implement the student s daily work schedule on your own. For example, you could instruct the student to work on Reading Assistant Plus until he or she completes a specific set of activities each day, regardless of the time spent training. Or, you could allow the student to work on the activities as long he or she likes. Content progression When assigning Reading Assistant Plus, you ll need to decide how you want the student to progress through the content. Choose from three options. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps on setting content progression. 109

110 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Locked The student must complete topics, selections, and activities in a planned order (default). When you assign the Reading Assistant Plus product, content progression is automatically locked. The student must complete all activities within a selection and all selections within a topic, in the order that they appear in the library. The student may not move from one selection to the next without completing all of the activities, in order. Student-selected The student has flexibility in selection choices only. As an alternative, you can allow the student to have more control over the content progression. This option allows the student to work on any selection in a library; however, once a selection is started, the student must complete all of the selection activities, in order, before moving on to a new selection. A selection is considered started when the student completed the Word Wall activity. Unlocked (teachers only) The teacher has maximum flexibility to demonstrate the program. Recommended for teachers/classroom instruction only. This option allows the user to demo any selection within any topic, and any activity within that selection, in any order. Unlocked progression provides teachers with the flexibility to model different aspects of the program to a student. Important! Unlocked mode is for teachers only. Using this setting with students is risky, and could result in data loss if changed during an assignment. Instruction language The Reading Assistant Plus software provides audio instructions throughout the product. By default, the software presents the instructions in English. As an alternative, you can choose to present the instruction audio in Spanish. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps on setting instruction language. Note: District managers and school managers can change the default instruction language for an entire school. Access this option from the Schools page. 110

111 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Glossary language The Reading Assistant Plus software provides a glossary for some of the words within a selection. By default, the software provides the glossary information in English. As an alternative, you can choose to present glossary information in both English and Spanish. Then, students can use an Español button to access the Spanish glossary information. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps on setting glossary language. Note: District managers and school managers can change the default glossary language for an entire school. 111

112 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Library settings Choose a library This menu lets you make a new library or choose an existing published library for the assignment. Note that because published libraries are not editable, you cannot change any of the library settings if you choose a published library. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps. 112

113 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Auto update library with new content In most cases, you ll want to let MySciLEARN automatically update the library as Scientific Learning releases new content. If you prefer to manually update the library, turn off Auto Update Library with New Content. Remember that libraries cannot be edited once they are published, so you ll want to leave this on if you plan to publish the library and would like to receive new content. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps. Choose reading level Choose one of three readability measures by which to filter the content in the library: ATOS GE, Lexile Measure, or Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level. Reading selections appear in a list, sorted by reading level score. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps. Non-prose selections such as poetry cannot be leveled and therefore show NP in the list. For ATOS GE, selections with fewer than 150 words show an asterisk next to them, indicating that the score is approximate and may not be 100% accurate. The score becomes more accurate as the word count approaches 150. Hold your mouse over the asterisk to see the note. For Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level, selections that exceed the highest score (Z) show NA instead of a score. Adjust the reading level range When you choose a readability measure, move the reading level sliders left or right as needed, to filter the selections by reading level and create an appropriate reading level range for the library. By default, the reading level ranges are set as follows. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps. ATOS GE 0.0 to 1.5 Lexile Measure 60L to 300L Guided Reading Level A to D To learn more see Reading levels. Selections that are chapters within a series are grouped together, even when the reading levels vary across the selections. If the average reading level of the series falls within the selected range, the entire series of selections will be included in the range. To learn more see Library organization. Include high/low selections (optional) Reading Assistant Plus provides high interest/low reading level selections across a variety of reading levels, for students in middle school and beyond who need intensive reading support. For example, the 113

114 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments selection Skateboarding! includes content designed to appeal to an older student, but written at a 3rd grade reading level to accommodate a struggling reader in middle or high school. This is also referred to as high/low or hi/lo content. You can add high/low content while making a new library (libraries do not include high/low selections by default). Choose a reading level range, then select the Include High/Low Selections option that appears on the screen. Any high/low selections in that reading level range will be added to the library, with a high/low icon after the title. Once added, you can manage those high/low selections just as you would any other selection in the library; for example, you can filter those selections by genre, review the selection text, and remove them as needed. See Customize the library (optional) for more. Customize the library (optional) Use these features to further customize the library as needed. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps. Use the Filter by Genre menu to limit the library content to specific genres; for example: Biography, Classic Fiction, Fantasy, Folklore/Fables/Myths, General Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Realistic Fiction, 114

115 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Science Fiction. Uncheck a selection to remove it from the library Use the Reset Library button to restore the library to its original state (add any removed sections back in and remove any genre filters). Click a selection title to view the entire text. Publish this library (optional) Choose this option if you want to publish the library and share it with other students and instructors at your school. Enter a unique an meaningful name for the library, keeping in mind that other staff and students will see the library name when they use the program. For example: ATOS (the reading level measure/range in the library) Smith Fall 2017 (the instructor name and semester/year) See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps. Note that published libraries cannot be edited once they are saved. Also, published libraries cannot be deleted once created. They will be added to the Choose a Library menu, and will be available to everyone at your school. To learn more see Publishing libraries. Advanced settings Speech recognition settings Reading Assistant Plus uses speech recognition and verification technology to monitor a student as he or she reads aloud. If the software does not hear a word read correctly, it gently intervenes by highlighting that word in yellow. The student should read the highlighted word again and then continue reading from that word. If the software still does not hear the word read correctly, it pronounces the word for the student. Again, the student should repeat the pronounced word and then continue reading from that word. 115

116 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments For most readers, the default speech recognition settings will support their use of the Reading Assistant Plus product during the Read and Record activity. However, some students may need their settings adjusted to help maximize their experience. Reading Assistant Plus allows you to change the speech recognition settings as needed. When changed, the new settings take effect immediately. Pronunciation correctness The accuracy with which a student pronounces a word during the Read and Record activity can vary depending on the student s understanding of that word, or as a result of an accent or other speech characteristics. The Pronunciation Correctness option allows you to adjust the software to be more strict or less strict (on a scale of 1 to 100) when evaluating a word. Finding the appropriate setting can greatly enhance the experience with the product. For example: If the student is struggling excessively with his or her reading, you might want to decrease (or relax) the strictness of the pronunciation requirements. Start by moving the correctness slider to the left toward Less Strict, from the default 50 mark to the 25 mark. If the student is still having difficulty, you can move the correctness slider all the way to the 1 mark; however, at this lowest setting the software will be extremely lenient and will not correct most mispronunciations. If the software allows the student to mispronounce many words without intervening, you may want to increase the strictness. Move the slider to the right toward More Strict by increments of 10, then adjust as necessary. Use the Reset button to restore the pronunciation correctness setting to 50. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps on setting pronunciation correctness. Tip: If you notice that the software continually intervenes on correctly read words, and the student does not have a strong accent or any other speech issue, there may be a problem with the audio quality. Listen to the student s recording to determine if audio quality is the issue. If so, correct the audio issue rather than change the correctness slider. 116

117 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Intervention wait time Use the Intervention Wait Time option to change the amount of time before the product intervenes during the Read and Record activity. For example, if the student is struggling and needs more time to decode words, you could increase the time before an intervention so that the student has adequate time to read the text. In this case, move the slider to the right, toward More Time. Use the Reset button to restore the default intervention wait time. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps on setting intervention wait time. Audio language support The Reading Assistant Plus program provides audio support for the Think About Its hints and Take the Quiz questions and all possible answers. When a Think About It or quiz question opens, the software automatically reads the question and answer options to the student. Students can use the speaker icon to hear these items again. Think About Its may also have hints that are read to the student, and the hint icon can be clicked to hear the hint audio again. The Enable Audio Support option is selected by default. You can disable it for students who do not need the additional assistance. When changed, the new settings take effect immediately. See Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments and Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments for steps. Note: District managers and school managers can change the default language support option for an entire school. 117

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119 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments About creating assignments The Assign feature lets you create Reading Assistant Plus assignments. If you have not yet added students to MySciLEARN, see Add, edit, and delete students. Tips for creating assignments If you are using Reading Assistant (instead of Reading Assistant Plus) see Create Reading Assistant assignments. Only manual assign is available for Reading Assistant Plus; the Auto Initial Assignment feature is only compatible with Reading Assistant at this time. You can only assign products when a license and Support Package agreement is available. For more information see Manage licenses for your students. If you have any questions, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. To change a student's assignment settings see Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments. To end a student's assignment see Stop/delete Reading Assistant Plus assignments. Create an assignment for a student or group 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Perform one of the following tasks: For an individual student from a student s profile: 1. Locate the student in the students list. You can filter the student list by using the Browse by School, Filter by My Groups, or Filter by Staff options on the left, or you can search for a student using the Search feature at the top of the screen. 2. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. 3. Click the New Assignments button in the Assignments section. For a student or a group from the students list: 1. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Select your group from the Filter by Group list. 3. Select the checkbox next to one or more students, or select the checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. Select Assign New from the Manage Assignments menu. 3. On the Assign New Product screen, select Reading Assistant Plus from the Product menu. You must have an available license and Support Package agreement for the product. See Manage licenses for your students. 119

120 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments 4. Adjust the general assignment settings as needed. For details see General assignment settings. Schedule Content progression Instruction language Glossary language 5. Click Advanced Settings at the bottom of the screen and make adjustments as needed. For details see Advanced settings. Speech recognition settings (pronunciation correctness, intervention wait time) Language support 6. From the Choose a Library menu, choose a library for the assignment. Continue with the next task, Choose a library for the assignment. 120

121 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Choose a library for the assignment When creating a Reading Assistant Plus assignment, the software prompts you to choose a library. Make a new library. If you make a new library for the assignment, you have two options: You can use the library in the current assignment only. The library will remain open for the students in the assignment and can be edited later on as needed. You can publish the library so it can be shared throughout your school. Published libraries are available to all instructors at the school, but they cannot be modified or edited once they are published, even for the students in the original assignment (to learn more see Publishing libraries). Choose an existing published library. Choose a library that s been created by you or another instructor at your school and published. Note: A student can only be assigned one Reading Assistant Plus library at a time. Make a new library 1. Choose Make New Library from the Choose a Library menu. If you prefer to manually update the library with new content as it s released from Scientific Learning, you can turn off Auto Update Library with New Content. However, libraries that are published cannot be edited, so leave this on if you would like your published library to receive new content. 2. Under Choose Reading Level, choose one: ATOS GE, Lexile Measure, or Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level. All of the selections in the library appear in a list. Each selection shows a corresponding reading level score. See Reading levels. Selections with a score of NP are non-prose (poetry) and cannot be leveled. For ATOS GE, selections with fewer than 150 words are difficult to level; their scores may not be accurate (selections appear with an asterisk). The score becomes more accurate as the word count approaches 150. For Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level, selections that exceed the highest score (Z) show NA instead of a score. 3. Move the reading level sliders left or right as needed, to filter the selections and create a suitable range for the library. Hover over the slider to see the exact score. See Designing libraries for tips. 4. Review the list of selections and make any adjustments as needed. Select the Include High/Low Selections option to add any high/low selections within that reading level range to the library. See Include high/low selections (optional) to learn more. Use the Filter by Genre menu to refine the selection content (for example, Classic Fiction and Poetry). Use the checkboxes to remove selections from the library. 121

122 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Click a selection title to view the entire selection text. Click Reset Library to restore the library to its original state and remove any filters. 5. Use the library for this assignment only, or publish it: To use the library for this assignment only: 1. Make sure that Publish This Library is NOT selected. 2. Click Assign at the bottom of the screen to create the assignment. The library will remain open for that assignment and can be edited later on as needed. To publish the library so it can be used by other students at your school: 1. Select the Publish This Library option. 2. Enter a unique name for the library in the Add Name field. Use a meaningful name. For example: ATOS (the reading level measure/range in the library) Smith Fall 2017 (the instructor name and semester/year) If you are creating a library for a specific student and would like to publish that library, avoid using the student s name as part of the published library name. Instead, try using general descriptive 122

123 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments text that others at your organization will find useful. Also keep in mind that students and other staff members will see the library name. Remember: Published libraries cannot be edited once they are saved, even for the original assignment. Also, published libraries cannot be deleted once created. They will be added to the Choose a Library menu, and will be available to everyone at your school. To learn more see Publishing libraries. 3. Click Assign at the bottom of the screen to create the assignment. Choose an existing published library 1. From the Choose a Library menu, choose that library. 2. Click Assign at the bottom of the screen to create the assignment and complete the task. Libraries that have already been published must be used as is; they cannot be edited. 123

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125 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Edit Reading Assistant Plus assignments When needed, you make changes to a student s Reading Assistant Plus assignment; for example, you can select a new schedule for the program or choose a new library for the assignment. You can only edit assignments for an individual student. 1. From the Manage > Students page, locate the student with the assignment you want to edit and click the student s name to open their profile. See The students list. 2. In the Assignments section, click the Edit icon next to the Reading Assistant Plus. 3. Edit the general assignment settings as needed. See General assignment settings. Schedule Content progression Instruction language Glossary language 4. Edit the library assignment as needed. See Library settings. If the current library is published, you can choose a different library or make a new library (published libraries cannot be edited). If it s not published, you ll see Current Assignment in the library field. This means you can edit the content in that library. When you change the library assignment: The software will automatically adjust the assignment and place the student at the first selection that has not been completed in the library, unless the student was working on a selection that appears in both libraries; in this case, the student will need to complete that selection first. If you ve assigned a new library, the Student Profile screen will adjust the assignment status to reflect the new library. The student will have access to the new library only. The student s results and audio recordings for the original library will remain intact, and will still be available in Results reports. 5. If the library is not already published and you d like to publish it, select the Publish this Library checkbox and enter a unique and meaningful name for the library. Published libraries cannot be edited. To learn more see Publishing libraries. 6. Click Advanced Settings at the bottom of the screen to edit the settings as needed. See Advanced settings. Speech recognition settings (pronunciation correctness, intervention wait time) Language audio support 7. Click Save. 125

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127 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Stop/delete Reading Assistant Plus assignments About stopping/deleting assignments When you assign Reading Assistant Plus to a student, you can go back at any time and remove that assignment for either an individual student or multiple students within a group, by either stopping or deleting that assignment. Choose from the following two removal options: Stop. Remove student access to Reading Assistant Plus but leave the student's product data intact. Delete. Remove student access to Reading Assistant Plus and permanently delete the student's assignment data from the system. Tip: To stop all product assignments for a group of students, see Stop all product assignments. Stop a Reading Assistant Plus assignment Perform this task when a student has finished working on Reading Assistant Plus and you still want to keep a record of that student s work; for example, if that student plans to continue working on another Scientific Learning product. When you stop a product assignment, the software removes the product from the Exercises screen and shows Resume next to the product name in the Assign screen. The product data will remain intact, and the results will continue to appear in the Results reports. If you click Resume, the student will resume the product from where he or she left off. You can stop an individual assignment from a student s profile. To stop all assignments for a group of students, see Stop all product assignments. You cannot stop an assignment for a student who is actively training. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the student in the students list. See The students list. 3. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. 4. In the Assignments section, click the Stop icon next to the product you d like to stop. The assignment is immediately stopped and student access is removed. The student data remains intact in MySciLEARN. The product is removed from the Student Exercises screen. Resume appears next to the product name on the Student Profile screen. Clicking Resume will 127

128 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments resume the product, and the student will start where he or she left off. Delete a Reading Assistant Plus assignment Perform this task when the student will no longer work on the Reading Assistant Plus assignment and you do not want to keep any record of the student s work on Reading Assistant Plus. Also perform this task if you assigned Reading Assistant Plus by mistake. When you delete a Reading Assistant Plus assignment, the student s access to Reading Assistant Plus is removed from the Student Exercises page. Additionally, the student s Reading Assistant Plus data is permanently deleted from the MySciLEARN. If you assign Reading Assistant Plus again, the student will need to repeat any previously completed content. You can use the delete assignment feature as follows: Delete an individual student's assignment from that student s profile. Delete assignments for a group of students from the students list. You cannot delete an assignment for a student who is actively training. Warning! Deleting a Reading Assistant Plus assignment permanently removes all the student's product data files from MySciLEARN. The product can be assigned to the student again; however, the student's original results will be lost. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Perform one of the following tasks to delete the assignment: For an individual student using the student s profile: 1. Locate the students in the students list. You can filter the student list by using the Browse by School, Filter by My Groups, or Filter by Staff options on the left, or you can search for a student using the Search feature at the top of the screen. 2. Click the student s name to open the profile. 3. In the Assignments section, click the trash icon next to the Reading Assistant Plus assignment. For one or more students using the students list: 128

129 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments 1. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Select your group from the Filter by Group list. 3. Select the checkbox next to one or more students, or select the checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. Select Delete Assignment from the Manage Assignments menu. 5. Select Reading Assistant Plus from the product menu (or, to delete all product assignments, choose All Products from the menu), then click Delete. 3. On the delete assignment confirmation message, click Confirm Delete. You can assign Reading Assistant Plus again if needed; however, the student will need to repeat any previously completed content. If the student has worked on Reading Assistant Plus, it is removed from the Assignments section and the student s data files for Reading Assistant Plus are permanently deleted from the system. If not, the Reading Assistant Plus assignment is simply erased as if it never existed. 129

130 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments Advance to the next Reading Assistant Plus library In Reading Assistant Plus, you don t always have to advance to a new library when a student needs different content. Most libraries can be edited, and it s easy to add content to them. Libraries that are not editable (published libraries) can be easily changed to a more appropriate library whenever needed. To learn more see About Reading Assistant Plus libraries. 130

131 5 Reading Assistant assignments 5 Reading Assistant assignments Before your students can use the Reading Assistant program, you ll need to create assignments for them. Use this chapter to learn how to create and manage Reading Assistant assignments for your students. To learn more about managing students, such as how to add student to the system,, see Chapter 2 Students. If you re using Reading Assistant Plus, see Chapter 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments What's in this chapter About Reading Assistant assignments 132 About Reading Assistant content 136 About Reading Assistant libraries 139 About Reading Assistant assignment settings 142 Reading Assistant schedules 143 Reading Assistant instruction language 145 Reading Assistant glossary language 146 Reading Assistant content progression 147 Reading Assistant content placement 149 Reading Assistant speech recognition settings 154 Reading Assistant language support 156 Create Reading Assistant assignments 157 Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment 158 Create your own Reading Assistant assignments 163 Edit Reading Assistant assignments 165 Stop/delete Reading Assistant assignments 166 Advance to the next Reading Assistant library

132 5 Reading Assistant assignments About Reading Assistant assignments Where do I start? Before your students can work on the Reading Assistant program, you must create Reading Assistant assignments for your students. You can create individual student assignments or group assignments. See the following topics to get started. If you have not yet added students to the system see Add, edit, and delete students. To learn about content and assignment settings see About Reading Assistant assignment settings. To create new assignments for your students see Create Reading Assistant assignments. To manage active assignments see Edit Reading Assistant assignments and Stop/delete Reading Assistant assignments. To create custom libraries for your students see Reading Assistant custom libraries. To assign a different program see Chapter 3 Fast ForWord assignments and Chapter 4 Reading Assistant Plus assignments. Access Assign for a student When you log in to MySciLEARN and click the Students tab, the Students page opens and displays schools and students based on your staff role and the permissions for your role. All staff members can access the Students page. 1. From the Students page, select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Locate the student and click the student s name to open that student s profile. The Assignments panel appears at the top right of the screen. Student profile assignment options When manually assigning products, you can add new assignments for products with valid licenses. You can also edit, stop, resume, or delete an existing assignment. 132

133 5 Reading Assistant assignments When using Auto Assign to automatically assign products, the system manages the entire assign process for you. However, you can edit an existing assignment if needed (not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time). A License button appears next to each product, allowing you to manage the licenses and Support Package agreements for the assigned products. See Manage licenses for your students to learn more. Note: A warning icon appears next to the License button if the student is using an expired license or Support Package agreement, or if all of the available licenses and agreements for a product are expired. If there are no available licenses to manage, the button turns gray and cannot be used. Check with your school manager or district manager for details about the licenses at your school. Fast ForWord Auto Assign appears when the student is using that feature. If it cannot assign a product, a Warning (!) icon appears, advising staff to manually assign a product to the student. Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment appears when the student is using that feature (not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time). New appears next to any assignment that has not been started yet. A percent complete score appears when a Fast ForWord assignment has been started. The following information appears when a Reading Assistant or Reading Assistant Plus assignment has been started: Library name, number of completed selections, and total number of selections; for example: 6 of 14 If the student has earned a Complete status alert, a green checkmark appears. Resume appears next to the assignment if it has been stopped. A Session Activity section appears when the student is actively training and shows current product status: Fast ForWord product and exercise, the number of minutes left in the exercise, the number of trials completed in the exercise Reading Assistant/Reading Assistant Plus library and selection, and the number of minutes completed in the session (if the student is using a schedule) Access Assign for a group When you log in to MySciLEARN and click the Students tab, the Students page opens and displays schools and students based on your staff role and the permissions for your role. All staff members can access the Students page. 1. From the Students page, select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Select a group from the Filter by My Groups list. The Manage Assignments menu appears at the top of the screen. 133

134 5 Reading Assistant assignments Group assignment options By default, the group view shows all product assignments for your students. However, you can filter the group by individual product; for example, you can select Reading Level 1 from the Filter by Product menu to see only those students with that product assignment. In addition, each product assignment that appears in the group view includes the following status information in the Assigned Products column: New The student has not started working on the product (this is different from 0%, where the student has actually started working on the product but has not yet completed 1%) If the student has started working on the product, a completion status appears as follows: The Fast ForWord products display a percent complete score for the product. Both Reading Assistant products display the total number of selections worked on out of the total number of selections in the library, for the current library only Products appear in red when their license or Support Package agreement has expired or has not yet started. Hold the cursor over the product name for details. For information on enabling those students to continue working, see Manage licenses for your students. The group view includes additional options: 134

135 5 Reading Assistant assignments Assigned Products The student s assigned products and product status. Protocol The protocol (schedule) for each assigned product. Lang The language for each assigned product. English Spanish GR The student s grade. Settings Provides access to the following settings for a student, with buttons that show current state (green = on, gray = off): Turn Fast ForWord Auto Assign off and on (RPI must be on). Turn Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment off and on (RPI must be on). This feature is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time. Turn RPI off and on. When off, both Auto Assign options are disabled. 135

