Educators’ Guide
First Edition (August 2005) Second Edition (September 2006)
This edition applies to Release 4.0 of Inform and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions or updates.
Overview ... 1
Logging In... 2
A Closer Look ... 3
Home Page... 4
Navigating from the Home Page ... 5
Tabs ... 5
Context Buttons ... 6
Report Library ... 7
Viewing a Report from a Selected Favorite Query ... 8
Creating and Analyzing Reports ... 9
Criteria Field Descriptions... 11
Getting Assessments... 16
Disaggregating Data ... 17
Displaying the Data as a Report... 19
Report Display Options ... 20
Saving a Report or a Query to the Report Library ... 22
Organizing Your Report Library... 24
Setting Up Location-specific Folders ... 25
Setting Up Location-Specific Default Views ... 26
Assigning Multiple Reports ... 27
Reassigning Reports ... 27
Creating Dashboard Views... 28
Other Home Page Options – Automatic Display of a Featured Report ... 30
Exporting Reports into Other Applications ... 31
Working with Intervention Groups... 33
Drilling Down to Student Names ... 34
Adding Intervention Groups from the Student Drill-Down Window... 35
Including Students in Intervention Groups ... 35
Creating District-wide Intervention Groups ... 36
Creating a List of Students Based on Defined Criteria ... 38
Displaying Student Profiles... 40
Option 1: Using Find Student ... 40
Option 2: Selecting a name from the student list... 42
Option 3: By Class Roster ... 43
Entering Scores ... 44
Setting Up Basic Assessment Information ... 46
Assigning Grade Levels ... 47
Associating Test Sessions with Assessments... 48
Assigning Concepts to Assessments ... 49
Assigning Items to Assessments... 50
Assigning a Rubric to the Assessment ... 52
Using Other Key Questions... 53
Key Question 2: What is the distribution of student scores for a particular test? ... 53
Key Question 3: What is our demographic profile? ... 54
Key Question 4: How are our Schools Performing? ... 55
Key Question 5: How does achievement compare by class?... 56
Key Question 6: “Which students qualify for Interventions? ... 57
Key Questions 7 and 8: Comparison to Norm Group Performance ... 57
Key Question 9: Comparing Student Test Performance to Course Grades ... 58
Key Question 10: Item Response Analysis Summary Report ... 60
Tips and Shortcuts... 61
Overview
With increasing pressures from federal and state accountability systems, it’s never been more important to collect, analyze and report data and to use that data to formulate action plans for improvement.
In addition, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements mean educators must make use of assessment and performance data to guide decisions about educating each child to help each individual reach their greatest potential, every day.
If you’ve ever asked questions such as these,
• Which of our schools need help to meet district, state, and federal goals?
• How are our students doing against state standards?
• Which of our students are below district Proficiency Profile levels? Which are progressing?
• How can we adjust our learning programs to improve instruction in the most appropriate manner for any given group of students?
• How can we monitor how well their performance will comply with NCLB requirements?
then Inform is your answer.
Inform is a web-based application that provides district administrators, school principals, and teachers a straightforward way to get the information they need at the district, school, and classroom levels through one easy-to-use interface. Inform empowers educators and other stakeholders to make informed decisions that positively affect student learning.
Inform provides comparative analysis of student achievement and classroom performance across a district or school, incorporating data from multiple sources, including:
• High stakes test score data
• State performance standards
• District-specific proficiencies
• Multiple tests and test types (including state, district, school, and classroom tests)
• Multiple standards profiles for norm-, criterion- and rubric-referenced tests.
Furthermore, in the school and classroom views, you can drill down to a list of students in any performance category and see the number and percent of students above, below, or attaining Proficiency Profile. You can share this information with others quickly and easily by exporting the data to Microsoft® Word, Microsoft Excel, or Adobe® Acrobat.
Real changes occur when you have the right information. Inform gives you the power to decide what to change for the greatest benefit to your students and harness the power of each
Logging In
Inform is a web-based application and all you need to use it is an Internet connection, a supported browser, and a user name and password.
Note: You must have at least Pearson Inform v3.3.10 installed to use the 4.0 upgrade. Your system administrator will handle the upgrade.
Everyone using this product needs to be registered. Your system administrator will send you an email containing your user name and initial password. After you log on the first time, you can change your password.
1. Open your browser.
At the top of the page, type in the address provided in training or obtainable from your district’s System Administrator. (Your district trainer or System Administrator will provide your district’s address for accessing Inform on the Internet.) Each district has a specific web address.
2. Enter your user name and password.
The password is case sensitive. (Your district trainer and/or System Administrator will provide information on your user name and password.)
3. Click Login.
Click and enter your email address and you’ll be sent a password.
A Closer Look
Inform is typically configured with four default security levels: system administrator, district, school, and classroom. Each district or school defines the level of access for each user role. For instance, the system administrator sees all parts of the system, which is important, as the system administrator is responsible for setting up and maintaining the system. In typical implementations, if you are a district administrator, you have access to the information that pertains to your district, schools within the district, and classrooms.
School administrators can access their school and individual classroom information and teachers have access to everything that pertains to their classrooms. Typically, all users can see overall district performance and their school’s overall performance. It is primarily student information that is limited to the appropriate user role.
Each role has slightly different views when using the system.
• District context - provides an overall view of district-wide performance. At this context level, you can access all the information across schools within your district.
• School context - enables you to determine how individual schools in your district are performing. Typically, school administrators are taken automatically to their school sites, on login.
• Class context - enables teachers to analyze performance in an individual classroom at a particular school. Remember that teachers are taken automatically to their own classroom views, while school and district administrators may navigate to this level. When teachers log into Inform, they can access the information for the classes they teach. There are additional options in the Class view.
