Archived Assessment Training Help

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide Embarc Assessment users with a guide to editing an individual student’s score once the assessment has been administered. Sometimes you may need to change the point value of a question for an individual student only and not the entire class. For example, if a student argues points back or reads a question in a different way than you intended it to be read you may want to award that individual more points then they originally had. This document will show you how to adjust an individual’s score without affecting everyone who has ever taken the assessment. 

Planning Items

1. After an assessment has been administered, only the assessment’s owner or a system administrator can make changes to student scores.

2. If you need to make mass corrections to an assessment, please see the HOW TO- Make Corrections to an Administered Assessment document or video.

Manually Changing One Student’s Score

1. Click on TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar under Assessments.

2. Under Sessions, click on testing session that contains the student whose score needs to be changed.

3. Then click on the SCORE icon next to the student whose score needs to be changed.

4. Scroll to the question that needs to be changed.

5. Check the OVERRIDE SCORE checkbox and enter the new point value in the POINT VALUE textbox.

6. Then click the SAVE button to save the updated score for this student.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide Embarc Assessment users with a guide to editing an individual student’s score once the assessment has been administered.  After an assessment has been administered, only the assessment’s owner or a system administrator can make changes to student scores. If you need to make mass corrections to an assessment, please see the HOW TO- Make Corrections to an Administered Assessment document or video.

Manually Changing One Student’s Score

Sometimes you may need to change the point value of a question for an individual student only and not the entire class. For example, if a student argues points back or reads a question in a different way than you intended it to be read, you may want to award them more points than they originally received. To do this you will want to manually edit the student’s score.

1. Click on TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar under Assessments.

2. Under Sessions, click on testing session that contains the student whose score needs to be changed.

3. Then click on the SCORE icon next to the student whose score needs to be changed.

4. Scroll to the question that needs to be changed.

5. Check the OVERRIDE SCORE checkbox and enter the new point value in the POINT VALUE textbox.

6. Then click the SAVE button to save the updated score for this student.

Viewing Changes

1. Click on TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar under Assessment.

2. Select the session that applied to the assessment that was changed. 

3. Click on a student and scroll down to the question that you edited to verify that the point values and/or text have been changed.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessment with a guide to creating individual testing sessions.  A testing session is a logical way to bring together a teacher, an assessment, and a group of students for the purpose of giving an assessment.

Planning Items

1. The basic goal of a testing session is to bring together a teacher, an assessment, and a group of students at a particular point in time. 

2. In most cases, you can think about a session as a class taking a particular test.

3. Each session gets its own name. Before you begin, think about a naming convention that can be used in your district to uniquely name each session.  Suggestions include using the teacher’s name, the name of the class, and the time period in the session name.

4. Sessions are grouped into testing periods. Testing periods give you the ability to identify and group sessions for filtering and reporting purposes. At a minimum you should have one testing period per year.  If you are administering your district-wide assessments on a predefined timeframe (i.e. quarterly) create testing periods to match your timeframe.

5. Sessions may be copied. Using this feature, once you have created a session with the appropriate students for a class, you can use it as the basis for creating additional sessions.  

Creating a Testing Session

1. To begin creating a testing session, click on TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar under Assessments.

2. Then click the ADD TESTING SESSION button to begin creating a new testing session.

3. Once on the main Testing Sessions page, enter the session’s name in the SESSION NAME textbox.

a.       Remember to use a name that uniquely identifies the class taking this test.

4. In the DEPARTMENT dropdown, select the department that contains the assessment you would like to give.

a.       You must select the department in order to obtain a list of assessments to choose from.

5. In the ASSESSMENT dropdown, select the assessment that you would like to give. 

a.       The Assessment dropdown will be filtered based on the selected department.

b.       Select if this is a district-wide assessment or an educator assessment.

c.       The Assessment dropdown will display only “Active” assessments that are district-wide or educator-specific based on the selected folder.

6. In the EDUCATOR dropdown select the educator that will be associated with this session.

7. In the TESTING PERIOD dropdown, select the testing period appropriate for the session you would like to generate.

8. In the COURSE dropdown/textbox select or enter the course name that will be associated with this session.

a.        This will be displayed on certain reports.

9. If the test is going to be taken online check the checkbox next to TESTING WILL BE DONE ONLINE.

10.   In the OPEN DATE textbox, enter the date when the assessment will be available to students. If the test is going to be taken online, also enter a CLOSE DATE and specify TIMES for both the open and the close dates.  The open and close dates/times are used to determine when the assessment will be available for students to take using the online Student Wizard and are adjusted to your district’s local time zone.

a.       If the responses will be recorded using scan sheets or scoresheets, all student responses will be dated the same as the session start date.

11.   Once you have filled out all of the Testing Session Details information, click SAVE.

12.   Next, use the filters at the bottom of the page to select a list of students that should be associated with this session. Click the REFRESH button to update the student lists based on your filters.

a.       If your technology department was able to provide a list of classes per student during the annual setup process of Embarc Assessment, you should be able to view the list of your students by selecting the course and section from the provided dropdowns.”

13.   If you are unable to get all of the correct students with one set of filters, you can use additional filters.  

14.   Once all of the testing session details and students have been selected, click the SAVE button to create the testing session.

a.       If any red error messages are displayed, please correct the errors and save again. 

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessment with a guide to creating a test or an assessment.  

Assessment Structure

The basic structure of an assessment is the following:

Section – A section is a logical grouping of questions, often related by subject or question type.  For example, a section could display an image of a graph and all of the questions in that section could be about the graph or a section could be as simple as “Section 1 – True/False Questions.”

Questions – Questions exist within a section. Questions can be True/False, Yes/No, Single Choice (also known as multiple choice), or Constructed Response. Images, charts, and tables can be used as part of a question. If the assessment you are creating will be taken online, questions can also support feedback, hints, links, and attachments.  In addition, questions can be marked as extra credit if you so desire. 

Choices – Choices are the options a student will have to select from when answering a question. Each choice has a point value. The value of a choice cannot be greater than the point value of the question the choice belongs to, but the point value can be less to support partial credit. In a typical single choice question, several choices will be given a point value of zero, and one will be worth full credit. 

Planning Items

1. Automatic Scoring: Embarc Assessment will automatically score True/False, Yes/No, and Single Choice questions, but the instructor must manually score Constructed Response questions. When creating your assessment try to plan your mix of questions to best utilize automatic scoring, while still maintaining the integrity of your assessment process.

2. Partial Credit: Questions in Embarc Assessment can support partial credit responses. For example, if a single choice question is worth 10 points, then the correct answer would be worth all 10 points. Another choice could be worth 5 points. Keep this in mind as you design your questions and create your choices.

3. Images: An assessment’s sections, questions, and choices can have images associated with them. Prior to creating your assessment, please make sure that you electronically gather your images from previous electronic assessments, the Internet, and textbook publisher resources. Note that your assessment will look better based on the initial quality of the images you use.

4. Question Alignment: Embarc Assessment provides value in the attachment of standards to questions, making it easier to gather and evaluate student data. To take full advantage of the software and its reporting capabilities, think about the learning targets or standards that you plan to measure in your assessment prior to creating your questions.

Creating An Assessment

1. After logging in to the system, click ASSESSMENTS under Assessment in the left hand navigation bar.

2. Click the ADD ASSESSMENT buttonto create a new assessment.

Assessment Details

1. Once on the New Assessment Details page, enter the assessment’s name in the NAME textbox.

2. Then select the department that the assessment belongs to from the DEPARTMENT dropdown.

3. Select grades of the students who would normally be taking this assessment using the GRADE LEVEL(S) dropdowns.

a.       NOTE: If the students normally taking the assessment are all in one grade, select this grade using the first dropdown and leave the second grade dropdown unselected. If the students normally taking the assessment are in multiple grades, use both dropdowns to select the appropriate grade range.

4. If you are an Embarc customer, in the CURRICULUM TO ASSESS dropdowns you can select the course and unit that your assessment is related to.

5.Using the ALIGN QUESTIONS TO dropdown, select what you would like to align your assessment questions to.

Standards

This refers to standards created by your district, put out by the state, or any national standards your district may be responsible for. 

Learning Targets

i.         This refers to learning targets developed by your district in Embarc. This is the preferred option because it allows reporting at both the learning target and the standard level because in Embarc learning targets are tied to the standards.

None

i.         This option allows you to create an assessment that is neither aligned to standards or learning targets. The Embarc Assessment staff suggests that, if possible, you use one of the other two options.