136 5 Reading Assistant assignments About Reading Assistant content Content structure and design Based on age and reading ability, learners have a wide range of reading needs. To address these needs, Reading Assistant provides engaging content across a variety of levels, including: 300+ leveled reading selections aligned with state standards, including science, history, and social studies A range of reading levels to allow for differentiated instruction A variety of genres to support elementary to high school curriculum, including both literature and informational text at all reading levels Before you create assignments for your students, use the following table to get familiar with Reading Assistant content structure and design. Then, see Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting these options while assigning the program. Library Content pack Custom library Reading level Also called a content library. A set of selections (texts) that can be assigned to a student. Reading Assistant provides two types of libraries: content packs and custom libraries. See About Reading Assistant custom libraries. A library organized by the reading experts at Scientific Learning, designed to appeal to agespecific interests across a range of readability levels. For example, Content Pack 6-8 which is written to interest students ages includes a selection about skateboarding designed to appeal to a 6th grader, but written at a 3rd grade reading level to accommodate a 6th grade struggling reader. A library organized by you to meet the individual reading needs of your students, created using selections from the Reading Assistant content packs. The difficulty level of the selections within the content libraries. See Reading levels. 136

137 5 Reading Assistant assignments Content placement Content progression Topic Selection Activity A student s starting point within a content library. The student can be placed automatically or manually based on a reading score, or based on a review of the content within the library. With custom libraries, you must manually set the starting point. See Reading Assistant content placement. How a student moves (progresses) through the content in their assigned library. Locked only lets the student move through the content as it is ordered within the library. Student-selected lets the student to choose the order in which they move through the selections or activities. Unlocked lets teachers to access any activity in any selection at any time, providing flexibility for classroom instruction. See Reading Assistant content progression. A group of selections within a content pack at the same reading level, related in content by subject, theme, or set of ideas. Not available within custom libraries. An individual text to be read by the student. A set of required tasks within a selection. Each selection includes three activities: Preview and Read on My Own, Read and Record, and Take the Quiz. Reading levels Because every classroom includes students with a range of reading abilities, each selection in Reading Assistant has been carefully evaluated for readability and then leveled using the following widely-adopted leveling systems. Use these reading levels to help assign the most appropriate library to your students. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps. Grade equivalent To help identify the complexity of the readings, Reading Assistant assigns a grade equivalent from the Spache (K-3) or the Dale-Chall (4-12) readability formulas to each selection. For example, a grade equivalent of 1 identifies text that is suitable for a typical first-grade reader, and a grade equivalent of 2.5 identifies text that is suitable for a typical second-grade reader who is halfway through the year. 137

138 5 Reading Assistant assignments Guided Reading Level Each selection in Reading Assistant has been associated with a Guided Reading Level based on the widely accepted research done by Fountas and Pinnell, as presented in Leveled Books, K 8: Matching Texts to Readers for Effective Teaching (Heinemann, 2005). Guided Reading Levels A Z with A being least difficult are determined through an analysis of the text with respect to genre, text structure, content, themes and ideas, language and literary features, sentence complexity, vocabulary, words (length and complexity), illustrations, and text features. Non-prose text, which cannot be analyzed according to the same criteria as prose, is labeled NP. The Lexile Framework for Reading The text of each selection in Reading Assistant has been analyzed by MetaMetrics to determine the Lexile text measure. Each Lexile text measure is based on two strong predictors of a text s difficulty: word frequency and sentence length. The text-analyzing software assigns a Lexile measure based on these analyses: Text that contains many common or high-frequency vocabulary words yields a low Lexile measure. Text that contains words that do not occur frequently in common usage, such as subject-specific academic words, yields a higher Lexile measure. Sentence length is a general predictor of difficulty. The analysis software counts the number of words in each sentence and calculates an average sentence length. Text with a shorter average sentence length yields a lower Lexile measure than text with a longer average sentence length. Poetry cannot be analyzed by these criteria, so poetry receives a Lexile text measure of NP (non-prose). 138

139 5 Reading Assistant assignments About Reading Assistant libraries What is a library? A library (also referred to as a content library) is a set of selections (texts) that can be assigned to a student. Reading Assistant provides two types of libraries: content packs and custom libraries. You can choose a library for a student when you assign the Reading Assistant product. Content packs The Reading Assistant software license provides four standard libraries called content packs, which are organized by grade to include selections (texts) written for specific ages across a range of reading levels. Content Pack K-3 Content Pack 4-5 Content Pack 6-8 Content Pack 9-12 Created by the reading experts at Scientific Learning, content packs automatically customize the reading experience for each student as follows: Each content pack presents texts designed specifically for a student s age group and reading ability. For example, Content Pack 6-8 includes a selection about skateboarding designed to appeal to a 6th grader, but written at a 3rd grade reading level to accommodate a 6th grade struggling reader. The difficulty level of the selections in a content pack ranges from below the lowest grade level to the grade level of the highest grade. For example, in Content Pack 4-5, the reading levels range from 1st grade to 5th grade. As the student progresses in the content pack, the content difficulty increases. Content packs make the student enrollment process even easier when you assign the Reading Assistant product to a student, the software automatically defaults the library assignment to the content pack that includes the student s current grade. For example, a 4th grade student s library assignment will be set automatically to Content Pack 4-5. For details on library assignments, including changing a library assignment, see About Reading Assistant assignments. To review the actual texts within a content pack, use the Content Libraries page. Any staff member can view and assign content packs to their students. Because content packs are created by Scientific Learning, there are no management tasks needed. Custom libraries To provide more flexibility with content, Reading Assistant allows you to create custom libraries for your schools. Custom libraries allow you to tailor the reading experience directly to the needs of your students, and provide additional material for further reading practice. You can build a custom library with the selections from any of the content packs and then place the selections in any order within your custom library. Here are just a few examples of how you can organize a custom library: If you have a group of students that are all at the same reading level, and you want those students to do a little extra work in that reading level, you could create a custom library with content at that reading level only. 139

140 5 Reading Assistant assignments If you plan to introduce a new academic subject to a group of students, you could create a custom library that only includes selections around that subject; for example, nonfiction texts of history or science, or poetry and songs. And you could further customize the library by selecting these texts at reading levels specific to those students. When you ve created your custom library, its easy to assign that custom library to a student. Any staff member can view the custom libraries at their schools and assign the custom libraries to their students. However, custom library management tasks are limited based on a staff member s role. Note:Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment will not place students in custom libraries. To learn more see Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. To learn all about custom libraries see Chapter 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries. About library assignments To use Reading Assistant, the student must have a library assignment. When you assign Reading Assistant to a student, the software automatically selects the content pack that includes the student s current grade. For example, a 4th grade student would have the Content Pack 4-5 library automatically selected. You can choose to either accept the default library assignment, or you can select a different library based on your student s needs. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps. You can also create and assign your own custom libraries. For help choosing a library assignment for your student, see Chapter 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries. Note: A student can only be assigned one Reading Assistant library at a time. 140

141 5 Reading Assistant assignments Change library assignments On occasion, you may want to change the currently assigned library to another library. For example: If the student has completed all of the selections in a content pack, you may want to start the student on a new assignment in the next content pack. If after a week of training, you discover that the student has needs that are not met by one of the content packs, you can create a custom library and assign it to the student. See Edit Reading Assistant assignments for instructions on how to change a library assignment. If you have not yet assigned the program to the student, see Create your own Reading Assistant assignments. Note: If a student was assigned to a custom library that is no longer published, the library will still appear in the Library menu until you change the library assignment. For information on custom libraries, see About Reading Assistant custom libraries. If a student is finishing up a library and is ready to move on to the next library, see Advance to the next Reading Assistant library. 141

142 5 Reading Assistant assignments About Reading Assistant assignment settings When creating a Reading Assistant assignment for a student, you'll need to choose the assignment settings. Review the following topics for a thorough understanding of these settings, then see Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting these options while assigning the program. About Reading Assistant content About Reading Assistant libraries Reading Assistant schedules Reading Assistant instruction language Reading Assistant glossary language Reading Assistant content progression Reading Assistant content placement Reading Assistant speech recognition settings Reading Assistant language support 142

143 5 Reading Assistant assignments Reading Assistant schedules About schedules A Reading Assistant schedule determines the length of time spent training in the product each day. You can determine the daily work time for a Reading Assistant assignment as follows. Use a schedule. Automatically notifies the student after a set number of minutes (default). Opt out of schedules. Does not track how long the student uses the program. While first assigning the program to your students, you can select the schedule for an individual student or for multiple students within a group (see Create your own Reading Assistant assignments). Once you've assigned Reading Assistant to a student, use the Edit Assignment option to change the schedule for an individual student (see Edit Reading Assistant assignments). Use a schedule Reading Assistant provides schedules to help time the student s work session each day. For example, when the student completes the current selection after working for the scheduled number of minutes, the software will notify the student that time is up. The student can either exit or continue the session. The schedule always starts over on the next work session, even if the schedule has time remaining. Libraries includes multiple schedule options: None, 20, 30, or 40 minutes. When you assign a library, the system sets the schedule based on the library type. You can manually change the schedule as needed. Content packs automatically assign a schedule as follows. Custom libraries do not default to any schedule; you'll need to manually select a schedule option. K-3: 20 minutes 4-5: 30 minutes 143

144 5 Reading Assistant assignments 6-8: 40 minutes 9-12: 40 minutes Opt out of schedules As an alternative, you can opt out of the schedules entirely and implement the student s daily work schedule on your own. For example, you could instruct the student to work on Reading Assistant until he or she completes a specific set of activities each day, regardless of the time spent training. Or, you could allow the student to work on the activities as long he or she likes. To disable the schedules, select None as the assigned schedule. 144

145 5 Reading Assistant assignments Reading Assistant instruction language The Reading Assistant software provides audio instructions throughout the product. By default, the software presents the instructions in English. As an alternative, you can choose to present the instruction audio in Spanish. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting this option. Tip: District managers and school managers can change the default instruction language for an entire school. Access this option from the Schools page. 145

146 5 Reading Assistant assignments Reading Assistant glossary language The Reading Assistant software provides a glossary for some of the words within a selection. By default, the software provides the glossary information in English. As an alternative, you can choose to present glossary information in both English and Spanish. Then, students can use an Español button to access the Spanish glossary information. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting this option. Tip: District managers and school managers can change the default glossary language for an entire school. 146

147 5 Reading Assistant assignments Reading Assistant content progression About content progression When assigning Reading Assistant, you ll need to decide how you want the student to progress through the content. Choose from the following three options. Locked. The student must complete topics, selections, and activities in a planned order (default) Student-selected. The student has flexibility in selection choices only Unlocked. Allows for total flexibility in content progression and completion (recommended for teachers only) See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting this option. Locked content progression When you assign the Reading Assistant product, content progression is automatically locked. The student must complete all activities within a selection and all selections within a topic, in the order that they appear in the library. The student may not move from one selection to the next without completing all of the activities, in order. Student-selected content progression As an alternative, you can allow the student to have more control over the content progression. This option allows the student to work on any selection in a library; however, once a selection is started, the student must complete all of the selection activities, in order, before moving on to a new selection. A selection is considered started when the student responds to one Think About It in the Preview and Read activity. 147

148 5 Reading Assistant assignments Unlocked content progression Recommended for teachers/classroom instruction only, this option allows the user to access any selection within any topic, and any activity within that selection, in any order. Unlocked progression provides teachers and other staff with the flexibility to model different aspects of the program to a student. Note: Unlocked mode is for teachers only. Using this setting with students is risky, and could result in data loss if changed during an assignment. 148

149 5 Reading Assistant assignments Reading Assistant content placement About content placement When using Reading Assistant, the student should start at the reading level that best suits his or her reading ability. When the software knows the student s reading level, it can select the best starting topic at which the student should begin reading. The student will work through the content in the assigned library from that point forward until complete. When assigning a library, use one of the following options to place the student into the appropriate reading level. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting this option. Use RPI (Automatic). Automatically place the student in a content pack based on a Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) assessment score. This is the default option when you assign a content pack and when using Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment (see Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment). Use Reading Level. Place the student in a content pack based on known reading scores such as grade equivalent scores, Guided Reading Levels, or Lexile measures. Use Content Overview. Review the content and select the starting point in a content pack or custom library that you feel is most appropriate. This option provides the most control over where your students start within the assigned library. To further tailor the experience to your students' needs, you can build custom libraries and place your students exactly where you'd like them to start. For more information about how to use custom libraries, see About Reading Assistant libraries. Use RPI (Automatic) When you assign a content pack to a student, Use RPI (Automatic) is the default placement method for selecting a starting point in that content pack (see previous image). This placement method requires that the student complete an RPI assessment. MySciLEARN uses the grade equivalent score attained in the 149

150 5 Reading Assistant assignments RPI assessment to place the student at the appropriate starting topic within the content pack. The student will start with that topic, and then continue working through the rest of the topics to end of the content pack. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting this option. If you select the Use RPI (Automatic) placement method and then disable RPI after assigning Reading Assistant, the content placement for your students may change. To make sure your students are placed appropriately, wait until your students have been placed into the content, or manually change the content placement method on your own, before disabling RPI for those students. If your school is not using Reading Progress Indicator, or if you have disabled Reading Progress Indicator for this student, the software automatically defaults to the second option, Use Reading Level, with Grade Equivalent selected and the starting point set at the lowest reading level score. See Use Reading Level for details. The Use RPI (Automatic) placement method is only available for content packs. If you assign a custom library, you must use the Use Content Overview placement method to select a starting point. See Use Content Overview for details. Use Reading Level Within an educational environment, teachers use various evaluation methods to assess a student s reading level. For more information see Reading levels. The Use Reading Level placement option allows you to use the most common types of reading scores to select a student s starting point within a content pack: grade equivalent scores, guided reading levels, and Lexile measures. When you select the Use Reading Level placement method and choose a reading level score, the software uses that score to place the student at the appropriate starting topic within the assigned content pack. The software assigns that starting topic and all of the topics from that point forward to the end of the content pack. If your school is not using Reading Progress Indicator, or if you have disabled RPI for this student, the software automatically defaults to this placement method, with Grade Equivalent selected and the starting point set at the lowest reading level score in the content pack. If you use this placement method but don't choose a reading level score, the software will automatically set the starting point at the lowest reading level score in the content pack. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting this option. When you choose the Use Reading Level placement method, Reading Assistant uses a specific algorithm to make placement decisions based on reading scores. To revise student placements, select the Use Content Overview placement method. The Use Reading Level placement method is only available for content packs. If you assign a custom library, you must use the Use Content Overview placement method to select a starting point. See Use Content Overview for details. 150

151 5 Reading Assistant assignments Use Content Overview The content overview placement method allows you to review all of the content in the selected library and manually select the starting point based on selection content or reading level. Once you select a starting point and click OK, The student will start with that topic, and then continue working through the rest of the topics to end of the library. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting this option. When using the content overview placement method, the Select Starting Point screen allows you to review content information and select a starting point based on the library type: content pack or custom library. For help determining which library will work best for a student, see Chapter 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries. Content pack placement With content packs, the Select Starting Point screen opens when you select the Use Content Overview option. All of the topics in that content pack appear in a list. Each topic provides the following details, which can help you choose the best starting point: A recommended grade for that topic; for example, G1 Beginning indicates that the topic Animal Stories is written at a reading level that corresponds to the beginning of 1st grade The reading level ranges for that topic: grade equivalent, Guided Reading Level, and Lexile measure Tip: To select a starting point based on the selections in each topic, use the Content Libraries page to view the topic selections and details. See View content packs. 151

152 5 Reading Assistant assignments Custom library placement When you assign a custom library, the Select Starting Point screen automatically opens. All of the selections in the custom library appear in a list. To help you choose the best starting point, each selection in the list shows its corresponding reading level score: grade equivalent, Guided Reading Level, and Lexile measure. Tip: To select a starting point based on selection details, view the library on the Content Libraries page. See View custom libraries for details. 152

153 5 Reading Assistant assignments Change content placement On occasion, you may want to change the student's current starting point in the library after the student works on the Reading Assistant product. For example: If the student is struggling with a particular selection to the point where he or she is becoming too frustrated to make significant progress, you might want to move the student to content at a lower reading level in the library. In this case, the student may revisit previously completed content. If the content is too easy for the student, you can move them forward to a more challenging reading level in the library. See Edit Reading Assistant assignments for instructions on how to change a student's content placement or library assignment. When changed, the software will automatically adjust the current assignment and place the student at a new starting point. 153

154 5 Reading Assistant assignments Reading Assistant speech recognition settings About speech recognition settings For most readers, the default speech recognition settings will support their use of the Reading Assistant product during the Read and Record activity. However, some students may need their settings adjusted to help maximize their experience. Reading Assistant allows you to change the pronunciation correctness and intervention wait time speech recognition settings as needed. See Edit Reading Assistant assignments for steps on adjusting these settings for a student. When changed, the new settings take effect immediately. To change the settings before assigning the program, see Create your own Reading Assistant assignments. Pronunciation correctness The accuracy with which a student pronounces a word during the Read and Record activity can vary depending on the student s understanding of that word, or as a result of an accent or other speech characteristics. The Pronunciation Correctness option allows you to adjust the software to be more strict or less strict (on a scale of 1 to 100) when evaluating a word. Finding the appropriate setting can greatly enhance the experience with the product. For example: If the student is struggling excessively with his or her reading, you might want to decrease (or relax) the strictness of the pronunciation requirements. Start by moving the correctness slider to the left toward Less Strict, from the default 50 mark to the 30 mark. If the student is still having difficulty, you can move the correctness slider all the way to the 1 mark; however, at this lowest setting the software will be extremely lenient and will not correct most mispronunciations. If the software allows the student to mispronounce many words without intervening, you may want to increase the strictness. Move the slider to the right toward More Strict by increments of 10, then adjust as necessary. Use the Reset button to restore the pronunciation correctness setting to

155 5 Reading Assistant assignments Tip: If you notice that the software continually intervenes on correctly read words, and the student does not have a strong accent or any other speech issue, there may be a problem with the audio quality. Listen to the student s recording to determine if audio quality is the issue. If so, correct the audio issue rather than change the correctness slider. Intervention wait time Use the Intervention Wait Time option to change the amount of time before the product intervenes during the Read and Record activity. For example, if the student is struggling and needs more time to decode words, you could increase the time before an intervention so that the student has adequate time to read the text. In this case, move the slider to the right, toward More Time. Use the Reset button to restore the default intervention wait time. 155

156 5 Reading Assistant assignments Reading Assistant language support The Reading Assistant software provides audio support for the Think About Its, as well as the Take the Quiz comprehension questions. When a question opens, the software automatically reads the following items aloud, and audio icons allow the student to replay the audio: Think About It hints Take the Quiz questions and all possible answers The Enable Audio Support option is selected by default. You can disable it for students who do not need the additional assistance. When changed, the new settings take effect immediately. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps on setting this option. Note: District managers and school managers can change the default language support option for an entire school. 156

157 5 Reading Assistant assignments Create Reading Assistant assignments Before a student can work on Reading Assistant, the product must be assigned to the student. MySciLEARN provides two ways to assign Reading Assistant to students. See the following topics to learn which method will work best for your students. Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. Read this topic if you want the software to assess your students, automatically assign Reading Assistant to each student, and choose the most appropriate library and starting point for each student. Create your own Reading Assistant assignments. Read this topic if you want to manually assign and place your students in the Reading Assistant libraries. This is the default assignment method for Reading Assistant. Note: If your school is using per student licenses, you can only assign Reading Assistant to a new student when a license is available. If you have any questions, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. 157

158 5 Reading Assistant assignments Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment This topic answers some frequently asked questions, then walks you through the process of using Auto Initial Assignment with your students. Note: This feature is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus. If you turn it on, your students will be placed into Reading Assistant instead of Reading Assistant Plus. About Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment What is Auto Initial Assignment? The Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment feature in MySciLEARN streamlines the student assignment process by quickly, efficiently, and accurately assessing the student and then automatically assigning Reading Assistant and placing the student in the appropriate content and starting point. Why use Auto Initial Assignment? This easy-to-use assignment feature provides the following benefits: Accelerates implementation. Because Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment does not require any additional administration or assessment time beyond taking an RPI assessment, students can maximize their time on Reading Assistant product use and other learning activities. In addition, staff members can spend more time with their students instead of manually analyzing assessments and performing assignment tasks. Motivates students. Because students are immediately placed in the most appropriate library and starting point in Reading Assistant, students spend less time on content that is too easy or too hard, resulting in enhanced motivation and maximized reading gains. What does it do? Auto Initial Assignment automates the entire assignment process for you. All you need to do is add the students to MySciLEARN and let the system do the rest: First, it will assign Reading Assistant to the student. Then it will place the student in one of four content packs (libraries) based on the student's grade you entered during the enrollment process. Finally it will assess the student s reading level by administering Reading Progress Indicator (RPI), and then use the results to place the student at the appropriate starting point in that content pack. Why does it require Reading Progress Indicator? Auto Initial Assignment uses RPI assessment scores to determine content placement. You must have Reading Progress Indicator enabled for the student to use it. See Chapter 13 RPI assessments. 158

159 5 Reading Assistant assignments Can I use it for all of my Reading Assistant students? Pre-Kindergarten students and students who are already using Reading Assistant cannot use Auto Initial Assignment. All other students are eligible to use it. See Troubleshoot Auto Initial Assignment if you have any issues. Can I use it with the Reading Assistant Plus? Auto Initial Assignment is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus at this time. If you enable this feature, it will place your students in Reading Assistant instead of Reading Assistant Plus. Can I use it with the Fast ForWord products? Auto Initial Assignment will not assign a Fast ForWord product; however, you can use Fast ForWord Auto Assign to automatically assign the Fast ForWord products. See Use Fast ForWord Auto Assign. Will it work with my custom libraries? No. Auto Initial Assignment only works with our four standard content packs (see About Reading Assistant libraries for more information). If you want your students to use a custom library, you'll need to manually assign Reading Assistant to those students. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments. Why can t I stop, delete, or edit assignments? By design, Auto Initial Assignment removes the following assign features from the student's profile: Stop. The Stop Assignment feature is removed because Auto Initial Assignment does not allow you to stop the assignment. If you need to stop the assignment for a student, you ll need to disable Auto Initial Assignment for that student. See Stop/delete Reading Assistant assignments. Delete. The Delete Assignment feature is removed because Auto Initial Assignment does not allow product deletions. If you need to delete a product for a student, you ll need to temporarily disable it for that student. See Stop/delete Reading Assistant assignments. Edit. The Edit option in the Student Profile Assignments panel is not available until the student has been placed. See Edit Reading Assistant assignments. For more information see About students. What if I want to create my own assignments? If you ve enabled Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment and you no longer want to use it, you can easily turn it off and create your own Reading Assistant assignments. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments. 159