• Class Roster– provides a list of all currently enrolled students in a teacher’s class. This list is based on the latest upload from your student information system.
• Find Student – provides a quick method of locating a student within a teacher’s classes.
• Score Entry – enables you to manually enter test scores. When you’re in the Class context, the Score Entry tab displays.
Home Page
After you log into Inform, the first page for all roles is the Home page. (It’s important to
remember that your Home Page displays the same for whatever context you are in; therefore, clicking Home will not take you back to the context level where you logged in you must use the Context navigation buttons to move between contexts. This page displays some of the most powerful benefits of Inform right on the first page. It contains links to the most commonly performed tasks, to favorite queries and reports, and to student search.
As an option, the Home page can also contain either a dashboard view set by you or the district or, alternatively, a featured live report that displays on login. From the live report, at the school and classroom levels, teachers and principals can drill down to student names performing at the levels represented by the selected graph component. Note that these login display options are set up in Maintenance for an individual user or based on user roles (teachers, school
administrators, district administrators, etc.)
There are several ways to get started, depending on what you want to do. If a dashboard is displayed, you can click one of the displayed charts and the system displays greater detail, including the chart, a table, and the selection criteria. You can click one of the tabs at the top of the page to perform additional tasks, such as clicking the Query tab to navigate to a page where you can create a report “from scratch.”
You can also click one of the task links displayed below the dashboard or featured chart on the Home page and the system takes you either to the Query page or to a window from which you can search for a student, depending on which link you select.
Navigating from the Home Page
It’s easy to find your way around the Home page. To make it even easier, let’s break the Home page into individual components and discuss each one.
Tabs
Inform has seven tabs. Six of the tabs display in all views (as shown). The seventh one, Score Entry, displays only in the Class view.
Selection Description
Reports tab This links to the Reports page, where you will spend most of your time in Inform and from which you can create reports to analyze performance data.
Query tab This links to the Query page, where you can set your own criteria and create your reports. You can also save any query as a favorite. The favorites display under the Report Library tab.
Report Library tab When you click this tab, a list of reports or queries you’ve saved displays. Using this list, you can edit or delete any favorites you have created. From the Report Library page, you can also create a Dashboard and organize favorites into folders.
Maintenance tab Primarily the System Administrator uses this tab. However, teachers and School
Administrators may use the Maintenance
page to set up new assessments to be directly entered into the system, such as results from reading inventories or written compositions.
Proficiency Profile tab Clicking this tab displays, as a reference, a list of cut scores that can be applied to the various assessments contained in the system.
Score Entry tab This tab displays only in the Class view. Click this tab to manually enter test scores or to view assessment results by the class roster.
Selection Description
Messages tab This tab displays messages associated with completed batch reports, such as individual student performance profiles for an entire class.
The Messages tab displays a new icon next to it when a batch report has completed processing and is ready to view. Batch reports are available for 14 days.
Context Buttons
These buttons display on the left side of every page and help you to navigate to the district, school, class, or student roster contexts. Your role and, therefore, the site level at which you are working, determine which buttons display. Clicking any of the context, or “view” icons, enable you navigate to the view you want. Note that the current context level is highlighted.
Selection Description
If you log in as a district administrator, the
district and school buttons display. If you click the School button, a list of all the schools in your district displays; click the name of the school for which you want to view data. From the school view, you can click the Class
button to display a list of teachers in the school. Click a teacher’s name to go to the class view for that teacher. At the class level, the Class Roster button displays. The Find Student button displays in every context. Each button enables you to navigate back and forth within the context levels (district, school, classroom, and class roster).
Report Library
On the left side of the screen, under the Context box, is the Report Library box. This is one of the most powerful features in Inform. With little or no training in using Inform, you can access the system and click a saved query Favorite to view a report. Using this query, you can quickly see how it pertains to your respective school or classroom and begin using the system right away.
Report Library contains a list of query selections and reports that have been saved, either by you or by another educator. District or school administrators will want to create important reports and then share them with others in the district or school to support collaborative planning and target assistance for students and schools. When queries and reports are saved you have the option to save them in your own folder (Personal Library) or in Shared Library.
Note that queries saved at the district level pertaining to grades or assessments that cross schools and grade levels display at the school or classroom sites with data pertaining only to the particular school or classroom being viewed.
For example, if a query is saved for Grades 3 – 10 at the district level, then saved as “public” within the school communities at both the school and classroom context levels, then school administrators and teachers can run this query as it pertains only to their school or classroom, so that, at an elementary school, Grades 3-5 performance displays, while performance at Grades 6-8 display at the middle school.
When teachers click such a query, the resulting display pertains only to the students in their classes. Thus, a district administrator can save a single query template that becomes school and classroom specific across the district.
Selection Description
Report Library This list displays links not only to the queries and reports you have saved, but also to those saved by others, such as district or school administrators, for sharing.
The most powerful use of the Report Library is to save query templates or reports that are to be shared with other educators. In addition, you may also want to save reports or queries that you want to revisit; you will save time by not having to create them all over again. Once the report or template has been saved, simply select the favoriteyou want and the report displays.
In the case of a selected query, the query selection criteria also display and may be modified from the Query page to create a different query and report.
Click the + button to open, or expand the list.
Selection Description Reports and Queries
- Report icon - Query icon
Both reports and queries display under Shared Library and Personal Library. Shared Library are those available for sharing. Personal Library refers to those reports and queries that you want to keep private for your own use and have not made available to others. If you want, you can also save in Personal Library those reports that you have made available so that you can quickly retrieve them.