Under ASSESSMENT AVAILABLITY select if your assessment is District-wide or Educator Specific.

a.       If selecting Educator Specific, the educator who “owns” the assessment must be selected.

b.       Only administrators can create district-wide assessments.

Also select if this assessment is AN ACTIVE ASSESMENT THAT CAN BE GIVEN TO STUDENTS. Only assessments that have this selected will be available to administer to students.

In the OVERVIEW/STUDENT INSTRUCTIONS textbox enter any instructions for the students about how to take the assessment.

NOTE: Common text formating options such as bold, italics, and bullets can be inserted using the toolbar provided.

Additional Options

The Additional Options are listed on the bottom of the Assessment Details page. 

1. LETTER/NUMBER CHOICES allows you to select if you would like numbers or letters for your choices (ie. A, B, C, D vs. 1, 2, 3, 4).

2.   PRINTED FONT SIZE is only applicable to assessments that are going to be printed and allows you to choose the size of your font within your assessment.

3.   SCANNING OPTIONS allows you to choose what scanners your assessment can be used with. If you are planning on using a scanner to administer your assessment you must select that scanner here.

a.       These options may vary based on your district’s configuration.

4.   When you have completed filling out the New Assessment Details page, click SAVE located at the top or bottom of the screen.

a.       If any red error messages are displayed, please correct the errors and click the SAVE button again.

5.    Once you have created your assessment the ADD SECTION button and the ADD QUESTION button will appear. You can now add sections or questions to your assessment.

Adding Sections

Once the assessment has been successfully saved, an ADD SECTION button will be displayed. Click the ADD SECTION button to begin adding sections to the assessment.

Section Details

1. Once on the New Section Details page, enter the section’s name in the SECTION NAME textbox.

2. Next, in the OVERVIEW textbox provide an overview of the section. This overview will be displayed on the printed assessment and in the Student Wizard at the top of each question within this section.

a.       Note: The section overview can be used to provide instruction for the section or to provide information used to answer a series of subsequent questions

3. If desired, provide an image for the section. This image will be displayed on the printed assessment and in the Student Wizard at the top of each question within this section.

a.       To do this, click the INSERT IMAGE link.

b.        Then click BROWSE.

c.       In the new window that opens, click CHOOSE FILE.

d.       Then select the image you would like to insert from your computer.

e.       Once you select your image, click NEXT.

f.        Crop your image to the desired size and when you are done click FINISH.

 4. Finally choose if you would like this section to print on a new page by selecting the checkbox next to

PRINT THIS SECTION STARTING ON A NEW PAGE.

5. Once all of the fields have been filled, click the SAVE button.

a.       If any red error messages are displayed, please correct the errors and click the SAVE button again. 

Adding Questions

On the Assessment Details page, click the ADD QUESTION button to begin adding questions to the assessment.

Question Details

1. Once on the New Question Details page, enter the question in the QUESTION textbox.

a.       You can use a variety of special characters and formatting via the advanced editing feature. A built-in equation editor for inserting common math formulas and symbols can be found in the provided toolbar. For more advanced mathematical calculations, you may need to create the equation outside of Embarc Assessment and insert it as an image.

2. If desired, provide an image for the question. The image will be displayed on the printed assessment and in the Student Wizard below the question’s text. 

a.       To do this, click the INSERT IMAGE link.

b.        Then click BROWSE.

c.       In the new window that opens, click CHOOSE FILE.

d.       Then select the image you would like to insert from your computer.

e.       Once you select your image, click NEXT.

f.        Crop your image to the desired size and when you are done click FINISH.

 3. In the QUESTION TYPE dropdown, select if the question is a yes/no, true/false, single choice, or a constructed response question. 

a.       If your question type is single choice, you will need to add your choices and indicate the correct answer in the CHOICES box. You can add more choices as needed.

b.        If you question type is true/false or yes/no the system will automatically generate your choices and you will simply need to select the correct one.

c.       If your question type is constructed response, you do not need to enter choices or indicate a correct answer.

4. In the POINT VALUE textbox, enter the maximum point value for the question.

5. You can also select if the question is extra credit, using the THIS QUESTION IS EXTRA CREDIT checkbox. 

a.       Extra credit questions answered correctly will be added to the points earned, but not included in the total points possible.

Choice Details

Use the Choice Details page if you would like to change or add more information to any of the choices.

1. Click on the text of each choice to navigate to the Choice Details Page.

2. If you would like to edit the text of the choice, you can do so in the CHOICE textbox.

3. If desired, provide an image for the choice. The image will be displayed on the printed assessment and in the Student Wizard below the choice’s text. 

a.       To do this, click the INSERT IMAGE link.

b.        Then click BROWSE.

c.       In the new window that opens, click CHOOSE FILE.

d.       Then select the image you would like to insert from your computer.

e.       Once you select your image, click NEXT.

f.        Crop your image to the desired size and when you are done click FINISH.

 4. Enter the point value for the choice (decimals are supported) in the

POINT VALUE textbox. 

a. The choice point value cannot be greater than the question’s possible point value.

Optional Fields (based on the District Options)

Feedback:  Feedback defined at the choice level will be displayed if the student selects this choice. Feedback is only supported when taking the assessment online using the Student Wizard.

1. Once all of the fields have been filled, click the SAVE button.

a. If any red error messages are displayed, please correct the errors and click the SAVE button again.

2. The SAVE & NEW button is used to save the current choice and create another choice for the current question. 

Advanced Options

To access the question’s advanced options, click the ADVANCED OPTIONS link.

Printable Version Options

1. If you are going to print your assessment, you can request a page break prior to this question printing by selecting the checkbox next to PAGE BREAK.

2. If you are going to print your assessment, you can have the choices printed as two columns if you select the checkbox next to CHOICE DISPLAY.

a. Printing the choices as columns saves paper, but may not be as aesthetically pleasing given the length of the choices.

Online Student Wizard Options

1. If you are going to use the Student Wizard, next to RANDOMIZE CHOICES select the checkbox if you would like the choices to be randomized.

a. This feature discourages student cheating by displaying the choices in a different order on each computer.

2.   If you would like an attachment with your question, upload it in the FILE window.

a. The attachment will be made available in a separate window if requested by a student via the Student Wizard when viewing this question.

3.   If you would like to have an Internet link with your question, enter it in the WEB LINK textbox.

a.  The link will be made available in a separate window if requested by a student via the Student Wizard when viewing this question.

Optional Fields (based on the District Options)

1.   Feedback:  Feedback defined at the question level will be displayed if the student selects a choice that does not have choice specific feedback provided.  This is the easiest way to provide feedback to the student.

2.   Hints: Hints are only applicable if you are using the Student Wizard. Hints will be made available in a separate window if requested by a student via the Student Wizard when viewing the question. If hints are used, the student’s score is not affected in any way.

3.   Once all of the fields have been filled, click the SAVE button.

a.  If any red error messages are displayed, please correct the errors and click the SAVE button again.  
Moving Questions

4. Once you have all of your sections created you can begin to move questions into the desired section. To move questions from one section to another, click on the dots to the left of the question and drag the question into the desired section.

Adding a Preexisting Question

We have partnered with a company called Certica to provide the Navigate Item Bank™ − based on the Formative Assessment Item Bank™ - designed to help educators easily create assessments that guide instruction at the district and classroom levels. A question bank of over 85,000 standards-based items are available directly within Embarc to measure students’ understanding of concepts and mastery of standards in Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. To use the question bank, your district will have needed to purchase the license from Certica to use one or more of the question sets.

1. Go into an existing assessment and choose the link to ADD A PREEXISTING QUESTION FROM THE QUESTION BANK. This link will position you to either use a question from your licensed Certica question bank, or from another assessment written by your district.

2. To search the Certica question bank, click LICENSED CONTENT. Questions can be searched based on the STANDARDS they are aligned to, or based upon the actual text within the QUESTION itself.

3. In this example, searching by STANDARD, you must either choose a Strand or a Grade Level. Then a list of standards appears based on the filter I’ve set. If you click on the checkbox next to an individual standard, questions will appear related to that one standard.

4. If you click on the checkbox next to the STANDARD CODE heading, the entire list of standards will be checked, and all of the questions that appear relate to those standards.

5. If you want to search for questions based on a keyword, click on QUESTION  in the SEARCH BY field.

6. Choose a DEPARTMENT then enter your KEYWORD (S) and click SEARCH. Your results will appear below.

7. If you use “ “ marks, the exact question will be returned in your list of results.

8. To read the entire question, click on the question.

9. Once you find a question you would like to add to your assessment, assign a POINT VALUE to the question. Then click ADD QUESTION. Please note: this question cannot be edited because it is copyright protected by Certica.

