Formative Assessment Item Bank Overview Setup License Beta Import Question Maintenance Create a new/update an existing Question Delete a Question Attaching Questions to Assessments District Assignments Gradebook Online Assignments Reporting
Overview The Formative Assessment Item Bank (FAIB) allows a district to import a set of 80,000+ questions that are provided by Certica Solutions. The questions are all aligned to academic standards (State and/or Common Core). The questions can then be used in online assessments that students complete in Student Access. Districts have the ability to report on how frequently a standard or benchmark has been assessed and review it at district/entity/course level. There will also be the ability to analyze individual questions to determine their effectiveness. Districts will be able to add their own questions to the bank or modify existing questions. The questions available are multiple choice and can also include mathematical equations. Page:1 of 24
Setup License Beta Import To set up the Formative Assessment Item Bank, the license must be turned on and assigned, the option activated, and the question bank must be imported. License To turn on the license, navigate to Product Setup > Skyward Contact Access > Security > District License Setup. You are required to enter the Skyward Password of the Day (POD), and then select the Submit button. Select the Add button. Page:2 of 24
Enter the License ID number 577, select the box to indicate this license is currently Active, and then enter the appropriate Permanent License Count. You can then select Save. The license then needs to be assigned to the entities that will be using the FAIB. To do this, navigate to Product Setup > Skyward Contact Access > Security > License Assignment. Locate the 577 3rd Party Question Bank and expand it. Then select the Assign Entity link. Page:3 of 24
Select the entities to utilize the FAIB, and then select the Save button. When you navigate away from the License Assignment Screen, a prompt will display indicating that the License Reset utility is running. You will be able to monitor the progress of this utility by opening your Print Queue. Depending on the size of your database, this process may take over 20 minutes to run. You will not be able to access the FAIB area of the software until the process is complete. Beta Besides turning on the license for the Formative Assessment Item Bank, the beta option must also be turned on. To locate the Beta programs, navigate to Product Setup > Skyward Contact Access > District Setup > Configuration. Page:4 of 24
Select the Beta link. Locate and highlight the QUESTION-BANK beta option, and then select the Enable button. You are required to enter the Skyward Password of the Day (POD), and then select the Submit button. After the screen refreshes, the beta option will display as Enabled. Page:5 of 24
Import Once the License Reset Utility has completed, the file containing the Formative Assessment Item Bank questions needs to be imported. To locate the question import utility, navigate to Student Management > Educator Access Plus > Gradebook > District Assignments > Setup > Utilities. Select the Import NWEA Questions link. Select the Add button. Page:6 of 24
Enter a Template Description and then complete the Import Setup. Path to Question Files: Enter the UNC path to the directory where the question files are saved on your network. Please note that the Skyward Report server must have access to this location as well. If assistance is needed with providing that access, a Hardware Service Call can be submitted to Skyward. Create a preview report without importing questions: Select this option to see a preview of the question to be imported before the data is written to the database. Once complete, select the Save and Run button. When complete, the report generated from the Print Queue will list the total number of questions imported, with details for each question. Page:7 of 24
Question Maintenance Create a new/update an existing Question Delete a Question After the setup is complete and the folder of questions has been imported, districts will have the ability to update those questions or create their own in the Formative Assessment Item Bank (FAIB) Question Bank. To maintain the questions in the Question Bank, navigate to Student Management > Educator Access Plus > Gradebook > District Assignments > Question Bank. Page:8 of 24
When viewing questions in the Question Bank, you have the ability to expand a question to see the details attached to it. The buttons on the right can also be used to maintain the questions. Create a new/update an existing Question To create a new question in the FAIB Question Bank, select the Add button on the right, or the Clone button may be used to create a copy of an existing question, which then can be modified. The Edit button may be used to update the selected question. Page:9 of 24
Question for Question Bank Benchmarks: Select the Benchmarks link to see a list of available Benchmarks that can be attached to the question. The fields at the top of the screen can be used to filter/limit the available Benchmarks that display on the screen. When all records needed are selected, click the Save button. Academic Standards: Select the Academic Standards link to see a list of available Standards that can be attached to the question. The same filtering functionality is available on the Academic Standards as is shown above for the Benchmarks. Subject Area: Enter a value to define the topic of the question. Grade Level: Enter a value to identify the intended grade level of the question. Difficulty: Enter a value to classify the complexity of the question. Examples include Easy, Medium, and Hard. Question Type: Select the format of the question. Choices include Multiple Choice, True/False, Matching, Short Answer and Essay. For more information about how each of these are graded and set up, see the corresponding areas below. Question: Enter the question to be answered. The View Style Toolbar can be selected to format the question s text. Extra Content: Enter any additional details to help answer the question. The View Style Toolbar can be selected to format the extra content s text. Page:10 of 24
