The Create Questions screen is used to develop questions for assessments that students will complete in Focus, printed assessments, or assessments with bubble sheets. This tool allows you to attach standards to questions and tag them based on cognitive complexity, difficulty, and depth of knowledge. You can enhance questions with features such as calculators, reading passages, and video players. Additionally, questions can be shared with other teachers and administrators based on profile permissions.
This section provides an overview of creating a new item, including adding a question and feature to the item. An item is a container for a question and any added features, such as a calculator or reading passage. There is a broad range of question types to choose from, including multiple choice, fill in the blanks, classify, match & order, and math formula.
It is advised to add only one question per item. When the assessment is attached to a Gradebook assignment, Focus will auto-populate the Questions field on the assignment using the number of items included on the assessment. If more than one question is included in an item, the Questions field on the assignment will not populate accurately and may need to be adjusted manually.
1. In the menu, click Assessment. Then click Create Questions.
This screen will be blank if you have not yet created any items and no items have been shared with you by other teachers and administrators.
If you have previously created items or items have been shared with you, the items will be listed on this screen.
The search options along the top of the screen allow you to search for items by standard, title, reference number, content, question/feature type, status, and tags. See the section, Searching for an Item for more information.
2. To create a new item, click Create.
On this screen, the item will be set up. The item will be given a title, the question and any additional features will be added, the item can be attached to standards, item settings can be configured, the item can be previewed, and the item can be shared with other teachers and administrators.
3. To start, enter a Title for the item.
4. To add the question to the item, click Add new.
5. Along the left side of the screen, select the question type, such as Multiple Choice, Fill in the Blanks (Cloze), Classify, Match & Order, etc.
6. Next, click the sub-type.
For example, the Multiple Choice question type has the sub-types Multiple choice - standard, Multiple choice - multiple response, True or false, and Multiple choice - block layout, etc.
The setup options that are displayed on the next screen differ based on the specific question sub-type. For guidance on setting up the specific question type, click the (i) Help button at the top of the screen.
For this example, a multiple choice - standard question is being set up.
7. In the first text box, enter the question.
Clicking in the text box displays formatting options that can be used.
8. In the Multiple choice options section of the screen, replace the Choice A, Choice B, Choice C, and Choice D text with each answer option. These text boxes also provide formatting options once you click in them.
9. To add an additional answer option beyond the standard 4 options, click ADD.
10. To delete an answer option, click the trash can icon next to the option.
11. To rearrange answer options, click and drag an option using the icon to the left.
12. In the Set correct answer(s) section at the bottom of the screen, enter the Point(s) earned by the correct answer(s) and select the correct answer(s) to the question.
13. If there is an alternate answer that will earn points, click the plus tab.
14. Enter the Point(s) earned by the alternate answer and select the correct alternate answer.
15. To delete the alternate answer, click the trash icon.
16. Select Multiple Responses to allow students to select more than one option. Select Shuffle options to display the options in a different order each time the question is rendered.
17. Click More options at the bottom of the screen to set additional options for scoring, layout and selection, and extras. These options may differ based on question type.
18. When finished setting up the question, click Save at the top of the screen.
After saving, the Save button turns green, and the item is displayed with the question that was added.
19. To add a feature, click the plus sign.
20. Click Features at the top of the screen.
The available features are displayed.
21. Click the feature to add to the item.
The setup options that are displayed differ based on the specific feature. For guidance on setting up the feature, click the (i) Help button at the top of the screen.
In this example, a passage will be set up.
22. Enter a Heading for the passage.
23. Enter the contents of the passage. Clicking the text box displays formatting options that are available.
24. At the bottom of the screen, click More options to set additional options. These may differ based on the feature type.
25. Click Save at the top of the screen.
The Save button turns green after clicking Save. The item is displayed again, including the question and feature.
Example
Setting up a Passage feature:
- Enter a Heading for the passage.
- Enter the contents of the passage in the text box. Use the formatting options available in the text box as needed.
- Click More options at the bottom of the screen to set additional options, which may vary based on the feature type.
- Click Save at the top of the screen. The Save button turns green, indicating the item is saved and displayed with the question and feature.
An existing passage that was added to an item can be used again for a different item.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title of the item you want to add the passage to.
2. Click the three dot icon and click Find existing passage.
The passages from items you have created as well as from items shared with you are listed. If needed, use the search feature to search for passages by content.
3. To preview the passage, click the Preview icon.
4. Click the X to close the preview window.
5. Click Select next to the passage to add it to the item.
The passage is added to the item.
Consistency: Reusing passages can help maintain consistency across different assessments, ensuring that students are assessed on the same materials.
Efficiency: Utilizing existing passages saves time, allowing you to focus on creating new questions and other assessment components.
Collaboration: Sharing passages with colleagues can foster collaboration and ensure that high-quality passages are available to all teachers within the platform.
Example
Imagine you have previously created a passage on the topic of renewable energy for a science assessment. You now want to use this passage in a new assessment item focused on reading comprehension. By following the steps above, you can easily add the existing passage to your new item without having to re-enter or recreate the content, ensuring that the passage remains identical across different assessments.
Attaching standards to an item ensures that your questions are aligned with the educational objectives and requirements for your courses. The standards assigned to the courses you teach are readily available for selection, making it easy to align your assessments with the curriculum.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
2. Click the Standards button.
In the pop-up window, the standards for your assigned course(s) are listed. If you have more than one assigned course, click the course in the list at the left side of the window to view the standards for that course.
The number displayed next to the standard title indicates the number of items in the item bank that have been attached to this standard this school year.
3. Begin entering the standard title or description in the Filter box to filter the list standards.
4. Click + Add beneath the standard to attach to the item.
The standard is displayed at the top of the window.
5. Continue adding standards as needed.
6. Click Save.
The standards are saved and the pop-up window is closed.
7. Click Save at the top-right corner of the screen to save the item.
Curriculum Alignment: Regularly review and update the standards attached to your items to ensure they remain aligned with the current curriculum and learning objectives.
