Use the Scoring Tool for Scanning Item Responses

The Scoring Tool allows you to scan student responses into an assessment administration using a scanner (or the keyboard).

Prerequisites

• The Scoring Tool must be installed.
• An Assessment Administration must exist. If you have not yet created an assessment administration, refer to Create an Assessment Administration for a Class or Create a Location or District-wide Assessment Administration).

Scan Student Responses Using the Scoring Tool

1. If you are using a scanning device, make sure it is connected to the correct serial port on your computer.
2. Start the Scoring Tool from the Windows Start menu (normally located in the lower-left corner of your screen).
   
   • Point your mouse to the Programs or All Programs submenu, then to PowerSchool Group LLC, and then PowerSchool SpEd Scoring Tool Plus.
3. After a splash screen, a connection login window appears. Enter the correct login information, and then click Connect.
   • In the Server Address field, enter the address (domain) that you normally access through your web browser.
   • In the Login Information section fields, enter the School/District ID, User ID, and Password that you normally use to log in online.
4. Upon successfully logging in, the Open Assessment Administration screen appears with a selection of assessment administrations that are stored in the database. Use the drop-down menus to select which assessment administrations you want to display. 
   
   • In the Assessment Administrations For field, select the assessment administration you want to open.
     
     • You can only open assessment administrations that have not yet been processed.
     • If it becomes necessary to do further work with an assessment administration that has already been processed, you must unprocess the assessment administration prior to opening it from the Scoring Tool.
     • If "Scores" appears in the Data Collected column for the assessment administration you want to open, follow the procedure in Using the Scoring Tool to Import Scores from a Delimited Text File.
   • In the Select Administrations fields, select the type of assessment administrations you want to open (e.g., District-wide assessment administrations, Location-wide assessment administrations for a particular location or school, or System-wide; and the school year).
5. Select the assessment administration you want to open from the list, and then click Open.
6. After the assessment administration opens, you can begin scanning by clicking the (Play) button on the toolbar. If random variations are being used for an assessment administration, refer to Plain Paper Scanning for an overview of the support built into the Scoring Tool application.
7. The Scan window will open allowing you to configure the scanning device you will be using, as well as any scanning preferences you have while scanning. It is recommended that you select the Alert Operator for Multiple Marks option in case a student has left smudge marks that the scanner is sensitive enough to pick up. This will allow you to take corrective action.
   
   • If you want to change the scanning device you will be using, click Configure and proceed to step 8.
   • If you want to use the selected scanning device and settings, proceed to step 9.
8. In the Configure Input Source window, select the scanner and connection options, and then click OK.
   
   • Select the scanning device that you will be using In the Input Source field.
   • Select the Serial COM Port that it is connected to.
9. Click Scan to begin scanning.
10. The Scoring Tool will attempt to communicate with the scoring device. If it is successful, you will see a display similar to the one shown in the following image (the exact display may vary depending on which model scanner you have). 
    With some scanner models, such as the Chatsworth 1100, you can click the Settings button on the Scan Assessments window to adjust the scanner's sensitivity.
    
    • If you have a Chatsworth (or compatible) scanner, you can now hand-feed the scanner cards one at a time.
    • If there is a problem with any card (for example, incorrectly marked Student ID), you will be prompted to take an appropriate corrective action.
    • Other types of scanners operate differently. For example, some scanners support automatic feeding of a stack of forms. Refer to the documentation that came with your scanner for additional information.
11. This window indicates that scanning has completed. Click Close to continue.
12. The Scanning Status window shows a detailed status of each page that was scanned. You can review any warnings and errors in the Details section and correct the data accordingly.
13. Click View Student to display the selected student's responses in the Assessment Administration window. The Scanning Status screen can be displayed and hidden by clicking Show/Hide Scanning Status in the toolbar on the Assessment Administration window.

If students are missing from your assessment administration

As you are scanning student responses, student information may be obtained from the server. If student(s) are missing, the solution depends on the type of assessment administration you are working with.

• If this assessment administration is for a class, the entire class roster of students should be listed within the assessment administration. If a student is missing from your class roster, ask your system administrator to make the correction to your class roster. Then re-open the assessment administration once the problem is corrected.
• If this assessment administration is location-wide or district-wide, make sure the missing student has a profile in the database at the correct school location. Also double-check the Student Population Filter formula you used to select the group of students being scored. After making any corrections, re-open the assessment administration.
• If you make corrections to address missing students, you must re-open the assessment administration in the Scoring Tool. Be sure to save the changes you have made to the assessment administration before closing it.

Add students manually to an assessment administration

You can manually add students to an assessment administration and then select the item responses for each student. If you do not have a scanner available at the moment, the Scoring Tool can work with keyboard or mouse entry. You would first add a student manually to the assessment administration, and then use the keyboard or mouse to fill out the student responses. The Tab and arrow keys on the keyboard can be used to navigate through the assessment administration.

1. In the Assessment Administration window, click the (Students) button on the toolbar.
2. In the Students window, enter the Student ID, and then click Lookup.
3. If the student displays in the list section, select the student, and then click Add to manually add the student to this assessment administration. Even if the student you are looking for does not display in the list, looking up by ID may add them if the student can be found in the database.
   You can jump to any student that already has been added to this assessment administration. 
   
4. Select the student you want to add, and then click OK.
5. The student is added to the assessment administration and you are able to manually select the item responses for that student.

Run the Item Analysis Report

After scanning is completed, it is useful to run the Item Analysis report to view the distribution of responses for each question.

1. In the Assessment Administration window, click the analysis Item Analysis report button on the toolbar.
   The Item Analysis report gives you a quick sense of how students did on the assessment administration by showing you the distribution of student responses for each question. The green bars indicate correct answers.
2. When you close the assessment administration and changes have been made, you will be prompted to save the changes. Click Yes.