Classroom Glossary

Analytics

They are reporting tools for questions, assignments, and gradebooks in Classroom. They take the form of charts, portable documents (PDFs), and downloads to comma-separated files. They can also be printed. Educators can access various summary reports at the school and district levels based on their permissions in Homeroom.

Assignment

A collection of questions (or directives) in the form of coursework or assessments a student is expected to complete and on which they will be scored and graded. Multiple assignments can be added to a grade book, and the entire gradebook of assignments can be given to multiple students at once via a student group. 

Assignment Bank

A collection of assignments (coursework and assessments) created by educators, building or district administrators, which are vetted and shared. The assignments can be imported into gradebooks by other educators within the district. They can be searched by various filters, like subject, grade, standards, and keywords. Multiple banks are allowed within each district.

Assignment Template

An assignment pattern or blueprint can be used repeatedly or altered to form a new assignment. They belong to individual users (My Assignment Templates), but can also be shared and deposited into a bank (Shared Assignment Templates). Lists of assignment templates can be searched by various filters, like subject, grade, standards, and keyword.

Bank Manager

An educator is responsible for carefully reviewing assignments or questions submitted to district banks. They have full editing privileges and can deny or approve acceptance into a bank. They can also delete assignments or questions previously approved by a bank and export assignments to other educators' gradebooks.

Banks

Repositories for shared questions and assignments created and developed by educators. A district can have many banks. They can be organized in any fashion. The contents of each bank are accessible to educators in the district. They can be searched using filters.

Classroom

A web-based application created by School Data Solutions that enables educators to create, manage, and grade coursework and assessments for students based on common core learning standards.  Classroom is a platform for students to take assignments online, and both the instructor and the student can monitor their progress in real-time. Additionally, it allows educators to administer online assessments to students, which, when completed, are automatically scored. The classroom also provides a standards-based report card, a method for sharing content and curriculum throughout a district, and reporting tools which tie directly into Homeroom.

Color Bands

Color bands are visual indicators of how students perform. Questions and assignments can have points or numeric values which indicate how the student performed. The maximum number of points can be divided into performance level ranges. These point ranges are called color bands; each band can be assigned a color to indicate student performance. The common color band colors are red for poor, yellow for intermediate, and green for adequate performance, but there are 12 colors to choose from, including blue and orange. The simplest color band arrangement is red for not meeting the standard and green for meeting the standard. In addition to denoting performance, color bands can have their own points. 

Color Band Points

This is the value assigned to a question or assignment's color band (or performance indicator). A question may have a possible score of 50. However, each of the color bands could have point values of, say, 1, 2, and 3. In an assignment, you can set an option to "score by the color band"; the sum of the questions' raw scores is then ignored, and the sum of the questions' color bands is displayed instead.

Complexity

Based on Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Levels, this method identifies or tags the learning objectives of questions. In Classroom, the options are Analysis, Apply, Comprehension, Create, Evaluate, and Know. If notated, the complexity can be used when searching questions. Bloom's Taxonomy divides learning objectives into three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor, with the premise that students can learn at higher levels only if they have knowledge and skills at lower levels. Educators can use this optional tag when creating questions in Classroom to focus on a domain, ultimately assigning coursework or assessments in line with their curriculum goals for students.

Contributor

An educator who has access to a gradebook that belongs to another educator. They have full edit privileges on the gradebook and can add, modify or delete questions, assignments, student groups, etc. They can score assignments and grade students. They can view analytics in the gradebook. They can add other contributors. They cannot remove the original owner of the gradebook or deny them access. Team teachers, specialists, and other educators who share students and responsibilities may find adding Contributors to their gradebooks helpful.

Curriculum

The subjects and plans comprise a course of study. In Classroom, an educator can add curriculum blocks to a gradebook. The blocks can contain links to external documents, videos, images, etc. These can be helpful when defining a gradebook template in that they make the district-approved lesson plans and curriculum guides readily available to the educator. 

Depth of Knowledge

Based on Norman Webb's Depth of Knowledge levels, this method categorizes or tags questions according to the complexity of thinking a student must express to answer them correctly. In Classroom, the levels are Recall/Reproduction, Basic Skills/Concepts, Extended Thinking, and Strategic Thinking/Reasoning. The depth of knowledge levels can be used when searching questions if notated. Educators can use this optional tag when creating questions in Classroom to promote student learning at a higher level. Apply depth of knowledge tags to design rigorous assignments, with questions increasingly complex through graduated use of levels.