When you click a report icon, a separate screen displays the report, along with the Table Results and Selection Criteria. A saved report is a “picture in time.” No matter how many times you open a saved report, the data never change.
When you click a query icon, the system displays the report, and, by default, the accompanying table and selection criteria.
Viewing a Report from a Selected Favorite Query
When you display a report from a saved Favorite (or from scratch), the resulting report displays at the top of the screen. By default, both the table and selection criteria display, but you can hide either or both by clicking Table Results and/or Selection Criteria. Alternatively, if either is not displaying, you can display each one’s screen by clicking the same titles.
Using the Query page, you can aggregate and display assessment-related data, specific to the schools or classrooms in your district, in very meaningful ways. This page is the heart of the Inform analysis system.
There are two ways to get to the Query page. After you login to Inform, the system displays the Home Page. Clicking either of these choices takes you directly to the Query page.
or Once you’re on the Query page, you can choose from several key questions to help you get the information you’re looking for.
Note: Not all of the questions display in all views and, depending on what performance results and options your district is using in Inform, as many as 10 questions may display, but there may be fewer.
Question #1 - How are we doing relative to our defined standards? (District/School/Class level)
This is probably the question you will use 80-90% of the time, since it enables educators to view and analyze the performance of students, classroom, school, and the district as a whole – on one or more assessments, overall and by proficiency level, by concepts, years, and student demographic groups.
Question #2 - What is the distribution of student scores for a particular test?
(District/School/Class level)
This question allows educators to analyze the results of a particular assessment according to the number and percent of students who achieved each score on a test.
Question #3 - What is our demographic profile? (District/School/Class level)
This question enables educators to view enrollment by demographics and special program. It does not link to any assessments.
Question #4 - How are our schools performing? (District level only)
This question enables educators to list out the performance of all schools or groups of schools.
Question #5 - How does student achievement compare by class? (School level only) This question is optional for inclusion by the district and allows school and district
Question #6 - Which students qualify for interventions? (District/School/Class level) This question lists the available district-defined intervention or performance groups, based on district-define performance ranges or levels for one or more assessments and/or one or more concepts.
Questions #7 and #8 – How does “Achieved” compare to “Expected” Growth and How does student achievement compare to the NRT averages?
If the district opts to include norm referenced tests in Inform and the test results of the norming group are published and available, then these results can be compared to the average scores and expected growth of the performance of the district’s students. Therefore, these questions display only if the district is loading such an assessment into Inform.
Question #9 – How does student test performance compare to course grades?
(District/School/Class level)
This question displays if your district is loading report card grades into Inform. If so, then you can analyze how groups of students performed in their course grades compared to how they performed on appropriate assessments that you select.
Question #10 – Item Response Analysis Summary report (District/School/Class level) This question displays the percentage of students who answered each question correctly, compared with the percentage of students who answered each item incorrectly. Districts can define rules to help them analyze item response results. This key question can be used only for those assessment results that contain information on how students answered each test question.
Note that, as the product evolves to meet newly identified needs of educators new questions may be added.
Criteria Field Descriptions
The first step is always to select the key question from the drop-down menu. Pearson Inform enables you to establish specific criteria for the key questions, such as subject, school year, grade, and Proficiency Profile levels. From the District view, you can choose to view the requested data for all schools or a group of schools. To view data at a particular school or classroom level, you can navigate to the School or Class view.
You set the criteria or parameters for the specific data you need and Inform displays the information in comprehensive, easy-to-understand charts and tables.
This table describes the different criteria fields and indicates how your selections affect the data you’re seeking. The fields you see depend on the question you have selected.
Field Description
Subject Select the Subject. You can either select one subject at a time or, if you want to analyze more than one subject, select <ALL>. The subjects listed have been defined by your district and correlate to assessment data loaded into your system. For example, if there are test results for “Listening,” a subject for listening may be added.
Field Description
Sub Category Sub Categories are used within the selected subject to display assessment results in more detail. For example, within Reading, there could be sub-categories for “responding to text,”
“comprehension,” “supporting ideas,” etc.
To analyze test results based on the overall score -- for instance, the number and percentage of students meeting standard – select None.
This field is configurable by your system administrator.
Cohort Cohort relates to a student’s enrollment status or membership. By default there are three general types of cohorts:
Currently Enrolled Students
Results are filtered to include only those students who are currently enrolled in the selected grade at the context level of classroom, school, or district.
All Students Tested Results include ALL of the students who were in the selected school or classroom (or district) when the selected test was administered, regardless of whether they are still enrolled in that class, school, or the district.
For example, if a teacher wanted to see how her prior year students performed on an assessment given last year, then she would choose
All Students Tested.
Conversely, if she wanted to see how her current class performed, she would select Currently Enrolled Students.
Continuously Enrolled Students
Results are filtered to include only those students who are/were enrolled based on the criteria
Other cohort groups may be added. This field is configurable by your system administrator.
Intervention Group Your district can define an Intervention Group based on assessment results criteria for one or more assessments and/or concepts, and the resulting list can be saved as a separate cohort. This feature enables you to monitor the performance of this group on other assessments over time.
This field is configurable by your system administrator. Year Select the appropriate Year to be covered by your analysis,
keeping in mind that Year refers to the year of administration of the assessment(s) you want to analyze.
To view multiple years, select <ALL> and then select assessments from the years you want to analyze.
This option depends on the data available for your district or school.
Current Grade Level You can select a specific Grade or choose <ALL>.
Selecting a grade limits the number of assessments available and also causes the results to be filtered.
Score Method Score Method represents how the test score values will be represented (or the scale type of the test score) for a given assessment or test.