Efficiency: Use the filter feature to quickly locate and attach standards, saving time and ensuring accuracy.
Comprehensive Coverage: Consider attaching multiple standards to an item to cover various aspects of a topic, providing a more holistic assessment of student understanding.
Example
Suppose you are creating an item for a Grade 8 science assessment on the topic of ecosystems. You want to ensure that the item aligns with the relevant standards for your science course. By following the steps above, you can efficiently find and attach standards related to ecosystems, such as understanding food webs, energy flow, and the impact of environmental changes. This alignment not only ensures that your assessment is on point but also provides clear objectives for what students are expected to learn.
The Layout tab in the Settings allows you to customize the appearance and organization of your question and its associated features. This flexibility ensures that the content is presented in the most effective and visually appealing way for students.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
2. At the top of the question, click Settings.
The Layout tab is opened by default.
3. Click the desired layout.
Example of a multiple choice question and passage in a single column layout:
Example of a multiple choice question and passage in a 30/70 layout:
4. Select Show Vertical Divider if you would like to display a vertical line between the columns in the layout.
5. Select Enable scrolling for long content to include a scroll bar for each column of the layout. This allows scrolling one column independently of another, which helps if one column has long content.
6. Scroll down and click Apply.
Consistency: Maintain a consistent layout across similar types of questions and assessments to provide a uniform experience for students.
Clarity: Choose a layout that enhances the clarity and readability of the content. For example, side-by-side layouts can be beneficial for comparison-type questions or when additional context (like a passage) is needed alongside the question.
User Experience: Consider the user experience when selecting layouts, especially for assessments that will be taken on different devices (e.g., desktops, tablets). Ensure that the layout is responsive and easy to navigate.
Example
Suppose you are creating an item for an English literature assessment where students need to read a passage and answer multiple choice questions about it. Using the 30/70 Layout will allow the passage to be displayed prominently on the right side (70%) while the questions are on the left (30%), making it easy for students to reference the text while answering the questions. Adding a vertical divider will help distinguish the passage from the questions, and enabling scrolling for long content ensures that both sections remain easily navigable even if the passage is lengthy.
The question and the added features in an item can be rearranged in the layout.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
2. Click the Move icon (4 dots) next to the question or feature and click and drag it into the desired place in the layout.
The layout is updated.
3. Click Save.
The Details tab in the Settings allows you to manage various aspects of your assessment item, including changing the item title, setting the question status, selecting the scoring type, and providing additional information such as a description and difficulty level. This helps ensure that each item is properly categorized, scored, and described, making it easier to manage and utilize in assessments.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
2. At the top of the question, click Settings.
3. Edit the item Title, if needed.
4. Select the Status for the item.
Published means the item can be used in an assessment.
Unpublished items cannot be used on assessments.
Archived means a soft delete. The item will still exist but will no longer be present in the item list or in any searches unless archived items have been searched for. There is no way to remove an item completely.
Archiving a shared item will archive the item for all users who have access to it.
5. Select the Scoring Type for the item. The options are Per Question, Dichotomous, and Dependent (EBSR).
Per Question is the default scoring type. The score for the item is calculated by adding the score from each question in the item.
Dichotomously scored items have only two possible outcomes: fully correct or fully incorrect. If the user's score for every question on the item is fully correct, the score for the item is calculated by adding the max scores from each question. If any question on the item is not fully correct, the score is zero.
In Dependence (EBSR) scoring, the score taken from each question depends on the scores of previous questions on the Item. The rule is that if a question on the item is not fully correct, the user is not awarded a score for any subsequent questions on the item. Such scoring can be applied when there are two or more questions dependent on each other. For instance, the first question has to be answered correctly because the following one is based on how the student got to the right solution. This scoring type can be used to emulate an Evidence-Based Selected Response (EBSR) item type.
6. (Optional) Enter a brief Description of the item.
7. (Optional) Set the numeric Difficulty level.
8. Scroll down and click Apply to save the settings.
9. Click Save at the top of the screen.
Clear Titles: Use clear and specific titles for your items to make them easily identifiable.
Status Management: Regularly update the status of items to reflect their current state (e.g., move items from unpublished to published once they are finalized).
Scoring Types: Choose the appropriate scoring type based on the nature of the questions and the assessment objectives. For complex, multi-step problems, consider using Dependent (EBSR) scoring.
Detailed Descriptions: Provide detailed descriptions to help other educators understand the context and purpose of the item, especially if items are shared across different courses or teachers.
Difficulty Levels: Setting difficulty levels can aid in creating balanced assessments and tracking student progress over time.
Example
Imagine you are creating an item for a Grade 10 math assessment that includes multiple choice questions and a problem-solving task. By following the steps above, you can set the item title to "Quadratic Equations Practice," select the status as Published once the item is ready, choose Per Question as the scoring type for a straightforward assessment, provide a description such as "This item includes practice questions on solving quadratic equations," and set the difficulty level to 3 to indicate a moderate level of challenge. Applying and saving these settings ensures that the item is accurately categorized and ready for use.
The Tags tab in the Settings allows you to tag the question for cognitive complexity, difficulty, and depth of knowledge. Tagging items helps in organizing and searching for questions when creating assessments, ensuring that the right questions are easily accessible based on specific criteria.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
2. At the top of the question, click Settings.
3. Click the Tags tab.
4. In the search bar, begin entering the tag title and click on the tag. Currently, available tag options are Cognitive Complexity, Difficulty, and Depth of Knowledge.
5. Continue adding tags as needed.
6. Scroll down and click Apply to save the tags.
7. Click Save at the top of the screen.
Effective Tagging: Use consistent and descriptive tags to ensure that items can be easily found during searches. Standardizing tags across all items helps maintain uniformity.
Multiple Tags: Dont hesitate to use multiple tags to describe different aspects of the item. For instance, a question can be tagged as High Cognitive Complexity, Medium Difficulty, and Strategic Thinking.
