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Assessments

 

 Contact

SUPPORT

Email: campus_assessments@arcc.org

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Phone: (218) 723-1700

 

Links

The link below, will take you to MDEs Data Downloads page where you can get all the historical aggregated data for the entire state. 

 

MDE Assessment Data Downloads

 

The following website has some nice online tutorials for Pivot Analysis

Iowa State University - Center for Advance Study of Technology Leadership in Education


 Online Support

 

 

Meetings

None currently scheduled

 

Recording Assessments on Transcripts
Want to know how Minnesota wants us to record assessment results on transcripts?
Read Statute
Announcements

 

 *** Download District Assessment Analysis Workbooks Here!

 


2011 In Review

In the 15 1/2 years I've been working with assessments I can say without a doubt this has been my busiest. The primary reason for this was because of the decision to assume as much of the assessment data handling duties as possible for participating member districts.  Configuring Infinite Campus to accommodate our standardized tests without having to redefine tests every year was among the first of several projects to reduce time invested in storing and reporting assessment results.  Each of your databases was cleaned up of partially completed and otherwise errant records.  New import routines were defined and refined.  Several new state tests were defined.  New import tracking and import reporting methods were also developed.  New SQL validation reports were designed and deployed, as well as new ad hoc queries.  Careful attention was given to what is now being reported on student transcripts for assessments.  Parent Portal access to all state tests has now been realized.  A new secure web page designed for downloading your annual analysis workbooks so you won't need to store CDs anymore.

 

By November, all Infinite Campus member districts realized a 100% population of MN Standardized tests since MDE adopted a uniform record layout in 2006.  ACT, SAT and other National tests were redefined to ease record creation and improve accuracy.

 

Recently, a survey was circulated that inquired about your interest in storing NWEA MAP tests in Infinite Campus.  Of the 19 districts polled, 14 indicated a high degree of interest in having these test results available in Infinite Campus.

 

I want to use this forum to say a special 'THANK YOU' to all of you for your patience and cooperation during all the turmoil.  I couldn't have imagined a better group of folks to work with.  Many of you have expressed gratitude for what has been done and that's very much appreciated but the real reason for this effort lies in my hope that taking the focus off most of the testing data handling will allow you more time for other important functions that are expected of you, by your districts.

 

 


July 2011

New SQL Report - Assessment Check For Duplicates.

This report builds a list of Minnesota standardized tests that have duplicated dates.  Use it to look up students and remove the extra record(s).  Below, are instructions for setting up user permissions and running the report.

 

Setting Up Tool Rights For Group Users

Open System Administration>User Security>User Groups

Select a Group for which you want to grant tool rights then click on the Tool Rights tab.

***System Admins! Be sure to set yourselves up for Tool Rights FIRST!

Place a checkmark in the ‘R’ (leftmost column)  for any/all items that you want to grant Tool Rights for this group of users. 

(A checkmark in the parent folder will grant rights to all child items.)

You’ll find the report in the Campus Outline under System Administration>Assessment (it’s the last item in the list)

 

Upon running it you should be asked for your SQL Login.

 

Just select the test(s) you want to be checked for duplicates then click on the ‘View Report’ button.

 

Worth Mentioning:

SQL Reports are MICROSOFT animals and run best under their native Internet Explorer!

Running SQL Reports with Firefox works but you’ll get a goofy looking display (see below). 

This is because Firefox isn’t fully compatible with Internet Explorer.

Best Practice for Firefox

After running the report, select an Excel or ‘pdf’ format and export the contents where they can be printed.

 

Best Practice for Internet Explorer

ONLY use the printer icon on the report dashboard.

Do NOT click on menu ‘File’ and select ‘Print’ – that will produce unformatted output.

 


June - 2011

Recordkeeping

Trust me on this - it's quicker and easier to do it right than it is to do it over.  During a recent audit of GRAD Retest data I came across a couple of disturbing observations...

 

GRAD Retest Dates

If you're one of the districts that are manually entering retests please make sure that you use the ACTUAL test date.  Accurate recordkeeping is important and this is especially true with graduation-sensitive data -  if you enter a test date other than the actual test date there is a likelihood that you may enter the 'same' record again with a different date.  There is no good excuse for entering anything other than the actual test date.  This information is available to you both on Pearson's paper copy and in the source files on MDEs Educator Portal Test Downloads page.

 

Grad Retest Scores

I noticed that some of you are omitting scores when creating GRAD retest records. My advice to you about this is simply "Don't omit scores".  Just because GRAD scores are no longer included on student transcripts does not imply that these numbers have no other value - they can be, and are used for internal analysis.

 

A lot of work went into restructuring your Test Definitions and cleaning up errant data over the past year.  Let's not see all of that work derail into a regional train wreck.  Only 2 districts out of 19 contacted me about helping out with GRAD Retests.  Of 19 districts audited, 4 did not require corrective intervention. 

