Overview of Offline Assessment Scoring

Offline test scoring is performed using a desktop application called the Scoring Tool. This desktop application is downloaded from PowerSchool Special Programs and installed on your computer.

Offline Test Scoring

1. Set up an assessment definition that specifies the answer key and the alignment of the questions to the curriculum area(s) being assessed. 
2. Download and install the Scoring Tool on your computer's hard drive. Once the Scoring Tool is installed, it is available each time you score an assessment. Therefore this step needs to be performed only the first time you score using a particular computer.
3. Create an assessment administration to store the student response data that you will be collecting. When you create an assessment administration, you select the assessment definition and the group of students taking the test.
   
   • If you are a teacher working with a class, you will create a class assessment administration. 
   • If you are administering an assessment for a larger group within a particular school or building (e.g. all students at a particular grade level), you will create a location-wide assessment administration.
   • If you are administering an assessment for a group of students across multiple schools, buildings, or locations, you have the option of creating a district-wide assessment administration. 
4. Run the Scoring Tool and open the assessment administration you created. The Scoring Tool will prompt for your login information, and upon successfully logging in, you will be able to open the assessment administration that you created in the previous step. Use the Scoring Tool to operate your optical mark reader and scan in the student response forms or cards. This response data is stored in the assessment administration. 
5. Once you have scanned the results, you can save the results back to the database. The assessment administration is then processed online, a process that populates all mastery information needed for reporting. 
6. Once the assessment administration is processed, a variety of reports can be produced including curriculum progress reports, score analysis reports, item analysis, and longitudinal analysis reports (AYP, benchmark analysis, cohort group, etc). The reports can optionally be disaggregated by one or more analytical dimensions including NCLB-related fields (ethnic, free-reduced lunch, etc).