10.   A message in blue will inform you that your question has been copied to the assessment.

Adding Alignment

1. The final step to creating an assessment is to align the questions to the appropriate learning targets or standards from Embarc. There are two ways to get to the Question Details > Alignment page.

a. The first is to click the ALIGN icon next to the question you would like to align on the Assessment Details page.

b. The second option is to click the EDIT ALIGNMENT button on the Question Details Page.

2. Once on the Question Details > Alignment page, you will be presented with a series of filters, which differ based on if you are aligning to Standards or Learning targets. 

3. Select the appropriate information for each filter and then click the SEARCH button to obtain a list of items that can be aligned to the current question. 

4. Select the checkbox located beside the item you would like to align your question to.

5. Once the appropriate items have been selected, click the SAVE button.

6. The CANCEL/BACK buttons will take you logically back up the Assessment / Section / Question / Choice hierarchy.  Repeat the process of adding questions, choices, and alignment until your assessment is complete. 

Helpful Items

1. At any point in time you can obtain a printed copy of your assessment by clicking PRINT ASSESSMENT in the left hand navigation.

2. The AUDIT REPORT option located in the left hand menu, will review your assessment for basic errors, such as verifying that each question has at least one valid response, warning you about unaligned questions, and validating any limitations and special rules for the selected scanning option. All aligned standards and learning targets for each question will be displayed on the audit report, as well as a warning for questions that have not been aligned.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessment with a guide to generating testing sessions. Session generation is an efficient alternative to manually creating sessions by going into the Sections portion of Embarc Assessment and clicking “Add New”. This feature is used to generate testing sessions for one more sections of a course and assign a given assessment to a group of students.  The students are automatically selected for each session based on the student/course relationship provided during the data import process.  After sessions have been generated, student rosters and session details may be easily modified.

Generating Sessions

1. Once you login, click on GENERATE SESSION in the left hand navigation bar under Assessment.

2. In the DEPARTMENT dropdown, select the department that contains the assessment you would like to give.  

3. In the TESTING PERIOD dropdown, select the testing period appropriate for the session you would like to generate.

4. In the ASSESSMENT dropdown, select the assessment that you would like to give.  

a.       The Assessment dropdown will be filtered based on the selected department.

b.       The Assessment dropdown will display only “Active” assessments that are district-wide or educator-specific based on the selected option.

5. If you would like to give your session a prefix, enter it in the SESSION NAME PREFIX textbox.

a.       Generated sessions will be named using the following naming convention:

[Prefix]-[Course Name]-[Section Name]-[Teacher Last Name]

6. In the COURSE/SECTION dropdown, select the course/section appropriate for the session you would like to generate.

7. Check the checkbox next to TESTING WILL BE DONE ONLINE if you will be giving the assessment online via the Student Wizard.

8. In the OPEN DATE textbox, enter the date when the assessment will be available to students. If the test is going to be taken online, also enter a CLOSE DATE and specify TIMES for both the open and the close dates.  The open and close dates/times are used to determine when the assessment will be available for students to take using the online Student Wizard and are adjusted to your district’s local time zone.

a.  If the responses will be recorded using scan sheets or scoresheets, all student responses will be dated the same as the session start date.

9. Once you have entered all the appropriate information, click the GENERATE SESSIONS button to create testing sessions for the selected criteria.

a. A green bar should appear at the top of your screen stating, “Testing Sessions have been generated successfully”.

Reviewing Generated Sessions

Once you have generated your testing session, you will want to review them and make any necessary changes. The steps below explain how to review your generated sessions.

1. Click on TESTING SESSIONS under Assessmentsin the left hand navigation bar.

2. In the list of testing sessions, a session for each class/section that you selected in the previous steps should have been generated and appear. 

a.  You can use the search filters to find the sessions that you have just generated.

3. Click on the SESSION NAME to view the details of the session.

4. Students may be removed from a session by deselecting the CHECKBOX next to the student and clicking the SAVE STUDENTS button.

5. You can manually add additional students by searching for them using the search filters. Once you have filled in the appropriate filters, click the REFRESH button to update the list of students that fit your search criteria.

6. After you find the student(s) you would like to add, check the CHECKBOX next to their name and click the SAVE STUDENTS button.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessment with a guide to giving a printed assessment.  Printed assessments are like traditional paper and pencil tests and require the teacher to manually enter student responses into the system.  Questions that are true/false, yes/no, or single choice will be scored using the point values assigned to each response.

Planning Items

1. Before administering an assessment, you must have created the assessment, created a testing session, and assigned active students to take the assessment. For help creating an assessment, see the HOW TO-Create an Assessment training document.  For help creating a testing session, see the HOW TO-Create a Testing Session training document.

Giving a Printed Test

Printing the Test

1. On the administrative website, click ASSESSMENTS in the left hand navigation bar.

2. To create a printable version of your assessment, click TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar.

3. Search for your testing session using the filters provided. You can search by educator, department, status, date available, or keywords. Once you have entered your search terms, click SEARCH. Search for your testing session using the filters provided. You can search by educator, department, status, date available, or keywords. Once you have entered your search terms, click SEARCH.

4. Once you have found your desired testing session, click on the name of the session to view it.If you would like just one copy of your assessment with a blank area for a student to supply their name, click the PRINT ONE button.  If you would like a copy of the assessment for each student with his or her names pre-printed, click the PRINT ALL button.

Administering the Test

1. A copy of the printed assessment should be distributed to all students.

2. Students will complete the assessment by providing a response to each question directly on the printed assessment or on a separate sheet of paper.

3. Students should hand their completed assessment to the teacher administering the test.

Scoring the Test

There are two ways to score a printed test. In the first option you can download the scoresheet, fill it out, and then upload it back into the system. In the second option you can manually score each student.

Scoring with the Scoresheet

1. Once all of the students have completed and turned in their assessments, click the SCORESHEET OUT button on the Testing Session Details page.

2. An Excel spreadsheet will be created allowing you to enter student responses for the current testing session and assessment.

a. Depending on your web browser, you may be asked to open or save the file to your computer.

b. Save the file to your computer in a location that you can remember so it can be used later.

3. Browse your computer and locate the scoresheet file on your computer that was saved in the previous step.

4. Open the spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel.

5. The scoresheet provides a simple way to enter multiple student responses for an assessment and testing session using a familiar spreadsheet layout.

a. Each student assigned to take the assessment is listed as a separate row.

b. Each question on the assessment is listed as a separate column. 

6. For each student, enter their response to each question in the spreadsheet.

a. For true/false, yes/no, and single choice questions, enter the choice selected by the student. For A, B, C, D, please enter a 1, 2, 3, or 4 in the correct location.

b.  For constructed response questions, enter the number of points the student earned for their answer (ie. 5, 10, 20) instead of entering their actual response.

c.  If an invalid response is entered (ie. “7” when the question is only worth five points), an error message will appear notifying you of this mistake.

d. Click the RETRY button in the error message dialog and enter a valid entry for that question.

7. Once all of your assessments have been scored and entered into the scoresheet, SAVE the spreadsheet.  It will be uploaded into Embarc in the next steps.

8. To uploaded student responses and scores provided in a scoresheet back into Embarc Assessment, click the SCORESHEET IN button on the Testing Session Details page.

9. Next, browse your computer for the scoresheet file that corresponds to the testing session you are viewing. Then, click the UPLOAD SCORESHEET button. 

NOTE: If you would like this upload to override previous scores click the checkbox next to, REPLACE EXISTING SCORES WITH THOSE IN IMPORT FILE.

10. After clicking Upload Scoresheet, student responses are loaded into Embarc Assessment and scored based on the question and choice point values for the assessment. Constructed response point values are also loaded for their corresponding questions.

11.  If you would like to make any changes to a student’s score or adjust scores for constructed response questions, go to the Testing Session Details page and click the SCORE ICON next to the student you would like to make changes to.

12.  Once on the Student Manual Scoring page you can override a score or change a student’s response to a question.

13.To change a score, simple enter the new score in the SCORE textbox and select the checkbox next to OVERRIDE SCORE.

Manually Scoring

1. On the Testing Session details page, select the SCORE icon next to the student you would like to manually score.

2. For each question indicate the student’s choice by selecting the appropriate button.

3. Enter the number of points the student earned in the SCORE textbox.

4. When you have finished adding the student responses, click SAVE.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for each student you would like to manually score.

6. To change a student’s response, simply select the desired response using the bubbles next to each response option.

7. Once you have finished editing a student’s responses, click SAVE at the bottom of the screen.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessments with a guide to administering an assessment online. It will also provide an overview of what a student would see when they take a test online using the online Student Wizard.