Review and Update: Periodically review and update tags to ensure they remain relevant and accurate, especially if the curriculum or assessment criteria change.
Example
Imagine you are creating an item for a Grade 7 history assessment that involves critical thinking about historical events. By following the steps above, you can tag the item with High Cognitive Complexity to indicate the level of thinking required, Hard to reflect the difficulty, and Strategic Thinking (DOK Level 3) to capture the depth of knowledge needed. Applying and saving these tags ensures that the item is accurately categorized and easily searchable when you or other educators are assembling assessments.
You can preview an item to view how it will appear to students taking the assessment. This includes the ability to select an answer, show the correct answer(s), and view/use the features added to the item.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
2. Click Preview at the top-right of the screen.
The item is displayed as it would appear to students taking the assessment.
A warning message will display when viewing an item that is included on an activity. Editing an item will impact all activities it is included on.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
Edit mode is automatically selected when opening an item.
2. To change the title of the item, click the Title field and make the desired change.
3. Click Save.
4. To edit a question or feature, click the Edit icon next to it.
5. Make the desired changes to the question or feature and click Save.
Questions and features can be deleted from an item as needed.
An item itself cannot be deleted. In the Details tab of the Settings, set the status of the item to "Archived." Archived means a soft delete. The item will still exist but will no longer be present in the item list or in any searches unless archived items have been searched for.
A warning message will display when viewing an item that is included on an activity. Deleting a question will impact all activities it is included on.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
Edit mode is automatically selected when opening an item.
2. To delete a question or feature, click the Delete icon next to it.
The icon will turn red and say "Confirm?" Click the icon again to confirm deletion.
3. Click Save at the top of the screen.
An item can be duplicated. The new item can then be edited as needed.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
2. Click the down arrow at the top-right corner of the screen and click Duplicate Item.
3. Click Duplicate.
The duplicate item is now displayed with the same title, content, and settings.
4. Make changes to the item as needed and click Save.
The ability to search for items efficiently is crucial for managing a comprehensive item bank. You can search for items you created or items shared with you by other users. The search functionality allows you to find items based on various criteria, including title, content, question/feature type, status, tags, and standards.
1. To search by item title, enter the full or partial item title in the Find by title box and click Search.
2. To search by content, question/feature type, or item status, click the down arrow on the Find by title search box.
3. Enter search criteria in the Content field, or select the Question/Feature Type or Status.
4. Click the Search icon.
5. To search by tags, enter the full or partial tag title in the Find by tags search box.
Tag suggestions will pop-up.
6. Click the tag and click Search.
7. Click the down arrow on the Find by tags search box for more tag search options.
8. To find items that match all tags entered, select multiple tags in the Match all tags search box.
9. To find items that match at least one tag, select one or multiple tags in the Match at least one tag search box.
10. Click the Search icon.
11. To search by standards attached to an item, click Standards.
In the pop-up window, the standards for your assigned course(s) are listed. If you have more than one assigned course, click the course in the list at the left side of the window to view the standards for that course.
The number displayed next to the standard title indicates the number of items in the item bank that have been attached to this standard this school year.
12. Begin entering the standard title or description in the Filter box to filter the list standards.
13. Click the standard to search by.
14. To remove a search criterion, click the X to the criterion.
15. To clear all the search criteria and return to the full list of items, click Clear.
When a search is conducted, items matching the search criteria are listed. Click the desired item to view the item.
Use Specific Keywords: When searching by title or content, use specific and relevant keywords to narrow down the search results effectively.
Combine Criteria: Combining multiple search criteria (e.g., title and tags) can help you find items more precisely.
Utilize Advanced Tag Searches: Use the advanced tag search options to find items that meet specific requirements, especially when dealing with large item banks.
Regularly Update Tags and Standards: Ensure that items are consistently tagged and associated with the correct standards to facilitate efficient searches.
Example
Suppose you are preparing an assessment on environmental science and need to find questions related to climate change. By entering "climate change" in the Find by title box, you can quickly locate all items with titles containing those keywords. If you need questions tagged with high cognitive complexity, you can use the tag search functionality to narrow down the items. Additionally, if you are looking for questions aligned with specific educational standards, use the standards search to find items that match those criteria.
If your profile has the "Share Question" permission enabled for the Create Questions screen, you can share an item you have created with other teachers, administrators, and specific users at your school.
When an item is shared, any user who has access to the item can make changes to that item. These changes will affect the item for all users.
If you are planning to share the assessment with other users, the items on the assessment must also be shared in order for the items to be viewed. Each item can be shared individually by following the procedure below. Alternatively, all the items within an assessment can be shared using the "Mass Assign Items" button in the Sharing Options on the Create Assessments screen.
1. On the Create Questions screen, click the item title if the item is not already opened.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click Sharing Options.
3. Scroll down to view the sharing options.
4. Select All Admins to share the item with all administrators at your school. Select All Teachers to share the item with all teachers at your school.
The "All Teachers" option shares the item with all teachers at your school, not only those in your subject or course area.
5. To only share the item with specific users, select Custom.
6. In the pull-down, select the user(s).
7. Click Save at the top of the screen.
The Create Assessments screen is used to set up assessments, also referred to as activities. An activity is a collection of items presented to students as a single assessment. Individual items created on the Create Questions screen are added to the activity.
A new activity (assessment) can be set up using the Default Item Bank, which contains items created by you and items created by other users that were shared with you. You can include a welcome and exit screen on the activity, and select the items that display on those screens.
Depending on your district's setup and your profile's permissions, you may have access to the Standards bank. The Standards bank contains thousands of items that have already been set up and are ready to use on assessments.
When creating an answer key only assessment, only give the assessment a Title; do not add any items to the assessment. In the Answer Key tab of the District Assessments screen or Teacher Assessments screen, the number of questions, answer range, and correct answers will be set, and the file of the assessment questions uploaded.