Assessment, test, and concept have a primary score method. This represents the default score method to be used in a query. You don’t have to remember which score methods are used for which score records. Records are retrieved for the test/concept scores by the score method defined by the primary score method. A test can have scores loaded for multiple score method types)
By School This option displays in the District context only. If you check this box, a separate chart displays for each school in your district.
This field is configurable by your system administrator. By Classroom This option displays in the School context only. If you check this
box, a separate chart displays for each class in your school. This field is configurable by your system administrator. Proficiency Profile Select the appropriate Proficiency Profile. These Proficiency
Profile profiles may vary for different assessments and can also be defined by your district. Proficiency Profiles define the cut scores or performance levels by which assessment results will be displayed.
Field Description
If your district deems it appropriate, the same assessment can be viewed applying different Proficiency Profile profiles.
This field is configurable by your system administrator. Categorize by Select above/below standard or Proficiency Profile level to
identify how the performance results are displayed. There are two options to display and analyze results:
If you select above/below standard, the number/percentage of students who met a defined standard (established in the Proficiency Profile) for the overall test performance display: for example, the number/percentage of students who passed, as this example.
• If you select to display by Proficiency Profile level, the number/percentage of students who met the various Proficiency Profile levels criteria set up in the system display, as in this example:
School Classification The default for School Classification is <ALL>. The system administrator can add additional classifications, for example
Elementary, Middle, or High School; all the schools in a high school vertical team; or other groups of schools, such as Title I, in which your district might be interested. When using Key Question 1, selecting one of these classifications produces reports that include the aggregated performance of all the schools in the category selected.
When using Key Question 4 (How are our schools
performing?), selecting a school classification results in the performance of all the schools in the group listing out on the same graph, but separately.
This field is configurable by your system administrator. With Score Dates
since mm/dd/yyyy
If you enter a date in this field, you are limiting the results to those brought into the system since a particular date.
Getting Assessments
Once you start making selections on the left side of the Query Page, the Get Assessments button displays. After you have made all the field selections you want, click Get Assessments to view a list of all the assessments matching your criteria.
Field Description
Assessment(s) Displays only if there are assessments defined that match the criteria you have selected.
Session(s) Displays when you have selected a choice under Sub Category
other than <None>. If this option displays, select the test session for which you want to display data. For example, the same test taken in the Fall and Spring are considered different sessions. Note: This option displays only if you choose Question #5 (see page 9) or selected the report to display by Report Category. Assessed
Grade Level
Filters the assessment list where an assessment was taken by a student in that grade level. This field can be left blank or used to further narrow the field of students to be considered.
Order by Determines the order of how the tests display in the list of available assessments matching the criteria you’ve selected. Select either date or test.
Aggregate by Applicable only when you have selected more than one assessment. If you want the multiple assessments you have selected to display separately on the same graph, then leave the Aggregate By box blank. If you want to view results aggregated across grades or years, then check the Aggregate By box. Then select either subject or year.
For instance, if you have selected the state test for Reading for Grades, 3, 4, and 5 for a designated year, leaving the Aggregate By box blank results in a graph displaying results for each of the three tests. Alternatively, if you check the Aggregate By box, results are added and the percentage calculated into one number. In this case, you would check aggregate by Subject.
To aggregate test results across years, check the Year box. Remember, in most cases, it doesn’t make sense to aggregate across subjects or across different kinds of assessments
Check this box to aggregate results for similar tests together in one graph. You can select both subject and year.
Disaggregating Data
In addition to displaying performance data for all of the students who took a particular assessment in the selected view (district, school, or class), educators want to analyze data, broken down by demographics and special program. The Disaggregator box allows for this analysis, as indicated in this chart:
Option Description
Disaggregator Complete the items in this box when you want to analyze results by student demographic groups or special program participation, such as the percentage of Economically Disadvantaged students meeting standard, compared to those Below Standard.
Demographic data comes from the data uploaded from your student information system.
Display This control directs the demographic categories by which data displays and includes all of the students who took the assessment selected, broken down by the display group you chose. For instance, if you select Gender, then results will display with one part of the graph showing the results for girls and one for boys.
Filter on The Filter control determines how the data is filtered; it differs from the Display feature in that only some of the students are included in the analysis because you have filtered the results only for those students. You can further filter the information by selecting AND or OR conditions.
For instance, if you want to view the performance of female
Hispanic students who are economically disadvantaged, then you
would filter by ethnicity, choosing Hispanic, then choose female from the gender category, then select disadv from the list. By Report
Group Clicking this box enables you to analyze a report displaying performance of district-defined report groups, such as state or federal accountability groups. When you check the Report Group box, a list of the available Report Groups display. Select the report group you want.
Displaying the Data as a Report
Now that you have selected all of your criteria and assessments, the next step is to click Show Report.
Field Description
Show Report After you have selected all of your criteria, click Show Report to display your report.
Reset Alternatively, if you change your mind or want to create a different report, you can clear all query selections to start over or to create a completely different report.
If you only want to change one criterion (such as reporting by
Proficiency Profile Level instead of Above/Below Standard), you can change that one criterion and click Show Graph, rather than
resetting the entire query section and starting over. Save Query to
Favorites
This feature enables you to save the selected query criteria as a template. You can then use the template whenever you want to run the saved query again. You can choose to save your query in your own folder (Personal Library) or you can share it by saving it the Shared Folder. See Saving a Report or Query as a Favorite section.
Report Display Options
Before or after you have created the graph, you can define how the graph displays – for
instance, in solid color or black and white–before clicking Show Report. You can also click Show Report and then decide to change the display options. In general, most reports display as
vertical bar charts in solid color.