 Planning Items

Before you can give a test, you must have created the assessment, a testing session for the assessment, and assigned students to the testing session. Students can be assigned by selecting them manually or by generating testing sessions. For help creating an assessment, see the HOW TO- Create an Assessment training document. For help creating a testing session, see the HOW TO- Create a Testing Session training document.

Giving a Test Online

Setting Up a Test

1. On the administrative website, click ASSESSMENTS in the left hand navigation bar.

2. To allow an assessment to be taken by students online, your testing session needs to be properly setup. Click SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar.

3. Search for your testing session using the filters provided. You can search by educator, department, status, date available, or keywords. Once you have entered your search terms, click SEARCH. Search for your testing session using the filters provided. You can search by educator, department, status, date available, or keywords. Once you have entered your search terms, click SEARCH.

4. Once you have found your desired testing session, click on the name of the session to view it.

5. On the testing session details page, check the checkbox for TESTING WILL BE DONE ONLINE.

6. Next, provide the OPEN DATE, START TIME, CLOSE DATE, and END TIME to indicate when the assessment should be available for students to take online.  Times provided are based on your local time zone.

Student Usernames and Passwords

1. Students are assigned a unique username and password when student data is imported into BYOA. The same username and password can be used to take any assessment for a given student.

2. To view a student’s login information, click on the student’s name on testing session details page.

3. A window will be displayed showing their name, username, password, and a link to the Student Wizard.

The Online Student Wizard

1. To take an assessment, a student will go to the Student Wizard website and login. The secure website is located by clicking on STUDENT ASSESSMENTS on the left hand menu:

a.       The student will select their district state, district, and provide their assigned username and password.

b.       The student will click the LOG IN button to login.

c.       If the district has provided email addresses for students during the data import process, students may use the FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD link to have their login information emailed to them.

2. Once a student is logged in, a listing of available assessments is shown. The listing includes the name of the assessment, the teacher who assigned the assessment, and when the assessment is available for them to take.

3. To view an assessment, the student will click on the name of the assessment from the list.  This will show the assessment details page including the overview of the assessment, all sections, and the number of questions in each section.

4. To begin taking the assessment, the student will click the START/CONTINUE button. The first unanswered question will be displayed.

5. When viewing a question, the student will select an answer for single choice, true/false, or yes/no questions by clicking the radio button next to their desired choice.

6. When they are ready to move onto the next question, the student will click the NEXT QUESTION buttonto save their answer and continue to the next question.

a.       Clicking the PREVIOUS QUESTION button will let the student view the previous question. Their answer to the current question will not be saved.

b.       Clicking the SKIP THIS QUESTION button will let the student skip the current question and view the next question. Their answer to the current question will not be saved.

7. For constructed response questions, the student will enter their response in the PLEASE RESPOND textbox.

a.       Student responses that are entered online will be visible to a teacher when viewing an individual student’s score from the testing session details page.

b.       Students may also respond by writing their answer on a separate sheet of paper and clicking the NEXT QUESTION button. For questions that contain images, the student can click the CLICK TO VIEW LARGER IMAGE… linkto see the image in a larger version. The ability to zoom in and zoom out are also available.

8. Once the student has answered all of the questions on an assessment, they will be brought back to the assessment details page. Students may review their answers by clicking on a question number in the listing.

9. If a student is pleased with their answers and are finished taking the assessment, the student will click the COMPLETE & TURN IN buttonto complete the assessment.  A confirmation message will be shown to ensure the student would like to hand in their assessment, and they can click the OK button to continue.

Viewing Student Scores

1. All questions with the exception of constructed response questions are scored automatically by the system when taking an assessment online.

2. If you would like to make any changes to a student’s score go to the Testing Session Details page and click the SCORE ICON next to the student you would like to make changes to.

3. Once on the Student Manual Scoring page you can override a score or change a student’s response to a question.

4. To change a score, simple enter the new score in the SCORE textbox and select the checkbox next to OVERRIDE SCORE.

5. To change a student’s response, simply select the desired response using the bubbles next to each response option.

6. Once you have finished editing a student’s responses, click SAVE at the bottom of the screen.

7. Constructed response questions that were entered by the student using the Student Wizard can be manually scored by going to the testing session details page and clicking the SCORE ICON next to the student’s whose response you would like to grade.

8. For more information on how to score constructed response questions, see the HOW TO- Score Constructed Response Questions training document.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessment with a guide to giving a test using a scanner.  Embarc Assessment has partnered with several vendors to provide various levels of scanning integration.  Depending on your district’s needs, Embarc Assessment offers auto-feed scan forms that are pre-printed, scan forms with pre-filled student IDs that a district can print themselves, or blank scan forms that a district can print themselves.  For all of the different scanning options, the scanner will create a data file of student responses that can be uploaded into the system for a single testing session.  

Planning Items

1. The process for printing scan forms and scanning completed student response forms varies based on the scanning option being used by your district. Please speak with your Embarc Assessment administrator to learn the process involved with your district’s adopted scanning option.

2. Before giving an assessment, you must have created the assessment and created a testing session for the assessment.  For help creating an assessment, see the HOW TO-Create an Assessment training document.  For help creating a testing session, see the HOW TO-Create a Testing Session training document.

Giving a Test Using a Scanner

Printing the Test

1. On the administrative website, click ASSESSMENT in the left hand navigation bar.

2. To create a printable version of your assessment, click TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar.

3. Search for your testing session using the filters provided. You can search by educator, department, status, date available, or keywords. Once you have entered your search terms, click SEARCH. Search for your testing session using the filters provided. You can search by educator, department, status, date available, or keywords. Once you have entered your search terms, click SEARCH.

4. Once you have found your desired testing session, click on the name of the session to view it.

5. If you would like just one copy of your assessment with a blank area for a student to supply their name, click the PRINT ONE button.  If you would like a copy of the assessment for each student with his or her names pre-printed, click the PRINT ALL button.

Administering the Test

1. For true/false, yes/no, and single choice question formats, students taking the test should fill in the appropriate “bubble” that corresponds with their desired response.

2. For constructed response questions, students may respond directly on the printed assessment or on a separate sheet of paper. These questions should be left blank on the scan forms.

Scoring the Test

1. True/false, yes/no, and single choice questions will be automatically scored by the system when the student response data is imported into for a testing session.

2. Constructed response questions can be manually entered into the system or they can be entered using the Scoresheet In/Out options, which is also used for manually scored assessments. For more information on how to score constructed response questions, see the HOW TO- Score Constructed Response Questions training document.

Importing Student Responses

1. Once your students have completed the assessment, you or someone from your district will need to process the scan forms using your adopted scanning solution.  Again, this process varies from district to district based on the scanning solution that is being used. Please see your Embarc Assessment administrator for more information on how to process completed scan forms.

2. Once your students’ completed scan forms have been processed, a data file containing the response information will be created by the scanning device/software.

3. To load student responses from this file into the system, login to Embarc Assessment, navigate to the Testing Session Details page and click the appropriate <SCANNER> IN button.

4. Next, browse your computer for the data file that was created after the scan forms were processed. Then, click the UPLOAD <SCANNER> FILE button for the appropriate scanning device.

a.       In the example below, the user is clicking the UPLOAD DATALINK 3000 FILE.

5. If you would to override any existing scores with this import, check the checkbox next to REPLACE EXISTING SCORES WITH THOSE IN THE IMPORT FILE.

6. After clicking theUploadbutton, student responses are loaded into Embarc Assessment and scored based on the question and choice point values for the assessment.

7. If you would like to make any changes to a student’s score or adjust scores for constructed response questions, go to the Testing Session Details page and click the SCORE ICON next to the student you would like to make changes to.

8. Once on the Student Manual Scoring page you can override a score or change a student’s response to a question.

9. To change a score, simple enter the new score in the SCORE textbox and select the checkbox next to OVERRIDE SCORE.

10.   To change a student’s response, simply select the desired response using the bubbles next to each response option.

11.   Once you have finished editing a student’s responses, click SAVE at the bottom of the screen.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc with a guide to importing question bank items and tests created in ExamView Test Builder or TestGen Test Generator into an Embarc assessment.

Overview

Embarc makes it easy for users to create assessments by providing their own questions based on actual classroom learning and the district’s curriculum.  Since many textbook vendors publish corresponding exams and question banks for use with ExamView and/or TestGen, Embarc supports importing those questions in an effort to make building assessments easier.