1. In the menu, click Assessment. Then click Create Assessments.
This screen will be blank if you have not yet created any activities and no activities have been shared with you by other teachers and administrators.
If you have previously created activities or activities have been shared with you, those activities will be listed on this screen.
The search options along the top of the screen allow you to search for activities by title, reference, description, status, and tags. See the section, Searching for an Activity for more information.
2. To create a new activity, click Create at the top-right corner of the screen.
On this screen, the activity will be set up. The activity will be given a title, items will be added to the activity, the activity can be previewed, and the player settings, details settings, tags, test options, sharing options, and print options can be set.
3. To start, enter a Title for the activity.
The Welcome screen and Exit screen options are automatically enabled. If you do not want to include a Welcome screen or Exit screen, deselect those options.
4. To customize the Welcome screen or Exit screen, click the customize link next to the option. On the next screen, you will select an existing item or passage to use on the Welcome or Exit screen.
When the Welcome screen is enabled but not customized, the Welcome screen displays the default message "Please click Start when you are ready to begin the activity." When the Exit screen is enabled but not customized, the Exit screen displays the default message "Activity successfully submitted."
After clicking customize, the available items are listed. This includes items you have previously created on the Create Questions screen and items other teachers and administrators have shared with you.
5. To preview a item, click the Preview icon.
The item is expanded to display a preview.
6. Click the X to close the preview.
7. Click Select next to the item to add to the Welcome or Exit screen.
8. To reset the Welcome screen or Exit screen and remove the items added, click reset.
9. Next, items will be added to the main part of the activity. To add an existing item to the activity, click Find items.
The available items are listed, including items that you have created and items that were shared with you. If items were added to the Welcome and Exit screens, those items are automatically checked.
10. To preview a item, click the Preview icon.
The item is expanded to display a preview.
11. Click the X to close the preview.
12. Select the check box next to each item to add to the activity, or select the check box in the header to select all items in the list.
13. Click Add X Items to add the selected item(s) to the activity.
14. Click Save at the top of the screen.
After clicking Save, the Save button turns green.
15. Click Back at the top-left of the screen to return to the activity screen.
The items that were added to the activity are listed.
Organize Items: Before creating an assessment, ensure that your items are well-organized and appropriately tagged for easy selection.
Use Default Messages: If you do not need customized Welcome or Exit screens, the default messages provide clear and concise instructions for students.
Regularly Update Activities: Periodically review and update your activities to ensure they remain relevant and aligned with curriculum standards.
Preview Items: Always preview items before adding them to an assessment to ensure they are appropriate and function as expected.
Example
Imagine you are creating a math assessment for Grade 8 students. Start by giving the activity a title, such as "Grade 8 Math - Midterm Assessment." Customize the Welcome screen to include an encouraging message and brief instructions. Then, add items related to algebra, geometry, and data analysis from your item bank. Preview each item to ensure it meets your requirements. Finally, save the activity and return to the activity screen to confirm that all items have been added correctly.
You can search for items created by you or items created by other users that were shared with you in the Default Item Bank.
Depending on your district's setup and your profile's permissions, you may also have access to the Standards bank, which provides thousands of preconfigured items that can be added to activities (assessments).
You can search for items by title, reference number, content, question/feature type, tags, or standards.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. If adding an item to the Welcome or Exit screen, click the appropriate customize link. If adding items to the activity, click Find items.
3. In the Item Bank pull-down, select Default item bank or Standards.
4. To search by item title, enter the full or partial item title in the Find by title box and click Search.
5. To search by title, reference, content, or question/feature type, click the down arrow on the Find by title search box.
6. Enter search criteria in the Title or Content field, or select the Question/Feature Type or Status. These search fields can be used together or separately.
7. Click the Search icon.
8. To search by tags, enter the full or partial tag title in the Find by tags search box.
Tag suggestions will pop-up.
9. Click the tag and click Search.
10. Click the down arrow on the Find by tags search box for more tag search options.
11. To find items that match all tags entered, select multiple tags in the Match all tags search box.
12. To find items that match at least one tag, select one or multiple tags in the Match at least one tag search box.
13. Click the Search icon.
14. To search by standards attached to an item, click Standards.
In the pop-up window, the standards for your assigned course(s) are listed. If you have more than one assigned course, click the course in the list at the left side of the window to view the standards for that course.
When searching the Default Item Bank, the number displayed next to the standard title indicates the number of items in the item bank that have been attached to this standard this school year. When searching the Standards Bank, the number indicates the number of predetermined items attached to this standard.
15. Begin entering the standard title or description in the Filter box to filter the list standards.
16. Click the standard to search by.
17. To remove a search criterion, click the X to the criterion.
18. To clear all the search criteria and return to the full list of items, click Clear.
When a search is conducted, items matching the search criteria are listed. Select the item(s) to add to the assessment.
Items can be rearranged within an activity as needed.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click and drag an item using the icon to the left of the item.
3. Click Save at the top of the screen.
Items included on the activity (assessment) can be previewed. If an item needs to be edited, edits can be made directly from this screen. Edits to an item will affect all activities it is included on. Edits cannot be made to items from the Standards bank.
To preview the entire assessment, see the section on Previewing an Activity.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Preview icon next to the item to view.
The item is expanded to display the preview.
3. Click the X to close the preview.
4. To view the item on its own screen and make edits to the item, click the item title.
The item is displayed, with all the options to edit, delete, rearrange, change settings, add features, etc. See the section, Create Questions for more information on using these options. Any changes made to the item will affect all activities it is included on.
5. After saving the changes to the item, click Back to return to the assessment.
Items can be removed from the activity (assessment) as needed. It is not recommended to do this if the activity is already in use by students, as any changes will affect the activity.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Select the check box next to each item to remove, or select the check box in the header to select all items in the activity.
3. Click Remove.
4. Click Save at the top of the screen.
A new item can be created for an activity (assessment) directly from the Create Assessments screen instead of returning to the Create Questions screen.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click Create Item.
