The Standardized Tests screen is used to set up the parameters of a district's standardized tests, including each test part and its corresponding score type. From the Standardized Tests screen, administrators build the outline of the standardized tests’ scores that will be imported into Focus with the Import Tools. After setting up Standardized Tests and Score Types, the Focus Importer can be used to Match Student IDs and/or migrate Standardized Test data into Focus, where the data can be reviewed, tracked, and analyzed in a number of other Focus features, including Test History, Test History Report, Test History Breakdown, State Performance Reports and Advanced Reports.
1. In the Assessment menu, click Standardized Tests.
2. The screen defaults to the Setup Tests tab.
3. A list of existing Standardized Tests displays. To create a new Standardized Test, enter information using the top row of the table.
4. Enter the test Title in the provided text box.
5. Enter the same Short Name found in the data you will be importing into Focus; these short names must match for imported data to migrate to Focus correctly.
6. Select the type of test from the Test Type pull-down to determine how the test is categorized when viewing students' test history record. Test Types must first be set up from the Setup Test Types tab.
7. Select the Score Types from the pull-down. Select all of the Score Types used throughout this Standardized Test; score types per test parts are specified in the Test Parts section explained in the next step. See Setting Up Score Types for more information.
8. In the Allow profiles to modify pull-down, select the profiles that can add or edit student test data for the test. One or multiple profiles can be selected.
Profiles that will add or edit student test data for a test need both View and Edit permissions for Test History in Users > Profiles > Assessments tab. Then, in Standardized Tests, the users (profiles) who have given access to add or edit student test data can be set for each test.
When using the Allow profiles to modify functionality, every standardized test must have at least one profile selected, such as a system administrator profile. If no profiles are selected for a test, then all profiles with Edit permissions to Test History can add or edit student test data for that test.
9. Select Include in Post Secondary transcript and/or Include in Inter-District transcript to indicate that the scores of the test should be included on post-secondary transcripts or inter-district transcripts.
10. Select the Score Type for Min Score to determine which scores to use for the Min Score in the Grades > Graduation Requirements Report and/or the Promotion Requirements Report. One of the following selections must be made from the pull-down to use the Min Score:
- Scores with a Numeric Score Type: You can choose a minimum numeric score.
- Scores with a Pull-Down Score Type with two possible options: You can choose which option is “Pass.”
If a Numeric Score Type is selected, the min score will be chosen for each test part. If a Pull-Down Score Type is selected, the passing score will be set at the test level.
You must first add an Assessment “Type” via Grades > Graduation Requirements > Graduation Programs and Requirements tab, then you can select Score Type for Min Score.
When a Test Part does not use the selected “Score Type for Min Score,” that part will not be used to calculate if the student satisfied the test history requirements for the Graduation Requirements Report.
11. Press Enter/Return to save the test and add test parts and competency bands.
See Adding Test Parts and Setting Up Competency Bands for details about these two processes.
12. Click any of the applicable fields to make edits.
Changes save automatically.
13. Click the delete button (red minus sign) to remove a test.
a. In the confirmation pop-up window, click OK.
1. In the Assessment menu, click Standardized Tests.
2. The screen defaults to the Setup Tests tab.
3. Click Test Parts to enter the information for each part.
Enter the same Short Name found in the data you will be importing into Focus; these short names must match for imported data to migrate to Focus correctly. All of the Score Types checked above will appear as options in this section.
4. Enter the following details to add a test part:
Title: The Title is the test part that will display in the test history for students.
Short Name: The Short Name is the key code for the specific item and is used when importing data.
Subject Code: The Subject Code is a secondary identifier available for test parts and is used with state reporting.
Subject: The test part can be assigned Subject content that is used as a filter in Performance Reports.
Sort Order: The Sort Order of the test parts determines the order in which the parts will display in the test history for students.
Transcript: The check box indicates whether or not the test part should be included in the students' transcripts.
Passing Score: The Passing Score is used to determine if students have passed the test. This feature is especially useful in conjunction with the Graduation Requirements “Assessment” Type. See Grades > Graduation Requirements for more information.
Score Types: The Score Types indicate the data that is reported for the test part.
Graph Score: Select the score type that will be used when graphing test results in reports and analytics.
Max Syear: Enter an integer to determine when the selected test part becomes inactive.
5. Press Enter/Return to add the new Test Part.
Continue adding test parts as needed.
6. Click any of the applicable fields to edit the information.
Changes save automatically.
7. Click the delete button (red minus sign) to remove a test part.
a. In the confirmation pop-up window, click OK.
For districts with the Assessments add-on module and/or the Focus Analytics module, Competency Bands may be set up for each test. Competency Bands allow colors to be assigned to score ranges or exact scores, serving as a visual indicator of student performance on the Assessment Report.
1. In the Assessment menu, click Standardized Tests.
2. The screen defaults to the Setup Tests tab.
3. Click Competency Bands to add competency details for the selected test.
4. In the pop-up window, select the Score Type in the blank row.
Only the score types that have been set up for the test will be available for selection.
5. Select the Parts from the pull-down to limit the competency band to specific test parts. When selected, the band color will only apply to the chosen parts; if no parts are selected, the band will apply to all parts by default.
6. Enter a Level Title.
The level title will display in a tool-tip when hovering over the score range/score in the Assessment Report.
7. Enter a Code.
This is the identifier that will display for the score range/score in the Assessment Report.