160 5 Reading Assistant assignments My student finished their library assignment. What happens now? Auto Initial Assignment only performs the initial assignment and placement for a student. When a student finishes that content, you can manually assign more content to the student. See Advance to the next Reading Assistant library. I'm having problems, what can I do? If you run into any issues see Troubleshoot Auto Initial Assignment. Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment By default, MySciLEARN disables the Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment feature at the school level. You can change the Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment setting as follows: Use the school level setting to automatically turn it on/off for all new students enrolled at your school (district/school managers only). Use the student level setting to turn it on/off for an existing student or group of students at your school. This topic covers this task, along with some troubleshooting tips. How it works When Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment is turned on for a student, the software evaluates the student s eligibility and starts the auto assign process as follows. If the student is eligible for Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment and does not have a Reading Assistant assignment, the software will immediately start the auto assign process. Note that it only performs the initial assignment and placement for a student. When a student finishes that content, you'll need to manually assign more content to the student. See Advance to the next Reading Assistant library for more information. If the student is not eligible, a notification message will appear. See Troubleshoot Auto Initial Assignment for details. For schools using per student licenses, note that the software can only assign the product when a license is available. To learn more see Manage licenses for your students. If you turn the feature off, you'll need to manually assign the program to the student. See Create your own Reading Assistant assignments for steps. If you turn it back on, the feature will re-evaluate the student and assign Reading Assistant accordingly. Set Auto Initial Assignment for your students Important! This feature is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus. If you turn it on, your students will be placed into Reading Assistant instead of Reading Assistant Plus. 160

161 5 Reading Assistant assignments 1. In the MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Select the school in the Browse by School list, if needed. 3. Locate the students in the students list. See The students list. 4. Perform one of the following tasks to set the option: For an individual student using the student s profile: 1. Click a student s name to open that student s profile. 2. In the Auto Assign and Reading Progress Indicator section, click the Settings button. 3. Under Reading Assistant Assignment Method, select the availability option you d like to set for this student and click Apply. Note: This section does not appear if the student has an existing Reading Assistant Plus assignment. To turn on, select Manual Assign. To turn off, select Auto Initial Assign. RPI must also be enabled. For one or more students using the students list: 1. In the Settings column, click the RA Auto Initial Assignment button (A) to turn it on or off. On (green). RPI must also be enabled. Off (gray) For one or more students using the More Actions menu: 1. Select the checkbox next to the students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 2. From the More Actions menu, select the appropriate action and confirm it: Turn RA Auto Initial Assignment On Turn RA Auto Initial Assignment Off Troubleshoot Auto Initial Assignment If the software is unable to use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment for a student, it disables Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment for that student and displays an error message at the top of the screen. Use the following table to help you correct the errors and then enable Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment again for that student. If the problem persists, or you d like help with this task, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support for assistance. 161

162 5 Reading Assistant assignments Error message Student is enrolled in grade PreK. Error details and solutions Students who are in Pre-Kindergarten cannot use RPI or Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment, and it has been disabled for the student. To allow the student to use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment, you ll need to change the student s grade to K or higher, and then enable Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment for the student. See Change the grade for students. Student is already assigned the Reading Assistant product. Students who already have a Reading Assistant assignment cannot use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment, and it has been disabled for the student. To allow the student to use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment, you ll need to stop the current Reading Assistant assignment and then enable Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment for the student. See Stop/delete Reading Assistant assignments. No license available. The school is using per student licenses, and there are no more licenses available for this new assignment. Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment has been disabled for the student. To correct the issue, you must free up or purchase a per student license, and then enable Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment for the student. See Manage licenses for your students. Contact Customer Support if you have any questions. Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment could not be enabled because RPI is disabled for this student. Students must have RPI enabled to use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. Turn on RPI for the student and then enable Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment for the student. See Set RPI access for students. 162

163 5 Reading Assistant assignments Create your own Reading Assistant assignments About creating assignments The Assign feature lets you manually create your own Reading Assistant assignments. If you have not yet added students to MySciLEARN, see Add, edit, and delete students. Notes If you are using Reading Assistant Plus see Create Reading Assistant Plus assignments. MySciLEARN provides Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment, which automatically assigns Reading Assistant to your student and then place that student at the appropriate starting point in the content. See the following topics for steps. This feature is not compatible with Reading Assistant Plus. Set Auto Initial Assignment for your students You can only assign products when a license and Support Package agreement is available. For more information see Manage licenses for your students. If you have any questions, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. To change a student's assignment settings see Edit Reading Assistant assignments. To end a student's assignment see Stop/delete Reading Assistant assignments. Create an assignment for a student or group 1. Make sure that Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment is disabled for the student. see Set Auto Initial Assignment for your students. 2. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 3. Perform one of the following tasks: For an individual student from the student s profile: 1. Locate the student in the students list. You can filter the student list by using the Browse by School, Filter by My Groups, or Filter by Staff options on the left, or you can search for a student using the Search feature at the top of the screen. 2. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. 3. Click the New Assignments button in the Assignments section. For a student or a group from the students list: 1. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Select your group from the Filter by Group list. 3. Select the checkbox next to one or more students, or select the checkbox at the top of the 163

164 5 Reading Assistant assignments students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. Select Assign New from the Manage Assignments menu. 4. On the Assign New Product screen, select Reading Assistant from the Product menu. You can only assign products that have an available license and Support Package agreement (see Manage licenses for your students). 5. Select a library from the Library menu as needed. The content pack that includes the student s grade is selected by default. If you select a custom library, you ll need to select a schedule from the Schedule menu. 6. Make adjustments to the assignment settings as needed, then click Assign. To learn how settings impact an assignment see About Reading Assistant assignment settings. Schedule (required when assigning a custom library) Instruction Language Glossary Language Content Progression Content Placement Advanced Settings (click Show Advanced Settings to access): Pronunciation Correctness Intervention Wait Time Language Support: Audio Support 164

165 5 Reading Assistant assignments Edit Reading Assistant assignments When needed, you make changes to a student s Reading Assistant assignment; for example, you can select a new library for the student to work on. For detailed descriptions of these settings, see About Reading Assistant assignment settings. You can only edit assignments for an individual student. If you're using Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment, you can edit the assignment settings once the student has been assigned and placed into Reading Assistant; for example, to change any of the default assignment settings before the student starts training. For more information see Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the student with the assignment you want to edit and click the student s name. See The students list. 3. In the Assignments section, click the Edit icon next to the product you d like to edit. 4. Edit the Reading Assistant assignment settings as needed, then click Save. You can change the following settings. To learn more see About Reading Assistant assignment settings. Library, schedule, instruction language, glossary language, content progression, content placement method, content placement within a library Advanced settings (click Show Advanced Settings to access): Pronunciation correctness, intervention wait time, language audio support When changing content placement within a library, you'll see the student s current place as follows: If the student is using a content pack, the Use Content Overview option will indicate the topic that the student is currently working on. If the student is using a custom library, the Use Content Overview option will indicate the selection that the student is currently working on. 165

166 5 Reading Assistant assignments Stop/delete Reading Assistant assignments About stopping/deleting assignments When you manually assign Reading Assistant to a student, you can go back at any time and remove that assignment for either an individual student or multiple students within a group, by either stopping or deleting that assignment. Choose from the following two removal options: Stop. Remove student access to Reading Assistant but leave the student's product data intact. Delete. Remove student access to Reading Assistant and permanently delete the student's assignment data from the system. Tip: To stop all product assignments for a group of students, see Stop all product assignments. Stop a Reading Assistant assignment Perform this task when a student has finished working on Reading Assistant and you still want to keep a record of that student s work; for example, if that student plans to continue working on another Scientific Learning product. When you stop a product assignment, the software removes the product from the Exercises screen and shows Resume next to the product name in the Assign screen. The product data will remain intact, and the results will continue to appear in the Results reports. If you click Resume, the student will resume the product from where he or she left off. You can stop an individual assignment from a student s profile. To stop all assignments for a group of students, see Stop all product assignments. Note: You cannot stop an assignment for a student who is actively training, or who is using Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. To learn more see Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the student in the students list. See The students list. 3. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. If you are using Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment, make sure it s turned off. See Set Auto Initial Assignment for your students. 4. In the Assignments section, click the Stop icon next to the product you d like to stop. The assignment is immediately stopped and student access is removed. The student data remains intact in MySciLEARN. The product is removed from the Student Exercises screen. 166

167 5 Reading Assistant assignments Resume appears next to the product name on the Student Profile screen. Clicking Resume will resume the product, and the student will start where he or she left off. Delete a Reading Assistant assignment Perform this task when the student will no longer work on the Reading Assistant assignment and you do not want to keep any record of the student s work on Reading Assistant. Also perform this task if you assigned Reading Assistant by mistake. When you delete a Reading Assistant assignment, the student s access to Reading Assistant is removed from the Student Exercises page. Additionally, the student s Reading Assistant data is permanently deleted from the MySciLEARN. If you assign Reading Assistant again, the student will need to repeat any previously completed content. You can use the delete assignment feature as follows: Delete an individual student's assignment from that student s profile. Delete assignments for a group of students from the students list. Warning! Deleting a Reading Assistant assignment permanently removes all the student's product data files from MySciLEARN. The product can be assigned to the student again; however, the student's original results will be lost. You cannot delete an assignment for a student who is actively training, or who is using Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. To learn more see Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Perform one of the following tasks to delete the assignment. If you are using Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment, make sure it s turned off. See Set Auto Initial Assignment for your students. For an individual student using the student s profile: 1. Locate the students in the students list. You can filter the student list by using the Browse by School, Filter by My Groups, or Filter by Staff options on the left, or you can search for a student using the Search feature at the top of the screen. 2. Click the student s name to open the profile. 3. In the Assignments section, click the trash icon next to the Reading Assistant assignment. 167

168 5 Reading Assistant assignments For one or more students using the students list: 1. Select your school from the Browse by School list, if needed. 2. Select your group from the Filter by Group list. 3. Select the checkbox next to one or more students, or select the checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 4. Select Delete Assignment from the Manage Assignments menu. 5. Select Reading Assistant from the product menu (or, to delete all product assignments, choose All Products from the menu), then click Delete. 3. On the delete assignment confirmation message, click Confirm Delete. You can assign Reading Assistant again if needed; however, the student will need to repeat any previously completed content. If the student has worked on Reading Assistant, it is removed from the Assignments section and the student s data files for Reading Assistant are permanently deleted from the system. If not, the Reading Assistant assignment is simply erased as if it never existed. 168

169 5 Reading Assistant assignments Advance to the next Reading Assistant library When a student completes a library and will no longer work on that library, you will need to edit the student s Reading Assistant assignment to assign a new library. Here s what happens after you change the student s library assignment: The Student Profile screen will adjust the assignment status to reflect the new library assignment. The student will only have access to the new library, and will no longer have access to the content in the completed library. The student s data for the original library will remain intact, along with the audio recordings for that library, which will still be accessible for review from the MySciLEARN Results reports. Also, the Reading Assistant reports in MySciLEARN Results will still include that student s data from the completed library. See Edit Reading Assistant assignments for steps on assigning another library. Note: Because Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment only makes the initial placement in the product, you'll need to include those students when advancing to the next Reading Assistant library. See Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. 169

170 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Use this chapter to learn how to create and manage custom Reading Assistant libraries for your students. What's in this chapter About Reading Assistant custom libraries 171 View Reading Assistant custom libraries 173 Create Reading Assistant custom libraries 178 Publish Reading Assistant custom libraries 180 Unpublish Reading Assistant custom libraries 181 Edit Reading Assistant custom libraries 182 Delete Reading Assistant custom libraries 187 Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries

171 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries About Reading Assistant custom libraries What is a library? A library (also referred to as a content library) is a set of selections (texts) that can be assigned to a student. Reading Assistant provides two types of libraries: content packs and custom libraries. You can choose a library for a student when you assign the Reading Assistant product. Content packs The Reading Assistant software license provides four standard libraries called content packs, which are organized by grade to include selections (texts) written for specific ages across a range of reading levels. Content Pack K-3 Content Pack 4-5 Content Pack 6-8 Content Pack 9-12 Created by the reading experts at Scientific Learning, content packs automatically customize the reading experience for each student as follows: Each content pack presents texts designed specifically for a student s age group and reading ability. For example, Content Pack 6-8 includes a selection about skateboarding designed to appeal to a 6th grader, but written at a 3rd grade reading level to accommodate a 6th grade struggling reader. The difficulty level of the selections in a content pack ranges from below the lowest grade level to the grade level of the highest grade. For example, in Content Pack 4-5, the reading levels range from 1st grade to 5th grade. As the student progresses in the content pack, the content difficulty increases. Content packs make the student enrollment process even easier when you assign the Reading Assistant product to a student, the software automatically defaults the library assignment to the content pack that includes the student s current grade. For example, a 4th grade student s library assignment will be set automatically to Content Pack 4-5. For details on library assignments, including changing a library assignment, see About Reading Assistant assignments. To review the actual texts within a content pack, use the Content Libraries page. Any staff member can view and assign content packs to their students. Because content packs are created by Scientific Learning, there are no management tasks needed. Custom libraries To provide more flexibility with content, Reading Assistant allows you to create custom libraries for your schools. Custom libraries allow you to tailor the reading experience directly to the needs of your students, and provide additional material for further reading practice. You can build a custom library with the selections from any of the content packs and then place the selections in any order within your custom library. Here are just a few examples of how you can organize a custom library: If you have a group of students that are all at the same reading level, and you want those students to do a little extra work in that reading level, you could create a custom library with content at that reading level only. 171

172 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries If you plan to introduce a new academic subject to a group of students, you could create a custom library that only includes selections around that subject; for example, nonfiction texts of history or science, or poetry and songs. And you could further customize the library by selecting these texts at reading levels specific to those students. When you ve created your custom library, its easy to assign that custom library to a student. Any staff member can view the custom libraries at their schools and assign the custom libraries to their students. However, custom library management tasks are limited based on a staff member s role. Note:Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment will not place students in custom libraries. To learn more see Use Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment. See the following topics for details on managing custom libraries: View Reading Assistant custom libraries Create Reading Assistant custom libraries Publish Reading Assistant custom libraries Edit Reading Assistant custom libraries Delete Reading Assistant custom libraries Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries 172

173 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries View Reading Assistant custom libraries Access the Content Libraries page MySciLEARN organizes all of the content libraries in one place, accessible from any page using the Content Library button at the top of the Manage section within MySciLEARN: Access the Content Libraries page based on your staff role and your association with schools that have a valid Reading Assistant license: District managers can access the Content Libraries page when at least one school in the district has a valid Reading Assistant product license. School managers can only access the Content Libraries page if one of their schools has a valid Reading Assistant product license. Instructors can only access the Content Libraries page if their school has a valid Reading Assistant product license. 173

174 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries View content packs All staff members can view content packs. When you access the Content Libraries page, the four content packs appear on the left side of the screen, in grade-level order: Content Pack K-3 Content Pack 4-5 Content Pack 6-8 Content Pack 9-12 Within a content pack, topics appear in order of difficulty: easier to more difficult. To browse through a content pack: Click the content pack to view all of its topics and selections. Click a selection title within a topic to view the following details: Selection title and text, with glossary words underlined Think About Its Take the Quiz questions View custom libraries All staff members can view the custom libraries in their schools. When you access the Content Libraries page, any custom libraries appear on the left side of the screen, in alphabetical order. To browse through a custom library, click the library to view all of its selections. Click a selection title to view the following details: 174

175 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Selection title and text, with glossary words underlined Think About Its Take the Quiz questions View library state When viewing custom libraries, they will always appear in one of the three following states, detailed in this topic: Draft. The library has been created and saved but not published. The library name appears in italics to indicate the draft/edit status. Published. The library is available for student assignment. You cannot edit or delete a published library until you unpublish that library. Locked. The library has been published and is currently assigned to a student. A lock icon appears next to the library name to indicate the status. You cannot edit or delete a locked library. View draft custom libraries A draft library has been created and saved but not published. A draft library name appears in italics to indicate the draft/edit status. When viewing a draft library, you can perform all library management, including editing, publishing, and deleting the library. See the following topics for details: Create Reading Assistant custom libraries Publish Reading Assistant custom libraries Edit Reading Assistant custom libraries 175

176 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Delete Reading Assistant custom libraries Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries View published custom libraries A published library is available for student assignment. You cannot edit or delete a published library until you unpublish that library. See Publish Reading Assistant custom libraries for details. 176

177 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries View locked custom libraries A locked library has been published and is currently assigned to a student. A lock icon appears next to the library name to indicate the locked status. You can view a locked library, but you cannot edit or delete a locked library. See Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries for details. 177

178 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Create Reading Assistant custom libraries Use the Content Libraries page to create a custom library for the students in your schools. Reading Assistant allows you to build your custom library by selecting content from the content packs. Follow these tips when selecting content for a custom library: You can select individual reading selections or whole topics. When you select a topic, all selections in that topic are automatically selected. Each topic is labeled with the content pack from which it came, so you ll know the approximate grade level for the topic and its selections. You can view and select content based on reading levels such as grade equivalent scores, Guided Reading Levels, or Lexile measures. You can create custom libraries based on your staff role: District managers can create custom libraries for any school in the district. School managers can create custom libraries for their schools. Instructors cannot create custom libraries for their school unless the instructor role permissions have been changed. Note: When creating a custom library, use a unique name to identify that custom library. Custom library names must be unique across the school. For example: Custom library content: "Reading levels 3-4" or "Fiction K-1" Training time and date: "1st Period Fall 2016" or "10am Spring 2016" Classroom or teacher: "Mr Perez " Student information: "ELL " or "3rd Grade 2016" 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Content Libraries button to access the Content Libraries page. 2. Use the School menu to select the school where you want to add the custom library, as needed. 3. Under Custom Libraries, click New Library. If you cannot see the New Library button, you do not have permission to manage custom libraries. Contact your district manager for more information. 4. On the Add New Library screen, enter a unique name for the custom library and click Save. Custom library names must be unique across your school. The Add Content screen shows all of the topics and selections from the content packs. By default, all of the content from the content packs is available. Use the Content Pack filter in the upper left corner to view content from an individual content pack. 5. Scroll through the content list and select the content to add to your new custom library. You can select individual reading selections or whole topics. When you select a topic, all selections in that topic are automatically selected. Each topic is labeled with the content pack from which it came, so you ll know the approximate grade level range for the topic and selections. You can also view and select content based on reading levels such as grade equivalent scores, Guided Reading Levels, or Lexile measures. 178

179 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries 6. When you have selected all of the content you want in your custom library, click the Add Content button in the lower right corner. The custom library is saved as a draft, and appears in the list of Custom Libraries on the left. To allow more flexibility when ordering your content, custom libraries do not show topics, only selections. 7. Make any changes to the content, as needed. Use the up and down arrows next to each selection to change the order of the selections. Click the trash next to a selection to delete any unwanted selections. 8. When you are finished changing the content, the create new library task is complete. Advance to the next topics as needed: Before you can assign the custom library to a student, you ll need to publish that custom library. See Publish Reading Assistant custom libraries. If you'd like to edit the custom library before you publish it, see Edit Reading Assistant custom libraries. 179

180 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Publish Reading Assistant custom libraries When you create a custom library and add content, that library remains in draft mode and is not available for student assignment until you publish the library. This allows you to make sure the custom library is set up exactly how you want it before other staff members start assigning it to their students. You can publish custom libraries based on your staff role: District managers can publish custom libraries for any school in the district. School managers can publish custom libraries for their schools. Instructors cannot publish custom libraries for their school unless the instructor role permissions have been changed. When you publish a custom library, that library becomes available to all school staff members for student assignment. You ll need to unpublish that custom library to prevent students from using it, or to edit or delete it. See Unpublish Reading Assistant custom libraries. A custom library becomes locked once it's assigned to a student. Locked libraries can no longer be edited or deleted, but you can unpublish a locked custom library to prevent other students from using it. See Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Content Libraries button to access the Content Libraries page. 2. If needed, use the School menu to select the school with the custom library. 3. Under Custom Libraries, select the custom library. Make sure the library has content added to it, as you cannot publish libraries without content. 4. Click the Publish button in the upper right corner to publish the library. If the library is unpublished but you cannot see the Publish button, you do not have permission to manage the custom library. Contact your district manager for more information. 180

181 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Unpublish Reading Assistant custom libraries In some cases, you may want to unpublish a library; for example, if you discover that you need to edit the custom library before students use it, or if you no longer want the custom library to be available for student assignment. Unpublishing a custom library does not delete the library; it only removes it from the Assign feature. When you unpublish a custom library, students who currently have that custom library assignment will still be able to access and work in that custom library; however, staff members will no longer be able to assign that custom library to any other students. Note: If a student was assigned to a custom library that has been unpublished, the library will still appear in the Library menu until you change the student s library assignment. For details see Change library assignments. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Content Libraries button. 2. If needed, use the School menu to select the school with the custom library. 3. Under Custom Libraries, select the custom library. 4. Click the Unpublish button in the upper right corner. If you cannot see the Unpublish button, you do not have permission to manage the custom library. Contact your district manager for more information. 5. Continue with the following topics as needed: Edit Reading Assistant custom libraries Delete Reading Assistant custom libraries 181

182 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Edit Reading Assistant custom libraries About custom library edits You can edit custom libraries as follows: Rename the custom library Edit the order of the current selections in the custom library Remove selections from a custom library Add new content to a custom library You can edit custom libraries based on your staff role: District managers can edit custom libraries for any school in the district. School managers can edit custom libraries for their schools. Instructors cannot edit custom libraries for their school unless the instructor role permissions have been changed. You can only edit unpublished libraries. To learn more see Unpublish Reading Assistant custom libraries. Once a custom library is published and assigned to a student, the library is locked and you can no longer edit or delete that custom library. See Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries. Open a custom library for edit 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Content Libraries button to access the Content Libraries page. 2. If needed, use the School menu to select the school with the custom library. 3. Under Custom Libraries, select the unpublished custom library. If the library is published but not locked, you must unpublish the library to make any edits. See Unpublish Reading Assistant custom libraries. If the library is unpublished but you cannot see the Add Content button, you do not have 182

