20.4.0.0 Release Notes
Product Area | Description | Learn More |
|---|---|---|
Answer Key Testing | In previous Performance Matters releases, if a student had test results, you were not able to print pre-slugged (pre-filled) answer sheets for students. To retest the student via paper/pencil, a blank answer sheet had to be used to re-administer the test. In this release, if a student has results, you can still generate a pre-slugged answer sheet for a re-test. | |
Student Response Printing | In the Student Item Analysis and Print Student Responses reports, we now capture student responses in a Word document rather than a PDF. Several Technology Enhanced Interaction types are now supported - associate, upload, text entry, order, inline choice, hotspot, gap match, matching, and draw. We will continue this work in future releases to eventually support the remaining interaction types. | |
Global Search | In the global search, we added an additional option for searching Assessment Tests. You can now select a specific Assessment Category and see the available tests aligned to that category in the Test Edit page. | |
Manage Organization | To enable you to perform more of your own servicing, School Year Roll Settings were added to the Manage Organization option. District administrators can now enter the crucial dates necessary for rolling to the new school year. This makes the process both automated and more efficient. Fields were added to indicate when to freeze the schedule data, when to freeze attendance, grades, and discipline data, when to take the end-of-year archive snapshot, and the roll date to roll to the new school year. A free-text section lets you enter relevant notes to indicate any significant changes in your logins, etc. | |
In Manage Organization, we added a site setting to determine if teachers can see the Private option in the Edit Test page in the Administration tab. Teachers will still have private tests by default, but the setting allows Site Admins to update this setting in the site rather than put in a support ticket for this change. | ||
In Manage Organization, a site setting, Show Exclude Weekends/ Holidays, was added so Site Admins can make tests unavailable on weekends, holidays, and non-instructional days. This previously required a support ticket, but now you can exclude these days in Performance Matters. This setting requires an up-to-date organization calendar to designate which days are non-instructional. | ||
In Manage Organization, the Change Permissions button was changed Site Permissions so it more-accurately reflects its function. | ||
Online Testing | A word counter was added to the student view of the Extended Text Interaction. It tracks and displays word count as the student types. | |
| In Edit Test, under the Administration tab, after expanding to display the OLA options, the Do not allow back check box is now unchecked by default. If this check box is selected, for students take the test in OLA, the back button at the bottom of the screen, the item navigation drop-down, and the item flag tool do not display. | ||
| A feature was added to the Graphing Calculator used in online testing; we added an item distribution tab for students to see their computations. | ||
| To provide students a consistent experience, the decimal and fraction slashes in Performance Matters numeric grid interactions were swapped to match the layout of state tests. | ||
| A new compass tool can be added for students to use in online tests. To enable, click Test Format on the Edit Test page, and select the tool in the OLA Section Settings section. If enabled, it displays at the upper right of the student’s OLA test window. Students click the icon to use the compass, and click the icon again to remove it. Students click + with their pointer and drag to draw an arc or circle to aid in their response. The drawing is not captured as part of the response; it is a tool to help the student answer the question. | Use Test Tools | |
| A new straight edge tool can be added for students to use in online tests. To enable, click Test Format on the Edit Test page, and select the tool in the OLA Section Settings section. If enabled, it displays at the upper right of the student's OLA test window. Students click the icon to use the straight edge, and click the icon again to remove it. | Use Test Tools | |
| A new ruler tool can be added for students to use in online tests. To enable, click Test Format on the Edit Test page, and select the tool in the OLA Section Settings section. If enabled, it displays at the upper right of the student’s OLA test window. Students click the icon to use the ruler, and click the icon again to remove it. The ruler can be expanded or collapsed by dragging the left/right arrows at the right end of the ruler tool. Click on the ruler to move it by dragging and dropping. Rotate by using the either curved black arrow on the left. Click the red circles reset to its default Click Inches or Centimeters to change the units of measure. | Use Test Tools | |
| A new protractor tool can be added for students to use in online tests. To enable, click Test Format on the Edit Test page, and select the tool in the OLA Section Settings section. If enabled, it displays at the upper right of the student’s OLA test window. Students click the icon to use the protractor, and click the icon again to remove it. It can be and moved or rotated on the student’s response. | Use Test Tools | |
Scanview | By default, column options now show as collapsed and can be displayed and customized by clicking Click to Manage Columns. The Batch ID is now displayed as the first column, and batches of sheets are grouped in alternate-shaded rows so you can easily determine all scans that belong to the same batch. You can now clear searches with a Clear Search button, and the column header remains fixed as you scroll through sheets. An option to load more rows was added to the top of the page, so you no longer need to scroll to the bottom of the page to load additional sheets. The scroll bar was also updated so you can scroll right or left without being on the bottom of the page. | Scanview |
| In the sheet override page, we simplified the options to display specific darkness values: Slightly Darken - 0.4 Moderately Darken - 0.3 Strongly Darken - 0.2 Fully Darken - 0.1 You can now enter the Unify Test ID for the sheet you want to override, and the Test Event ID associated with that test is automatically overridden. | ||
| We previously displayed the legacy SAM Test ID (Administration tab in Edit Test page) in the Scanview page, but we have replaced it with the Unify ID that is shown on all scan sheets. | ||
| Test Item Creation | When using the Rubric Finder while creating items, A REFINE BY column was added to the Rubric Finder's filtering capabilities. It includes: Authored By Me, Authored Within Organization, Grade Levels, Course Type, and Max Points Possible (numeric-only, allows values between 0 - 250). A Reset Filter button was also added to the right of this column to clear filters. | |
| Test Scoring | Previously, if a test was flagged as being secure or high stakes, human scorable interactions could not be scored in Online Scoring unless the scorer had high stakes admin permission. The alternative was to score these tests in Scoring Assignment. High stakes scoring is now also supported Online Scoring for scorers that do not have high stakes permission. The only interactions that display will be the ones requiring a rubric score. The rest of the test items remain hidden for users that do not have high stakes permission. | |
| Site Admins can now access all administered tests in Online Scoring, regardless of the 'Enter/Edit Response' setting at the test level. | ||
| User Experience Improvements | As we work towards a cohesive ecosystem in PowerSchool, we have added the PowerSchool Applications menu to on the top right of all Performance Matters pages to easily navigate between products. |