The screen displays to add a new item. Once saved, this item will be automatically added to the activity. See the section, Create Questions for more information on creating a new item.
3. After saving the item, click Back.
The item is added to the activity.
- Create an Assessment.
- Create an Item and add it to the Assessment.
- Create a new Item to add to the Activity.
The Player tab allows you to select the activity (assessment) layout, select options to include on the activity (including annotation tools), customize the title and subtitle of the activity that displays to students, set the activity and reading times, among other options.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Player tab.
3. Click a preconfigured template for the player, Standard, Long content, or Long content with sticky footer.
The selected template will display in blue font.
Example of activity using the Standard template:
The Standard template lists the items in the activity along the right side of the screen. The student can click the item to jump to that item (or can click the Next and Previous buttons to navigate through items).
Example of activity using the Long content template:
The Long content template displays the item numbers along the bottom of the screen. The student can click the item to jump to that item (or can click the Next and Previous buttons).
The Long content with sticky footer template is the same as the Long content template, except students will have to scroll down to the bottom of the window to see the footer with the items numbers and Next/Previous buttons.
4. To select the options to include in the template, hover over the template and click Show options.
5. Deselect any options you do not want to include on the activity.
6. To include annotation tools, scroll down and select the Annotation tools check box.
The annotation tools options become available.
7. Deselect the annotation options you do not want to include.
8. When finished setting the template options, scroll up, hover over the template and click Hide options.
9. To customize the labels of the buttons, icons, messages, and options that display on the activity, click Customize text labels.
10. Click a category to view.
11. To customize a label for this activity, delete the text and replace it with your custom text.
12. When finished, click Apply at the bottom of the screen.
13. Enter the Title of the activity that will display to students on the actual assessment. Leave blank to display no title on the assessment.
14. Enter a Subtitle for the activity that will display to students, if desired.
15. To limit the amount of time the student has to take the activity, enter the Hours and Minutes under Activity time.
16. To require students to read through the activity before answering questions, enter the Hours and Minutes under Reading time.
During the reading time, students will be able to view all the items included in the activity but will not be able to answer any of the questions.
17. To force the activity to submit after the activity time expires, select Force submit after time expires.
18. To display a warning to the student when 60 seconds remains of the activity time, select Warn on 60 seconds remaining.
19. To shuffle the items on the activity each time the activity is accessed, select Shuffle Items.
20. Click Save at the top of the screen.
21. To preview the activity to review the player options you have set, click Preview at the top of the screen.
The Details tab allows you to view the reference ID code for the activity (assessment), edit the activity title, set the status, and enter a description of the activity.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Details tab.
The Reference is automatically generated, and is a unique identifying code for the activity. Do not edit this code.
3. Edit the Title, if needed.
4. Select the Status for the activity.
Published means the activity is available for use.
Unpublished means the activity is not available for use.
Archived means a soft delete. The activity will still exist but will no longer be present in the activity list or in any searches unless archived activities have been searched for. There is no way to remove an activity completely.
If a shared activity is archived by a user, it becomes archived for all users.
5. If desired, enter a brief Description of the activity. This is useful when sharing the activity with other users.
6. Click Save at the top of the screen.
The Tags tab allows you to tag the activity (assessment) for cognitive complexity, difficulty, and depth of knowledge. This helps when searching for activities.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Tags tab.
3. Begin typing the name of the tag. Tags that are currently supported are cognitive complexity, difficulty, and depth of knowledge.
Tag suggestions will display.
4. Click the tag to add.
5. Continue adding additional tags as needed.
6. To remove a tag, click the X.
7. Click Save at the top of the screen.
The Source tab displays the JSON from the player template.
This tab is for use by technical users. No changes should be made.
Depending on your profile permissions, the Source tab may be hidden.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the Source tab.
The JSON from the player template is displayed.
The Test Options allow you to set the retake options for the assessment, assign a password that students must enter to access the assessment, and enable the lockdown browser.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click Test Options.
3. To allow retakes, select Allow retakes of the activity.
4. Select whether to Insert Highest Activity Score into Gradebook or Average Activity Scores into Gradebook, or select None.
5. Enter the Retake Interval, in minutes. This is the number of minutes that must elapse between retakes. Entering the Retake Interval is required when "Allow retakes of the activity" is selected.
6. If desired, enter the Password.
7. To enable the lockdown browser, which prevents students from accessing other programs while taking the assessment, select Lockdown Browser.
The student will need to download the Lockdown Browser OEM when prompted the first time they access an assessment with the lockdown browser enabled. The lockdown browser will not allow the student to minimize or move the browser window. Other programs may need to be closed before the lockdown browser allows the student to begin the assessment.
8. Click Save at the top of the screen.
If your profile has the "Share Assessment" permission enabled for the Create Assessments screen, you can share an activity (assessment) you have created with other teachers, administrators, specific users, and specific courses at your school.
When an activity is shared, any user who has access to the activity can make changes to that activity. These changes will affect the activity for all users.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click Sharing Options, and then scroll down to view the options.
3. Select All Admins to share the activity with all administrators at your school. Select All Teachers to share the activity with all teachers at your school.
4. To only share the item with specific users or teachers of specific courses, select Custom.
5. In the Users pull-down, select the specific users to share this assessment with. Only users at your school are available for selection.
6. In the Courses pull-down, select the specific courses to share this assessment with. The teachers of these courses will have access to this assessment. Only courses at your school are available for selection.
7. To share all the items within the activity with the selected profiles/users/courses, click Mass Assign Items.
This option allows all the items within the activity to be shared with the selected profiles/users/courses without having to individually share the items from the Create Questions screen.
8. Click Save at the top of the screen.
The Print Options allow you to print a paper version of the activity (assessment). There is also an option to print an answer key for the activity.
When printing an activity that has multiple questions tied to the same passage, the passage will only print once. If the questions are spread throughout the activity, the passage still only prints once. This does not apply for activities taken online (the passage will display on each page of the activity where the questions are present).