Once you change these options, all the subsequent graphs display in the same way until you change the options or log out.
To change the way a graph displays, select a chart (graph) type, color, and any sorting options. Chart wrapping is useful if your chart is too wide and you need to scroll across the page to see your information. By setting Chart Wrapping to Wrap, you can see all the information in
individual charts, along with the corresponding tables.
Inform enables you to display the data from your queries in several different graph styles. You can also choose how you want the bars on the graphs displayed.
These two graphs display the same information. If a report contains a lot of information, you may want to choose the Horizontal stacked bar graph as more information displays on the screen.
Vertical Bar (default)
Horizonta l Stacked
with Chart Wrapping selected
Saving a Report or a Query to the Report Library
If the report you have created is one you want to come back to often or if it is a report you want others to see or to run as it pertains to their school or classroom, then save the report as a Favorite.
When you click or , a new window displays,
enabling you to name the query, describe it in more detail, designate whether the query template is Personal (for your use only) or Shared (to be shared with other educators at the classroom, school, or district levels). Make selections by typing in a name and description and by clicking the appropriate check boxes.
As an option, you can designate in which folder you want your favorite to reside. If you want your favorite to be shared, then it is typically saved to the appropriate sub-folder under Shared Library. You must check the Shared box to place a report or Query in the Shared Library.
Option Description Save Query to
Report Library
This feature enables you to save the selected query criteria as a template. You can then use the template whenever you want to run the saved query again. If you designate this report template as Shared within the school community, then others can access and run the same report as it pertains to their school or classroom. When the template is run again, results display that match all the criteria selected at the time you run the report and can, in fact, be different (depending on enrollment, program participation, etc.) each time you run the report. Remember when a report is saved at the district or school level for multiple grades or subjects and then the query is run at the individual school or class level, the data displays that is pertinent only to the school or classroom. In this way, a district or school administrator can create a report template and have
principals and/or teachers run the reports as it pertains to them. This information – along with lists of student names – can be then be printed out and shared in a planning conference.
Save Report to Report Library
This feature enables you to save the results of a report under Report Library. When you select a saved report, the system retrieves the images that were saved with the report and does not query the database. Therefore, results are “frozen in time” and display again each time exactly as before.
This option displays only when a report is on the screen. If you make this report Public within the school community, then others can view the report, but remember that it will be exactly the same report and image that you created when you saved it to the Report Library.
Organizing Your Report Library
In most cases, you will want to place your saved favorites into folders. The easiest way is to designate a folder when you first save a query or report.
Edit Report List For those reports and queries that you have created yourself, you can use the Edit Report List feature to change the name of a
particular report query or change its accessibility to others. Select the report or query you want and make your changes. You can also run a favorite report or query, then make changes to the query selections from the Query page, and save the new query as a favorite.
Edit Folders You will want to organize your reports into folders and can use the Edit Folders feature to create, modify, or delete your personal folders. You can also add favorites to public folders to be shared and viewed by others.
It’s easy to organize the Report Library folders by using the Edit Folders feature. You have to associate a report or query to a folder before they display in that particular folder and the folder must be created prior to you saving a new favorite to that folder.
When you save a report or query, you will also probably want to save it to a previously defined folder. The process of saving to Favorites is discussed later in this guide.
If you want to organize your favorites that have already been saved, then you will use the Edit Report List feature. Do one of the following:
1. Click the Edit Report List button in the Report Library box, or
If you want to delete a folder that you have created, then first you must delete the sub-folders contained within that folder.
Setting Up Location-specific Folders
Follow these steps to set up location-specific folders.1. Click the Report Library tab or click the Edit Folders link.
If you click the Report Library tab, click Folders to display the Folder Maintenance screen. It automatically displays when you click Edit Folders.
Folders display alphabetically
2. .Click Shared Library. This title should display next to the Parent Folder. 3. Enter a name for your new folder.
4. Select the name of your school. Make sure the school name displays in the box. If you want to make the folder specific to a school classification (for example, all elementary schools), designate at which school classification you want the folder to display.
Note: You cannot save a folder to both a school-specific location and a school classification at the same time. You must also have permission to select a school classification.
5. You can also add sub-folders under the new school folder using the same method. Make sure you have your school name selected.
Setting Up Location-Specific Default Views
Just as you can set up a folder system to display at a particular school or school classification, you can also designate default views—featured real-time reports or dashboards that display on your Home page upon log in—to a specific school or school classification, instead of only to specified roles (for example, all teachers in the district, etc.) This feature enhances the ability of school and district administrators to immediately share important information with the most pertinent groups of educators.
Follow these steps to set up the default views for a specific location. 1. Click the Maintenance tab.
2. Select Default Favorite Views.
3. Click Add or Modify Default Favorite View.
4. Enter a name for the Default view and designate the school or school classification that will have access to this view upon login.
Note: you can only designate one location: school, school classification, role, or personal. School-based refers to the school site currently being accessed.
If you want to assign previously saved reports or queries to a folder, you don’t have to do it one at a time. You can assign multiple queries or reports to either the Shared or the Personal Library. Follow these steps:
1. Click either the Edit Report list or the Report Library tab. The Report Library displays. 2. Select the reports or queries you want to add to the selected folder.
3. Click . The reports and/or queries are assigned to the folder. Hint: You can see which folders your reports and queries are saved in when you click the Report Library tab and select Show Assigned folders. Assigned Dashboards can be viewed here too.
You can also assign and delete (remove) folders from the Report Library page. When you click a separate screen displays enabling you to assign a report to a specified folder. If you click a message displays asking if you’re sure you want to delete that folder. Click Continue to delete it.