8. Select a Color to associate with the score range/score.
9. For score ranges, enter the Min Score for the score range.
10. Enter an Exact Score if only scores with that exact value should display in this color on the the Assessment Report.
The Min Score option is more applicable to assessments that have score ranges for score types such as scale score, national percentile rank, and raw score. The Exact Score option is more applicable to assessments that have score types such as performance or achievement level where score levels range from 1-5 and students are assigned a singular level.
11. Select one or multiple Grade Levels to only display this color for particular grade levels.
12. Select one or multiple Years to only display this color for specific administration years.
13. Press Enter/Return to add the row.
14. Continue adding the additional score ranges/exact scores as needed.
15. Click any of the applicable fields to make edits.
Changes save automatically.
16. Click the delete button (red minus sign) to remove the competency band.
17. When finished, click the X to close the pop-up window.
To copy the competency band setup from another test, select the test in the Copy From pull-down. After selecting the test, click Yes in the confirmation message to copy over the setup.
The Setup Test Types tab allows users to create test types in order to determine how tests are grouped when reviewing Test History. Once test types are set up here, they must be assigned from the Setup Test tab using the Test Type pull-down.
1. In the Assessment menu, click Standardized Tests.
2. Click the Setup Test Types tab.
All existing test types are displayed including the Title, Sort Order, and Default types.
3. Enter a new test type in the top row. Start by entering the Title in the provided text box.
4. Enter the Sort Order in the text box to determine in what order the test type displays in the test history pull-down located on the student's record.
5. Select the Default check box to make the test type the default selection in the Filter by Test Type pull-down located on the student's record. If selected as default, the sort order becomes irrelevant unless multiple test types are flagged as default. If none of the test types are set as the default, the pull-down will default to All.
6. Press the Enter/Return key to save the line of data. The line turns yellow when committed.
7. Click Save.
Before adding Test Parts on the Setup Tests tab, it’s recommended that the score types be set up first. Score Types are not test-specific, so they will be available to be attached to any test in your setup.
1. In the Assessment menu, click Standardized Tests.
2. Click the Setup Score Types tab.
It is recommended that district-level administrators manage this set up. Even between district schools, tests' short names and titles must identically correspond with previously used short names that will be in the data being imported. If there is any inconsistency in the short name/title setup of standardized tests’ score types, the imported data will not migrate properly. If not set up properly, it will not be reported to the state, FASTER, or display in the Graduation Requirements Report.
On the Setup Score Types tab, the following information is displayed: Title, Short Name, Sort Order options, Data Type, Pull-Down Options, Summary Type, Transcript options, Min Score, and Max Score.
The Numeric Data Type is stored in the scores field, while Alphanumeric is stored in a different field; therefore, if a Score Type is changed/edited, the data will not appear via the interface, until it is moved to the correct field.
3. To add a score type, enter score type data in the top row.
4. Enter the Title in the provided text box. The Title is the test part that will display in the test history for students.
5. Enter the Short Name in the provided text box to determine the key code for the specific item, which is used when importing data.
6. Enter the Sort Order in the provided text box to determine the order in which the test parts will display in the test history for students.
7. Select the Data Type from the pull-down; options include Numeric, Alphanumeric, and Pull-Down.
8. Enter the Pull-Down Options in the provided text box to determine the selectable values when Data Type is set to Pull-Down.
9. Select the Summary Type from the pull-down; options include N/A, Score, Achievement Level, and Pass/Fail. This field defines whether a score represents a Score, Achievement Level, or Pass/Fail in the Test History Summary and replaces a hard-coded list of test short names that was not configurable by the district.
10. Select the Transcript check box to indicate whether or not the test part should be included in the students' transcripts.
11. Enter the Min Score and Max Score to determine the scoring range for the test part. The Passing Score can also be set to determine if students have passed the test, which is especially useful in conjunction with the Graduation Requirements Assessment Type.
12. Once the information has been added, you can either press Enter/Return while clicked into a field to save the data, or click the Save button at the top of the screen.
13. Edit any data for existing or new fields and click Save to apply the changes.
14. To delete a score type, click the delete button (red minus sign) to remove the score type.
1. In the Assessment menu, click Standardized Tests.
2. Click the Setup Score Ranges tab.
The Setup Score Ranges tab allows you to set a min and max test score and allows teachers to enter test scores as well. Teachers will have the ability to modify/enter test scores only if permission is granted via Setup Tests > Allow profiles to modify pull-down. For more information see the section titled, Setting Up Tests.
Upon navigating to the Setup Score Ranges screen, you will see score ranges for tests that have already been set up.
3. To add a new score range, begin entering information into the top line starting with selecting the Test from the pull-down. The tests listed here pull from tests set up on the Setup Tests tab; for more information about setting up tests, see Setting Up Tests.
4. Select the Test Part from the pull-down, such as Geometry, English, etc.
5. If the test uses a specific Test Form, select it from the corresponding pull-down.
6. Choose a Score Type, the options here vary based on the test selected.
7. If applicable, select a Level.
8. Set the Min and Max scores.
9. When finished, click into one of the text fields and press Enter/Return to commit the line of data.
10. From here, if needed, you can edit any of the fields by using the pull-down or clicking into any of the text fields.
Changes save automatically.
11. Click the delete button (red minus sign) to remove scores.
See Additional Features for information on Filtering, Page Size, Mass Updating, and more.