Difficulty Level

A method to identify or tag how difficult a question would be for students to answer correctly, given their grade level and the subject matter. In Classroom, the options are Low, Medium, or High. If notated, the difficulty level can be used when searching questions. In adaptive testing, students would confront increasing or decreasing difficulty levels depending on whether they answered questions correctly.

Directive

A type of assignment in which the student is instructed to act or given a task which has no associated question but to which points can be awarded. For example, "Read Chapters 10 and 11" or "Throw a pot on the wheel."

Grade

The culmination of a student's accumulated scores can be expressed in any form of grade literal (A, B, C, 1, 3, 4, U, S, E, etc.). In Classroom, educators can assign terms to their gradebooks, and students can be graded at the term end and the school year-end. Educators can also provide progress monitoring reports. The classroom provides a student-by-student score overview by standard or assignment, but educators determine the students' term grades. Additionally, educators can grade students on non-academic measures, like citizenship. Educators can use Classroom as a standards-based gradebook or a traditional gradebook.

Gradebook

A collection of assignments, coursework, and assessments is given to students—the highest organizational structure in Classroom. Gradebooks belong to only one educator; however, other educators can contribute to gradebooks. Students are attached to a gradebook via a Student Group. An educator can have multiple gradebooks or only one, depending on how they like to work. Multiple assignments can be added to a single gradebook. Multiple Student Groups can be added to a gradebook. Gradebooks with an entire course curriculum can be flagged as templates and imported by an educator. Gradebooks can be analyzed. Educators can use Classroom as a standards-based gradebook or a traditional gradebook.

If an assignment needs to be moved between gradebooks or an educator must give their gradebook to another educator, please contact our HelpDesk at support@schooldata.net.

Gradebook Templates

A gradebook pattern or blueprint can be used repeatedly or altered to form a new gradebook. They belong to individual users, usually at the district or school administration level. If attached to a course code, any educator who creates a new gradebook and uses the same course code will receive all the contents of the gradebook template, including settings, assignments, questions, curriculum, syllabus, etc. For users new to Classroom, this is the fastest way to get started and is a "gradebook in a box" with everything necessary to begin standards-based grading. There is, however, a significant amount of preparation needed by district or school administrators to generate a gradebook template in the form of creating questions, assignments, and assessments. If you are interested in gradebook templates, please contact our HelpDesk at support@schooldata.net to get started.

Keywords

Words or phrases that describe what an educator might search for in Classroom. They are optional. If used in a question or assignment, they must be separated by a comma. They are not case-sensitive. If using a phrase, surround the phrase in quotes, e.g., "number line," and search for the phrase using quotes.

Knowledge Type

From the information processing theory, different types of information stored in long-term memory support thinking and problem-solving. Two of the three categories of knowledge stored in long-term memory are available as optional tags in Classroom: Procedural and Declarative.  Declarative knowledge refers to facts and concepts. Procedural knowledge refers to how to do things. Educators can use these optional descriptors while creating questions to help define the purpose of the question and inform other educators on the type of skills a student would need to answer the question successfully.

Label

A short description of a question or a color band. The question label can be seen when scoring a question. The color band label is displayed in reports on the question or assignment.

Min/Max

A numeric value that delineates the minimum to maximum score range allowed for a question or assignment. Currently, the minimum score must be zero.

Non-Academic Measures 

Any variable or attribute on which a student can be assessed that does not relate to common academic subjects. Measures are concerned with social behavior, like respect, attendance, citizenship, and engagement. Some districts consider these indicators to achieve overall student success. Classroom allows educators to optionally add their own non-academic measures and grade them in a district-approved manner. They are graded by term and displayed on a student report card.

Omit Scoring

An educator can remove the scoring requirement on a question while still including the question in an assignment. Educators can use this option to include directives in an assignment that have no points but are important for students to complete the assignment. For instance, an assignment might include the following questions, "1. Read Chapter 6", "2. Complete the exercises at the end of Chapter 6", "3. Take the self-assessment exam", and the only questions in the assignments which have a score are 2 and 3. Further, educators can use this feature to provide additional information on students' capabilities without assigning a value or performance level.