Reassigning Reports
If you want to reassign a report to a different folder, follow these steps: 1. Click the Report Library tab. Click Folders.
2. Select the folder in which you want to reassign a report.
3. Select the report or reports you want and click Assign Selected to. The reports now display in the designated folder.
When you check the Show Assigned folders box, a folder directory displays. This enables you to see into which folder a particular report has been saved. The teacher or school ID of the person who saved a personal report also displays.
Make sure you have the right folder selected before clicking the Assign Selected to button.
Creating Dashboard Views
A Dashboard is an optional view displayed on the Home Page and can be defined by you as your personal Home page view or by the district according to roles. These dashboard views provide a quick reference for commonly viewed assessment results. You create Dashboard views by associating up to four saved report favorites with a dashboard view. You can save any report to be used as part of a dashboard view. Dashboard views can be assigned as either role-based or personal favorites. Remember that dashboards are made up of saved Reports, and, as such, these reports do not drill down to student names.
Dashboard reports are created in the Add Favorite window, based on a report that you have just saved to Report Library. The basic process begins the same as saving any other report.
display. Click Preview to see how the report looks before you save it.
1. Click Save.
Repeat steps 1-6 to save as many favorite dashboard “candidates” as you need. Once you have them all created and saved, you are ready to compile them into a dashboard view.
2. Click the Report Library tab or click Edit Report List from the Report Library box and
click .
3. Enter a title for your dashboard view.
4. At the bottom of the screen, you can select where each report you created as a dashboard style displays on your home page. Click Modify and select the report you want in Position 1, then Position 2, etc. These positions indicate similar positions in the final dashboard view (e.g. Position 1 is in the upper-left dashboard view area, Position 2 is in the upper-right area, etc).
5. Click Save. This new view displays under the Report Library and is designated as a Dashboard.
Note: Dashboard titles are not displayed anywhere except in the Favorites list accessed from the Edit Report List button or the Report Library tab.
Exporting Reports into Other Applications
Now that you have created the data you need, you might like to share it with the stakeholders at your district or school in another format. Inform provides three easy ways to output your data for viewing by others.
Every report displays these three options. Simply click the format you prefer and the displayed report downloads for easy printing or file sharing.
Program Output
Adobe PDF format
Click to automatically create a PDF file of the graph.
Adobe PDF displays both the graph and the data table. If you have a multiple-paged report, the PDF displays each report on a separate page.
Microsoft Excel
Click and the system displays a message to either open the file or save it to a directory of your choice
Excel displays only the data table.
Microsoft Word
Click and the system displays a message to either open the file or save it to a directory of your choice.
Word displays both the graph and the data table. The graph is now scalable and can be cut and pasted into another document, such as a slide show or a newsletter. Text can be added and/or reformatted.
Program Output
Note: If you are doing a quick study of some reports and want to quickly print them directly from your browser, just click Print.
Working with Intervention Groups
One of the primary purposes for using Pearson Inform is to determine which students are performing at designated levels and to target assistance by identifying those students who are below a standard set by the school, district, state, or NCLB.
Using Pearson Inform you can click a bar (or other graph component) at the school or classroom level to display a list of students matching the criteria that the bar represents.
Drilling Down to Student Names
One of the most powerful features in Inform is the capability – at the school and class levels only – to drill down to student names. On any graph resulting from a query (or query Favorite), you can click any bar to see a list of students who match the criteria represented by the bar. This drill-down capability enables educators to monitor progress of students, plan for small-group instruction, and target assistance for students not mastering concepts or not meeting district, state, or federal standards.
Furthermore, as indicated in the next section, you can click any student name in the drill-down lists to get to the Student Performance Profile page for that student.
Adding Intervention Groups from the Student Drill-Down Window
You can add students to Intervention Groups right from the student list. Note that this is different from creating a district-wide performance group based on performance of one or moreassessments. This feature is typically used by teachers or principals to designate students for class or school specific short-term intervention activities.
You can add students to an already created intervention group or you can define a new intervention group directly from this screen and add the students you want to your new group.
1. From the Student List, click the Add Intervention Group link. 2. Enter a Name and a Description for your new group.
3. Click Save.
Including Students in Intervention Groups
Now that you’ve created a new intervention group (or you want to add students to an existing group), it’s very easy to designate which students will participate in the defined program.
1. Once you’ve selected an intervention group, in this example After School, you’ll notice that a new column, Include, displays
2. Simply check the box to include specific student(s) in your intervention group. Hint: If you’re selecting a large number of students, it may be helpful to check the Select/Deselect all students box to include all students and then uncheck any students you don’t want to include.
3. You can select this intervention group when you run another report to monitor the performance of this group on other assessments over time.
Displaying a List of Students Included in a “Drill-down” Intervention Group
Remember that students are originally designated to be included in the intervention group by selecting them from a drill-down list reached through clicking a graph component (bar, portion of a pie chart, etc.). There will be cases when students are selected from multiple drill-down lists. In this case, you will want to see a complete list of all the students selected from the various drill-down lists.1. Complete these steps to view a summary list: 2. Click the Maintenance tab.
3. Select Intervention Groups.
4. Click the Intervention Group you want. 5. View the list and edit (if applicable).
Note: You can also delete an intervention group by selecting Remove Item. But, only the original creator of the group can delete it.
Creating District-wide Intervention Groups
The previous function is well-suited for monitoring progress of students in school-specific short-term intervention programs, such as after-school tutorials. However, there may be times when the district wants to identify which students qualify for major, district-wide interventions, based on a set of performance criteria found in Inform, and then monitor the progress of this group of students on prior and subsequent assessments.