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click Print Options, and then scroll down to view the Print options.
3. To print the activity, click Print Activity and follow your printer's prompts.
4. To print an answer key, click Print Answer Key and follow your printer's prompts.
On the answer key, the correct responses are indicated with a check mark.
- Enable the Drawing tool for the Activity created previously.
- Limit the Activity time to 30 minutes.
- Disable students from using the browser while taking the assessment.
Previewing an activity (assessment) allows you to view the activity how students will experience it.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click Preview at the top-right corner of the screen.
The Player tab is opened. This displays the activity using the player template that was selected.
3. Click Start to begin the activity. Review the items and player template options.
4. Click the List tab to view the list of all items included in the activity, instead of viewing the items one at a time in the Player.
5. Click Edit at the top-right corner of the screen to return to the edit mode.
You can search for activities (assessments) created by you or activities created by other users that were shared with you. You can search for activities by title, reference ID, description, status, or tags.
1. At the top of the Create Assessments screen, enter a full or partial activity title, reference ID, or description in the Find by content search box and click Search.
2. To search by status, click the down arrow next to the Find by content search box.
3. Select a Status and click the search icon.
You can also use the Status pull-down in conjunction with the Title/Reference/Description search box.
4. To search by tags, enter the full or partial tag title in the Find by tags search box.
Tag suggestions will pop up.
5. Click the tag and click Search.
6. Click the down arrow on the Find by tags search box for more tag search options.
7. To find items that match all tags entered, select multiple tags in the Match all tags search box.
8. To find items that match at least one tag, select one or multiple tags in the Match at least one tag search box.
9. Click the Search icon.
10. To remove a search criterion, click the X to the criterion.
11. To clear all the search criteria and return to the full list of items, click Clear.
When a search is conducted, activities matching the search criteria are listed. Click the desired activity to view the activity.
An activity can be duplicated. The new activity can then be edited as needed.
1. On the Create Assessments screen, click the activity title if not already opened.
2. Click the down arrow at the top-right corner of the screen and click Duplicate activity.
3. Click Duplicate to confirm.
The new activity is displayed. The duplicated activity will have the same title. Edit the activity as needed by updating the title, settings, and adding, moving, or removing items.
An assessment can be added to an assignment in the Gradebook. An existing assessment can be added, or a new assessment can be created. Once the assessment is added and the assignment is saved, students can access the assessment via a link on the Student Portal as of the publish date/time of the assignment.
1. In the menu, click Gradebook.
2. Click the + to add a new assignment.
3. In the Assessment area of the window, click Import Assessment to select an existing assessment.
Only assessments created in the Assessments module of Focus can be selected. Assessments created by an outside application cannot be selected.
4. In the pop-up window, click the title of the activity to add to the assignment. Use the search features to find the activity if needed. Activities you have created and activities shared with you are available for selection.
To search for an assessment, enter search criteria in the text box. A partial or full activity title or activity ID can be entered. As you type in the search criteria, suggestions will pop up. Click a search suggestion to add it to the search. When finished, click Search.
District assessments that have been assigned to your courses are available for attachment to assignments. Once students complete the assessment, the scores can be exported to the Gradebook by teachers using the Last Score by Activity by User report on the Teacher Assessments or District Assessments screen.
The selected activity is displayed in the Assessment area of the screen.
5. Alternately, to create a new assessment to add to the assignment, click New Assessment.
6. In the pop-up window, follow the above procedures for adding items to the activity, setting the player options, setting the details options, tagging the activity, etc.
7. Click Save to save the new assessment, and then click the X to close the pop-up window.
8. Back on the Assignment screen, click Import Assessment.
9. In the pop-up window, click the title of the new activity you just created to add it to the assignment.
The selected activity is displayed in the Assessment area of the screen.
After importing the assessment, the Title, Points, and Questions fields are auto-populated based on the activity selected.
Focus populates the Questions field based on the number of items included on the assessment. If more than one question was included on an item, this field may not be populated correctly. Adjust the number in the Questions field as needed.
To remove the assessment from the assignment, click the X next to the assessment title.
10. Fill out any other assignment details, including the Category, Assigned Date, Due Date, Publish Date, Marking Period, and Linked Sections.
11. To enable the Text to Speech feature for the assessment, click the Options tab.
The Text to Speech feature allows questions to be read aloud to students who need this accommodation.
12. Select Use Text to Speech.
13. In the Students who need Text To Speech pull-down, keep All Students selected to allow all students who are assigned this activity to use the text to speech feature, or select the specific student(s) in the list.
14. Click Save to save the assignment.
Once saved, the link to the assessment will display to students in the Portal Alerts block on the Student Portal on the publish date/time.
Once a student submits the assessment, the score will display in the Gradebook, as well as on the Parent and Student Portals, if the assessment contained all auto-graded items. If the assessment contained at least one item that must be manually graded, such as an essay question, the score displays as NG until the item(s) are graded.
From the Gradebook, you can evaluate the results of the assessment, score any ungraded questions, update the score on questions, and add comments. Once you have submitted your scores and comments, the student's score is updated in the Gradebook and the Parent and Student Portals.
Students cannot review the assessment and see the correct and incorrect answers until you submit the assessment for an individual student or all students.
1. In the menu, click Gradebook.
2. Locate the assignment containing the activity (assessment).
The paper icon in the assignment header indicates the assignment contains an assessment.
A blue student score indicates the student has submitted the assessment. In this example, the assessment contains an essay question that was not auto-graded, therefore the student's score is NG until you score that item. If all items in the assessment were auto-graded, then the student's score will display.
3. Click the student's score to view their assessment.
In the pop-up window, the student's scores for each item are listed down the left side of the screen. Any items that could not be auto-graded are blank. In this example, item 3 is an essay question, and therefore it was not auto-graded.
At the top of the window, the student's score from auto-graded items is displayed.
For each item, a colored dot is displayed. Gray indicates the item was not answered, or the item was not auto-scored (such as essays). Green indicates the answer was correct. Yellow indicates the answer was partially correct. Red indicates the answer was incorrect.
