Creating an Assessment Blueprint

Before a test can be administered in ActivProgress, you'll need to build anassessment blueprint. Think of the blueprint as the test document your teachers willdistribute to students.

This guide will show you how to:

1. Select or create an assessment blueprint;2. Enter information about your test;3. Select test questions from Item Banks and put your test questions in order;

and4. Preview the assessment blueprint before administering the test.

Remember, ActivProgress will save all of your blueprints for you. If you want to givethe same test in the future, you can re-administer it or make changes depending onyour needs.

Select or Create an Assessment Blueprint

To start, go to the Create tab and select Assessment Blueprints in the leftcolumn.

You will see a list of blueprints that users in your organization have already created.

If you want to create a new assessment blueprint, click the Add Assessmentbutton.

Go ahead and skip down to Step 2 of this document.

If you are looking for existing blueprints, you have some options for findingthem.

You can enter a keyword in the search box and click Search.

Another way to search is to click the New Filter button.

On this screen, you can use the Filter Contexts area to narrow your search.

The Filter Contexts tool allows you t0 select a category from the left hand columnbased on what you know about the assessment blueprint. For example, if you knowthat the blueprint was created in the last few days, select "Creation Date" and click onthe calendar icons to select a date range.

Or, if you would like to browse a specific subject area for an assessment blueprint,start with "Subject" and select the correct area on the right.

You can use more than one filter at a time to narrow your search.Both filters will apply as the column on the left will show the numberof filters you select in each category.

When you are done selecting filters, click Done.

The results of your filter context search will appear below.

You'll see a list of assessments that fit your search criteria. Your filters will appear atthe top in tabs. Click on the tab to remove a filter.

Click Change Filters to go back to the Filter Context step and find another filter.

Click Remove Filter to delete all your filters and start your search again.

Once you've found the assessment blueprint you need, hover your cursor over thedownward pointing arrow on the far right.

Click on Edit. Now you can begin altering the existing blueprint.

Remember you must have permission to edit a blueprint. A lock iconwill appear if you do not have these rights.

When you are finished selecting filters, click Done.

Enter information (meta-data) about your blueprint

Adding details about your test is an important step so your team can understand thebasis of this assessment in the future. Adding these pieces of information, called

"meta-data", will help contextualize the information for others to understand andlocate within ActivProgress.

The information included here can be called "meta-data" because theentries you include here can be used as search points in the filtercontext area.

• Enter a name for your test in the Name field. Be sure to use the namingconventions your organization has established.

• Identify the type of test – formative, summative, quick test or state--using theType pull-down menu.

• Select a test subject using the Subject pull-down men.• Select a Difficulty using the pull-down menu.• Select a Sub Type from the pull-down menu.

You can also add additional meta data to the blueprint by clicking on (more) next tothe words Additional Details.

Now you will see additional meta data options.

If you want to align the entire blueprint to a standard, click on the Choose buttonbeneath the Standard field. See the Standards Library User Guide for more details.

If the test matches an archetype in your organization, click on the Archetype toselect it.

If you want to associate the test with a performance band before you administer it,click on the Select Performance Band button.

You will now see a list of available performance bands. Click on the band you want toapply to this assessment.

By pre-associating a performance band with a test, you'll becontextualizing the results for whoever uses this blueprint. In otherwords, you'll be shaping how people interpret the data byassociating a specific performance band set to the test instead of adefault performance band being used.

The Additional Details area includes opportunities to tag the blueprint as well aslock it to deny access to other users.

To share your test directly with your friends in the ActivProgress network, click onthe Share button. Select the individuals by clicking the Add button next to theirname.

The other users you select will appear in the right column.

When you are done, click the grey X in the upper right corner to return to theprevious screen.

After the test details are complete, click the Next button.

Use the Assessment Blueprint wizard at the top of the page to helpguide you. Click on the buttons to go forward or backward throughthe process.

In this step of the blueprint building process, you have the option to add sections toyour test.

Let's say you wanted to keep test items together by skill type. You couldcreate test sections and name them by skill so that students could focuson common problems in each section. Then when you create reports,you can also sort the report columns by section to see how studentsperformed on each skill.

Click Add Section to increase the number of sections in your assessment document.

When you create a test section, you will need to name it in the name field.

If you like, you can also align the section to a standard by clicking on the Choosebutton.

After you have named and/or aligned your section, click Save.

Continue to click the Add Section button to suit the needs of your blueprint.

Note that you can have as many sections to your test as you like.

If you do not want to designate sections, click Next at the bottom of the screen.

Notice that you haven't added any questions to your sections yet. That will happen inthe next step.

To remove a section, click on the Delete button.

Click Next to continue.

Select Test Questions

Now you'll search your organization's item banks for questions to include in yourAssessment Blueprint.

ActivProgress offers several ways to narrow your search and find the questions youneed using the Filter Contexts search tool.

To begin, select your first Filter Contexts category.

For example, if you want to locate test questions based on grade level, click on thefilter "Grade Level" in the left hand column to begin your search.

Using a combination of filters will help you quicklypare down the list of items so you can find exactlywhat you are looking for.

Pick the grade level of items you want to find in the right hand column.

When you select a filter context, a number in parentheses next to thecategory appears. This can help you keep track of the number ofsources you've selected to search for your questions.

After you make your selections from both columns, items that match your selectionswill appear in the "Available Questions" column below.

Notice that each test section has a tab above the filter context area. To add questionsto a test section, click on the section tab and repeat the filter context process.

To see an entire question, click on the magnifying glass in the right handcorner of the item box and it will appear in a separate window on your screen.

To select an item for your test from the left column, click on the green plussign and the question will appear in the right hand column. The right hand columnshows the items that will appear in your test and represents the order they will be in.

You can re-organize the questions by using your cursor to grab the green bar at thetop of a question box and dragging it to another place in the column.

You can also quickly create a new item to add to the test by clicking on the QuickAdd button.

If you created test sections in the previous step, you can toggle between your sectionsusing the Section tabs.

After you have transferred all questions from the item bank to the assessmentblueprint in the order you want the students to see, click the Next button at thebottom of the page.

Preview the Test

Now, you're ready to preview your Assessment Blueprint.

Use the buttons at the top of the page to preview different components of yourassessment:

• Answer Key: Displays .pdf teacher answer key• Assessment Preview: Displays .rtf test booklet• Bubble Sheet Preview: Displays a .pdf of the scan-able sheet for paper-to web

assessments• Digital Preview: Displays how a test will appear to students if they take it

online

Note that the formatting of your test may look different in the .pdf version, but thecontent and order of the test items will remain the same.

To make changes to your test, close the preview window and go back to theassessment blueprint and item banks.

Click Finish if you don’t want to make any changes. Your assessment will be savedalong with the other blueprints.