For instance, the district may want to identify and monitor the progress of students who did not meet standard on both the Math and Reading state high stakes test, or the group of students who scored between 40 and 60% on a district formative assessment, or who scored below standard on three concepts on one test and another three concepts on another test. These kinds of performance criteria are not usually represented by a single bar in an Inform chart. In addition, the district may just want to have a district-wide list, for instance, of all the students who showed Highest Need on the prior year’s state high stakes Grade 8 Math test, so that high school principals may anticipate how to provide early intervention for their in-coming 9th graders. In these kinds of cases, district administrators will want to create a district-wide intervention group by defining the group in the Maintenance section of Pearson Inform.
Complete these steps to create a district-wide intervention group. 1. Click the Maintenance tab (be sure you’re at the district level).
2. Select Intervention Program. A Wizard displays. Follow the instructions to set up the intervention qualification group.
1.
4. In the Description box, name the group. Use a name that will make it easy for users to readily recognize the group of students you are identifying – such as “Reading & Math CRT Non-Passers.” If your district is going to create and maintain a large list of groups, then you want to give some thought to naming conventions, to avoid confusion in the future.
5. In the Criteria Selection box, choose whether the student must meet all of the criteria you define to qualify for the Intervention or will be selected if any of the criteria are met. If you want the group to include only specific demographic groups, then you can select the filter now. You can also filter the group in all the usual and multiple ways when you retrieve results in the Query page.
6. Click the Intervention Criteria tab.
• Name the criterion that forms the basis for the intervention qualification.
• Select the first assessment on which you want to base the qualification.
• Select the proficiency profile that matches the selected assessment.
• Indicate whether you want this criterion to include “any concept,” “all concepts,” or the entire “test score” as a whole.
• Select the session of the test on which you want the qualification identification to be based.
7. If you chose “any concept” or “all concepts,” then click Modify to select the concepts you want to include.
8. If you selected “test score,” another window displays where you can make selections pertaining to the score criteria on which the group will be based.
9. If you select <competency>, then you can choose “above” or “below standard” in the next window.
10. If you select <score>, then you can choose the appropriate mathematical operator and enter the desired values.
11. If you select <proficiency>, then you can choose the desired proficiency level. 12. Click Save.
To add other criteria, repeat the steps for defining criteria and click Save to save the entire definition of the intervention qualification.
Creating a List of Students Based on Defined Criteria
To create a list of the students that qualify for intervention, based on the criteria you’ve just defined, follow these steps.
1. Go to the Query page.
2. Select Search Question #6, “Which students qualify for Interventions?” 3. Select the desired group from the list that displays on the query desktop.
4. Click Show Report to display a list of students by school (and teacher, if this information is available).
– whatever you think will be most easily recognizable by your district’s educators. This group will now be saved and will display as an option in the list of cohorts under Intervention Group on the Query desktop. You can now view and analyze results for any performance results in the system that pertains to the student group selected.
Displaying Student Profiles
If you discover that a particular student fell below standard, it might be useful to you, as the educator, to know what their historical performance has been. A student performance profile shows a history of a student’s performance results contained in Inform. This profile follows the student as she moves from class to class, building to building.
There are several ways to get a student performance profile.
Option 1: Using Find Student
1. Click Find Student. This screen displays.
You can enter the student’s ID number or their first and last name. Clicking a letter displays all the students with either a first or last name starting with that letter.
You can change the graph to display both subject and concepts by selecting “by Subject & Concept”.
Option 2: Selecting a name from the student list
1. In the School or Class view, click a bar of any graph and a list of students who performed at that proficiency level displays.
Note: The list of student names only display at the School or Class levels.
Click here to display a list of students who were performed below standard on this test.
2. This list shows the actual score each student received.
Click any column header to sort by that column.
Option 3: By Class Roster
You can create student profiles for all the students in your class at one time by following these steps.
1. Click Class Roster.
2. Click the Create Student Profiles by Class button.
3. The default displays All Subjects. If you want to display profiles for a specific subject, enter the criteria.
4. Click Show Report and student profiles for all students in your class display.
Directly Entering Test Scores
In addition to electronically pulling in assessment results, Inform also enables educators to directly enter scores – from the classroom context -- for assessments not readily available through electronic means; for instance, ones that teachers typically grade by hand, such as written compositions or primary reading inventories. This is a particularly useful tool for district-wide benchmark assessments or reading inventories for which educators want to collect and analyze school- and district-wide results.
Entering Scores
Assessments for direct entry should already be set up by a system, district, or school
administrator. If no assessments display once you have completed these steps, then contact your school or district administrator.
To enter scores for an assessment already set up, follow these steps:
1. Click the tab. Note that the Score Entry tab is available only at the class level view, since teachers are the ones who enter scores for their students. The test entry page displays.
2. Make the appropriate selections from Year and Grade Level and then select a Test (assessment) from the available list.
3. Once you’ve selected a test from the list, your class roster page displays.
Note that the scores are colored according to their
4. Click Edit Scores to open a duplicate screen where scores can be entered. 5. You can add new scores or modify previously entered scores here.
6. When you have completed entering scores, click Save.
The scores are entered into the system and display at the class, school, and district levels.
Note: If you are responsible for setting up an assessment before it can be hand entered, then follow the instructions in the Setting Up Basic Assessment Information section.
Setting Up Basic Assessment Information
This section of the Educator’s Guide is primarily used by district instructional/assessment leaders who will be setting up external assessments that they want to include in the districts’ data.
Before test scores can be entered, the assessment must be defined or set up in the system. The first step in setting up an assessment is to enter and save the assessment’s basic information.