4. Hover over a colored dot to view the item's score and how long it took the student to answer that item.
For each item, the question and answers are listed, with space below to enter a comment.
5. Enter a Comment for each item, if desired.
6. For ungraded items, enter a score on the left side of the window.
7. If needed, adjust any of the auto-graded item scores.
8. Click Submit when finished.
Once you click Submit, the "View Test" link is available on the assignment in the Student Portal for the student to review the test and their correct and incorrect answers. The comments you have entered will also display.
The window refreshes and displays the student's updated scores.
9. Click the X to close the window.
If you made changes to the student's scores, the score in the Gradebook is updated, as well as the score on the Parent and Student Portals.
10. To allow all students to review the assessment, or to update a score on a question for all students, click the Assessment icon in the assignment header.
11. To update a score for one or multiple questions on the assessment for all students in the section, adjust the score(s) in the Manually Grade All Students section of the pop-up window, and click Submit. The score for the assessment will be updated for all students.
12. If no score changes need to be applied to all students, click Submit All in the Grade All Students section of the pop-up window.
The "View Test" link is now available on the assignment in the Student Portal for all students to review the test and their correct and incorrect answers. The comments you have entered will also display.
When the scale is changed for an assessment in the Scaling tab of District Assessments or Teacher Assessments after students have completed the assessment, and the assessment is attached to a Gradebook assignment, the assessment can be re-scored in the Gradebook to reflect the new scale.
1. In the menu, click Gradebook.
2. Locate the assignment that has the assessment attached. The student grades for the assessment currently reflect the old scale. Click the paper icon in the column header.
3. In the pop-up window, click Submit All.
The Gradebook screen is refreshed, and the student grades for the assessment reflect the new scale. The scaled grades will also display where the exam grade was posted (e.g. Post Final Grades; Final Grades, GPA, & Class Rank; Student Portal; Parent Portal).
There are several assessment reports available to review student performance. There are District Reports, Classroom Reports, and Individual Reports.
1. In the menu, click Gradebook.
2. Locate the assignment containing the activity (assessment).
The paper icon in the assignment header indicates the assignment contains an assessment.
3. Click the i icon to view the assignment.
4. Click the Reports tab.
The available reports are organized into the District Reports, Classroom Reports, and Individual Reports tabs.
5. Click the tab you want to view.
6. Select the Report you want to view.
Some reports will have additional filters that can be used to view specific information on the report. For the Individual Reports, a student must be selected.
7. After selecting the desired filters, click Run Report.
The Participation report displays the number of students who have completed the assessment, out of the total number of students who were assigned the assessment. Each student who was assigned the assessment is listed, along with the status of the assessment. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
2. To export or print the report, click the corresponding icon.
The Student Responses report displays the student's responses to each item on the assessment, along with the correct answer. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students.
This report includes the following item types:
- association
- classification
- choicematrix
- clozeassociation
- clozedropdown
- clozetext
- fileupload
- formulaV2
- graphplotting
- imageclozeassociationV2
- imageclozedropdown
- imageclozeformula
- imageclozetext
- longtextV2
- mcq
- numberline
- numberlineplot
- orderlist
- simplechart
- simpleshading
- sortlist
- tokenhighlight
Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
The report displays the student photo, student ID, student name, question reference, question type, question, student answer, and the correct answer.
The Activity Summary by Group report displays results across the district. Results can be viewed for the district, school, course, section, and student. Teachers can only view the report for students who are scheduled in their sections.
It may take up to two hours for this report to display data after students have completed their assessments. It may be necessary to click the refresh button (to the right of the Print button) for all student results to display.
1. Click Run Report.
2. Click the district name to view results by school.
3. Click the school to view results by course.
4. Click the course to view results by section.
5. Click the section to view results by student.
6. Click a student's name to open the student's record in Student Info.
7. Click the back arrow to go back up a level.
8. To export the report to a CSV file, select Export at the top of the screen and click Run Report.
The file is downloaded to your computer.
9. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Item Analysis report provides detailed analysis on the item bank content. Teachers can only view the report for students who are scheduled in their sections.
1. Click Run Report.
2. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Learning Outcomes report displays student performance by standard. This report works for items that were assigned standards. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
The report first displays the student's overall percentage correct on the assessment, and the percentage correct for each standard category.
2. Hover your mouse in the Total column to view the number of items that were correct and incorrect and the corresponding percentages.
3. Click on the column header to break the report down and view student performance by the next level of standards organization.
For example, clicking the standard category header then displays the report by the grade level group. Clicking the grade level group then displays the report by strand. Clicking the strand then displays the report by cluster. Clicking the cluster then displays the report by individual standard.
4. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Last Score by Activity by User report displays each student's score for the overall activity for their most recent attempt of the activity, with a bar graphic indicating percentage of items correct, incorrect, or unattempted. The date the activity was submitted is also displayed. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students. The report can include multiple assessments for comparison purposes. The report will indicate if the student had gains, losses, or no difference between assessments.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
To compare two or more assessments, select the additional assessments to view in the Assessments pull-down, and click Run Report. Leave Default selected to run the report only for the assessment currently selected at the top-left of the screen.
2. Hover over a bar to view the percentage of correct responses, incorrect responses, and unattempted items, and breakdowns on time spent on correct responses, incorrect responses, and unattempted items.
When more than one assessment is selected, each assessment is displayed in its own column. The assessments are listed by their created date, with the oldest to the left and the newest to the right. Each assessment is compared to the one to its left. A gain will display as a green number with an arrow pointing up. A loss will display as a red number with an arrow pointing down. If the percentages for both assessments are the same, a gray zero will display, indicating that there was no difference.
3. Click a student's name to view their record in Student Info.
4. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Last Score by Item by User report displays how each student responded to each item on their most recent attempt of the activity. The report displays each student's overall score for the activity, and their score for each item. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
The dots in each item column indicate whether the student's response was correct. Gray indicates the item was not answered. Green indicates the answer was correct. Yellow indicates the answer was partially correct. Red indicates the answer was incorrect.