NOTE: The import process has been tested with ExamView version 6.2.0 and TestGen version 7.4.4

Export Questions from ExamView

Opening/Creating A Test using ExamView Test Builder

1. Open or create a test using ExamView Test Builder (version 6.2.0 or later)

2. We support most question types in ExamView, however certain types cannot be imported

1. 1. Unsupported question types will be ignored and reported on during the import process 

Export the Test

1. To export all questions from ExamView, select the FILE > EXPORT > BLACKBOARD 7.1+… item from the main menu.

2. In the EXPORT TEXT dialog, choose a location and filename for the exported .zip file.

3. In the EXPORT TO BLACKBOARD 7.1+ dialog, provide a name and image directory for your test.

1. 1. Leave the Formatting and Feedback dropdown set to their default values.

1. 1. Click the OK button to save the .zip file.

Export Questions from TestGen

Create a Test using TestGen Test Generator

1. Open or create a test using TestGen Test Generator (version 7.4.4 or later)

2. We support most question types in TestGen, however certain types cannot be imported

1. 1. Unsupported question types will be ignored and reported on during the import process

Export the Test

1. To export all questions from TestGen, select the FILE > EXPORT item from the main menu.

2. In the EXPORT TEST dialog, select the option for BLACKBOARD 6.X-9.X and click the OK button.

3. In the EXPORT TO BLACKBOARD dialog, provide a name for your question pool.

1. 1. The name can be any name you would like and does not affect the import into Embarc.

1. 1. The description field is optional and can be left blank.

1. 1. Click the OK button to save the .zip file. 

Import Questions into Embarc

Login to the Embarc administrative website at:https://admin.embarc.com

Import Questions

1. Click on ASSESSMENTS (Embarc) in the left hand navigation bar.

2. Then under Assessments (Embarc), select ASSESSMENTS.

3. SEARCH for the assessment you would like to import questions to.

1. 1. If you would like to import question into a new assessment, please click the “Add New” button to create a new assessment.

1. When you find the assessment you would like to import questions to, click the ASSESSMENT NAME to view the details of that assessment.

1. On the Assessment Details page, click the IMPORT QUESTIONS FROM EXAMVIEW link.

1. On the ExamView Assessment Import page, browse for and select an ExamView file to import.

1. 1. A ExamView file must have been exported in the “Blackboard 7.1+ (.zip)” format.

1. 1. A TestGen file must have been exported in the “Blackboard 6.x-9.x” format.

1. Click the IMPORT ASSESSMENT button to import all questions into the current assessment.

1. 1. All questions are imported into a new section that is created for the current assessment.

1. 1. The section is named “IMPORTED (current date/time)”

1. 1. A status message should appear stating that “THE EXAMVIEW ASSESSMENT WAS PROCESSED AND X OF Y QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN IMPORTED.”

1. 1. If any errors occurred or questions were ignored because of unsupported question types, additional status messages will be displayed.

Review, Align, and Reorganize Imported Questions

Review Imported Questions

1. Once questions have been imported, you may review the questions to ensure they were accurately imported, as well as rearrange them into various sections.

2. Imported information for each question includes the following:

1. 1. Question Name

1. 1. Question Image (only the first image; all others are removed)

1. 1. Question Point Value

1. 1. Choices (if applicable)

1. 1. Choice Image (only the first image; all others are removed)

1. 1. Choice Point Values

1. To review imported questions, click on the “Click here to review all imported questions” link provided just below the status message. Or, on the Assessment Details page, you may view all import questions by clicking on the question text or image from the listing.

Adding Alignment

1. Before you begin adding alignment, verify that you have your assessment set up correctly. On the main assessment page, verify that your CURRICULUM TO ASSESS and your ALIGN QUESTIONS TO are completed correctly. Please see the HOW TO- Create An Assessment training document or video for further assistance.

2. The next step is to actually align the questions to the appropriate learning targets or standards from Embarc. There are two ways to get to the Question Details > Alignment page.

1. 1. The first is to click the ALIGN icon next to the question you would like to align on the Assessment Details page.

1. 1. The second option is to click the EDIT ALIGNMENT button on the Question Details Page

1. Once on the Question Details > Alignment page, you will be presented with a series of filters, which differ based on if you are aligning to Standards or Learning targets. 

1. Select the appropriate information for each filter and then click the SEARCH button to obtain a list of items that can be aligned to the current question. 

5. Select the checkbox located beside the item you would like to align your question to.

6. Once the appropriate items have been selected, click the SAVE button. 

7. The CANCEL/BACK buttons will take you logically back up the Assessment / Section / Question / Choice hierarchy.  Repeat the process of adding questions, choices, and alignment until your assessment is complete. 

 Reorganize Questions into Sections

1. Since all questions imported are placed into a single section, it may be beneficial to break them apart into logical sections within the assessment.

2. Prior to moving the questions to the proper sections, you should create the desired sections.  Create sections by clicking the ADD SECTION button on the Assessment Detail page.

3. Then on the New Section Details Page, give your section a NAME, an OVERVIEW, and decided if you want the section to be printed on a separate page.

4. When you have finished adding all of your section’s information, click SAVE.

5. Once you have all of your sections created you can begin to move questions into the desired section. To move questions from one section to another, click on the dots to the left of the question and drag the question into the desired section.

6. If you would like to delete a section, simply click the RED X next to the section your would like to delete.

7. An error message will appear asking if you are sure you would like to delete the section, if so, click YES.

Credits

• “ExamView” is a registered trademark of eInstruction Corporation. 

• For more information, please visit their website at http://www.einstruction.com .

• “TestGen” is a registered trademark of Pearson Education. 

• For more information, please visit their website at http://www.pearson.com .

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessment with a guide to maintaining students. This document will review how to edit an existing student and how to create a new student.

Planning Items

Although Embarc Assessment gives you the ability to edit and add students within the system, you typically want to import your students from your student management system. The student page within Embarc Assessment is meant as a quick way to fix an error if you find one. This being said, each time you import from your student management system any changes that you had made within Embarc Assessment will be over written by the new import.

Adding a Student

1. To add a student, click on ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS on the left-hand navigation screen.

2. Then click on STUDENTS under Administrative Functions.

3. Once on the student page, click ADD NEW.

4. In the FIRST NAME textbox enter the student’s first name.

5. In the LAST NAME textbox enter the student’s last name.

6. Select the school the student attends from the SCHOOL dropdown.

7. Then select the student’s graduation year from the GRADUATION YEAR dropdown.

8. In the STUDENT COMMON ID textbox, enter the student’s common ID.   It is very important that you enter the same common id for the student that will be in future import files so that the student you are creating will be matched to the student from the import file, failing to do this will result in duplicate students being created.

9. Also make sure that the checkbox is checked next to THIS IS AN ACTIVE STUDENT IN THE DISTRICT.

1. Under Student Wizard Account Information, assign the student a username and enter their password twice.

1. Under Demographic Information, you can enter any demographic information you would like to include about this particular student. The fields you can enter include: gender, ethnicity, economic status, disability, and ELL.

1. Once you have entered all the required information and any additional information for the student, click SAVE at the top of the screen.

Editing an Existing User

1. To edit a student, click on ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS on the left-hand navigation screen.

2. Then click on STUDENTS under Administrative Functions.

3. Use the Search Options to search for the student you would like to edit. You can search by graduation year, school, status, or name.

4. When you have entered the appropriate search parameters, click SEARCH.The results of your search will appear below the Search Options box. You can use the arrows at the bottom to page through your results if you have more than ten results.

5. Once you have found the student you would like to edit, click on their name.

6. You can edit the student’s General Information, Student Wizard Account Information, or Demographic Information by simply changing the information in the textboxes or dropdowns.

7. To delete a course/section a student is assigned to, click the RED X next to it.

1. 1. A warning will appear asking you if you are sure you would like to delete the course/section. If you are, click OK.

1. To add a course/section to the student, click ADD COURSE/SECTION.

1. Then you will need to select the Course/Section you would like to add the student to. You can search by keyword, teacher name and school. Once you have filled out your search parameters click SEARCH

1. Then select the course/session you would like to add to the student.

1. Once you are done editing the student, click SAVE at the top of the screen.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessment with a guide to maintaining courses/sections. This document will review how to edit an existing course/section, how to create a new course/section, how to add students to a course/section, and how to delete a course/section.

Planning Items

1. Although Embarc Assessment gives you the ability to edit and add courses/sections within the system, you typically want to import your courses/section from your student management system. The course/section page within Embarc Assessment is meant as a quick way to fix an error if you find one. This being said, each time you import from your student management system any changes that you had made within Embarc Assessment will be over written by the new import.

Adding a Course/Section

1. To add a course/section, click on ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS on the left-hand navigation screen.