183 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries permission to manage the custom library. Contact your district manager for more information. Continue with the following editing tasks as needed. add new content, rename the library, manage content. Add new content to a custom library 1. Open the library for edit. 2. Click the Add Content button in the upper right corner. The Add Content screen shows all of the topics and selections from the content packs. By default, all of the content from the content packs is available. Use the Content Pack filter in the upper left corner to view content from an individual content pack. 3. Scroll through the list of content and select the content you want to add to your new custom library. You can select individual reading selections or whole topics. When you choose a topic, all selections in that topic are automatically selected. Each topic is labeled with the content pack from which it came, so you ll know the approximate grade level range for the topic and selections. You can also view and select content based on reading levels such as grade equivalent scores, Guided Reading Levels, or Lexile measures. 183

184 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries 4. When you have selected all of the content you want in your custom library, click the Add Content button in the lower right corner. Rename a custom library 1. Open that library for edit. 2. Click the Rename/Remove link next to the library name. 3. Enter a new unique custom library name and click Save. 184

185 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Custom library names must be unique across your school. Manage content in a custom library 1. Open the library for edit. 2. Use the up and down arrows next to each selection to change the order of the selections. 3. Click the trash icon next to a selection to delete any unwanted selections, then confirm the deletion by 185

186 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries clicking Confirm Remove. 186

187 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Delete Reading Assistant custom libraries MySciLEARN allows you to delete any unwanted custom libraries. Deleting a custom library permanently removes that library from MySciLEARN. You can delete custom libraries based on your staff role: District managers can delete custom libraries for any school in the district. School managers can delete custom libraries for their schools. Instructors cannot delete custom libraries for their school unless the instructor role permissions have been changed. Before you can delete a custom library, you must unpublish that library if it has been published. See Unpublish Reading Assistant custom libraries for steps. Note: Once a custom library is published and assigned to a student, the library is locked and you can no longer edit or delete that custom library. See Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Content Libraries button to access the Content Libraries page. 2. If needed, use the School menu to select the school with the custom library you want to delete. 3. Under Custom Libraries, select the custom library. You cannot delete published custom libraries. See Unpublish Reading Assistant custom libraries. You cannot delete locked libraries. See Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries. 4. Click the Rename/Remove link next to the library name. If the library is unpublished but you cannot see the Rename/Remove link, you do not have permission to manage the custom library. Contact your district manager for more information. 5. Click the trash icon to the left of the custom library name. 6. On the Remove Library screen, click the Confirm Remove button. 187

188 6 Reading Assistant custom libraries Manage locked Reading Assistant custom libraries When you create a custom library and publish it, that library becomes available to all school staff members for student assignment. However, once a custom library is assigned to a student, it becomes locked and can no longer be edited or deleted. Locked libraries show a lock icon next to the library name. Locking a custom library once it s in use protects the students who are working in that library it keeps the student work schedules and performance data intact within MySciLEARN. You can manage locked libraries as follows: To prevent any new students from accessing a locked custom library, you can remove that library from the assignment feature by unpublishing that library. See Unpublish Reading Assistant custom libraries for steps. If needed, you can unlock a custom library by deleting all Reading Assistant student assignments that include the custom library. However, because deleting an assignment permanently deletes that data for those students, consult with Scientific Learning Customer Support before performing this task. 188

189 7 Fast ForWord programs 7 Fast ForWord programs Use this chapter to learn how students work on the Fast ForWord products within MySciLEARN. For specific details on each of the Fast ForWord programs, see the Fast ForWord Program user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. What's in this chapter Start Fast ForWord student sessions 190 Exit Fast ForWord student sessions

190 7 Fast ForWord programs Start Fast ForWord student sessions Instruct your students to follow these steps to use the Fast ForWord program each day. If your students are using the program on ipad see Start Fast ForWord sessions on ipad. For a detailed description of how each Fast ForWord exercise works, see the Fast ForWord Program user guide. Each day, before your students start, verify the following: The Fast ForWord headphones are plugged in The volume on the computer is adjusted to a comfortable level Tip: Some students may require guidance through this task, especially if the student is young, or if this is the first time the student is using the program. 1. From any student computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN. See Log in as a student. The Student Exercises page opens and displays the student's assignment. If another student's name appears on the Student Exercises page, the student should click That s Not Me to log out and return to the Student Login page, then log in with his or her username and password. If the RPI graphic appears on the screen instead of a Fast ForWord graphic, the student will need to complete the RPI assessment first. See Take RPI assessments for steps on completing an assessment, then return to the next step in this task. If the student has no assignments, you'll need to create one before the student can continue. See Chapter 3 Fast ForWord assignments. 2. Put on your headphones and click a Fast ForWord graphic to open that program. 3. On the Exercise Selection screen, click one of the available exercise graphics to open that exercise. For information on how the system determines the student's schedule each day, see Fast ForWord program protocols. 190

191 7 Fast ForWord programs 4. Work on the exercise until the time requirement is met and the exercise ends. If the student needs to exit the exercise before the time requirement is met, see Exit Fast ForWord student sessions for steps. Students should never exit an exercise by closing the web browser. 5. Choose another exercise and continue working until all available exercises are completed and the Success Viewer appears. The Success Viewer provides a summary of the student's success on that Fast ForWord product, along with any points earned: 191

192 7 Fast ForWord programs 6. Click Exit on the Success Viewer to return to the Student Exercises screen. At this point, the day's session is complete. If the student wants to start a new session and keep working on the exercises, that's OK this will not affect the next day's protocol. 7. Click Log Out on the Student Exercises screen to log out of the program and allow another student to use the Fast ForWord program. 192

193 7 Fast ForWord programs Exit Fast ForWord student sessions Occasionally, a student may need to exit an exercise or a session before the protocol completes; for example, to take a short break. In this case, the student can use the Status screen to exit the exercise, and then exit the session as needed. The student should start another session that day and continue working on all available exercises until they are completed and the protocol for the day is met. If your students are using the program on ipad see Exit Fast ForWord student sessions on ipad. Note: Students should never exit an exercise by closing the web browser. Instead, instruct students to use the Exit buttons within the program as described here. 1. While in an exercise, access the Status screen. Windows. Press and hold the Control key, then press = Macintosh. Press and hold the Control or Command (Apple) key, then press = 2. Click Exit on the Status screen to close the exercise. The Status screen also lets the student view the time remaining and return to the exercise. The exercise clock does not pause while the Status screen is displayed, so the student should not take a break on the Status screen. 3. Click Exit on the Exercise Selection screen. 193

194 7 Fast ForWord programs 4. Click Exit on the Success Viewer. 5. Click Log Out on the Student Exercises screen to log out of MySciLEARN. 194

195 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Use this chapter to learn how to use the Fast ForWord program apps for ipad within MySciLEARN. For specific details on each of the Fast ForWord products, see the Fast ForWord Program user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. To learn about the exercise demos see Fast ForWord demos on ipad. What's in this chapter About Scientific Learning apps 196 Download Scientific Learning apps on ipad 198 Tips for using Fast ForWord apps on ipad 199 Start Fast ForWord sessions on ipad 201 Exit Fast ForWord student sessions on ipad 204 Troubleshoot Scientific Learning apps on ipad

196 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad About Scientific Learning apps What are the Scientific Learning apps? The Scientific Learning program apps for ipad allow students to log in to MySciLEARN from an ipad mobile digital device and work on the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs. The apps leverage the latest mobile technologies to provide MySciLEARN users with the best possible experience on ipad. For example: Engaging Touchscreen technology and bright, animated graphics captivate elementary school, middle school, and high school students alike. Accessible ipad portability allows students to use the programs wherever they want, whenever they want. Versatile With just a username and password, students can access the program from any supported device and switch among them (computer to ipad to laptop, and so on). This topic answers some frequently asked questions. How do the apps work? Just like MySciLEARN on a desktop or laptop computer, the Scientific Learning apps use the Internet to communicate with MySciLEARN. When the student opens a program app on ipad, it connects to MySciLEARN and prompts the student to log in and use the program as usual. When the session ends, the student's results are added to the MySciLEARN reports. Which programs are available for ipad? All of the Scientific Learning programs are available for ipad, including the Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) assessments. Please note that in order to use the RPI app, you'll need an active Results Now! package subscription for your MySciLEARN account. The program demos are also available for students using ipad, and can be accessed within the program apps. To use the demos as a staff member, use a web browser on a computer. Are there any changes to the programs? The Scientific Learning apps for ipad are the same as the programs used on the browser, with a few enhancements for ipad. Are there any technical requirements, licenses, or fees? There are a few system requirements, including which ipad mobile digital devices are supported. To learn more see System Requirements, available in MySciLEARN Help. No new licenses or fees are required any student with a program license and an active online MySciLEARN account can use the program apps. If you have any questions about licensing, check with your school administrator or contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. 196

197 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Do I need to change any MySciLEARN settings to use the apps? No, the program apps do not require anything new or special on the administration side of MySciLEARN. As a staff member, you'll continue using MySciLEARN as usual managing students and assigning products, monitoring student training sessions, and reviewing student results reports. Can a learner use more than one type of device to work on the programs? Yes, students can switch among supported devices as they like. The program apps function as a typical MySciLEARN client, so a student can switch from a computer to ipad and back again at any time. Can a learner use the programs through a web browser on ipad? No. When using ipad, students need to download and use the Scientific Learning apps. See Download Scientific Learning apps on ipad. Can a staff member use MySciLEARN through a web browser on ipad? No, staff members should use MySciLEARN on a desktop or laptop computer. To learn more see System Requirements, available in MySciLEARN Help. Do the apps work with MySciLEARN content servers? The Fast ForWord and Reading Progress Indicator apps do not need a MySciLEARN content server they include all of the content required to use that app. Any content servers already set up at the school or district will not be used or affected by using the apps. The Reading Assistant app will use the MySciLEARN content server if one is installed at the school or district. How secure are the apps? The Scientific Learning apps employ the same security as MySciLEARN, which requires that all students use a unique login and password to access the program. In addition, all of the data for MySciLEARN is hosted by Scientific Learning. If you have any additional questions about security, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. 197

198 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Download Scientific Learning apps on ipad The App Store lets you download the program apps directly to your ipad. Search for "Scientific Learning" to locate the apps, then follow the App Store instructions to download them. You can also find the apps on our itunes company page. The apps are free, but each student will need a program license and an active online MySciLEARN account to use them (the RPI app also requires an active Results Now! package subscription). Contact your school's system administrator if you need help with this task. Tip: Download all of the apps your students plan to use, including the RPI app. Students can open any of the apps to log in to MySciLEARN and access their assignments and the demos. Fast ForWord Language Language v2 Language to Reading v2 Fast ForWord Literacy Literacy Literacy Advanced Fast ForWord Reading Reading Readiness Reading Levels 1-5 Reading Assistant Reading Assistant program Reading Progress Indicator RPI assessments Once you've downloaded an app, the App Store will notify you when updates are available. You'll also be notified when you open that app as follows. Always update the app as soon as possible. Update Available The student can continue using the program without updating, but update the app as soon as possible. You'll be reminded until you update the app. Update Required The student cannot use the program until you update the app. 198

199 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Tips for using Fast ForWord apps on ipad Apps display in landscape orientation The Fast ForWord program always displays in landscape (horizontal) orientation, even when you rotate ipad or lock the rotation. This is the best view for using the Fast ForWord program. No keyboard or mouse in the apps After a student logs in to a Fast ForWord app, the program fully implements ipad touchscreen technology and no longer provides access to the ipad keyboard. This means that the keyboard shortcuts within the exercises are not available on ipad. Also, because ipad does not require a mouse, if an exercise instructs the student to "click" an object or graphic, the student should "tap" it instead. Exit button added to all exercises Because the Fast ForWord program apps for ipad do not include access to the keyboard, the keyboard shortcut to exit an exercise is not available on ipad. Instead, an Exit button has been added to the top of each Fast ForWord exercise. When the Exit button is active, tapping it opens the Status screen, which allows the student to exit an exercise. For detailed steps and usage recommendations, see Exit Fast ForWord student sessions on ipad. Internet status icon added to all exercises If the Fast ForWord program loses access to MySciLEARN during an exercise session, the exercise Exit button becomes a red network icon. 199

200 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Tapping the network icon opens the Status screen and shows an error message with instructions. Follow the instructions to resolve the issue. For more information see Troubleshoot Scientific Learning apps on ipad. 200

201 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Start Fast ForWord sessions on ipad Instruct your students to follow these steps when using the Fast ForWord program apps on ipad. If the student is using the program on a computer or Chromebook, see Start Fast ForWord student sessions. For a detailed description of how the Fast ForWord programs work, see the Fast ForWord program user guide. Tip: Some students may require guidance through this task, especially if the student is young, or if this is the first time the student is using the program. 1. Put on your headphones (make sure they're plugged in), and set the volume on ipad to a comfortable level. 2. On the ipad Home screen, open a Fast ForWord program app to connect to MySciLEARN and view the Student Login screen. See Log in as a student. The student can open any Scientific Learning program app to log in to MySciLEARN and view their assignments. However, to work on an assigned product, that app must exist on that ipad. For example, a student can open the Fast ForWord Literacy app, log in, and use Reading Level 1, as long as the Reading app has also been downloaded. 3. Enter your username and password to log in to MySciLEARN and access your assignments. The Student Login screen may prompt the student to choose a school or district first. Enter the first few letters of the name of the school or district, then choose it from the list. 4. Put on your headphones and tap a Fast ForWord assignment to open that program. If another name appears on the Student Exercises page, the student should tap That s Not Me to log out, then log in with his or her username and password. If the RPI graphic appears on the screen instead of a Fast ForWord graphic, the student will need to complete the RPI assessment first. Students can use their ipad to take the assessment, as long as the Reading Progress Indicator app also exists on their ipad. See Download Scientific 201

202 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Learning apps on ipad for steps. See Chapter 13 RPI assessments to learn how students take an RPI assessment. 5. On the Exercise Selection screen, tap one of the available exercise graphics to open that exercise. For information on how the system determines the student's schedule each day, see Fast ForWord program protocols. 6. Work on the exercise until the time requirement is met and the exercise ends. If the student needs to exit the exercise early, the student should tap the Exit icon at the top of the exercise instead of using the Home button or multitasking gestures to close the app. See Exit Fast ForWord student sessions on ipad for more information. 202

203 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad 7. Choose another exercise and continue working until all available exercises are completed and the Success Viewer appears. The Success Viewer provides a summary of the student's success on that Fast ForWord product, along with any points earned: 8. Tap Exit on the Success Viewer to return to the Student Exercises screen. At this point, the day's session is complete. If the student wants to start a new session and keep working on the exercises, that's OK this will not affect the next day's protocol. 9. Tap Log Out on the Student Exercises screen to log out of the program and allow another student to use the Fast ForWord program app. 203

204 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Exit Fast ForWord student sessions on ipad Occasionally, a student may need to exit an exercise or a session before the protocol completes; for example, to take a break. In this case, the student can use the Status screen to exit the exercise, and then exit the session as needed. The student should start another session that day and continue working on all available exercises until they are completed and the protocol for the day is met. If the student is using the program on a computer or Chromebook, see Exit Fast ForWord student sessions. Note: Students should not use the Home button or multitasking gestures to exit an exercise. Instead, instruct students to use the Exit buttons within the app as described in this topic. Reading Progress Indicator app provides its own Exit button at the bottom of the screen. 1. While in an exercise, tap the Exit button at the top of the screen to open the Status screen. 2. Tap Exit on the Status screen to close the exercise. The Status screen also lets the student view the time remaining in the exercise, or return to the exercise. The exercise clock does not pause while the Status screen is displayed, so the student should not take a break on the Status screen. 204

205 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad 3. Tap Exit on the Exercise Selection screen. 4. Tap Exit on the Success Viewer. 205

206 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad 5. Tap Log Out on the Student Exercises screen to log out of the program. 206

207 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad Troubleshoot Scientific Learning apps on ipad About troubleshooting If a student encounters any issues using a Scientific Learning program app, follow these troubleshooting tips. If you have any questions or you need additional help, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Quick steps to fix most errors Close apps using ipad Multitasking MySciLEARN connection errors Other known issues Quick steps to fix most errors If a student runs into problems while using the Scientific Learning apps on ipad for example, an app stops responding or does not work properly try these tips, in this order. If you're running multiple Scientific Learning apps, close them all before using any of them again. 1. Check the Internet connection on the student's ipad. If the connection is lost, restore it. See MySciLEARN connection errors. 2. Exit the app, if possible, then open it again. 3. If you can't manually exit the app, press the Home button on ipad, then open the app again. 4. Close the app from the Multitasking screen, then open it again. See Close apps using ipad Multitasking. 5. Restart ipad (press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on ipad until the red slider appears, drag the slider to turn ipad completely off, then turn ipad on again). 6. If you are using an earlier version of ipad software, try updating to the latest version. Apple is continually improving ipad software and updating to the latest supported ios may resolve the issue. If these steps do not resolve the issue, review the rest of the information in this chapter. You can also visit Apple Support for more tips. If you require further assistance, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Close apps using ipad Multitasking In general, mobile digital devices such as ipad manage applications differently than computers do. For example, most computers provide a large desktop area for you to view and manage multiple software applications at the same time such as a web browser, word processor, media player, and more. ipad, on the other hand, provides Multitasking as a way to view and manage all of your active software apps from one location. Multitasking allows you to switch quickly among recently used apps by suspending those apps in the background instead of closing them: 207

208 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad If a student runs into issues while using the Scientific Learning apps for example, an app stops responding or does not work properly you can try closing the app from the Multitasking screen and then opening the app again. If you're running multiple Scientific Learning apps, close them all before using any of them again. Visit Apple Support to learn more about Multitasking. From the Home screen, double-click the Home button to open the Multitasking screen, then continue based on your ios version: ios 7 and later: Swipe left or right as needed to locate the Scientific Learning apps, then drag each Scientific Learning app up from the Multitasking screen to close it. ios 6: Touch and hold a Scientific Learning app until the icons in the Multitasking bar begin to jiggle, then tap the minus sign on each Scientific Learning app to close it. MySciLEARN connection errors The Scientific Learning apps use the Internet to communicate with MySciLEARN during training sessions. If ipad cannot access the Internet, the apps will not work properly and you may see one of the following error messages. If you continue to experience issues after restoring your Internet connection, see Other known issues or try following the tips in Quick steps to fix most errors. Unable to access MySciLEARN. Please check your Internet connection and try again. When a Scientific Learning app is opened, it shows this message if it cannot access the MySciLEARN server. Tap OK to close the message, then press the Home button and check your ipad Internet connection. Unable to continue this session because the connection to MySciLEARN was lost. Please check your Internet connection and try again. This message appears when the MySciLEARN server connection has been lost for more than a few minutes during a session. Tap Exit to cancel the session. Some of the student's recent data may be lost. 208

209 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad MySciLEARN connection lost. Reconnect to the Internet or this session will be lost. If a Fast ForWord program app loses access to the MySciLEARN server during an exercise session, the exercise Exit button becomes a red network icon. When this icon appears, tap it to open the Status screen, review the message, and correct the issue as needed: Exit the Fast ForWord session on ipad and check the Internet connection, then press the Home button and reconnect ipad to the Internet. If the Internet connection will be restored within a minute or two, you can tap Return on the Status screen to let the student keep working. However, if the connection is not restored soon, the app will automatically cancel the session. Reading Assistant performance issues If your students are using very large custom libraries with the Reading Assistant app (100 or more selections in a library), they may see some performance issues. Limit your custom libraries to a maximum of 100 selections each. See Edit Reading Assistant custom libraries. You can also try closing any other apps while running Reading Assistant. See Close apps using ipad Multitasking. Other known issues While using the Scientific Learning apps, you may run into a few minor issues. Use the following tips to resolve the issues and continue using the program. If you continue to experience issues, try following the tips in Quick steps to fix most errors. Sometimes when I tap on the ipad screen, it does not seem to register. This issue occasionally occurs on ipad in general, when using an earlier version of ipad software. Apple has improved ipad software and updating to the latest supported ios should resolve the issue. "Loading, please wait" message remains on the screen for more than a few minutes. To resolve the issue, press the Home button and then open the app again. After restoring the Internet connection, I see the message "Unable to access MySciLEARN. Please check your Internet connection and try again." Tap OK to close the message. If the Internet connection has been restored, you should be able to continue using the program. 209

210 9 Reading Assistant Plus program 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Use this chapter to learn how students work on the Reading Assistant Plus program within MySciLEARN. For specific details on Reading Assistant Plus, see the Reading Assistant Plus user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. If you re using Reading Assistant, see Chapter 11 Reading Assistant program. What's in this chapter Set up Reading Assistant Plus equipment 211 Allow Reading Assistant Plus microphone access 214 Complete Reading Assistant Plus microphone check 220 Troubleshoot Reading Assistant Plus audio issues 222 Start Reading Assistant Plus student sessions

211 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Set up Reading Assistant Plus equipment Set up the lab To improve the audio quality in the lab or classroom (or anywhere your students use the program), we suggest that you follow these recommendations when setting up the work area for Reading Assistant Plus: Arrange the seating in the lab so that your students can quietly listen and read aloud without distraction and without too much noise. Do not place students next to loud equipment that may be producing a hum. Do not allow power cords from other computers to cross each other. Do not seat very soft-spoken students next to very loud students. Set up the headset Before the student can start using the program, you'll need to connect and position the headset properly. Then, when the student starts working on the Read and Record activity, he or she will need to enable microphone access in the web browser, and then complete the microphone check. Because the Reading Assistant Plus software uses speech recognition and verification technology, the quality of the audio signal greatly impacts the user's experience with the product. Correct microphone connections and headset placement are essential for a clear audio signal. Note: Use the headsets and USB adapters approved by Scientific Learning. A USB headset should always be used with an approved USB adapter. For a list of approved headsets and adapters see. If you are using a non-usb headset, plug the headset directly into the computer or device. If you are using a USB headset, follow these instructions to connect and position the headset, to control the volume, and to store the headset. Connect a USB headset to a computer 1. Plug each headset cable into the USB adapter (plug the microphone cable into the microphone jack and the headphone cable into the headphone jack). On some headsets, you can match the pink and green color coding of the headset jacks with the corresponding colors on the USB adapter input. For the Califone 3066AV headset, match the black headset cable to the green adapter input and match the red headset cable to the pink adapter input. For headsets without color coding, check for the microphone or headphone symbol on the jacks or next to the jack sockets. 2. Connect the USB adapter to the computer by plugging the USB cable into a USB port. 211