Points for Question: Enter the point value for the question. Inactive: Select this option to indicate that this question is no longer valid and not in use. Questions marked as Inactive are not available to be attached to any assessments. Allow Partial Credit (Matching questions only): Select this option if students should get a percent of the points possible for the question if they get some of the matches correct, but not all. The percent is based on the number of Choices that had a correct response. Allow Use in Assignments: Select this option to allow this question to be used on any online assignment, including adding the question to a District Assignment. Do Not Let Teachers Modify: Select this option to prevent a teacher who has chosen to use this question in one of their assignments from modifying it. Once they modify the question, the district will not see modified question s data in the usage results of questions from the Question Bank. The Attach button in the upper right corner can be used to attach one file directly to the question (that is separate from the individual attachments uploaded for a specific answer). Answers (Multiple Choice) Multiple Choice questions will be automatically graded when a student completes the assignment. A Multiple Choice question can have more than one correct answer, and students will lose all possible points if they do not select all correct answers. Answer [x]: Enter the text of an answer. The View Style Toolbar can be selected to format the answer s text. Correct: Select this option if the answer is (part of) the correct answer. As mentioned above, there can be more than one correct answer for a Multiple Choice question. Attach: Select this button to upload a file associated with this answer. Page:11 of 24
Answers (True/False) True/False questions will be automatically graded when a student completes the assignment. Correct Answer: Select if the correct answer is true or false. Answers (Matching) Matching questions will be automatically graded when a student completes the assignment, and they are the only automatically graded questions for which a student may receive partial credit (if the option is selected in the Question for Question Bank area). When setting up the Choices and Matches, it is not required to have a 1:1 connection between the two. You can have one Match used for multiple Choices, or you can have more Matches than there are Choices. Answer: Select the letter of the correct answer for this Choice from the Matches column. Choices: Enter the details describing a choice. If you leave a choice field blank, that space will not display when a student is answering the question. Matches: Enter the details identifying a potential match to the Choices. Attach: Select this button to upload a file associated with either a specific Choice or Match. Page:12 of 24
Answers (Short Answer) Short Answer questions can be automatically scored for a student when they complete the assignment; however, the responses still need to be verified by the teacher before the grades are saved to a grade book and before a student can see their results. Correct Answer [x]: Enter the exact value of a correct answer to the question. Answers (Essay) Essay question responses must be reviewed and scored by a teacher before the grades are saved to a grade book and before a student can see their results. There is no Answer setup that needs to be completed for Essay questions. Delete a Question Questions can be deleted from the Question Bank, as long as they are not already attached to any assessment. Highlight the question that is to be removed, and then select the Delete button. Confirm that you wish to remove the question from the Question Bank by selecting the Yes button. Page:13 of 24
If the question is already in use on an assessment, it cannot be deleted. This message will display indicating that it should be flagged as Inactive instead. This can be done by editing the question and selecting the Inactive option. If the question is not already in use, the Question Bank browse screen will refresh and it will no longer be available. Page:14 of 24
Attaching Questions to Assessments District Assignments Gradebook Online Assignments Formative Assessment Item Bank (FAIB) questions can be attached to assessments created at the district level or those created by teachers from their Gradebooks. District Assignments There are two areas under District Assignments where FAIB questions can be utilized. To access either of these areas, navigate to Student Management > Educator Access Plus > Gradebook > District Assignments > District Assessments or District Templates. When in either of those screens, expand an assignment template. Select the Import from Question Bank link in the Questions area. Page:15 of 24
The questions to be used from the Question Bank can be selected on this screen. Besides the normal filter functionality, there is also the Advanced Filter button available to search for questions based on the Academic Standards and Benchmarks tied to them as well as the other data that is set on individual questions. Use the Choose Academic Standards or Choose Benchmarks buttons to select the data to be filtered. Select a Question Type and select the Add button to add that filter to the filter data at the bottom. Enter values in the Subject Area, Grade Level or Difficulty fields and select the corresponding Add button to include those values in the filter data at the bottom. Once all filter data has been added, select the Apply Advanced Filter button in the upper right corner of the screen. You can use the Delete Advanced Filter button to reset the screen. Page:16 of 24
Once the Advanced Filter is applied, only questions in the Question Bank that match the criteria will display for selection to add to the assignment. Once all desired questions are selected, select the Save button to add them to the assignment. The selected questions will then display under that assignment. Select the Edit link next to a question to modify it. Be cautious though, because if a question is modified, the updated question is no longer tied to the FAIB Question Bank and some analyzation functionality will be lost. Page:17 of 24