 

I know that you appreciate help because of the nice replies you've sent whenever I've done work for you.  There is no need for you to have reservations about asking for help.  I enjoy helping out and working with you all.  Again, it's quicker and easier to do it right than to do it over. 

 


May - 2011

Is your GRAD retest data up-to date?

If you're feeling overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done to prepare for the end of the school year and would like assistance with loading GRAD retest data please contact me for help.


April - 2011

Improved Test Definitions

Great news!  Life is just about to become a little simpler for you!  I’m sure that you remember all those yearly folders that we used to have for test definitions…

They presented a HUGE pop-up list on the student detail screen for assessments that looked like this…

Here’s what the test definitions now look like in System Administration>Assessments>Tests…

 

…and here’s what the revised pop-up list now looks like on the student detail screen for assessments…

 

It’s now much easier to select the proper test definition when loading or manually creating testing records! 

But that’s not all –

  • There’s no longer a need to define tests every year in System Administration!

  • No data is lost during this upgrade and data entry procedures remain unchanged. 

Something Nice To Be Looking For:

Infinite Campus is working on a suggestion I made to allow ‘Best Score’ preferences to be applied to INDIVIDUAL test types, rather than all at once.

When implemented that change will allow you to for example, select ‘Display Best Score Only’ on our state assessments and ‘Display All Scores’ for ACTs or SATs on transcripts.


March - 2011

Test Definitions & GRAD Retests

“We over-test our students”.  I could retire right now if I had a nickel for each time I’ve heard that said.  Questions are coming in from districts about what folder certain retests should be stored to.  This used to be an easy decision to make but the waters have muddied to the point where something needs to be done about our definitions for the Minnesota Standardized Tests.

We’ve been making fresh test definitions every year and storing them in ‘annualized folders’ under System Administration>Tests.  That used to work pretty well, but now that we’re doing all this retesting it’s getting confusing to know under which definition a test will be stored.

 

 

 

 Here’s why:  When you get retest results back most of you open the student detail tab for assessments and create a new test entry.  When you select ‘New’, a data entry block appears and you have to select one of those many test definitions that works for the particular test you want to create.  But which one is the right one?  Suppose that a student took the Spring census test for reading in April, 2010 (the 09-10 school year) and did not pass.  The student is subsequently scheduled for retests and doesn’t pass them either.  Time passes and now the 10-11 school year starts.  The student retests in December of 2010.    Should you create the test using the 2010 definition (the 09-10 school year) or the 2011 definition (the 10-11 school year)?

 

 

There isn’t a good answer to that question anymore because school years have become confused with calendar years.  You’ll find that data stored under the 10-11 school year at MDEs Educator Portal (which is correct), but the student is being retested on a subject inside the same calendar year, so you should use the test definition for the 09-10 school year (which is also correct)…

The short story – Infinite Campus doesn’t ‘see’ the retest as being ‘the same’ as the original test because of definitions living in individual folders so it can’t figure out which was the best attempt of all attempts.  It can only find the best attempt within any given folder.  Then it goes to the next folder and finds the best attempt there, and so on.

We are currently in discussion about overhauling the Minnesota test definitions and merging historical data under single definitions for Math, Reading and Writing.  There appear to be many advantages to defining tests this way, but we’re also looking for pitfalls.  We’ll keep you posted. 


February - 2011

Nested Test Definitions

Nearly all of you are offering the ACT test to students.  Creating a 'new' test for each subtest is really time-consuming and cumbersome.  There is a better way! - The suggested 'best practice' for defining these tests is to nest each subtest within a parent folder...(see below)


ACT Def

Advantages to this style of test definition are:
Tests only need to be defined once! (not each year)
Single selection to create all subtests for the student instead of once for each subtest
Time savings
Improved data entry accuracy
Organized viewing
All elements are now stored as data rather than random comments   

January - 2011

Why Are Standardized Test  Definitions Important?

We have made new test definitions each year for many years.  Since MDE standardized the record layouts in 2007, things have been more consistent from their end.  But I looked at 'our' end, meaning how we've been creating new test definitions in Infinite Campus and noticed that there's a need to do some cleanup.

 

It's important that we maintain consistent definitions - For example, the canned report 'Test Results', found under Student General>Reports is a good example.  If  tests have different result values defined, it becomes nearly impossible to associate them with all those tests.

Filters

I started auditing data last month and I'll be working with each district to straighten out testing data and definitions for as long as it takes to get everyone in sync again.  I'm planning to make a data audit an annual event.  This is a good idea because our statute changes frequently and I know that you have a lot of other things to deal with on a daily basis.



 

 
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© Arrowhead Regional Computing Consortium 2011-2012
Last Updated: 02/01/2012