212 9 Reading Assistant Plus program If you're using a web browser on Windows and you plugged in the headset while the browser was open, you may need to restart the browser. 3. When the headset is properly connected to the computer, make sure that the student knows how to position the headset and microphone correctly. Position the headset and microphone 1. Place the microphone to the side of the mouth, not in front of it, about two fingers away from the corner of the mouth. Otherwise, the student's breath will strike the microphone and cause popping noises that can distort the signal. To accommodate this placement, you may need to bend the microphone boom at a right angle approximately 3/4 of the way down towards the microphone tip. 2. If present, make sure that the colored dot on the microphone (found on the plastic collar next to the foam microphone cover) is facing the user and has not rotated. If the dot is facing in another direction, twist the microphone so that the dot is again facing the student. 3. Have the student place both hands to the sides of the mouth (as if shouting) and move them away. If this can not easily be done without bumping into the microphone, it is too close; have the student move it farther to the side of his or her mouth. Note: Once positioned correctly, students should not touch the headset or move the microphone. Moving the microphone while reading will not help the software hear the student; it will only add noise to the audio. Control the volume from the headset In addition to controlling the sound volume through the computer, the headphone playback volume can be adjusted by using the volume controls on some of the headsets. Please note that adjusting the volume using these controls can lead to issues if the volume accidentally gets turned down all the way. If a student has a problem with the audio, make sure to check that the volume control on the headset is set properly. 212

213 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Store the headset When possible, always store the headset with the microphone boom still in the bent position. This will reduce the need for microphone positioning adjustment for the next user and will limit wear and tear on the headset. Troubleshooting See the following topics for help: For help with microphone access in your browser see Allow Reading Assistant Plus microphone access. To learn about the microphone check see Complete Reading Assistant Plus microphone check. For troubleshooting the microphone check and other audio issues see Troubleshoot Reading Assistant Plus audio issues. 213

214 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Allow Reading Assistant Plus microphone access To learn how to connect and position the headset see Set up the headset. For steps on checking the microphone see Complete Reading Assistant Plus microphone check. About speech technology The most important component of Reading Assistant Plus is its patented speech recognition technology, which allows the program to listen and follow along as a student reads aloud. Reading Assistant Plus implements this technology within the web browser, eliminating the need for any plug-ins or extensions. However this technology requires that you allow access to the microphone within the browser. See the rest of this topic for steps. For an in-depth look at how this speech recognition technology works, see our whitepaper Reading Assistant Plus Technology for Guided Oral Reading. Note for Reading Assistant users: Reading Assistant Plus will automatically ignore the Reading Assistant Plug-in if it s currently installed on the computer, so you don t need to remove it to use the program. In fact, you ll want to leave it installed if you plan to use both the Reading Assistant and Reading Assistant Plus programs on the same computer. Chrome/Chromebooks Allow microphone access The first time the student starts an activity that requires microphone access, the Chrome browser automatically prompts the student to allow microphone access. At the same time, Reading Assistant Plus shows the following message that illustrates how to do this: 214

215 9 Reading Assistant Plus program To allow microphone access, click the Allow button at the top of the Reading Assistant Plus web page. The student can continue using Reading Assistant Plus as usual and should not have to set this option again. Tip: With Chromebooks, the microphone access setting is automatically saved in each student's Google Account using Chrome's sync ability. This makes sharing Chromebooks among students easy. Learn more at Restore microphone access (if blocked) If the student blocks microphone access when prompted, or if microphone access has previously been blocked for Reading Assistant Plus, Chrome will not let the student use the microphone. Instead, the student will see a Microphone access has been blocked message when trying to use the microphone. In this case, just follow these steps to allow microphone access in the browser. 215

216 9 Reading Assistant Plus program This task assumes that the student has started a Reading Assistant Plus session and received the Unable to access the microphone in the browser message. 1. Click the camera icon at the end of the address bar to view the message in Chrome. 2. Choose the option "Always allow..." and click Done. 3. Have the student exit the Reading Assistant Plus program and start it again. Chrome restarts with microphone access allowed. The student can continue using Reading Assistant as usual and should not have to set this option again. To troubleshoot general audio issues see Troubleshoot Reading Assistant Plus audio issues. Firefox Allow microphone access The first time the student starts an activity that requires microphone access, Firefox automatically prompts the student to allow microphone access. At the same time, Reading Assistant Plus shows the following message that illustrates how to do this: 216

217 9 Reading Assistant Plus program To allow microphone access, choose the following options at the top of the Reading Assistant Plus web page. 1. Leave the Microphone to share option as is. The program will automatically choose the correct device for you. 2. Choose Remember this decision. This way, the student should not be prompted again. 3. Click the Allow button. The student can continue using Reading Assistant Plus as usual and should not have to set this option again. Note that in some cases, Firefox may prompt the student more than once to allow the microphone. This is an issue with the Firefox browser. You can always try using another browser. 217

218 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Restore microphone access (if not allowed) If the student does not allow microphone access when prompted, or if microphone access has previously been denied for Reading Assistant Plus, Firefox will not let the student use the microphone. Instead, the student will see a Microphone access has been blocked message when trying to use the microphone. In this case, just follow these steps to allow microphone access in the browser. This task assumes that the student has started a Reading Assistant Plus session and received the above message. 1. Click the microphone icon at the start of the address bar to view the Permissions message in Firefox. 2. Click the X next to Blocked Temporary to clear the permission setting and be prompted again. 3. Have the student exit the Reading Assistant Plus program and start it again. When it restarts, Firefox prompts the user to allow microphone access. 4. Follow the steps in Allow microphone access. The student can continue using Reading Assistant as usual and should not have to set this option again. Note that in some cases, Firefox may prompt the student more than once to allow the microphone. This is an issue with the Firefox browser. You can always try using another browser. To troubleshoot general audio issues see Troubleshoot Reading Assistant Plus audio issues. Microsoft Edge Allow microphone access The first time the student starts an activity that requires microphone access, the Microsoft Edge browser automatically prompts the student to allow microphone access. At the same time, Reading Assistant Plus shows the following message that illustrates how to do this: 218

219 9 Reading Assistant Plus program To allow microphone access, click the Always Allow button at the bottom of the Reading Assistant Plus web page. The student can continue using Reading Assistant Plus as usual and should not have to set this option again. Restore microphone access (if not allowed) If the student denies microphone access when prompted, Microsoft Edge will not let the student use the microphone. Instead, the student will see a Microphone access has been blocked message when trying to use the microphone. In this case, have the student exit and restart the program. Microsoft Edge will prompt the student to allow microphone access again in the browser. See Allow microphone access for steps. To troubleshoot general audio issues see Troubleshoot Reading Assistant Plus audio issues. 219

220 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Complete Reading Assistant Plus microphone check To ensure good audio signal quality and a satisfactory experience, Reading Assistant Plus automatically administers a microphone check to adjust the audio settings for each student. The microphone check automatically starts the first time a student works the Word Wall activity or the Read and Record activity in a new session. A student or teacher can also manually initiate a microphone check from the Tools menu at the top of the screen; for example, if the microphone is unplugged or if the headset needs adjusting, or the microphone check was skipped or closed by the student. Using both text and audio instructions, the microphone check prompts the student to read through a few simple screens, and then analyzes and adjusts the audio signal as needed. If the microphone check detects any audio problem, it provides some basic troubleshooting and then initiates the microphone check again. To learn more see Troubleshoot Reading Assistant Plus audio issues. 1. The first screen introduces the microphone check, and reminds the students to make sure the headset is properly adjusted and the microphone is not directly in front of the mouth (see Set up the headset). Breathing directly into the microphone will cause poor performance. When ready, the student clicks Next to start the microphone check. If this is the first time the student has ever run the microphone check, the program will prompt the student to allow microphone access in the browser. See Allow Reading Assistant Plus microphone access. The student cannot continue without allowing access. 2. The next screen presents the Volume Test, which prompts the student to count to ten. The student should use a normal speaking voice. The audio signal appears in the Volume bar. While counting, the software adjusts the volume of the audio signal according to how loudly the text was read. Ideally, the volume should appear in the green section of the graph. 220

221 9 Reading Assistant Plus program 3. If the software detects a problem, it advises the student to click Retry and try again. If it still detects a problem, it prompts the student to ask a teacher for help. If no audio problems are detected, the microphone check ends. If the check was initiated by the Word Wall activity, the program continues with the activity. If the check was initiated by the Read and Record activity, the recording automatically starts. If the check was initiated by the student, the student clicks OK to exit the microphone check. 4. student clicks OK to exit the microphone check: 221

222 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Troubleshoot Reading Assistant Plus audio issues Microphone access issues If you re having trouble with microphone access in your web browser, see the troubleshooting section in Allow Reading Assistant Plus microphone access. Microphone check issues Occasionally, the microphone check detects audio problems. When this occurs, it initiates the microphone check again. If the software still detects a problem after one attempt to correct the issue, a message appears, prompting the student to ask for teacher assistance. The message also provides an instructor section with information on how to troubleshoot and correct the problem. Continuous audio checking While the student reads aloud in a selection, the Reading Assistant Plus software continuously monitors the audio quality in the background, checking for issues that could be affecting speech recognition and verification performance. If the software detects a problem that cannot be resolved behind the scenes, it displays a message prompting the student to ask for teacher assistance. The message also provides an instructor section with information on how to troubleshoot and correct the problem. Additional audio troubleshooting tips If needed, you can try these basic audio troubleshooting tips, in this order. If the problem persists or you still need help, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. 1. If your headset has a volume control or mute button, make sure that it's set properly. See Set up the headset. 2. Make sure that the headset is properly connected to the computer or device. See Set up the headset. 3. Check the microphone settings on your computer or device and make sure that the headset is selected and the volume is not muted or too low. 4. Exit the Reading Assistant Plus program and restart it. 5. Log the student out of the Student Exercises and restart the web browser or app. 6. Restart the computer or device. 222

223 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Start Reading Assistant Plus student sessions About student sessions Instruct your students to follow these steps when using the Reading Assistant Plus program each day. For a detailed description of how the Reading Assistant Plus program works, see the Reading Assistant Plus user guide. Before you get started, make sure that all of the preparation tasks have been completed: Set up Reading Assistant Plus equipment Allow Reading Assistant Plus microphone access Complete Reading Assistant Plus microphone check Then, each day before the student starts a session, check the following on the student s workstation: All other software programs have been closed (including screen savers) The Reading Assistant Plus headset is plugged in The computer s volume is adjusted to a comfortable level Start a session Some students may require guidance through this task, especially if the student is young, or if this is the first time the student is using the program. 1. Put on your headset and set the volume on the computer and headset to a comfortable level. 2. From any student computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN. See Log in as a student. The Student Exercises page opens and displays the student's assignment. If the RPI graphic appears, the student will need to take the RPI assessment first. If the student has no assignments, you'll need to create a Reading Assistant Plus assignment before the student can continue. 3. Click the Start button on the Reading Assistant Plus product graphic to open the Library screen. Note: If the program does not open in full screen mode, instruct the student to maximize the browser window. This allows the program function properly and provides the best experience for the student. 223

224 9 Reading Assistant Plus program 4. Browse the library and click a selection to work on, or click the Go button for selection that you re currently reading. Students can access the selections in their library based on their content progression method: Locked. The student must start with the first selection in the library assignment, then continue through the selections in order. Within a selection, the student must complete each activity in order before moving to the next selection. Student-selected. The student can choose any selection in the library; however, once a selection is started, the student must complete all activities in order before moving to another selection. Note: Unlocked progression lets teachers demo any activity within any selection, in any order, and move on to a new selection or activity at any time. This mode is not suitable for students, as it does not require the student to do any work. 224

225 9 Reading Assistant Plus program 5. If needed, click the Start button on the book cover to begin working on the selection. For a new selection, the student will start with the book introduction. For a selection in progress, the student will start where he/she left off. The student should work on all of the available activities until the session ends. For complete details on how students use Reading Assistant Plus see the Reading Assistant Plus user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. 225

226 9 Reading Assistant Plus program Exit a student session Students should never exit Reading Assistant Plus by closing the web browser. Instruct your students to follow these steps to exit a Reading Assistant Plus training session. 1. From anywhere inside Reading Assistant Plus, click the Exit button in the upper right corner to return to the Student Exercises screen. 226

227 9 Reading Assistant Plus program 2. Click Log Out in the upper right corner of the Student Exercises screen to log out of MySciLEARN. 227

228 9 Reading Assistant Plus program 228

229 10 Reading Assistant plug-in 10 Reading Assistant plug-in Use this chapter to learn how to install the Reading Assistant Plug-in on the student workstations. The Reading Assistant Plug-in allows students to run Reading Assistant in a web browser other than Chrome. You do not need to install the plug-in on computers running Chrome, or on Chromebooks. Instead, see About Reading Assistant speech technology. Reading Assistant Plus does not require the plug-in. What's in this chapter About Reading Assistant Plug-in 230 Install Reading Assistant Plug-in 231 Update Reading Assistant Plug-in 234 Advanced plug-in installation (system administrators) 236 Uninstall Reading Assistant Plug-in

230 10 Reading Assistant plug-in About Reading Assistant Plug-in Reading Assistant Plus does not require the plug-in. What is the plug-in? A plug-in is a set of software components that adds functionality to a larger software application. Plug-ins are commonly used in web browsers to perform specific tasks. In MySciLEARN, the Reading Assistant Plug-in lets some web browsers perform essential speech recognition tasks that otherwise could not be executed. All web browsers except Chrome need the Reading Assistant Plug-in installed on the student workstation. Chrome and Chromebook users do not need the plug-in (although it won't cause a problem if it's installed on the workstation). The Reading Assistant Plug-in is part of MySciLEARN and only takes a few quick steps to install. You can install the Reading Assistant Plug-in using one of two options. If you have any questions, or would like help with this task, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Basic installation (instructors) In most cases you'll be performing a basic installation; for example, when installing the plug-in on a few student workstations, or when adding a new workstation. When a student starts training on Reading Assistant before the plug-in is installed on the workstation, Reading Assistant will automatically notify the student to contact their instructor, and then prompt the instructor to download and install the plug-in. See Install Reading Assistant Plug-in for steps. Advanced installation (system administrators) The Reading Assistant Plug-in supports flexible deployment methods that allow system administrators to install the plug-in on large groups of workstations. Use this option to install the plug-in before your students begin training on Reading Assistant. The plug-in is available from MySciLEARN and can be accessed directly from a web browser on the student workstation. See Advanced plug-in installation (system administrators) for steps. 230

231 10 Reading Assistant plug-in Install Reading Assistant Plug-in Reading Assistant Plus does not require the plug-in. Review this entire topic before installing the software. For steps on installing the plug-in before students start training, see Advanced plug-in installation (system administrators). How the install works When a student starts using Reading Assistant before the plug-in is installed on the student's workstation, Reading Assistant will automatically notify the student to contact their instructor, and then prompt the instructor to download and install the plug-in. All web browsers except Chrome need the Reading Assistant Plug-in installed on the student workstation. Chrome and Chromebook users do not need the plug-in and will not be prompted to install it. Before you start the installation, review these requirements: No other software programs are running on the student workstation. The student workstation is connected to the Internet. The user is logged in to the student workstation with administrator rights. 231

232 10 Reading Assistant plug-in Windows installation This task assumes that the student has already logged in to MySciLEARN, started the Reading Assistant training session, and received a message telling the student to ask their teacher for help. The instructor should continue with these steps to install the plug-in. Otherwise, see Advanced plug-in installation (system administrators). The plug-in installer requires that the user be logged in with administrator rights on the computer. If the student does not have administrator rights, exit the student session, log in as an administrator user, and restart the student session before you start this task. 1. Click the arrow next to Instructor Message to expand the message. 2. Click Download Plug-in to start downloading the plug-in. If Windows displays any security warning messages, click Run to allow the installer to start. 3. When the installer opens, review the license agreement. 4. Accept the terms of the license agreement and click Next to start the installation. 5. If prompted, click Yes on the User Account Control message to allow the Reading Assistant Plug-in installer to make changes to this computer. 6. When the installation completes, click Finish to exit the installer. All students can now use Reading Assistant on this workstation. OS X installation This task assumes that the student has already logged in to MySciLEARN, started the Reading Assistant training session, and received a message telling the student to ask their teacher for help. The instructor should continue with these steps to install the plug-in. Otherwise, see Advanced plug-in installation (system administrators). 1. Click the Instructor Message arrow to expand the message. 2. Click Download Plug-in to download the plug-in and start the installer. If the installer does not automatically start, double-click ASRPlugin.pkg in the Downloads window to start the installer. 3. When the installer opens and displays the Introduction screen, click Continue. 4. Review the license agreement and click Continue, then click Agree to accept the terms of the license agreement. 5. If prompted, click the displayed install option on the Select a Destination screen, then click Continue. 232

233 10 Reading Assistant plug-in 6. On the Installation Type screen, click Install to start the installation. If prompted, enter the password for the admin user account on the workstation and click OK. 7. When the installation completes, click Close to exit the installer. All students can now use Reading Assistant on this workstation. 233

234 10 Reading Assistant plug-in Update Reading Assistant Plug-in About plug-in updates When the student workstation has an older version of the Reading Assistant Plug-in installed, Reading Assistant displays a warning message after the student logs in and starts the Reading Assistant training session. This message tells the student to contact their instructor, and then prompts the instructor to download and install the update. Best practice: You must install all required updates. You can opt out of optional updates; however, to provide the best experience with the Reading Assistant product, we strongly recommend that you install the latest plug-in whenever possible. Required updates When a plug-in update is required, an error message appears after the student logs in to the system and starts the Reading Assistant training session. This error will appear until you install the update. To download and install the new plug-in, go to Install Reading Assistant Plug-in and follow the steps for your platform. Optional updates When a plug-in update is optional, a warning message appears after the student logs in to the system and starts the Reading Assistant training session. 234

235 10 Reading Assistant plug-in To download and install the new plug-in, go to Install Reading Assistant Plug-in and follow the steps for your platform. To continue without installing the update, click the Install Later button. You won't be prompted again, but an reminder icon will appear next to the Tools menu inside the Reading Assistant program. Choose Plug-in Update from the Tools menu to download the update and install it at your convenience. 235

236 10 Reading Assistant plug-in Advanced plug-in installation (system administrators) Reading Assistant Plus does not require the plug-in. About advanced installation The Reading Assistant Plug-in supports flexible deployment methods such as Windows Group Policy package deployment, Macintosh Workgroup Manager deployment, and command-line deployment, allowing system administrators to easily install the plug-in on large groups of student workstations. MySciLEARN hosts the plug-in installers. After downloading the installer, follow these steps to deploy the plug-in to a group of workstations. You can also use these same deployment methods to remove the plugin, if needed. If you have any questions or concerns, or need further help performing these tasks, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support for assistance. Tip: You can also download the installer and then run it on individual workstations as needed, before or after students start training. For steps on running the installer on a workstation, see Install Reading Assistant Plug-in (start with step 3). Windows 1. Download the Windows installer: 2. Deploy the plug-in from the command line using this syntax: msiexec /i \\<installer location>\asrplugin.msi /qn OS X 1. Download the ASRPlugin.pkg file: 2. Extract the ASRPlugin.plugin file from ASRPlugin.pkg and copy that file into the following location on the workstations: Macintosh HD > Library > Internet Plug-Ins 236

237 10 Reading Assistant plug-in Uninstall Reading Assistant Plug-in About the uninstall In most cases, you'll never need to remove the Reading Assistant plug-in. However, you can remove the Reading Assistant Plug-in from a workstation, if needed, following these steps. If you have any questions before removing the plug-in, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Tip: You can also remove the Reading Assistant Plug-in by running the installer and choosing to uninstall the program. Follow the steps for your platform as detailed in Install Reading Assistant Plug-in (starting from step 3) and when prompted, choose to uninstall the program. Windows 1. Log in to the workstation as an administrator user. 2. From the Start menu, open Windows Control Panel. If needed, you can select View by Category from the menu in the upper right corner to change the Control Panel view to match these install instructions. 3. Under Programs, click Uninstall a Program. For earlier versions of Windows, open Add Remove Programs. 4. Right click ASRPlugin in the list and click Uninstall or Remove. 5. Click Yes to confirm that you want to uninstall the plug-in. When the uninstall completes, the system does not display a message; it simply removes the ASRPlugin item from the Programs and Features list. OS X 1. Log in to the workstation as an administrator user. 2. Open Macintosh Finder and open your hard drive (Macintosh HD). 3. Open the Library folder. If you cannot locate the Library folder, it may have been hidden by the operating system. Check with your operating system documentation on how to find and view the Library folder. 4. Open the Internet Plug-Ins folder. 5. Locate the ASRPlugin.plugin file and delete it from your computer (drag and drop it in the trash and then empty the trash). 237

238 11 Reading Assistant program 11 Reading Assistant program Use this chapter to learn how students work on the Reading Assistant program within MySciLEARN. For specific details on Reading Assistant, see the Reading Assistant user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. If you re using Reading Assistant Plus, see Chapter 9 Reading Assistant Plus program. What's in this chapter Prepare for Reading Assistant sessions 239 Set up Reading Assistant equipment 240 About Reading Assistant speech technology 243 Allow Reading Assistant microphone access in Chrome 244 Complete Reading Assistant microphone check 247 Troubleshoot Reading Assistant audio issues 249 Start Reading Assistant student sessions 251 Exit Reading Assistant student sessions

239 11 Reading Assistant program Prepare for Reading Assistant sessions Before students can use the Reading Assistant program, you ll need to perform several important tasks. When these tasks are complete, see Start Reading Assistant student sessions or to start using the program. Set up Reading Assistant equipment About Reading Assistant speech technology Allow Reading Assistant microphone access in Chrome Allow Reading Assistant microphone access on ipad Complete Reading Assistant microphone check Troubleshoot Reading Assistant audio issues For specific details on the activities and reports within the actual Reading Assistant program, see the Reading Assistant user guideor visit MySciLEARN Help. 239