2. Then click on COURSE/SECTION under ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS.

3. Once on the course/section page, click ADD COURSE/SECTION.

4. In the COURSE NAME textbox enter the course’s name.

5. In the COURSE CODE textbox enter the code for the course

6. In the SECTION NAME textbox enter the section’s name.

7. In the SECTION CODE textbox enter the code for the section.

8. In the PRIMARY TEACHER dropdown select the primary teacher for the course/section.

9. In the SCHOOL dropdown select the school the course/section is offered at.

10.   When you have entered all the required information, click SAVE.

Editing An Existing Course/Section

1. To edit a course/section, click on ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS on the left-hand navigation screen.

2. Then click on COURSES/SECTIONS under ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS.

3. Use the Search Options to search for the course/section you would like to edit. You can search by keyword, teacher, or school.

4. When you have entered the appropriate search parameters, click SEARCH.

5. The results of your search will appear below the Search Options box. You can use the arrows at the bottom to page through your results if you have more than ten results.

6. Once you have found the course/section you would like to edit, click on its name

7. You can edit the course/section’s General Information, by simply changing the information in the textboxes or dropdowns.

Adding Students

1. To add students to a course/section navigate to the Course/Section Details Page.

2. Then click ADD STUDENTS.

3. A box will appear where you can search for the student you would like to add. You can search for students by graduation year, keyword, or school. Once you have filled out your search parameters, click SEARCH.

4. Then select the name of the student you would like to add to the course.

5. Once you click the student’s name you will see them appear under the Student portion of the Course/Section Details page.

Deleting A Course/Section

1. You can delete a course/section from two different places in Embarc Assessment. You can delete a course/section from the main Course/Section page or from the Course/Section Details page.

2. To delete a course/section navigate to the main Course/Section page. You can do this by selecting Course/Section under Assessments in the left hand navigation.

3. Then use the search options to find the course/section you would like to delete. You can search by keyword, school, or teacher.

Deleting from Main Course/Section Page

1.    Then click the RED X next to the course/section you would like to delete.

2.   A warning will appear asking you if you are sure you would like to delete the course/section. If you are sure, click OK.

Deleting from Course/Section Details Page

1. Once you have found the course/section you would like to delete using the search fields, click on its name.

2. Then click the DELETE button.

3. A warning will appear asking you if you are sure you would like to delete the course/section. If you are sure, click OK.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessment with a guide to maintaining testing periods. This document will review how to edit an existing testing periods and how to create a new testing period.

Planning Items

Testing Periods are simply a way to group and organize assessments within Embarc Assessment. Often schools will use this to group assessments by semesters, quarters, or trimesters.

Adding a Testing Period

1. To add a testing period, click on ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS on the left-hand navigation screen.

2. Then click on TESTING PERIODS under ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS.

3. Once on the testing period page, click ADD TESTING PERIOD.

4. Choose the school year for your testing period in the SCHOOL YEAR dropdown.

5. In the TESTING PERIOD NAME textbox enter the testing period’s name.

6. Enter the testing period’s start date in the START DATE textbox.

7. Select if you would like the testing period to be active or not.

8. When you have entered all the required information, click SAVE.

Editing An Existing Testing Period

1. To edit a testing period, click on ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS on the left-hand navigation screen.

2. Then click on TESTING PERIODS under ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS.

3. Use the Search Options to search for the testing period you would like to edit. You can search by keyword or status.

4. When you have entered the appropriate search parameters, click SEARCH.

5. The results of your search will appear below the Search Options box. You can use the arrows at the bottom to page through your results if you have more than ten results.

6. Once you have found the testing period you would like to edit, click on its name.

7. You can edit the testing period’s information, by simply changing the information in the textboxes or dropdowns. Then click SAVE when you are finished.

Deleting A Testing Period

1. To delete a testing period navigate to the main testing period page. You can do this by selecting Testing Periods under Administrative Functions in the left hand navigation.

1. 1. Note that you can only delete testing periods that are not already being used by a testing session.

1. Then use the search options to find the testing period you would like to delete. You can search by keyword or status

1. Then click the RED X next to the testing period you would like to delete.

1. A warning will appear asking you if you are sure you would like to delete the testing period. If you are sure, click OK.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide Embarc Assessment users with a guide to editing assessments once they have been administered.  After an assessment has been administered, only the assessment’s owner or a system administrator can make changes to the assessment.

Planning Items

1. Once an assessment has been administered it is locked and cannot be edited by anyone except the owner of the assessment or a system administrator.

2. The assessment owner or a system administrator can only make changes to the text and point values of a question and its choices.  

3. Any changes made to the text or to the point values will be rolled into student responses and affect student scores; so before you make a change decide if you would like to make it for all of the students who took the assessment or if you would only like the change to be applied to an individual student.

Making Changes to an Already Administered Assessment

1. To begin, click on ASSESSMENTS in the left hand navigation bar under Assessment. Assessments that have already been administered will be indicated as “locked” shown by the LOCK icon.

2. Click on the assessment that you would like to make changes to.

1. 1. Remember that you must be a system administer or the assessment’s owner to make changes.

1. At the top of the page you will see a yellow message that tells you that the assessment is currently locked.

4. Click the UNLOCK button to allow changes to be made.

Changing a Question’s Text

You may want to change a question’s text if you discover a spelling/grammatical error, if you have entered the wrong questions, or if you want to adjust the wording of the question.

1. Click on the question that you would like to edit.

2. Once on the main question page, enter the revised question text in the QUESTION textbox.

3. Once you are finished, click the SAVE button to save your changes.

Changing a Question’s Point Value

You may want to change a question’s point value if you want to throw a question out, make a question worth more points, or make a question worth less points.

1. On the Assessment Details page, click on the question that you would like to edit.

2. On the main question page, enter the desired point value in the POINT VALUE textbox.

1. 1. If you want to throw a question out, enter 0 in the point value textbox and then select CLEAR EXISTING SCORES under “If the point value is changed:”

1. 1. If you update a point value to something greater than zero and you have one fully correct choice associated with the question, the choice point value will automatically be updated.

1. Once you have entered the correct point value, click the SAVE button.

Changing a Choice’s Point Value

You may want to change a choice’s point value if you discover that an incorrect choice is worth the full point value, or if you discover that the correct choice is not worth the full point value of the question.

1. On the Assessment Details page, click on the question that you would like to edit.

2. Click on the CHOICE that needs to be changed.

3. Enter the correct point value in the POINT VALUE textbox for the choice.

4. Then click the SAVE button to save your changes.After changes are made to an unlocked assessment, the assessment is automatically locked to prevent unintended changes.

Manually Changing One Student’s Score

Sometimes you may need to change the point value of a question for an individual student only and not the entire class. For example, if a student argues points back or reads a question in a different way than you intended it to be read, you may want to award them more points than they originally received. To do this you will want to manually edit the student’s score.

1. Click on TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar under Assessment.

2. Under Sessions, click on testing session that contains the student whose score needs to be changed.

3. Then click on the SCORE icon next to the student whose score needs to be changed.

4. Scroll to the question that needs to be changed.

5. Check the OVERRIDE SCORE checkbox and enter the new point value in the POINT VALUE textbox.

6. Then click the SAVE button to save the updated score for this student.

Viewing Changes

1. Click on TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar under Assessment.

2. Select the session that applied to the assessment that was changed.  

3. Click on a student and scroll down to the question that you edited to verify that the point values and/or text have been changed.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc Assessment with a guide to scoring constructed response questions.  Unlike other question formats which are automatically scored if the assessment is given online or scored using a scan form, constructed response questions must be manually scored by the teacher.  Constructed response questions can be scored for an individual student directly within Embarc Assessment or for a group of students for a single testing session using a scoresheet.

Planning Items

If you plan to give your assessment online, you have the option of students entering their response online by typing it or writing it on a separate sheet of paper. If students supply their response online, you will only be able to view and score an individual student’s response one student at a time. If students provide their response on a separate sheet of paper, you may score a student’s response individually or all students for a single testing session using a scoresheet.  Choose the best way for students to answer constructed response questions with these options in mind.

Scoring a Single Student in Embarc Assessment

Constructed response questions from a printed assessment, scan form assessment, or assessments given online can be scored manually for an individual student using Embarc Assessment.

1. Once your students have completed the assessment, click on TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar under Assessment. Search for your testing session using the filters provided, and click on the name of the session to view it.

2. In the listing of students, click the SCORE icon next to the student whose constructed response questions you would like to score.

3. Scroll down to the constructed response question you would like to score. You will be able to see the question, the score textbox, the number of points possible, and the student’s response.