Gradebook Online Assignments When a teacher is creating an Online Assignment from their grade book, they will have the ability to import questions from the FAIB Question Bank besides creating their own. From the Online Assignment Setup screen, a teacher can select the Import from Bank button. The questions to be used from the Question Bank can be selected on this screen. Besides the normal filter functionality, there is also the Advanced Filter button available to search for questions based on the Academic Standards and Benchmarks tied to them as well as the other data that is set on individual questions. Page:18 of 24
Use the Choose Academic Standards or Choose Benchmarks buttons to select the data to be filtered. Select a Question Type and select the Add button to add that filter to the filter data at the bottom. Enter values in the Subject Area, Grade Level, or Difficulty fields and select the corresponding Add button to include those values in the filter data at the bottom. Once all filter data has been added, select the Apply Advanced Filter button in the upper right corner of the screen. You can use the Delete Advanced Filter button to reset the screen. Once the Advanced Filter is applied, only questions in the Question Bank that match the criteria will display for selection to add to the assignment. Once all desired questions are selected, select the Save button to add them to the assignment. Page:19 of 24
The selected questions will then display under that assignment. Select the Edit button on the right to modify the selected question. Be cautious though, because if a question is modified, the updated question is no longer tied to the FAIB Question Bank and some analyzation functionality will be lost. Page:20 of 24
Reporting The data regarding how students are doing against Academic Standards or Benchmarks can be reported with the reports that were always available for Administrators through the District Assignment area. A graphing option is available in the same area to analyze data related to the Formative Assessment Item Bank questions. To access the charts to analyze the question data, navigate to Student Management > Educator Access Plus > Gradebook > District Assignments > Reports. Select the Percenter Earned Analysis Charts link. Page:21 of 24
Chart Properties Chart Name: Enter a name for the chart template. X-Axis: Select how the chart s X-axis (bottom portion) should be grouped/organized. Select to base it on the first Student Breakdown listed, each of the Scoring Items selected, or on a set of Percent Earned Ranges. If Percent Earned Ranges is selected, a button will appear below it to set up the different range groups you wish to see. First Student Breakdown: This option divides students into groups based on the first Student Breakdown and compares combined percent earned for all Scoring Items. Selected Scoring Items: This option compares the overall percent earned for each Scoring Item by all students who were graded on it. Percent Earned Ranges: This option compares the number of students in each of a range of percentages earned. Percent earned is the total for all Scoring Items. Y-Axis: The Y-Axis automatically updates based on the selected X-Axis. Page:22 of 24
Chart Type: Select the type of chart to be created. A Pie Chart is only available if the selected X-Axis is Percent Earned Ranges. Bar/Pie Chart Style: Select the style of chart based on the selected Chart Type. Series Display (Bar Charts only): Choose one; the multiple Series will display on the Bar Chart. Chart Series The Chart Series are set up to control the students and classes whose points will be included in chart calculations. Multiple Series can be used to compare the different sets of data against each other on a chart. A Series can be based on groups of students, classes, or teachers. You can add up to ten series to one chart with the Add Series button. Enter a title for each series in the Series # field. All Students: Select this link to limit the student ranges for the series. You can specify the students based on ranges, individual student selection, or based on a Processing List. All Classes: Select this link to limit the classes included in the series based on a set of course/class ranges. All Teachers: Select this link to limit the teachers included in the series based on a list of individually selected teacher names. Date Range: A date range for assignments to be included in the series can be set. To clear any ranges or selections made to the Students/Classes/Teachers areas, select the (X) next to the area to be reset. Use the Remove Series button to remove a series you no longer want included on the chart. Use the arrows next to each Series to reorder them. Student Breakdowns Add Breakdown: Select the field to be used to divide the students into groups for comparison. The first breakdown selected is used on the main chart if the X-Axis is set up to look at it. Otherwise, each breakdown is used when selecting an area of the chart to drill down to the appropriate level. You can select up to seven Breakdowns. Scoring Items Scoring Items can be identified to specify which Assessments, Question Bank Questions, Academic Standards, and/or Benchmarks should be used in chart calculations. Each Scoring Item will be an item on the X-Axis if the X-Axis option is set to Selected Scoring Items. Otherwise, the total points for all selected Scoring Items are combined to calculate the percent earned shown on the chart. Assessments: Select any District Assessments to be included in the chart s data. Questions: Select the FAIB Question Bank questions to be included in the chart s data. You will have the same Advanced Filtering options that were reviewed in previous locations of this guide. Page:23 of 24
Standards: Select the Academic Standards to be included in the chart s data. Benchmarks: Select the Benchmarks to be included in the chart s data. Use the Clear button next to any of the areas in which you have made selections to reset that Scoring Item. Once complete, select the Save and View Chart button in the upper right corner of the template to view the chart s data. Above is an example Bar Chart based on the setup from the above template screenshot. If additional Breakdowns were selected, you could click on a bar to view the next level of Breakdowns for that selected bar (data). Select the Print Chart button to create a PDF copy of the chart for printing. Select the Save Chart button to download and save a PNG image of the chart. The Edit button can be used to get back to the Chart s template and make modifications. Page:24 of 24