240 11 Reading Assistant program Set up Reading Assistant equipment Set up the lab To improve the audio quality in the Reading Assistant lab or classroom (or anywhere your students use the program), we suggest that you follow these recommendations when setting up the work area for Reading Assistant: Arrange the seating so that your students can quietly listen and read aloud without distraction and without too much noise. Do not place students next to loud equipment that may be producing a hum. Do not allow power cords from other computers to cross each other. Do not seat very soft-spoken students next to very loud students. Set up the headset Before the student can start using the program, you'll need to connect and position the headset properly. Then, when the student starts working on the Read and Record activity, he or she will need to install the Reading Assistant Plug-in or enable microphone access (see About Reading Assistant speech technology), and then complete the microphone check. Because the Reading Assistant software uses speech recognition and verification technology, the quality of the audio signal greatly impacts the user's experience with the product. Correct microphone connections and headset placement are essential for a clear audio signal. Note: Use the headsets and USB adapters approved by Scientific Learning. A USB headset should always be used with an approved USB adapter. For a list of approved headsets and adapters see. If you are using a non-usb headset, plug the headset directly into the computer or device. If you are using a USB headset, follow these instructions to connect and position the headset, to control the volume, and to store the headset. Connect a USB headset to a computer 1. Plug each headset cable into the USB adapter (plug the microphone cable into the microphone jack and the headphone cable into the headphone jack). On some headsets, you can match the pink and green color coding of the headset jacks with the corresponding colors on the USB adapter input. For the Califone 3066AV headset, match the black headset cable to the green adapter input and match the red headset cable to the pink adapter input. For headsets without color coding, check for the microphone or headphone symbol on the jacks or next to the jack sockets. 2. Connect the USB adapter to the computer by plugging the USB cable into a USB port. 240

241 11 Reading Assistant program If you're using the Chrome web browser on Windows and you plugged in the headset while the browser was open, you may need to restart the browser. 3. When the headset is properly connected to the computer, make sure that the student knows how to position the headset and microphone correctly. Position the headset and microphone 1. Place the microphone to the side of the mouth, not in front of it, about two fingers away from the corner of the mouth. Otherwise, the student's breath will strike the microphone and cause popping noises that can distort the signal. To accommodate this placement, you may need to bend the microphone boom at a right angle approximately 3/4 of the way down towards the microphone tip. 2. If present, make sure that the colored dot on the microphone (found on the plastic collar next to the foam microphone cover) is facing the user and has not rotated. If the dot is facing in another direction, twist the microphone so that the dot is again facing the student. 3. Have the student place both hands to the sides of the mouth (as if shouting) and move them away. If this can not easily be done without bumping into the microphone, it is too close; have the student move it farther to the side of his or her mouth. Note: Once positioned correctly, students should not touch the headset or move the microphone. Moving the microphone while reading will not help the software hear the student; it will only add noise to the audio. Control the volume from the headset In addition to controlling the sound volume through the computer, the headphone playback volume can be adjusted by using the volume controls on some of the headsets. Please note that adjusting the volume using these controls can lead to issues if the volume accidentally gets turned down all the way. If a student has a problem with the audio, make sure to check that the volume control on the headset is set properly. 241

242 11 Reading Assistant program Store the headset When possible, always store the headset with the microphone boom still in the bent position. This will reduce the need for microphone positioning adjustment for the next user and will limit wear and tear on the headset. Troubleshooting See the following topics for help: For help with the Reading Assistant Plug-in see About Reading Assistant speech technology For help with the microphone access in Chrome see Allow Reading Assistant microphone access in Chrome. To learn about the microphone check see Complete Reading Assistant microphone check. For troubleshooting the microphone check and other audio issues see Troubleshoot Reading Assistant audio issues. 242

243 11 Reading Assistant program About Reading Assistant speech technology What is speech recognition? The most important component of Reading Assistant is its patented speech recognition technology, which allows the program to listen and follow along as a student reads aloud. Reading Assistant implements this technology in MySciLEARN based on which device and web browser the student is using. For an in-depth look at how Reading Assistant technology works, see our whitepaper Reading Assistant Technology for Guided Oral Reading, on the web at Speech recognition in Chrome For Chrome and Chromebooks, Reading Assistant implements the speech recognition technology directly within the Chrome web browser, eliminating the need for any plug-ins or extensions. However, Reading Assistant requires microphone access within the Chrome web browser. See Allow Reading Assistant microphone access in Chrome for steps. Note that Chrome will automatically ignore the Reading Assistant Plug-in if it s currently installed on the computer, so you don t need to remove it. In fact, you ll want to leave it installed on the computer if you plan to use Reading Assistant with other web browsers. Speech recognition in other web browsers For all other web browsers, Reading Assistant uses a lightweight browser plug-in to provide speech recognition. You'll need to install the plug-in on the student workstation before your students can use the program. Reading Assistant will automatically notify the student to contact their instructor, and then prompt the instructor to download and install the plug-in. To learn more see Chapter 10 Reading Assistant plug-in. Speech recognition on ipad devices On ipad, Reading Assistant implements its speech recognition technology directly within the Reading Assistant app. You'll need perform one quick task: enable microphone access on the ipad device. It's easy to do; just follow the prompt when the app is first opened. See Allow Reading Assistant microphone access on ipad for steps. 243

244 11 Reading Assistant program Allow Reading Assistant microphone access in Chrome About microphone access For Chrome and Chromebooks, Reading Assistant implements its speech recognition technology directly within the Chrome web browser. This means that to use Reading Assistant, you'll need to enable microphone access within Chrome. Follow the steps in this topic. To learn more see About Reading Assistant speech technology. If you have any further questions, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Allow microphone access By default, when a student starts Reading Assistant in Chrome for the first time, Chrome automatically prompts the student to enable microphone access within the browser. At the same time, Reading Assistant shows the following message with detailed instructions. To enable microphone access in Chrome, click the Allow button at the top of the Reading Assistant web page. The student can continue using Reading Assistant as usual and should not have to set this option again. Tip: With Chromebooks, the microphone access setting is automatically saved in each student's Google Account using Chrome's sync ability. This makes sharing Chromebooks easy. Learn more at 244

245 11 Reading Assistant program Restore microphone access If the Deny button is clicked when prompted to allow microphone access or if microphone access has already been denied for Reading Assistant Chrome will not let the student use the program. Instead, the student will see the following message every time he or she opens Reading Assistant: To let the student use Reading Assistant, follow these steps to re-enable microphone access in Chrome. This task assumes that the student has already logged in to MySciLEARN, started a Reading Assistant session in Chrome, and received the above message telling the student to ask their teacher for help. Continue with these steps to re-enable microphone access. 1. Click the camera icon at the end of the address bar to view the Chrome error message: 2. On the Chrome error message, choose the option "Always allow..." and click Done. 245

246 11 Reading Assistant program 3. When you make this change, Chrome will prompt you to reload the page. Click the Reload button. Chrome reloads the Reading Assistant page, this time with microphone access enabled. The student can continue using Reading Assistant as usual and should not have to set this option again. 246

247 11 Reading Assistant program Complete Reading Assistant microphone check To ensure good audio signal quality and a satisfactory experience, Reading Assistant automatically administers a microphone check to adjust the audio settings for each student. The microphone check automatically starts the first time a student works on the Read and Record activity in a new session. A student or teacher can also manually initiate a microphone check from the Tools menu at the top of the screen; for example, if the microphone is unplugged or if the headset needs adjusting. Using both text and audio instructions, the microphone check prompts the student to read through a few simple screens, and then analyzes and adjusts the audio signal as needed. If the microphone check detects any audio problem, it provides some basic troubleshooting and then initiates the microphone check again. To learn more see Troubleshoot Reading Assistant audio issues. Tip: If your students are using Chrome or Chromebooks, see Allow Reading Assistant microphone access in Chrome for additional information. Before you start, make sure that the headset is positioned correctly. See Set up the headset. 1. The first screen introduces the microphone check, and reminds the students to make sure the headset is properly adjusted and the microphone is not directly in front of the mouth. Breathing directly into the microphone will cause poor performance. When ready, the student clicks Next to start. 2. The next screen presents the Volume Test, which prompts the student to count to ten. The student should use a normal speaking voice. The audio signal appears in the Volume bar. While counting, the software adjusts the volume of the audio signal according to how loudly the text was read. Ideally, the volume should appear in the green section of the graph. When prompted, the student clicks Next to continue. 247

248 11 Reading Assistant program 3. The next screen presents the Quality Test, which prompts you to repeat a p-heavy phrase, such as Please pay for the popcorn. Again, the student should use a normal speaking voice. The Volume bar shows the audio signal. When done reading the phrase, the Replay button lets the student listen to that reading. When prompted, the student clicks Next to continue. The software then analyzes this sentence. If the software detects an audio problem, it provides tips on how to resolve that problem. For example, if the microphone is too close to the mouth, the software may provide instructions on the correct placement of the microphone. If it still detects a problem, the software advises the student to ask a teacher for help. If no audio problems are detected, the microphone check ends. If the microphone check was initiated by the software, the recording automatically starts. Otherwise, the student clicks OK to exit the microphone check. 248

249 11 Reading Assistant program Troubleshoot Reading Assistant audio issues Microphone access issues If you re students are having trouble with microphone access on Chrome or Chromebooks, see Allow Reading Assistant microphone access in Chrome. Microphone check issues Occasionally, the microphone check detects audio problems. When this occurs, it guides the student through some basic troubleshooting and then initiates the microphone check again. The following are examples of potential issues and solutions: No audio signal detected. The student should check the headset connection and position. If the microphone check still cannot hear the student, it instructs the student to ask a teacher for help. A low signal-to-noise ratio is detected. In this case, the noise in the room is loud relative to the student's voice. For example, the student may be soft-spoken, or may be sitting next to an unusually loud child. Repositioning the microphone closer to the user's mouth may help, but remember to keep the microphone to the side of the mouth, as the student's breath can be a source of noise. You can also encourage students to speak clearly and not too softly into the microphone. If the software still detects a problem after one attempt to correct the issue, a message appears, prompting the student to ask for teacher assistance. The message also provides an instructor section with information on how to troubleshoot and correct the problem. Tip: If your students are using Chrome or Chromebooks, see Allow Reading Assistant microphone access in Chrome for additional information. Continuous audio checking While the student reads aloud in a selection, the Reading Assistant software continuously monitors the audio quality in the background, checking for issues that could be affecting speech recognition and verification performance. If it detects an audio problem, the software automatically makes adjustments behind the scenes to help improve the audio signal. If the software detects a problem that cannot be resolved behind the scenes, it displays a message prompting the student to ask for teacher assistance. The message also provides an instructor section with information on how to troubleshoot and correct the problem. Additional audio troubleshooting tips If needed, you can try these basic audio troubleshooting tips, in this order. For ipad, additional resources can be found in Troubleshoot Scientific Learning apps on ipad. If the problem persists or you still need help, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. 249

250 11 Reading Assistant program 1. If your headset has a volume control or mute button, make sure that it's set properly. See Set up the headset. 2. Make sure that the headset is properly connected to the computer or device. See Set up the headset. 3. Check the microphone settings on your computer or device and make sure that the headset is selected and the volume is not muted or too low. 4. Exit the Reading Assistant program and restart it. 5. Log the student out of the Student Exercises and restart the web browser or app. 6. Restart the computer or device. 250

251 11 Reading Assistant program Start Reading Assistant student sessions About student sessions Instruct your students to follow these steps when using the Reading Assistant program each day. If your students are using the program on ipad, see Start Reading Assistant student sessions on ipad. For a detailed description of how the Reading Assistant program works, see the Reading Assistant user guide. Before you get started, make sure that all of the preparation tasks have been completed. See Prepare for Reading Assistant sessions. Then, each day, check the following: All other software programs have been closed (including screen savers) The Reading Assistant headset is plugged in The computer s volume is adjusted to a comfortable level Students are guided through the Reading Assistant tasks based on whether or not it's their first time using the program. Follow these instructions to get your students started. Use Reading Assistant for the first time Continue using Reading Assistant Use Reading Assistant for the first time Review these steps to learn how a student uses the Reading Assistant product for the very first time. Otherwise see Continue using Reading Assistant. Tip: Some students may require guidance through this task, especially if the student is young, or if this is the first time the student is using the program. 1. Put on your headset and set the computer's volume to a comfortable level. 2. From any student computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN. See Log in as a student. The Student Exercises page opens and displays the student's assignment. If the RPI graphic appears on the screen instead of the Reading Assistant graphic, the student will need to complete the RPI assessment first. See Take RPI assessments for steps on completing an assessment, then return to the next step in this task. If the student has no assignments, you'll need to create one before the student can continue. See Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments. 251

252 11 Reading Assistant program 3. Click the Start button on the Reading Assistant product graphic. If needed, Reading Assistant may prompt the student to install the plug-in on the workstation or enable microphone access in the browser. To learn more see About Reading Assistant speech technology. The Reading Assistant tutorial video automatically opens for all first-time users. To learn more see Reading Assistant tutorial. When the student has finished watching the video, the My Library screen opens and organizes the content based on the library assigned to the student: content pack or custom library. Content Pack. A list of topics appear on the left. The selections in the current topic appear in the right. Each selection has its own book graphic with a Go button: 252

253 11 Reading Assistant program Custom Library. No topics are listed; only selections appear on the page. Each selection has its own book graphic with a Go button. 253

254 11 Reading Assistant program In addition, the content availability on the My Library screen is based on the content progression method set for the library. To learn how the library assignments work, see Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments. Locked. In this default setting, the student must start with the first selection in the library assignment, and continue in order through the content in the library. Within each selection, the student must complete each activity, in order, before moving to the next selection. Student-selected. The student can choose any selection in the library. Once started, however, the student must complete all of the activities in that selection before moving to another selection. Unlocked. Recommended for teachers/classroom instruction only. The user can choose any activity within any selection, in any order. The user does not have to complete a selection or activity before moving on to a new selection or activity. 4. Open a reading selection using the Go button on an available selection. 5. Click the Start button to begin working on the selection. Each selection presents the following activities to the student: Preview and Read on My Own, Read and Record, and Take the Quiz. The student should continue working on all of the available activities until the session ends. For complete details on how students use Reading Assistant see the Reading Assistant user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. 254

255 11 Reading Assistant program Continue using Reading Assistant Review these steps to learn how a student works on the Reading Assistant product after the first work session. If this is the very first time the student is using Reading Assistant, see Use Reading Assistant for the first time. Tip: Some students may require guidance through this task, especially if the student is young, or if this is the first time the student is using the program. 1. Put on your headset and set the computer's volume to a comfortable level. 2. From any student computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN. See Log in as a student. The Student Exercises page opens and displays the student's assignment. If the RPI graphic appears on the screen instead of the Reading Assistant graphic, the student will need to complete the RPI assessment first. See Take RPI assessments for steps on completing an assessment, then return to the next step in this task. If the student has no assignments, you'll need to create one before the student can continue. See Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments. 255

256 11 Reading Assistant program 3. Click the Start button on the Reading Assistant product graphic. If needed, Reading Assistant may prompt the student to install the plug-in on the workstation or enable microphone access in the browser. To learn more see About Reading Assistant speech technology. The Start Where You Left Off screen shows the selection, activity, and page where the student left off. Choose from the following options: Go. This button opens the selection and activity where the student left off. View My Library. This link opens the My Library screen, where the student can browse the selections in their library assignment. View My Points. This link opens the My Points report on the My Library screen, where the student can view points and progress in their selections. 4. Click the Go button to start working where you last left off. 256

257 11 Reading Assistant program Each selection presents the following activities to the student: Preview and Read on My Own, Read and Record, and Take the Quiz. The student should continue working on all of the available activities until the session ends. For complete details on how students use Reading Assistant see the Reading Assistant user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. 257

258 11 Reading Assistant program Exit Reading Assistant student sessions Instruct your students to follow these steps to exit a Reading Assistant training session. If the student is using the program on ipad, see Exit Reading Assistant student sessions on ipad. Note: Students should never exit Reading Assistant by closing the web browser. Instead, instruct students to use the Exit buttons within the program as described here. 1. From anywhere inside Reading Assistant, click the Exit button in the upper right corner until you return to the Student Exercises screen. 258

259 11 Reading Assistant program 2. Click Log Out in the upper right corner of the Student Exercises screen to log out of MySciLEARN. 259

260 12 Reading Assistant on ipad 12 Reading Assistant on ipad Use this chapter to learn how to use the Reading Assistant ipad apps within MySciLEARN. For specific details on the Reading Assistant program, see the Reading Assistant user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. See Chapter 8 Fast ForWord programs on ipad to learn more about the apps; for example, how to download the apps and how to troubleshoot the apps. At this time, Reading Assistant Plus is not available for ipad. What's in this chapter Tips for using Reading Assistant app on ipad 261 Allow Reading Assistant microphone access on ipad 263 Start Reading Assistant student sessions on ipad 265 Exit Reading Assistant student sessions on ipad

261 12 Reading Assistant on ipad Tips for using Reading Assistant app on ipad This topic lists changes to the Reading Assistant program for use on ipad, and some helpful tips. At this time, Reading Assistant Plus is not available for ipad. App displays in landscape orientation The Reading Assistant program always displays in landscape (horizontal) orientation, even when you rotate ipad or lock the rotation. This is the best view for using Reading Assistant. No keyboard or mouse in the app After a student logs in to the Reading Assistant app, the program fully implements ipad touchscreen technology and no longer provides access to the ipad keyboard. Also, because ipad does not require a mouse, if the program instructs the student to "click" an object or graphic, the student should "tap" it instead. General changes for ipad The Reading Assistant app includes a few cosmetic and functionality enhancements for use on ipad. In addition, a few small features that appear on the browser are not included in the ipad app. On the My Library screen, the Credits have been moved into the Tools menu. The Open My Bookmark button at the bottom of the My Library screen does not appear on ipad. On the Selection report, the Words to Practice section appears on the right side of the screen, instead of the bottom. Because ipad is not designed to save and print documents, the ability to print the Fluency and Selection reports has been removed. On ipad, the Reading Assistant graphic on the Student Exercises page does not list the student's library assignment. The Reading Assistant app does not show the Product Demos link on the Student Exercises page; however, the student can access the tutorial from the Help menu on the My Library page. 261

262 12 Reading Assistant on ipad Playing recorded readings on ipad Because ipad does not support the MP3 audio format, the Reading Assistant app saves a student's recorded readings in the M4A audio format. This means that playing a student's audio recordings works a little differently on ipad than on a computer: Students. Recordings made within the computer version of Reading Assistant are saved in MP3 format and will not run on ipad. If your students are using both versions of Reading Assistant, they can only play their MP3 recordings in the computer version of Reading Assistant and not in the Reading Assistant app for ipad. (Students can use a computer to play their ipad recordings, just not the other way around.) Staff members. When using the MySciLEARN reports to download recordings made on ipad, instead of downloading a single MP3 file for a recording, you'll download a zip file with separate M4A files for each recorded sentence. To listen to them in order, unzip the file to a folder, highlight all of the files, then open them in any media player. Using the Scientific Learning apps together If your students are using the Reading Assistant and Fast ForWord apps together, they may notice the following when switching among the apps. If a student is using a Fast ForWord app (or the Reading Progress Indicator app) and wants to switch to the Reading Assistant app, the student may need to exit that app first, and then start the Reading Assistant app. When using the programs through the Reading Assistant app, the student can access the Fast ForWord demos by exiting the Reading Assistant app and starting any Fast ForWord app. 262

263 12 Reading Assistant on ipad Allow Reading Assistant microphone access on ipad About microphone access On ipad, Reading Assistant implements its speech recognition technology directly within the Reading Assistant app. You'll need perform one quick task: enable microphone access on the ipad device. It's easy to do; just follow the prompts when the app is first opened. See the steps in this topic for details. To learn more see About Reading Assistant speech technology. If you have any further questions, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Allow microphone access By default, when a student starts the Reading Assistant app for the first time on an ipad, the app automatically prompts the student to enable microphone access on the device. Once enabled, the student can continue using Reading Assistant as usual, and you should not have to set the option again on this device. Turn microphone access back on If a student chooses "Don't Allow" when prompted to allow microphone access on an ipad, Reading Assistant won't work properly on that device; the app will not hear students during the microphone check or while recording. To correct this issue, follow these steps to enable microphone access again on the device. Once enabled, students can use Reading Assistant as usual and you should not have to set the option again on this device. 1. From the ipad Home screen, open Settings. 2. Under Settings, search or scroll to find "Reading Asst" and tap it to open the Reading Assistant settings. 263

264 12 Reading Assistant on ipad 3. Turn on microphone access. 264

265 12 Reading Assistant on ipad Start Reading Assistant student sessions on ipad At this time, Reading Assistant Plus is not available for ipad. About student sessions Instruct your students to follow these steps when using the Reading Assistant program app on ipad. If the student is using the program on a computer or Chromebook, see Start Reading Assistant student sessions. For a detailed description of how the Reading Assistant program works, see the Reading Assistant user guide. Before you get started, review these topics and complete any necessary tasks: Tips for using Reading Assistant app on ipad Prepare for Reading Assistant sessions Students are guided through the Reading Assistant tasks based on whether or not it's their first time using the program. Follow these instructions to get your students started. Use Reading Assistant for the first time Continue using the Reading Assistant app Use Reading Assistant for the first time Review these steps to learn how a student uses the Reading Assistant program for the very first time. Otherwise, see Continue using the Reading Assistant app. Tip: Some students may require guidance through this task, especially if the student is young, or if this is the first time the student is using the program. 1. Put on your headset (make sure it's plugged in), and set the volume on ipad to a comfortable level. 2. On the ipad Home screen, open the Reading Assistant app and log in to MySciLEARN. See Log in as a student. 3. Tap the Reading Assistant assignment to open the program. 265

266 12 Reading Assistant on ipad The Reading Assistant tutorial video automatically opens and plays for all first-time users. See Reading Assistant tutorial on ipad. Then the My Library screen opens and presents the reading content based on the student's assigned library: content pack or custom library. Content Pack. A list of topics appear on the left. The selections in the current topic appear in the right. Each selection has a book graphic with a Go button: Custom Library. No topics are listed; only selections appear on the page. Each selection has a 266