4. Read the student’s response and enter the points the student earned in the SCORE textbox. NOTE: The student answer will only be displayed if it was entered directly by the student using the online Student Wizard.

5. Enter scores for all constructed response questions for the current student.

6. When you are finished, click the SAVE button to save their scores.

7. To enter scores for another student, repeat steps 3-7 above.

Scoring Multiple Students Using a Scoresheet

Constructed response questions from a printed assessment, scan form assessment, or assessments given online can be scored using a scoresheet.

Scoring the Test

1. Once your students have completed the assessment, click on TESTING SESSIONS in the left hand navigation bar under Assessment.

2. Search for your testing session using the filters provided, and click on the name of the session to view it.

3. Click the SCORESHEET OUT button on the Testing Session Details page.

4. An Excel spreadsheet will be created allowing you to enter student responses for the current testing session and assessment.

   1. Depending on your web browser, you may be asked to open or save the file to your computer.

   2. Save the file to your computer in a location that you can remember so it can be used later.

5. Browse your computer and locate the scoresheet file on your computer that was saved in the previous step

6. Open the spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel. The scoresheet provides a simple way to enter multiple student responses for an assessment and testing session using a familiar spreadsheet layout.

   1. Each student assigned to take the assessment is listed as a separate row.

   2. Each question on the assessment is listed as a separate column. 

7. For each student, enter the number of points earned for all constructed response questions in the spreadsheet. The total point possible for constructed response questions is shown after the question text (ie. “Resp Pts: 5” in the figure above).

   1. For true/false, yes/no, and single choice questions that were scored manually within Embarc, scored from a scan form data file, or scored online, please leave these questions blank.

   2. If an invalid point value is entered (ie. “7” when the question is only worth five points), an error message will appear notifying you of this mistake.

8. Click the RETRY button in the error message dialog and enter a valid entry for that question.

9. When all questions have been scored and entered into the scoresheet, SAVE the spreadsheet.  It will be uploaded into Embarc Assessment in the next steps.

Uploading Scores into Embarc Assessment

1. To upload constructed response point values provided in a scoresheet back into Embarc Assessment, click the SCORESHEET IN button on the Testing Session Details page.

2. Next, browse your computer for the scoresheet file that corresponds to the testing session you are viewing. Then, click the UPLOAD SCORESHEET button. 

3. After clicking the UPLOAD button, constructed response point values are loaded for their corresponding questions and student scores recalculated.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide Embarc Assessment users with a guide to the additional options available on the Testing Session page. This document discusses various options and abilities when maintaining testing sessions.

Testing Session Maintenance

General Buttons

Copy: Clicking the COPY button places the current testing session into your clipboard and returns you to the Session List page where a PASTE button will now be displayed.  Clicking the PASTE buttonwill place you on the Session Maintenance page for the new session. The new session will be identical to the copied session but “_copy” will be appended to the session name.

Print One: This creates a hardcopy of the assessment as an Adobe Acrobat document (.PDF) that can be printed, emailed, or saved.

Print All: Thiscreates a hardcopy of the assessment for each student assigned to the testing in the session, with the students’ name at the top, as an Adobe Acrobat document (.PDF) that can be printed, emailed, or saved.

Scoresheet Out: This button provides an Excel spreadsheet with the questions as columns and the students as rows.  Responses can be recorded in this spreadsheet and uploaded back into the system via the “Scoresheet In” button.  This process is typically used when the assessment contains constructed response questions or if the assessment is based on classroom observations.  If your assessment includes multiple formats of questions, you can use the online Student Wizard or a Scanner for some of the questions and this method for others.

Scoresheet In: This button allows you to upload an Excel spreadsheet, previously acquired via the “Scoresheet Out” button, containing student responses.  You cannot upload a spreadsheet that was not created by the system nor can you upload a spreadsheet from a different testing session.

Optional Buttons

1. Additional buttons for scanners supported by Embarc Assessment may also be displayed. The scanning options available to your district may vary based on your district’s setup.

Student Grid Features

1. Until they respond to any of the questions, students can be removed from the session by simply unselecting the checkbox located beside the student and saving the session.

2. A checkmark in the COMPLETE column signifies that the student has completed the assessment. Check the magnifying glass icon in the DETAILS column to view the student’s entire assessment, including their responses and final score. If students are using the Student Wizard, a teacher can use this feature to spot check a student’s progress as the assessment is actually happening.

3. Clicking the paper icon in the SCORE column will allow you to override individual student scores and record scores for constructed response or observation-based questions.

4. Once students have responded to any of the questions, only an administrator can remove them from the session by clicking the SCORE ICON, which will take you to the Manual Score page.

5. On the Manual Score page, an administrator can click the POWER DELETE button at the bottom of the Manual Score page. After clicking Power Delete a confirmation and warning will appear reminding you that you are about to completely delete the student’s responses from the session and that this process is irreversible. If you would like to continue click the DELETE button.

Reports

Embarc Assessment offers users the ability to run five different reports on testing sessions. To access the reports, you must first choose the session you would like to run the report for from the main Testing Session page. Then on the Testing Session Details page you will see the reports displayed in the left-hand navigation bar.

Print Scores (Overview)

This report provides a list of the students, their student ID, the points earned, the points possible, and their percentage. Students are also color coded red (0-50%), yellow (50-70%), light green (70-85%) or dark green (85-100%).

Print Scores (Details)

This report is similar to the Print Scores (Details) report, but instead it offers a breakdown of each student’s individual responses. For each questions, it will show the correct response, the student’s response, and how many points they earned out of the points possible.

Performance By Question

This report offers a breakdown of each question, providing the average score, standard deviation, and number of submitted scores for each questions.

Performance By Standard

This report shows the average student performance on each standard associated with a given assessment. It will also show you the standard deviation and number of responses for each standard.

Performance by Learning Target

This report will show the average performance of all students one each learning target associated with a particular assessment. It will also tell you the standard deviation and the number of scores for each learning target.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc with a guide to importing student responses using scan forms and the DataLink 3000 scanner from Apperson (formerly Benchmark 3000).

Scanner/Form Requirements

In order to begin scoring assessments using the DataLink 3000 scanner in your Embarc account, you will first need to purchase the scanner and pre-printed forms from Apperson Education Products. With the benefit of an automatic feed tray, the scanner can process 100-question forms at a rate of over 3000 forms per hour when connected to a computer using the provided USB cable.  Please visit the following links for additional information and pricing:

DataLink 3000 Scanner
http://www.apperson.com/datalink-main/datalink-3000-scanner

Pre-printed DataLink Answer Forms
http://www.apperson.com/datalink-main/datalink-answer-sheets

We recommend using one of the following supported scan forms:

• 75 MC A-D W/10 DIGIT ID/6 DIGIT TEST ID Form # 29200

• 85 MC A-D 10 DIGIT & 6 DIGIT TEST ID Form # 29780

• 85 MC A-E 10 DIGIT & 6 DIGIT TEST ID Form # 29770

• 100 MC A-E 10 DIGIT/6 DIGIT TEST ID Form # 29240

Software Requirements

In order to begin scoring assessments using the DataLink 3000 scanner, you will need to download and install the BYOA/DataLink 3000 Scanner Software.  The software is used to process forms that are read using the DataLink 3000 auto-feed scanner.  The installation files can be downloaded from the Embarc Administrative website.

1. On the main Embarc Administrative website, click on HELP & TRAINING link from the main menu at the left.

2. Then select ASSESSMENT HELP.

3. Download and install the current version of the "DATALINK 3000 SCANNER SOFTWARE INSTALATION” file located in the SCAN FORM DOCUMENTATION section of the page.

Assessment Requirements

Assessment Setup

1. After you have logged in to the Embarc administrative site, click on ASSESSMENTS under Assessment in the left hand navigation bar.

2. Once on the Assessments page, click on the NAME OF THE ASSESSMENT that you will be using with the scanner.

3. On the Assessment Details page, click EDIT in the upper right-hand corner

4. Under Additional Options on the Assessment Details Page, select the button next to LETTERS. This ensures that the printed assessment's choices match the scan form options A, B, C, D, and E.

5. You must also select any scanning options you would like to support for your assessment. This selection will enable importing of student responses for each device as well as audit the assessment properly.

   1. In this scenario, we would choose the DataLink 3000 option

6. Then click SAVE.

Requirements and Limitations

• This scanning solution is limited to a maximum of one-hundred (100) questions.  Any questions beyond this limitation will not be scored when importing student responses.

