📝 Creating User Defined Assessments (Connect)

This content is intended for teachers, specialists, and administrators who want to create assessment test structures and upload assessment scores.

Planning Your User-Defined Assessment 

• Type of Assessment: Determine the type of assessment (e.g., benchmark, progress monitoring, chapter test).
• Naming Conventions: Check if your district has specific standards for naming conventions. Typically, these include elements in this order: Test Name, Subject, Administration details, and Grade Level. (e.g., EasyCBM Read Winter Gr 2)
• Scoring: 
  • Decide the scoring method (numeric, letter score, pass/fail, met/not met).
  • Determine the minimum and maximum scores for the assessment.
  • Establish performance levels or cut score ranges, including a minimum passing score if applicable.
• Strands: Determine if the assessment has strands (e.g., weekly/monthly scores, specific standards in subject areas).

Creating An Assessment 

1. Start under My Creations in the left navigation menu, choose My Assessments, then Create New Assessment.

Details Section:

2. Enter the main assessment test information.
   • Test Name: This field contains the long version of the assessment name. It should fully describe the content of the assessment. The name could contain the vendor, assessment, subject, grade, and season.  (e.g., Really Great Reading Oral Reading Fluency Words Correct Per Minute Gr8-Fall)
   • Label: This is a condensed version of the name and will be displayed in Homeroom. (e.g., ORF WCPM Gr8-Fall)
   • Parent: This is the name of the assessment to which other assessments, or strands, are tied. Strands are components that together make a whole. This field enables Homeroom to tie one assessment to another. NOTE: an assessment with a parent can not be used as a parent for another assessment.
   • Is Met/Not Met: This classification applies to assessments that are not score-based but reported as Met or Not Met. Assessments designated as Is Met/Not Met that are True (Yes) do not need performance levels.
   • Is Progress Monitoring: This is used for assessments that will be taken multiple times (and or not Benchmarks) so that the user can display all of the progress monitoring assessments. True (Yes) is an assessment students will take multiple times to monitor their progress.
   • Chronological Ordinal: A chronological ordinal is a whole number used to order assessments based on the season in which they are taken (fall, winter, spring, or summer). If no chronological ordinals are used, the default assessment order is alphabetical.

Scoring Section:

3. Add the scoring details:
   • Minimum Score: This is the lowest possible assessment score a student can receive. It must be a whole number or a decimal no greater than the hundredth place (e.g., 10.25). Student scores below the lowest possible are invalid and will not be uploaded.
   • Passing Threshold: This is the minimum score a student must receive to be considered to have passed the assessment. It must equal the Assessment Test Performance Levle Minimum Score for the performance level that defines passing or having met the standard. If the assessment doesn’t have the concept of passing, enter 0.
   • Maximum Score: This is the maximum possible score a student can receive for the assessment. It must be a whole number or a decimal no greater than the hundredth place (e.g., 95.25). Student scores are invalid if they exceed the highest possible and will not upload. 

Metadata (Filter/Sort Data) Section

4. Add these fields to the assessment so they can be used to filter and sort to easily find the assessment. If the selection you are looking for is unavailable, contact your District Data Administrator.
5. Click Select in the  Subject Area field, then click a checkmark to the left. When finished, click Apply.
6. Select a Scope and Family similarly. Choosing a scope is crucial to determining where the score is seen and who can access it to upload scores. 

Dates Section

7. Skip selecting the Start Date or End Date unless you only want to allow you or others to upload to the assessment during that date range. Entering a date range establishes the following on the upload Assessment Scores page:
   • When the assessment is visible from the select list, download the template for scoring.
   • When will the assessment accept uploaded scores from the template? 

Performance Levels Section

8. The form allows you to add three (3) performance levels. You must have at least one (1) performance level; there is no limit on how many can be displayed, but we recommend no more than six (6). 
9. Click Add Assessment or the “+” icon under the Performance Level title to create multiple levels.  Enter the performance level data for the assessments: 
   • Performance Level Name: These are the labels assigned to score ranges and are shown on the legend, or key, in the assessment widget. (e.g., Level 1, Level 2, At Risk, Some Risk, Beginning, Intermediate)
   • Minimum Score: This is the minimum score for each performance level and can be a whole number or a decimal to the hundredth place. This number will be used for the performance level flag display.
   • Maximum Score: This is the maximum score for each performance level, which can be a whole number or a decimal to the hundredth place. NOTE: The maximum score for the first level is the same as the minimum score for the next level, allowing for decimals. The minimum score is inclusive; the maximum score is not, except for the highest (or last) performance level.
   • Color: This is a hexadecimal (Hex) code number equivalent to a color. Click the dropper icon to select the color.
   • Ordinal: This is the order in which the performance levels are displayed. They must be ranked from lowest to highest, with 1 being the lowest level.
10. Click the Trash icon to delete the Performance Level.

11. For more details on each field used in user-defined assessment creation: Foundational Assessment Test Structure (FATS) Build 
12. Click Save when finished.

Other Tools Related To User-Defined Assessments

Editing / Cloning

1. Start under My Creations in the left navigation menu, choose My Assessments, then Edit My Assessments.

2. Click Add Assessment to add a new assessment.
3. Locate the assessment in the list and click on it, or click the Row Actions Gear and choose Configure or Delete.

4. In v2, you may administer some of your assessments more than once yearly. Instead of repeating each, click the Clone icon to the right of the assessment to save time. Click the newly cloned assessment and update the Test Name, Label, and Chronological Ordinal.

• Creating User-Defined Assessments.pdf300 KB