267 12 Reading Assistant on ipad book graphic with a Go button: In addition, the content availability on the My Library screen is based on the content progression method set for the library. For more details on how the library assignments work, see Chapter 5 Reading Assistant assignments. Locked. In this default setting, the student must start with the first selection in the library assignment, and continue in order through the content in the library. Within each selection, the student must complete each activity, in order, before moving to the next selection. Student-selected. The student can choose any selection in the library. Once started, however, the student must complete all of the activities in that selection before moving to another selection. Unlocked. Recommended for teachers/classroom instruction only. The user can choose any activity within any selection, in any order. The user does not have to complete a selection or activity before moving on to a new selection or activity. 4. Tap the Start button to begin working on the selection. Each selection presents three activities: Preview and Read, Read and Record, and Take the Quiz. The student should continue working on all of the available activities until the session ends. For complete details on how students use Reading Assistant see the Reading Assistant user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. 267

268 12 Reading Assistant on ipad Continue using the Reading Assistant app Review these steps to learn how a student works on the Reading Assistant product after the first work session. Otherwise, see Use Reading Assistant for the first time. Tip: Some students may require guidance through this task, especially if the student is young, or if this is the first time the student is using the program. 1. Put on your headset (make sure it's plugged in), and set the volume on ipad to a comfortable level. 2. On the ipad Home screen, open the Reading Assistant app and log in to MySciLEARN. See Log in as a student. 3. Tap the Reading Assistant assignment to open the program. 268

269 12 Reading Assistant on ipad The Start Where You Left Off screen shows the selection, activity, and page where the student left off. Choose from the following options: Go. This button opens the selection and activity where the student left off. View My Library. This link opens the My Library screen, where the student can browse the selections in their library assignment. View My Points. This link opens the My Points report on the My Library screen, where the student can view points and progress in their selections. 4. Tap the Go button to start working where you last left off. Each selection presents three activities: Preview and Read, Read and Record, and Take the Quiz. The student should continue working on all of the available activities until the session ends. For complete details on how students use Reading Assistant see the Reading Assistant user guide or visit MySciLEARN Help. 269

270 12 Reading Assistant on ipad Exit Reading Assistant student sessions on ipad Instruct your students to follow these steps to exit a Reading Assistant training session. If the student is using the program on a computer or Chromebook, see Exit Reading Assistant student sessions. Students should not use the Home button or multitasking gestures to exit a session. Instead, instruct students to use the Exit buttons within the app as described in this topic. The Reading Progress Indicator app provides its own Exit button at the bottom of the screen. At this time, Reading Assistant Plus is not available for ipad. 1. From anywhere inside Reading Assistant, click the Exit button in the upper right corner until you return to the Student Exercises screen. 270

271 12 Reading Assistant on ipad 2. Tap Log Out on the Student Exercises screen to log out of the program. 271

272 13 RPI assessments 13 RPI assessments Use this chapter to learn how to use Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) to assess student performance in the programs. What's in this chapter About Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) 273 Reading Progress Indicator FAQ 276 Set RPI access for students 282 Assign Manual RPI tests 284 Take RPI assessments 286 Void RPI assessments

273 13 RPI assessments About Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) Overview Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) provides reading assessments within MySciLEARN, and reports the test results in the Results pages. The RPI assessments correlate to nationally recognized normed assessments, are reliable and validated, and provide overall reading scores that can help indicate how students are responding to Fast ForWord product use. For more information on Reading Progress Indicator and how the scores are calculated and used, see Reading Progress Indicator FAQ. Reading Progress Indicator provides four assessment levels based on the grade entered for the student: K-1, 2-3, 4-6, and (pre-kindergarten students are not eligible for the assessments). The assessments are not timed. The student may complete an assessment across work sessions and days, but should complete it in a timely manner. The products remain unavailable until the student completes the assessment. Tip: If your students are using ipad, install the Reading Progress Indicator app to let your students take RPI assessments on ipad. See Download Scientific Learning apps on ipad. Reading Progress Indicator presents assessments automatically. You can supplement these assessments with Manual RPI tests, if needed. To learn more see the rest of this topic. About Auto RPI Reading Progress Indicator presents assessments automatically, based on program usage (see How RPI administers assessments). During each student work session, RPI determines if the student is eligible for an assessment. If so, the RPI graphic appears on the Student Exercises screen in place of the assigned product graphic, prompting the student to take the assessment. To learn more see Take RPI assessments. When complete, the assessment results are immediately available on the Gains reports, in the Auto RPI Assessments view. See the MySciLEARN Results Reports user guides, available in MySciLEARN Help. You can manually assign an RPI test to supplement the automatic assessments, if this feature is enabled at your school. See About Manual RPI to learn more. 273

274 13 RPI assessments How RPI administers assessments Reading Progress Indicator is designed to automatically assess Fast ForWord students before and after Fast ForWord program use. It s also used to help choose an appropriate starting point for Reading Assistant students. Here s an example of how it works: Students receive their initial assessment upon enrollment in MySciLEARN. As students progress through the Fast ForWord programs, they receive a follow-up assessment after completing each Fast ForWord program (that is, after earning a Switch or Complete status in that program). For example, students will receive a follow-up assessment after completing Language v2, then after completing Language to Reading v2, and so on. Students have up to two months to complete a given follow-up assessment. About Manual RPI As described in How RPI administers assessments, Reading Progress Indicator automatically presents assessments based on program usage. This is the best way to use RPI. However, you can choose to administer a Manual RPI test to supplement the Auto RPI tests as needed for example, at the end of a school year, if your Fast ForWord students have not received an RPI test for their current program, or after a group of Reading Assistant or Reading Assistant Plus students have completed their assigned libraries. By default, instructors are not allowed to access the Manual RPI feature a district manager or school manager needs to turn it on at the school level. Once enabled, instructors can choose to assign Manual RPI assessments to any student who is currently using RPI. To learn how see Assign Manual RPI tests. When assigned, the Manual RPI test is presented to the student on the next work session, as usual: the RPI graphic appears on the Student Exercises screen in place of the assigned product graphic, prompting the student to take the assessment. To learn more see Take RPI assessments. The results are immediately available on the Gains reports in the All RPI Assessments view. See the MySciLEARN Results Reports user guides, available in MySciLEARN Help. To get the most out of Reading Progress Indicator, you ll want to be thoughtful about assigning Manual RPI assessments. Here are a few general rules. RPI assessments should not be administered more than three to four times per year. This includes both Auto RPI and Manual RPI assessments. Manual RPI assessments, if administered mid-fast ForWord product or mid-reading Assistant/Reading Assistant Plus library, may not capture the full benefit of the program. Use the following table for further guidance. To learn more about what RPI does, see Reading Progress Indicator FAQ. 274

275 13 RPI assessments What RPI does best RPI provides a general measure of early reading skills: phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary, comprehension RPI serves as an outcomes measure suitable for infrequent administration, such as after completing a Fast ForWord product RPI is sensitive enough to usually shows gains made after completing a Fast ForWord product RPI provides a fixed test, with two forms available at four levels What RPI does NOT do RPI does not provide a comprehensive measure of Common Core or any other curricular standard, and should not replace any other clinical, district, or state assessment RPI should not be used as a progress monitoring tool for frequent Response to Intervention (RTI) decisions, or as a diagnostic tool for specific language or reading disabilities RPI may not be sensitive enough to detect gains mid-fast ForWord product RPI does not provide an adaptive test 275

276 13 RPI assessments Reading Progress Indicator FAQ This topic provides answers to some frequently asked questions about using the Reading Progress Indicator assessments. If you still have questions or concerns, or would like more information, see About Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) or contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. What is Reading Progress Indicator? Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) is an online assessment that rapidly measures the effects of the Fast ForWord family of products by evaluating reading performance as students progress from product to product. Scientific Learning partnered with a third party to develop this research-based and psychometrically sound evaluation tool. When using assessments to evaluate students, it's important to note that assessment scores only represent a partial snapshot of a student's performance at a given time, which can be influenced by the student's psychological or physical state at the time of testing. As such, assessment tools can be subject to errors. Scientific Learning recommends using both a pattern of test performance over time and multiple assessment tools to provide a more accurate measure of a student's true performance. Additionally, please note that an assessment is considered to be at or below chance if the student scored below 30% on the assessment. Assessment scores below 30% correct cannot be distinguished from random guessing, and therefore are not a good basis for a valid evaluation. When reviewing RPI scores for your students, consider whether unexpectedly low scores seem reasonable for those students. If not, you may choose to void the RPI assessment and have the student complete a new assessment. MySciLEARN provides detailed RPI scoring results in the Gains reports. To learn more see the MySciLEARN Results Reports user guides, available in MySciLEARN Help. What reading skills does RPI measure? RPI measures four skills: phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension. These skills are defined as follows: Phonological awareness The ability to discriminate, identify, and manipulate the sounds in words; for example, recognizing words that rhyme, or removing the first sound of cat to make the word at. Decoding The ability to decipher written words. Decoding requires phonological awareness as well as an understanding of sound-symbol correspondences. Vocabulary The ability to understand a word's meaning and syntactical role, and to recognize the individual morphemes in a word. Morphemes are the smallest unit of meaning in a language and include roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Comprehension The ability to read text (or listen to spoken language) and actively construct meaning so as to understand the author s message. How does Reading Progress Indicator correlate to known reading assessments? Numerous studies have demonstrated the positive correlation of Reading Progress Indicator (RPI) to nationally normed reading assessments and high-stakes reading tests from various states across the 276

277 13 RPI assessments nation. Across 23 studies, including data from more than 13,000 students, correlation coefficients ranged from 0.48 (moderate) to 0.88 (strong), with an average of Collectively, this body of research has established that RPI has a high level of concurrent validity as a reading assessment. Moderate to strong correlations have been found between RPI and the following assessments. To learn more see our whitepaper Overview of RPI Correlation Studies. Standardized reading assessments AIMSweb Curriculum Based Measure: Reading (CBM-R) AIMSweb MAZE (MAZE) Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Oral Reading Fluency (DIBELS-ORF) Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests (GMRT) Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE) NWEA: Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) Renaissance Learning s STAR (STAR) Woodcock-Johnson, Third Edition (WJ-III) State assessments Arizona s Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test 2.0 (FCAT 2.0) Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination-3 (IREAD-3) Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress Plus (ISTEP+) Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) Nevada Criterion Referenced Test (CRT) End-of-Grade (EOG; North Carolina) Ohio Achievement Assessments (OAA) Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) South Dakota State Test of Educational Progress (DSTEP) State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) While the above studies focused on reading assessments, another study found a moderate correlation (0.57) between RPI and overall performance on the LAS Links English language proficiency assessment. Can RPI replace any clinical, district, or state assessments? No. RPI is not designed to replace any other clinical, district, or state assessment. Can RPI diagnose specific language or reading disabilities? No. RPI is not designed to be a diagnostic tool. 277

278 13 RPI assessments What if the Individualized Education Program (IEP) calls for accommodations or modifications while taking tests? If a student's IEP calls for specific modifications during testing, accommodations can be implemented for that student as necessary. The same modifications should be in place during each assessment so that RPI can effectively assess the benefits of the Fast ForWord products. Are the RPI assessments available for ipad? Yes, students can take assessments on their ipads using the Reading Progress Indicator app. See Chapter Download Scientific Learning apps on ipad. How frequently are RPI assessments presented? Reading Progress Indicator presents assessments automatically, based on program usage. To learn more see How RPI administers assessments. Also, schools can choose to let instructors manually administer RPI assessments, as needed. See About Manual RPI. What s the difference between Auto and Manual RPI? The term Auto RPI refers to the entire Reading Progress Indicator feature, which automatically administers assessments based on program usage. See About Auto RPI. This descriptor was added to the MySciLEARN software and the Gains reports to help differentiate these assessments from manually assigned assessments. Manual RPI is a feature within Reading Progress Indicator that lets instructors manually administer additional RPI assessments to students who are already using Reading Progress Indicator. See About Manual RPI to learn more. As far as the actual assessments are concerned (the forms, questions, and scoring), there is no difference between Auto RPI and Manual RPI assessments. What are RPI scores? For each assessment, Reading Progress Indicator assesses national percentile scores and grade equivalent scores, along with the percent correct in each reading skill area. Gain scores are available for students who have taken at least one follow-up assessment. A student s overall gain score reflects improvement from the initial assessment to the latest follow-up assessment. The scores in Reading Progress Indicator are based on the results of a calibration study in which Reading Progress Indicator was administered to a large, nationally representative sample of students. This sample was selected to include students of different ethnicities, and students from all regions of the United States. Fast ForWord product use was not considered in the selection process. Normalized scores were developed based on the performance of the students in this study. 278

279 13 RPI assessments What are grade equivalent scores? Grade equivalent scores provide a general idea of how a student is performing with reference to younger and older students who took the same test. For example, a very advanced third grader might earn a grade equivalent score of 5.3 on the level 2-3 RPI assessment. This score means that the student performed as well as an average fifth grader who took the same test three months into the school year. A third grader who earns a score of 5.3 is performing well above average on third grade level material (at the 83rd percentile, to be precise), yet this does not mean the student is ready for fifth grade level material. The Reading Progress Indicator grade equivalents were developed by a professional psychometrician based on data from the RPI norming study. What are national percentile scores? National percentile scores allow you to compare one student's score to the scores of a large national sample. For example, if a student scored in the 70th percentile on an assessment, that student performed better than 70% of the students in his or her grade who took the same assessment as part of the calibration study. In contrast, percent correct scores indicate the proportion of questions that were answered correctly. For example, if a student scored 40% correct on a set of 10 questions, it means that the student got 4 correct answers. Reading Progress Indicator provides a national percentile score for the student s performance on the whole test, along with percent correct scores for the sets of questions on the four skill areas: phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension. In addition, percentile scores for Reading Progress Indicator are based on the middle of the year and do not vary with the season. For example, for students in second grade, the 50th percentile corresponds approximately to a grade equivalent of 2.5. A second grader scoring at grade level earlier in the year will have a percentile score below 50, whereas a second grader scoring at grade level later the year will have a percentile score above 50. Because normative data is not available for students beyond tenth grade, the national percentile scores for students in grades 11, 12, or 13+ are calculated based on tenth grade norms. For those who are familiar with percentiles, please note that percentiles in Reading Progress Indicator range from 1 to 99. What are gain scores? Gain scores reflect improvement from an earlier assessment to a later assessment. A student s overall gain score shows improvement from the initial assessment to the latest follow-up assessment. Gain scores are reported in terms of grade equivalent scores and percentile scores. Grade equivalent scores are based on a ten month academic school year, so a student who earned an initial assessment score of 2.2 and a follow-up assessment score of 3.4 would have a gain score of 1.2 (that is, one year and two months). What are reading proficiency levels? Reading proficiency levels are categories of achievement that describe student performance in the skills measured by Reading Progress Indicator. There are four levels: struggling, emerging, established, and advanced. These proficiency levels were established by aligning results from the Reading Progress Indicator calibration study with information from various states regarding the percentage of students that 279

280 13 RPI assessments achieve proficiency on high-stakes assessments. The levels are defined as follows. Occasionally the results are color coded. Struggling Indicates minimal success with the fundamental skills assessed by Reading Progress Indicator (students at the 1st to 29th percentile). Emerging Indicates a partial mastery of the skills assessed by Reading Progress Indicator (students at the 30th to 54th percentile). Proficient Indicates a solid understanding of the skills assessed by Reading Progress Indicator (students at the 55th to 79th percentile). Advanced Indicates a superior performance demonstrating excellent understanding of the skills assessed by Reading Progress Indicator (students at the 80th to 99th percentile). Please note that percentiles in Reading Progress Indicator range from 1 to 99. How are the average scores for a group, school, or district calculated? Neither grade equivalent scores nor percentiles can be mathematically averaged. To report average grade equivalent gains, MySciLEARN averages the students' scaled scores on the initial assessment and the latest follow-up assessment, references the grade equivalent scores corresponding to those averages, and then uses those grade equivalent scores to calculate the average gain score. To report average percentile gains, MySciLEARN averages the students normal curve equivalent scores on the initial assessment and the latest follow-up assessment, references the percentile scores corresponding to those averages, and then uses those percentiles to calculate the average gain score. Some of my students scored at grade level on the initial assessment. Should they use the Fast ForWord products? The Fast ForWord products have been shown to benefit students who are performing at grade level as well as those who are performing above and below grade level. One of my students did not show significant gains on the Gains reports. Are the Fast ForWord products working? A given test score is just a partial snapshot of a student's ability at a given time. Performance can be influenced by a student's physical or psychological state at the time of the test, and may not always reflect the student s best effort. To determine whether a student is benefiting from Fast ForWord use, conduct progress monitoring using a variety of assessments and look for signs of progress in the student's classroom work and behavior. My school's average score only improved from the 3rd percentile to the 6th percentile, but I see improvements in the classroom. What's going on? Percentile rank is not an equal-interval scale; that is, the difference between any two scores is not the same as the difference between any other two scores. Scores become increasingly spread out as they move further from the 50th percentile in either direction, so that gains on the far ends of the spectrum are 280

281 13 RPI assessments more difficult to achieve. For example, a student whose percentile score went from 2 to 12 has made a greater improvement in performance than a student whose score went from 50 to 60, even though both students had a gain score of 10 percentile points. Because their scores are at the extreme end of the spectrum, students whose percentile scores improve from 3 to 6 may indeed be making gains that translate into improved classroom performance. 281

282 13 RPI assessments Set RPI access for students By default, MySciLEARN enables Reading Progress Indicator access for new students as they are enrolled in your school. As an instructor, you can manage the settings for Reading Progress Indicator for your students as needed. To learn more see About Reading Progress Indicator (RPI). Tip: District managers and school managers can turn RPI availability on or off for all new students at the school level. Warning! If you disable Auto RPI access for a student, the following features will be also affected: Fast ForWord Auto Assign and Reading Assistant Auto Initial Assignment will be turned off for the student. You ll need to manage the student s assignments manually. See Create your own Fast ForWord assignments and Create your own Reading Assistant assignments. If your school is using Manual RPI, it will be turned off for the student. Any Manual RPI tests currently in progress will be voided. To learn more see About Manual RPI. When disabling RPI for a Reading Assistant student, the content placement settings for that student may change. To learn more see Use RPI (Automatic). This affects RA only, not Reading Assistant Plus. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Perform one of the following tasks to set RPI. Note that if you turn RPI off, Auto Assign will be disabled, and any Manual RPI tests in progress will be voided. For an individual student using the student s profile: 1. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. 2. In the Auto Assign and Reading Progress Indicator section, click the Settings button. 3. Under Reading Progress Indicator, select the appropriate option and click Apply: Use RPI assessments Do not use RPI assessments For one or more students using the students list: 1. In the Settings column on the right, click the RPI button to turn it on or off. On (green) Off (gray) For one or more students using the More Actions menu: 282

283 13 RPI assessments 1. Select the checkbox next to the students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 2. From the More Actions menu, select the appropriate action and then confirm it: Turn Auto RPI On Turn Auto RPI Off 283

284 13 RPI assessments Assign Manual RPI tests Reading Progress Indicator includes an option that, when enabled at the school level, lets instructors manually administer RPI assessments to their students, as a supplement to the assessments automatically administered by the system. To learn about assessments About Reading Progress Indicator (RPI). When Manual RPI is turned on for a school, instructors can use the More Actions menu to assign Manual RPI assessments to any of their students who are currently using RPI. The assessment will be presented on the student s next work session, as usual (to learn more see Take RPI assessments). Note: Before using this feature, see About Manual RPI to learn how to effectively implement it at your school. In general, it s best to limit the number of RPI assessments a student has to take in a school year. Also, be mindful about assigning them; once you ve created a Manual RPI assignment, you cannot remove it, and the student will be required to complete the test. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Perform one of the following tasks. An RPI assessment will be presented on the student s next training session. For an individual student using the student s profile: 1. Click the student s name to open that student s profile. 2. Make sure that the student has RPI turned on (required). 3. Click the Assign Manual RPI button, or select Assign Manual RPI from the More Actions menu if you re a district manager or school manager. If you don t see this button (and the student has RPI on), your school may not have enabled Manual RPI access. Check with your school manager. 4. Click Assign to confirm the action. An RPI assessment will be presented on the student s next training session. For one or more students using the More Actions menu: 1. Select the checkbox next to the students, or select the All checkbox at the top of the students list to select all of the students on the screen. 284

285 13 RPI assessments 2. Make sure that those students have RPI turned on (required). 3. From the More Actions menu, select Assign Manual RPI. If you don t see this menu item (and the student has RPI on), your school may not have enabled Manual RPI access. Check with your school manager. 4. Click Assign RPI to confirm the action. An RPI assessment will be presented on the student s next training session. 285

286 13 RPI assessments Take RPI assessments About administering RPI This topic covers how students take a Reading Progress Indicator assessment in MySciLEARN (both Auto and Manual), how they exit an assessment early, and how they take a follow-up assessment. To learn about assessments About Reading Progress Indicator (RPI). Assessments should always be taken under the supervision of school or private provider staff. If the student is using ipad, you can install the Reading Progress Indicator app to provide access to the RPI assessments on ipad (see Download Scientific Learning apps on ipad). Before allowing the student to take the assessment, verify the following: The Fast ForWord headphones are plugged in The volume on the computer is adjusted to a comfortable level Tip: Some students may require guidance through this task, especially if the student is young, or if this is the first time the student is using the program. How students take an assessment 1. Log in to MySciLEARN. See Log in as a student. When the student logs in, the Student Exercises page opens. If the student is eligible for an assessment, the RPI graphic appears. If another student's name appears on the Student Exercises page, the student should click That s Not Me to log out and return to the Student Login page, then log in with his or her username and password. 2. Put on your headphones and click the Start button on the Reading Progress Indicator graphic. 286

287 13 RPI assessments The assessment starts. Reading Progress Indicator presents questions or instructions, one at a time. Some items are read aloud; others are presented as text and graphics only. 3. Answer each item and click Next after answering each item. When the assessment is complete, click the Exit button. The Student Exercises page reappears and displays the assigned product. After the student completes an assessment, you can immediately view the results on the student's profile on the Students page (see The student profile for more information). In addition, MySciLEARN sends the assessment data to the Results section of MySciLEARN, where you can review the results in the Gains reports. How students exit an assessment early If the student exits the assessment before completing it, the RPI graphic will remain on the Student Exercises screen until the assessment is completed. When opened again, the assessment will resume and present the next item. If the assessment starts from the beginning, this means that the student waited too many days before resuming the assessment. How students take a follow-up assessment When the student finishes working on the product, MySciLEARN will present a follow-up assessment as needed. Follow the same steps to take the follow-up assessment. To learn more about how RPI presents assessments see About Reading Progress Indicator (RPI). 287