• This scanning solution is limited to a maximum of five (5) choices per question.  Any choices beyond the five choice per question limitation will not be scored. NOTE  - Prior to administering an assessment, it is advised that the assessment "Audit Report" be run and reviewed.  This will ensure that the assessment meets the requirements of its supported scanning options as well as contains valid question and choice information.

Scanning Completed Forms

Once your assessment has been administered, the completed scan forms may be scanned using the DataLink 3000 Scanner Software.  Once the software is installed and your scanner is properly connected to a computer using the provided USB cable, please use the following steps to scan completed student response forms:

 Open/Configure the Scanning Software

Open the "Embarc/DataLink 3000 Scanner Software" program.  This program can generally be found by clicking Start > All Programs > Apperson Education Products > Embarc > on your Windows computer. 

Verify that the software options found by selecting "File > Options" from the program's menu match the options below.  These options will be saved automatically and will not need to be reset for session:

Ensure that the status indicator on the lower-left corner of the program is green.  This indicates that the scanner is properly connected to the computer and ready to scan response forms.

Scan Student Response Forms

1. Place completed response forms into the auto-feed tray of the connected scanning device.

   1. Forms should be placed into the tray so that the student name is feeding into the scanner and the black dashes (timing marks) face towards you.

   2. Forms that are not loaded properly will be rejected and fed into a tray located under the scanner.  Rejected forms may be placed back into the auto-feed tray and scanned again.

2. Click the "Start" button on the toolbar to begin scanning student response forms.

3. Review the scanned results and make corrections as needed by clicking a cell within the grid.

Export Student Response Data

1. Once all data has been reviewed, student responses can be exported to a file.  To export data, click the "Embarc Export" button from the program's toolbar.

2. In the dialog that is displayed, browse your computer to indicate the location to save the file to.

3. Provide a file name in the box provided. 

4. Click the "Save" button to save the data file.

   1. Please make note of the name and location of the data file.  You will need to locate this file in the upcoming steps as you import it into Embarc.

5. Click the "OK" button to close the confirmation dialog.  You may close the program if you are completed scanning student response forms for the current session.

Importing Student Responses

1. In the left-hand navigation menu, click on TESTING SESSIONS under Assessment.

2. On the Testing Sessions page, use the search options to find the testing session that you have scanned student responses from. Once you have all the filters filled out, select SEARCH.

3. Click on the desired session's name to view more information about that testing session.

4. On the Session Details page, click the "DataLink In" button to import student response data.

5. On the Import Student Responses page, click the browse button to select the data file created in the previous steps using the Embarc/DataLink 3000 software.

6. Click the "Upload DataLink 3000 File" button to import student responses for this session and review any error or warning messages.  By checking the "Replace existing scores" box, any previously scored questions will be replaced with the imported student responses.

Credits

“DataLink 3000” is a registered trademark of Apperson Print Resources, Inc. 

For more information, please visit their website at http://www.apperson.com .

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide users of Embarc with a guide to importing student responses using scan forms and the Remark Office OMR software solution from Gravic.

Software Requirements

In order to begin scoring assessments using the Remark Office OMR software scanning solution in your Embarc account, you will first need to purchase the software from Gravic, Inc.  The software is used to process forms that are scanned using a pre-existing image scanner (not provided). Please visit the following link for information and pricing on Remark Office OMR software:

http://www.gravic.com/remark/officeomr/

Hardware/Scanner Requirements

If you do not already own a TWAIN-compliant image scanner, please consult the following link for information on supported devices and other considerations:

General Scanner Information
http://www.gravic.com/remark/officeomr/scanners/
http://www.gravic.com/remark/support/office/scanners/intro.html

Vendor-Recommended Scanners
http://www.gravic.com/remark/support/office/scanners/weoffer.html

Assessment Requirements

Assessment Setup

1. After you have logged in to the BYOC administrative site, click on ASSESSMENTS under Assessments in the left hand navigation bar.

2. Once on the Assessments page, click on the NAME OF THE ASSESSMENT that you will be using with the scanner.

3. On the Assessment Details page, click EDIT in the upper right-hand corner.

4. Under Additional Options on the Assessment Details Page, select the button next to LETTERS. This ensures that the printed assessment's choices match the scan form options A, B, C, D, and You must also select any scanning options you would like to support for your assessment. This selection will enable importing of student responses for each device as well as audit the assessment properly.

5. In this scenario we would be selecting the Remark Office OMR (Gravic) option.

6. Then click SAVE.      

Requirements and Limitations

• This scanning solution is limited to a maximum of one-hundred (100) questions.  Any questions beyond this limitation will not be scored when importing student responses.

• This scanning solution is limited to a maximum of five (5) choices per question.  Any choices beyond the five choice per question limitation will not be scored.

NOTE  - Prior to administering an assessment, it is advised that the assessment "Audit Report" be run and reviewed.  This will ensure that the assessment meets the requirements of its supported scanning options as well as contains valid question and choice information.

Printing Forms

Scan forms compatible with the Remark Office OMR software scanning solution can be downloaded from within your Embarc Administrative Account.

1. Under Help & Training in the left-hand navigation bar, click on ASSESSMENT HELP.

2. Then select the form titled "100-Question Printable Scan Form".  The form is available in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format and can be printed on any ink-jet or laser-jet printer using standard 8.5 x 11 inch paper.

NOTE  - To ensure successful scoring of student responses, when printing from Adobe Acrobat you must ensure that the option for "Page Scaling" is set to "None" and the option for "Auto-Rotate and Center" is unchecked (see diagram below).  Failure to print with these settings may cause the forms to be unreadable by the Remark Office ORM software and cause incorrect scoring.

Scanning Completed Forms

Once your assessment has been administered, the completed scan forms may be scanned using Remark Office OMR and TWAIN-compliant image scanner.  For information on how to install and configure your software and scanner, please reference the "Remark Office OMR User's Guide" that can be found with your purchased software.

Once your software is installed and your scanner is properly configured, please use the following steps to scan completed student response forms:

Download the Embarc Form Template

1. Select the "Documentation" link from the main menu at the left.

2. Download the current version of the "100-Question Remark Office OMR Data Center Form Template" file located in the "Scan Form Documentation" section of the page. 

   1. The template file is named "BYOA-REM100.omr"

Scan Student Response Forms

1. Open the "Remark Office OMR Data Center" program.  This program can generally be found by clicking Start > All Programs > Remark Office OMR 7 > on your Windows computer. 

2. Open the Embarc 100-Question Template file (from step 1) by selecting "File > Open Form Template..." from the program's menu and browsing your computer for the "Embarc-REM100.omr" file.

3. Place all completed response forms into the auto-feed tray of the connected scanning device.

4. Open the "Office Read Wizard" by selecting "Tools > Read Wizard..." from the program's menu.

5. Ensure the dialog contains the following settings, and click the "Next" button.

6. Ensure the next dialog contains the following settings, and click the "Next" button.

7. Ensure the next dialog contains the following settings, and click the "Read" button to being canning/reading student scan forms.

8. Once all forms have completed scanning, review the results in the main grid. Errors and warnings are represented by the various colored cells.

NOTE:  Once a successful batch of forms has been processed, future scans can be performed using the current settings by clicking the "Easy Scan" button or through "Tools > Easy Scan".

 Export Student Response Data

1. Once all data has been reviewed, student responses can be exported to a file.  To export data, select "File > Save Data As..." from the program's menu. 

2. In the dialog that is displayed, browse your computer to indicate the location to save the file to.

3. Provide a file name in the box provided. 

4. Select "Spreadsheet [Tabs] (*.TXT)" for the "Save as type".

5. Click the "OK" button to save the data file.

   1. Please make note of the name and location of the data file.  You will need to locate this file in the upcoming steps as you import it into Embarc.

NOTE- Failure to select the proper "Save as Type" will prevent scores from being successfully imported into Embarc.

Importing Student Responses

1. In the left-hand navigation menu, click on  TESTING SESSIONS under Assessments. 

2. On the Testing Sessions page, use the search options to find the testing session that you have scanned student responses from. Once you have all the filters filled out, select SEARCH.

3. Click on the desired session's name to view more information about that testing session.

4. On the Session Details page, click the "Remark OMR In" button to import student response data.

5. On the Import Student Responses page, click the browse button to select the data file created in the previous steps using the Remark Office OMR software.

6. Click the "Upload Remark OMR File" button to import student responses for this session and review any error or warning messages.  By checking the "Replace existing scores" box, any previously scored questions will be replaced with the imported student responses.

Credits

“Remark Office OMR” is a registered trademark of Gravic, Inc. For more information, please visit their website at http://www.gravic.com .