2. Hover over a colored dot to view the student's score for that item and the time spent on that item.
3. Click a student's name to open their record in Student Info.
4. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Live Activity Status by User report displays each student's live status for the assessment. This report is useful to review during the period of time students are taking the assessment. You can pause and resume the assessment for one or multiple students, which is useful for a situation such as a fire drill that interrupts the assessment. You can also extend time for one or multiple students, force students to go to a certain item on the assessment, or force the assessment to be saved and exited, discarded and exited, or submitted and exited. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
The Status column displays a colored dot to indicate the status of the assessment for the student. Gray indicates the assessment has not been started. Yellow indicates the assessment is in progress. Green indicates the assessment has been submitted.
The Active column displays a green check mark if the student is actively viewing the assessment window and a red X if the student is not actively viewing the assessment window. A hyphen means the assessment has not yet been started.
The Current Item number column indicates the item number the student is viewing. A hyphen means the assessment has not yet been started.
2. To apply an action to one or multiple students, select the check box next to the student(s). To apply an action to all students in the list, select the check box in the column header.
3. Click Actions and click an action from the list.
Click Pause to pause the assessment for the student. Click Confirm to confirm the action. The student's answers will be saved but the student will not be able to continue until you resume the test.
The student will see the following message on their screen until you resume the assessment:
The student's status will update to display a pause icon.
Click Resume and then Confirm to allow the student to resume the assessment.
Click Extend time to extend the amount of time the student has to take the assessment. Enter the number of hour(s) and/or minute(s) and click Continue.
Click Confirm to confirm the action.
Click Go to to force the student's screen to go to a certain item on the assessment. Select by item number in the assessment or by item reference, enter the value, and click Continue.
Click Confirm to confirm the action.
Click Save & exit to save the student's answers and exit the student from the assessment. Click Discard & exit to discard the student's answers and exit the student from the assessment. Click Submit & exit to submit the student's answers and exit the student from the assessment. Click Confirm to confirm the action.
When "Save & exit" is selected, the student's status will update to blue (meaning suspended). When "Discard & exit" is selected, the student's status will updated to red (meaning discarded). When "Submit & exit" is selected, the student's status will update to green (meaning submitted).
Students who have their assessment saved, discarded, or submitted will see the following message with a countdown before their assessment is closed:
When "Save & exit" or "Discard & exit" is selected, the student can click the assessment link on their Portal to resume the assessment. When "Submit & exit" is selected, the assessment is submitted and therefore the assessment link will be removed if there are no retakes allowed for the assessment.
4. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Response Analysis report provides detailed analysis by item. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
The report displays a column for the Total score, as well as a column for each item on the activity.
2. Click the arrow in a column header to sort the report in ascending or descending order by that column.
3. Hover over an item header to view the question type and amount of points earned by a correct answer.
4. Hover over a check mark or number of points in an item column to view the points earned by the student and points possible.
5. Click an item column header to view the item details.
The item details display on the right side of the screen. The number of students who selected each answer option is indicated.
6. Click on an answer option to highlight which students selected that option.
The question text and answer options are also displayed, and the correct answer is indicated by a check mark.
For essay questions, click each student to view their response.
7. Click All to go back to the full report.
8. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Last Score by Activity report displays the student's score and date submitted for the most recent attempt of the activity. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students. The report can include multiple assessments for comparison purposes.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
To compare two or more assessments, select the additional assessments to view in the Assessments pull-down, and click Run Report. Leave Default selected to run the report only for the assessment currently selected at the top-left of the screen.
2. Hover over the bar graphic to view the percentage of correct, incorrect, and unattempted responses, as well as time spent for correct, incorrect, and unattempted responses.
When more than one assessment is selected, each assessment is displayed in its own row.
3. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Session Detail by Item report displays the student's response and score for each item of the activity for one or multiple sessions (if there was more than one attempt). The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students. When the Manual Scoring option is selected and the report is run, you can add or change the score for each item. This allows open ended items such as essays to be graded, or the score for any item to be updated.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
2. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
3. To manually grade the assessment, select Manual Scoring and click Run Report.
4. On the left side of the screen, enter the scores for any ungraded items or update the scores for items as needed. Click Submit.
The report is refreshed and the student's scores are updated.
The Session Summary report displays a bar graphic indicating the number of items answered correctly, incorrectly, or that were unattempted by the selected student for one or multiple sessions (if there was more than one attempt). It also displays this information in a table format. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
2. Hover over the bar graphic to view a tool-tip with percentage of items answered correctly.
3. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Sessions List report displays a bar graphic indicating the number of items answered correctly, incorrectly, or that were unattempted by the selected student and the date the activity was submitted for one or multiple sessions (if there was more than one attempt). The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students. The report can include multiple assessments for comparison purposes.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
To compare two or more assessments, select the additional assessments to view in the Assessments pull-down, and click Run Report. Leave Default selected to run the report only for the assessment currently selected at the top-left of the screen.
2. Hover over the bar graphic to view a tool-tip with the percentage of the score that was answered correctly.
Example of two sessions of the same assessment:
When more than one assessment is selected, each assessment session is displayed in its own row.
3. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
The Sessions List by Item report displays a colored dot for each item on the activity, which indicates whether the item was answered correctly, incorrectly, partially correct, or unattempted by the selected student for one or multiple sessions (if there was more than one attempt). The date the activity was submitted is also displayed. The report can be filtered to view specific schools, grade levels, courses, teachers, periods, and students.
1. Select the desired filters and click Run Report.
2. Hover over a colored dot to view the student's score for that item. Gray indicates the item was not answered. Green indicates the answer was correct. Yellow indicates the answer was partially correct. Red indicates the answer was incorrect.
Example of two sessions:
3. To print the report, click Print and follow the prompts from your computer.