288 13 RPI assessments Void RPI assessments If necessary, you can void a Reading Progress Indicator assessment (either Auto and Manual) for an individual student; for example, if the wrong student took the assessment, or if the student was not completely focused while taking the assessment. Use the Student Profile screen on the Students page to perform this task. To learn about assessments About Reading Progress Indicator (RPI). Note: You can only void an assessment for an individual student. Voiding an assessment permanently deletes it from the system. Also, you can only void specific assessments for a student. If the Void option does not appear next to the assessment, that assessment is not eligible to be voided: You can void a student's most recent assessment, if it was completed in the last 30 calendar days and you haven t already voided one for the current Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant program (RA or RA Plus). You can void an assessment still in progress, if it was worked on in the last 30 calendar days. 1. In MySciLEARN Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 2. Locate the student in the students list. See The students list. 3. Click the student s name to open the student s profile. 4. In the Reading Progress Indicator section, click the Void button next to the assessment. If the Void option does not appear, that assessment is not eligible to be voided. 5. On the confirmation message, click Confirm Void to permanently delete the assessment from the system. 288

289 14 Monitor student sessions 14 Monitor student sessions What s in this chapter Monitor student sessions from a browser 290 Monitor sessions from our mobile app 296 Download Session Monitor app 298 Use Session Monitor app 299 Troubleshoot Session Monitor app

290 14 Monitor student sessions Monitor student sessions from a browser To learn how to monitor student sessions on your mobile device, see Chapter Monitor sessions from our mobile app. About the Monitor screen The Monitor screen in MySciLEARN allows you to watch a group of students as they train, providing realtime participation details for each student's exercise session. It lets you check in and see exactly what product and exercise each student is working on, or whether a student is working at all. You can monitor students that are working in another classroom or building and get feedback on each student s status. Access the Monitor screen from the Students page while viewing a group (see The students list for steps). Turn the Monitor on or off using the slider on the right side of the page. The Monitor provides information based on the current product your students are using: Fast ForWord or Reading Assistant (if a student is taking an RPI assessment, the monitor shows "Reading Progress Indicator" as the current product). The session details for each product are described as follows. Monitor Fast ForWord sessions The Monitor shows the following details for all current Fast ForWord training sessions in the selected group: The student name and the current Fast ForWord product The current exercise in the Fast ForWord product The number of trials taken and the minutes remaining in the exercise The number of exercises remaining in the day's protocol An Unlock icon that lets you manage a locked training session (appears for locked sessions only; see for details) A red X icon that stops the student s training session, which should only be used when absolutely necessary (see for details) To view Fast ForWord session activity details for a student, hold the mouse over that student in the list. The following information will appear for that student s session: All of the exercises worked on in the session, including the current exercise The number of trials taken and the minutes spent working in each exercise 290

291 14 Monitor student sessions Monitor Reading Assistant sessions (RA/RA Plus) The Monitor screen displays the following information for all current Reading Assistant and Reading Assistant Plus training sessions in the selected group: The student name and the current product: Reading Assistant or Reading Assistant Plus The current selection in the Reading Assistant product (if the student is not working on a selection, this field shows None) The current selection activity: Word Wall Step 1 Preview and Read Step 2 Read and Record Step 3 Take the Quiz The number of minutes remaining in the session, if the student is using a schedule (if not, this column shows N/A) A red X icon that stops a student s training session, which should only be used when absolutely necessary (see for details) 291

292 14 Monitor student sessions Troubleshooting tips Manage locked Fast ForWord sessions This topic details how to manage a locked Fast ForWord student sessions from a web browser. If you are using the Session Monitor app, follow the steps in this topic (the Session Monitor app does not provide access to this feature). Under most circumstances, if a student workstation temporarily loses connection to the SciLEARN platform server while a student is training on a Fast ForWord product, the student s training session should not be affected. However, there are cases where a lost connection may impact the training session; for example, if a student loses the network connection while working on an exercise, and the connection is not restored before the exercise ends. When this happens, the student workstation will display a message indicating that it has lost its network connection, and the system will lock the Fast ForWord exercise on which the student was working. Locking the Fast ForWord exercise protects the student s exercise training data for that session. When an exercise is locked, the Monitor screen displays an Unlock icon next to the student name: 292

293 14 Monitor student sessions To view instructions on how to continue, hold the mouse cursor over the student s name: To allow the student to continue working when an exercise is locked, try one of the following options. If none of these options work and the student still can t train on the Fast ForWord product, you can try terminating the locked training session. See for details. Restore the network connection on the original student workstation. This is the preferred option, as it preserves the training data for the locked Fast ForWord exercise. If you cannot restore the connection but you want the student to continue training, move the student to another workstation and do one of the following: 293

294 14 Monitor student sessions Allow the student to work on any remaining non-locked Fast ForWord exercise. This gives the original workstation one hour to reconnect and save the locked exercise data. If it fails, the exercise will unlock and the student will likely need to repeat that training session. Click the Unlock icon on the Monitor screen to unlock the Fast ForWord exercise and allow the student work on that exercise. The student will likely lose the data from the locked exercise and need to repeat that training session. End locked training sessions This topic details how to terminate a locked student sessions from a web browser. If you are using the Session Monitor app, follow the steps in this topic (the Session Monitor app does not provide access to this feature). Occasionally, a student's training session may lock up and continue to appear on the Monitor screen no matter what actions you take. When this happens, you can manually terminate that session by choosing the red X icon next to that student s name on the Monitor screen. If you use this option to terminate a student s training session, all of the training data for that session will be lost. If you have any questions or concerns about using this option, please contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Warning! Do not use this option to close an active student training session; always have the student exit their training session from the Student Exercises workstation. Otherwise, all of the training data for that session will be lost. 1. Log in to MySciLEARN on a web browser (the Session Monitor app does not provide access to this feature). 2. In Manage section, click the Students tab to access the Students page. 3. Turn on the Monitor. 294

295 14 Monitor student sessions 4. Select the group that includes the student with the locked training session. 5. Click the red X icon next to that student s name. 6. On the Warning message, click Terminate Session. 295

296 14 Monitor student sessions Monitor sessions from our mobile app What is Session Monitor app? Session Monitor app for MySciLEARN lets you use a mobile digital device to watch your students as they use the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant programs. Keep an eye on student training sessions while you sit at your desk, walk around the classroom, or move around the school. Access up-to-the-minute session details for each student, including timely alerts when a student strays off task. Just download the app on your mobile device and you're ready to go. How does Session Monitor app work? Just like a MySciLEARN web browser client on a computer, Session Monitor app uses the Internet to connect to MySciLEARN, load your student groups, and monitor student training sessions. See Use Session Monitor app to learn more. How does the app compare to the Monitor feature in MySciLEARN? Session Monitor app and the Monitor feature in MySciLEARN are very similar, with just a few slight differences to optimize for mobile use. For details see Use Session Monitor app. Session Monitor app color codes your students to help you quickly identify when a student is actively working or off task. Session Monitor app lets you customize how you view your students choose from list view or grid view. If needed, you can use the Monitor feature in MySciLEARN to manage locked training sessions. See Monitor student sessions from a browser. Are there any requirements, licenses, or fees? There are a few minor system requirements, including which mobile digital devices are supported. See System Requirements, available in MySciLEARN Help. No new licenses or fees are required any MySciLEARN staff member can use the Session Monitor app to monitor their student training sessions. If you have any questions, check with your school administrator or contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. Do I need to change any MySciLEARN settings? No, the Session Monitor app does not require any new or special settings on the administration side of MySciLEARN, and it does not affect anyone else monitoring student sessions. 296

297 14 Monitor student sessions Can I use more than one type of device to monitor student sessions? Yes, you can switch among supported devices as you like (web browser, tablet, smartphone) without any issues. How secure is Session Monitor app? The Session Monitor app employs the same security as MySciLEARN, which requires that all staff members use a unique login and password to access the program. If you have any additional questions about security, contact Scientific Learning Customer Support. 297

298 14 Monitor student sessions Download Session Monitor app Use the App Store or Google Play to download the Session Monitor app directly to your mobile digital device. Search for "Session Monitor" or "Scientific Learning" to locate the app, then follow the online instructions to download it. You can also find the app on our itunes company page or our Google Play company page. The Session Monitor app is free, but you'll need a MySciLEARN staff account to use it. Once you've downloaded the app, your device will notify you when any updates are available. If an update is required, you'll also be notified when you open the app. Always download updated apps as soon as possible. With required updates, you cannot use the program until you download the updated app. 298

299 14 Monitor student sessions Use Session Monitor app Follow these steps to start monitoring your students from a mobile device. Tip: To learn how to monitor student sessions from a web browser, see Chapter 14 Monitor student sessions. Session Monitor at a glance Start the app and log in Choose a group to monitor Monitor sessions on a tablet Monitor sessions on a phone Session Monitor at a glance 299

300 14 Monitor student sessions Start the app and log in Getting started is easy. Once you've download the Session Monitor app on your mobile device, simply open the app, enter your MySciLEARN staff login and password, and tap Submit. To save your login credentials on a device, select Remember Me before you tap Submit. If you share the device, you can clear your saved credentials by logging out and removing your information from the login and password fields. The first time you log in to Session Monitor, a short tutorial opens to show you how the app works. Swipe left to scroll through the tutorial pages. Tap outside the tutorial to close it. For a refresher on how your MySciLEARN staff login works see Manage your staff account. If you have not yet downloaded the app on your device, see Download Session Monitor app. 300

301 14 Monitor student sessions Choose a group to monitor When you log in to Session Monitor, it validates your MySciLEARN staff credentials, then shows all of your groups in a list. Choose the group that includes the students you'd like to monitor (students who are currently using the programs). The group opens and shows all active training sessions for those students. Use the Menu icon to return to the Choose a Group screen and view a different group of students. If you don't see any activity for a group (that is, the screen is blank), none of the students in the group have started a training session. Try choosing a different group. 301

302 14 Monitor student sessions Monitor sessions on a tablet On a tablet, when you choose a group of active students, the app shows the students in a list. You can switch to grid view using the View icon (next to the Menu icon). 302

303 14 Monitor student sessions List view 303

304 14 Monitor student sessions Grid view Both views show session activity for each student based on the current program. Fast ForWord. Shows the current product and exercise, the trials taken and minutes left in the exercise, and the number of exercises left in today's protocol. Reading Assistant. Shows the current reading selection and activity (Step 1, Step 2, or Step 3), and the minutes left in today's schedule, if using a schedule. Reading Progress Indicator. Shows that an RPI assessment is in progress. Each student is color coded to help you quickly identify a student's status. Green This student is actively using the program and is on task. Red This student has started a training session but is no longer on task. Tap a student to view a summary of the session. Fast ForWord. Shows all of the exercises worked on in the session, along with the trials taken and minutes spent in those exercises. Reading Assistant. Shows the current reading selection and activity (Word Wall, Step 1, Step 2, or Step 3). Reading Progress Indicator. Shows that an RPI assessment is in progress. 304

305 14 Monitor student sessions Monitor sessions on a phone On a smartphone, when you choose a group of active students, the app shows the students in a list. Each student is color coded to help you quickly identify a student's status. Green This student is actively using the program and is on task. Red This student has started a training session but is no longer on task. Tap a student to view session activity details for that student based on the current program. Fast ForWord. Shows the current program and exercise, the trials taken and minutes left in the exercise, and the number of exercises left in today's protocol. The Session Activity Summary shows all of the exercises worked on that session, along with the trials taken and minutes spent in those exercises. Reading Assistant. Shows the current reading selection and the minutes left in today's schedule, if using a schedule. The Session Activity Summary shows the current selection. Reading Progress Indicator. Shows that an RPI assessment is in progress. 305

306 14 Monitor student sessions 306

307 14 Monitor student sessions Troubleshoot Session Monitor app Quick steps to fix most errors If you run into problems while using the Session Monitor app for example, the app stops responding or does not work properly try these tips, in this order. 1. Check the Internet connection on your mobile digital device and reconnect if needed. 2. Log out of the Session Monitor app using the Log Out icon, then log in again. 3. Close the Session Monitor app completely, then open it again. See Close Session Monitor app using Multitasking. 4. Restart your device by turning it completely off and then back on again. 5. Check the App Store or Google Play to see if there is a Session Monitor app update, and if so, download the update. See Download Session Monitor app. 6. If you are not using the latest supported version of the operating system software, try updating the OS. Device manufacturers are continually improving their OS software and updating to the latest supported OS may resolve the issue. Close Session Monitor app using Multitasking In general, mobile digital devices manage applications differently than computers do. For example, most computers provide a large desktop area for you to view and manage multiple software applications at the same time such as a web browser, word processor, media player, and more. Mobile devices, on the other hand, provide multitasking as a way to view and manage all of your active software apps from one location. Multitasking allows you to switch quickly among recently used apps by suspending those apps in the background instead of closing them. If you run into issues while using the Session Monitor app for example, an app stops responding or does not work properly try closing the app and then opening it again. Close app on ios device Visit Apple at to learn more about Multitasking on an ios device. 1. From the Home screen, double-click the Home button to open the Multitasking screen. 2. Swipe left or right as needed to locate the Session Monitor app. 3. Drag the app up from the Multitasking screen to close it. Close app on Android device The best way to make sure an app is closed on an Android device is to close it from Settings. This process varies across Android devices, so follow the instructions that came with your device. Here are a few general steps: 1. From the Home screen or All Apps screen, open Settings (look for a gear icon). 2. Open Apps or Application Manager (look in the Device section, if present). 307

308 14 Monitor student sessions 3. If available, tap the Running filter at the top of the screen to see the apps that are currently open. 4. Locate the Session Monitor app in the list and touch it to view its status. 5. Touch Stop or Force Stop to close the app. 308

309 15 Program demos 15 Program demos Use this chapter to learn how to use the Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant demos in MySciLEARN. What's in this chapter Fast ForWord demos 310 Fast ForWord demos on ipad 315 Reading Assistant Plus tutorial 320 Reading Assistant tutorial 324 Reading Assistant tutorial on ipad

310 15 Program demos Fast ForWord demos About Fast ForWord demos MySciLEARN provides demo versions of the Fast ForWord products that allow staff to step through the product exercises as a demonstration for students, parents, or other interested parties. In addition, students can use the demos to explore the exercises on their own. Demos are intended for demonstration purposes only, and do not save points and will not save a student's status in the exercises. You can disable demo access for a student if needed, and the student will not see any demos on the Demos screen (see Set student access to demos for details). Tip: For students using ipad, follow the steps in Fast ForWord demos on ipad. Staff members can demo the Fast ForWord exercises on a computer, as detailed in this topic. Access demos as a staff member 1. From any computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN as a staff member. 2. Click the Manage tab to access the Manage section. 3. Click the Exercise Demos button in the upper right corner of any page. 310

311 15 Program demos The Staff Demos screen opens Access demos as a student For students using ipad, follow the steps in Fast ForWord demos on ipad. 1. From any computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN (see Log in as a student). The Student Exercises page opens. If another student's name appears on the Student Exercises page, the student should click That s Not Me to log out and return to the Student Login page, then log in with his or her username and password. 2. Click the Demos tab at the top of the Student Exercises page. 311

312 15 Program demos The Student Demos screen opens: Start the Fast ForWord demos 1. Choose a product and select an entry point for an exercise. Each Fast ForWord product demo provides multiple entry points at different levels in the product, along with both Spanish and English Introductions. When you select an entry point, the exercise demo session starts. 312

313 15 Program demos 2. Work on the Fast ForWord exercise demo. Each exercise demo session has a time limit of 20 minutes, after which the Success Viewer appears so you can explore a few examples of exercise performance. To end the demo session, click Exit. You can also exit a demo session early (see the next task). Exit a demo session early An exercise demo session has a time limit of 20 minutes. To exit a demo session early, use the Exit buttons within an exercise as follows. 1. While in an exercise, access the Status screen. Windows. Press and hold the Control key, then press = Macintosh. Press and hold the Control or Command (Apple) key, then press = 2. Click Exit on the Status screen to close the exercise. 313

314 15 Program demos 3. Click Exit on the Success Viewer to end that demo session. 314

315 15 Program demos Fast ForWord demos on ipad About Fast ForWord demos Each of the Fast ForWord program apps provides demo versions of the Fast ForWord programs that allow students to explore the programs on their own using their ipad. Demos are intended for demonstration purposes, and do not save points or the student's status in the exercises. You can disable demo access for a student if needed, and the student will not see any demos on the Product Demos screen (see Set student access to demos). Note: The Fast ForWord demos for ipad are only available to students. As a staff member, you can use the Fast ForWord demos through a web browser. See Fast ForWord demos for steps. Use the ipad demos (students only) 1. On the ipad Home screen, open a Fast ForWord program app to connect to MySciLEARN and view the Student Login screen (for steps see Log in as a student). The student can open any Fast ForWord program app including the RPI app to log in to MySciLEARN and access the demos. However, to work on a product demo, that app must exist on ipad. For example, a student can open the Literacy app, log in, and start the Reading Level 1 demos, as long as the Reading app has also been downloaded. 2. On the Student Login screen, enter your username and password to log in to MySciLEARN. The Student Login screen may prompt the student to choose a school or district first. Enter the first few letters of the name of the school or district, then choose that school or district and confirm it. 3. Tap the Product Demos link at the top right of the Student Exercises screen, next to the Log Out button. 315

316 15 Program demos 4. Tap a product demo, then select an entry point for an exercise. Each Fast ForWord product demo provides multiple entry points at different levels in the product, along with both Spanish and English Introductions. When you select an entry point, the exercise demo session starts. 316

317 15 Program demos 5. Work on the Fast ForWord exercise demo. Each demo session has a time limit of 20 minutes, after which the Exercise Selection screen appears. Tap the Exit button to go to the Success Viewer and explore a few examples of exercise performance. To end the demo session, tap Exit. You can also exit a demo session early, if needed. See the next task. Exit an ipad demo session early Each demo session has a time limit of 20 minutes. To exit a demo session early, use the Exit buttons within an exercise as follows. 1. While in an exercise demo, tap the Exit button at the top of the screen to open the Status screen. 317

318 15 Program demos 2. Tap Exit on the Status screen to close the exercise. 3. Tap Exit on the Exercise Selection screen. 4. Tap Exit on the Success Viewer to end that demo session. 318

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320 15 Program demos Reading Assistant Plus tutorial About the tutorial Reading Assistant provides a short tutorial video that demonstrates how a student works on the product. Students can run the tutorial from within Reading Assistant Plus by choosing Help from the Tools menu. Note: Because the tutorial video is in MP4/M4V format, it only works on operating systems and browsers that support playing M4V videos. Watch the tutorial as a staff member 1. From any computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN as a staff member. 2. Click the Manage tab to access the Manage section. 3. Click the Exercise Demos button in the upper right corner of the page. 4. Click the Play Video button on the Reading Assistant Plus graphic. 320

321 15 Program demos 5. On the Tutorial, click the Play button to watch the video. Watch the tutorial as a student From the Demos page 1. From any computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN (see Log in as a student). The Student Exercises page opens. If another student's name appears on the Student Exercises page, the student should click That s Not Me to log out and return to the Student Login page, then log in with his or her username and password. 2. Click the Demos tab at the top of the Student Exercises page. 3. Click the Play Video button on the Reading Assistant Plus graphic. 321

322 15 Program demos 4. On the Tutorial, click the Play button to watch the video. 322

323 15 Program demos From within the Reading Assistant program 1. From any student computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN. See Log in as a student. The Student Exercises page opens and displays the student's assignment. If the RPI graphic appears, the student will need to take the RPI assessment first. If the student has no assignments, you'll need to create a Reading Assistant Plus assignment before the student can continue. 2. Click the Start button on the Reading Assistant Plus product graphic to open the Library screen. 3. Choose Help from the Tools menu at the top of the page. The Reading Assistant tutorial video starts automatically. Click the Pause button to pause the video during playback. Click it again to continue. Drag the volume slider left and right to adjust the volume. Click the Expand button in the lower right corner to switch to full screen mode. Click it again to exit full screen mode. Click the Download button to download the video in mp4 format. Click the X in the upper right corner to exit the video, or wait until the tutorial is complete. 323

324 15 Program demos Reading Assistant tutorial About the tutorial Reading Assistant provides a short tutorial video that demonstrates how a student works on the product. The tutorial opens the first time the student works on Reading Assistant. Students can also run the tutorial from within Reading Assistant by accessing the Reading Assistant Help menu. Access demos as a staff member 1. From any computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN as a staff member. 2. Click the Manage tab to access the Manage section. 3. Click the Exercise Demos button in the upper right corner of the page. The Staff Demos screen opens: Access demos as a student 1. From any computer connected to the Internet, log in to MySciLEARN (see Log in as a student). The Student Exercises page opens. If another student's name appears on the Student Exercises page, the student should click That s Not Me to log out and return to the Student Login page, then log in with his or her username and password. 2. Click the Demos tab at the top of the Student Exercises page. The Student Demos screen opens: 324

325 15 Program demos Tip: You can also access the tutorial from the Reading Assistant program by choosing the Start button on the Reading Assistant product graphic. If this is the first time that you have accessed the Reading Assistant product, the Reading Assistant tutorial video automatically opens. If not, click the Help button in the right corner of the screen to view the tutorial. Start the Reading Assistant tutorial video 1. On the tutorial screen, click the Play button. 325

326 15 Program demos 2. While viewing the tutorial, control the video as follows: Click the Pause button to pause the video during playback. Click it again to continue. Drag the volume slider left and right to adjust the volume. Click the Expand button in the lower right corner to switch to full screen mode. Click it again to exit full screen mode. Click the Close button or the X in the upper right corner to exit the video. 3. Exit the video at any time using one of the methods from step 2, or wait until the tutorial is complete. 326

327 15 Program demos Reading Assistant tutorial on ipad The Reading Assistant program app provides a short, step-by-step video tutorial on how to use the activities, written specifically for the student. The tutorial automatically runs the first time the student uses Reading Assistant. Students can watch the tutorial again at any time by tapping the Help button menu in the upper right corner of the My Library screen. To exit the tutorial at any time, tap the Close button, or tap the X in the upper right corner. To control the volume, maximize the view and use the Volume slider on the lower left: 327