Points

Numeric values indicate how a student performed on a question or assignment. All questions in the Classroom default to one point: meeting or not meeting the standard. However, educators can choose the range of points allowed. Points can be decimals as well as whole numbers in increments of tenths, hundredths, or thousandths (.1, .01, or .001). In an assignment, the sum of the questions' maximum points often equals the overall assignment maximum points; however, educators can remove questions from being included in assignment points. Point ranges are associated with color bands.

Question Bank

A collection of questions (multiple choice, true/false, scored answer) created by educators, and building or district administrators, which are vetted and shared. The questions can be imported into assignments by other educators within the district. They can be searched by various filters, like subject, grade, standards, and keywords. Multiple banks are allowed within each district. Questions can be aligned to standards. Private question banks, like the NWEA, can be added to Classroom. NWEA has a collection of over 70,000 questions on various subjects and across grade levels which are aligned to common core state standards. 

Questions

In the foundational structure within Classroom, questions can be multiple choice, true/false, or scored answers (which can be a directive). Questions are added to assignments and then completed by students online or via paper and pencil. Multiple choice and true/false questions answered online are automatically scored. Each question can be associated with one or more learning standards. Questions can include media content as well as text, like images, audio, or video. Reading passages can be attached to questions. School Data Solutions will provide additional question types in the future, like matching or ordering lists.

Question Templates

A question pattern or blueprint can be used repeatedly or altered to form a new question. They belong to individual users (My Question Templates), but can also be shared and deposited into a bank (Shared Question Templates). Lists of question templates can be searched by various filters, like subject, grade, standards, and keyword.

Schedule

A range of times for students to take or access an assignment. An assignment's schedule includes the Open, Due, and Close dates. All published assignments are accessible by students online between the Open and Due dates of the schedule. After the Due date, an assignment is still accessible to students, but any student submissions will be marked Late. A Closed assignment can no longer be accessed by students online. However, a teacher can still score the assignment. Open, Due, and Close dates may fall on the same day. However, they must fall between the start and end dates of the gradebook term. 

Score

A final numeric value is given to a student's response to a question or an overall assignment result. Scores fall within a minimum and maximum point range for the question or assignment. Currently, the minimum score must be zero. If a student does not answer a question, no score is received. That is, their answer is null or unknown, not zero. Scores can be decimals as well as whole numbers in increments of tenths, hundredths, or thousandths (.1, .01, or .001). Questions can optionally be not scored. Scores can be assigned to color bands in lieu of raw scores. Scores are displayed in analytics.

Shared Assignment Template

An assignment template that an educator has created and shared within their district. They are reviewed for accuracy and relevancy by a bank manager, who can deny or approve their acceptance into a bank. If approved, any other educator in the district can import them into a gradebook. 

Standards

The learning goals for what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. Standards help educators ensure their students have the skills and knowledge needed to be successful while also helping parents understand what is expected of their children. In Classroom, several standard banks are automatically added, and various methods can search them. Districts can also add their own standards (learning targets, competencies, etc.). Standards provide the basis for grading in Classroom and are intrinsically linked to question analysis.

Standard Bank

A collection of standards. By default, Classroom is pre-loaded with several standards banks, including the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) and Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) standards in Math, Science and Social Studies. Districts can create as many standard banks as necessary, like report card standards, non-academic standards, and standards by competency. The banks can be searched by various filters, like subject, grade, keyword, and unique identifier. In Classroom, whenever an educator accesses "standards," they can browse a standards bank.

Student Group

A roster of students can be assigned to one or more gradebooks. An educator's student groups from Homeroom are available in Classroom. Teachers have automatic student groups based on the courses they teach under My Groups. Shared Groups can be accessed by searching a school, grade, activity, class, or teacher. 

Syllabus

The outline or summary of the assignments is in a gradebook. In Classroom, the syllabus is automatically generated when an educator adds assignments to a gradebook. It can be printed. Hyperlinks to external documents can be added to the syllabus with a container.

Tags

A non-hierarchical word assigned to a question or assignment. It is a kind of metadata that helps to describe the question or assignment and allows it to be found again by searching. An educator chooses tags, and many of them are optional.

Term (Class Term)

A mark of time encapsulating a grading period, for instance, semester, quarter, trimester, or all year. Classroom gives districts the flexibility to have as many grading terms as necessary. Terms are automatically assigned to a new gradebook if the educator selects a school and imports the school's properties. A term must fall between the start and end dates of the school year. Terms are used to filter assignments and to grade students.