Each assessment contains six types of information:
• Basic information about the assessment such as a name and score method
• Grade levels associated with the assessment
• Concepts that the assessment measures
• Proficiency Profile levels used to measure performance on the assessment
• Proficiency Profile level used to measure performance on the concepts associated with the assessment
• Session notations that indicate when the assessment was administered Each type of information has its own tab on the New Assessment page.
1. From the Maintenance page, click Assessments.
Field Description
Internal Key Enter your SIS’s unique key for this role. All SIS records with this key are automatically assigned this role on upload. Primary Score
Method
Select the way the score is recorded.
Data Source Indicate if the assessment scores are uploaded electronically or manually entered in INFORM.
Primary Proficiency Profile
Select the primary Proficiency Profile for this assessment.
Vendor This indicates the test vendor, if appropriate.
Notes Information about the assessment. This text is for reference only; it does not display on any query page.
4. Click Save.
Assigning Grade Levels
To assign grade levels to an assessment, you first have to set up and save the basic assessment information.
1. From the Assessments page, click the abbreviation of the assessment you just created. 2. Click the Assessed Grades tab.
3. Click Modify, then click the checkboxes next to the grades evaluated using this assessment.
4. Click Save. Notice that the grades you selected are now in the list.
Associating Test Sessions with Assessments
To associate a test session with an assessment you first have to set up the session. You can also assign a rubric to a test session. Follow these steps to associate test sessions and rubrics with an assessment.
1. Click the Test Sessions tab.
2. Click Add Session. A new test session line displays.
3. If this test session needs to use a rubric different from what is assigned at the Assessment level, then click Add Rubric next to the session you want. A list of all rubrics associated with the selected session displays.
4. Select the rubric you want to associate with the session, then click Save. Notice that the rubric you selected displays.
5. Change the selected rubric using Modify.
6. Use this table to complete the information for the test session. Field Description
Session Select the test session from the drop-down. Nominal Test
Date
Enter the day in mm/dd/yyyy format. Primary Score
Method
Select the way the score is recorded. Year Select the school year from the drop-down.
Assigning Concepts to Assessments
To assign concepts to an assessment, each concept must have been previously defined in the Sub Categories maintenance area. If you do not find the concepts you want in the appropriate list, then contact your district’s System Administrator who can define the desired concepts. Important Note: You must complete the Sessions section before adding concepts. At least one session must be defined so that it can be selected in the Concept section.
1. Click the Assessed Concepts tab. 2. Specify the Year and Session.
3. Click Modify, then select the subject you want from the drop-down. A list of all concepts associated with the selected subject displays.
4. Click the checkbox next to each concept you want to associate with the assessment, then click Save. Notice that the concepts you selected are now in the list.
Note: There must be at least one concept assigned for any assessment, either for the overall test and/or for specific concepts or parts of the assessment. If the concepts tested do not already exist in the list, then they must first be added in the Maintenance | Sub Categories area. Your district’s System Administrator can set up new concept names.
5. Add or remove concepts from the list using Modify.
6. If this concept needs to use a rubric different that what is assigned at the Assessment level, then click Add Rubric next to the concept you want, then select the Proficiency Profile you want from the drop-down. A list of all rubrics associated with the selected profile displays.
7. Select the rubric you want to associate with the concept, then click Save. Notice that the rubric you selected displays.
8. Change the selected rubric using Modify.
9. Use this table to complete the information for each concept. Field Description
Pts Poss The most points a student could earn for this concept on the test.
Score Method You can select an individual score method for each concept or leave the default of using the score method set for the test.
Year Select the year that this concept applies to from the drop-down box.
Session Select the session that this concept applies to from the drop-down box.
10. Click Save when you’re finished.
Assigning Items to Assessments
To assign items to an assessment, each item must be defined in the Sub Categories section in the maintenance area. You can also assign a rubric to individual concepts associated with the assessment. If a concept does not have a specific rubric assigned, the assessment rubric is used to analyze scores. Follow these steps to assign concepts and rubrics to the assessment. Note: You must specify a Vendor under the General tab.
1. Click the Assessed Items tab.
2. Specify a specific Session and Year (set up in the Test Sessions tab). A list of all items associated with the selected subject displays.
3. Click Modify to select items for this assessment.
4. Click the checkbox next to each items you want to associate with the assessment, then click Save. Notice that the items you selected are now in the list.
7. Click Save. The Add Item screen displays with the new definitions.
8. Click Save to add the item to the system. The Assessed Item screen displays.
Assigning a Rubric to the Assessment
To assign a rubric to an assessment, the rubric must be defined in the Proficiency Profile Profiles maintenance area. Follow these steps to assign a rubric to the assessment.
1. Click the Assessment Rubrics tab.
2. Click Modify, then select the Proficiency Profile you want from the drop-down. A list of all rubrics associated with the selected profile displays.
3. Select the rubric you want to associate with the assessment, then click Save. Notice that the rubric you selected displays.
Note: There must be always be at least one Assessment Rubric associated with a test for results to display. If the concepts tested do not already exist, they must first be added from the Maintenance | Sub Categories area.
Using Other Key Questions
To create reports using the other Key Questions, you generally follow the steps described for creating reports based on Key Question 1-- “How are we doing relative to our defined
standards? In a few cases, the criteria fields are slightly different, but similar logic and procedures apply.
Key Question 2: What is the distribution of student scores for a
particular test?
This question is used for more detailed analysis when educators want to know the number and percent of students who achieved particular scores on a test or concept.
This is particularly useful for concepts such as those for a written composition where student papers are graded on a scale such as 0 – 4, as in this example:
You can also display score distribution for overall results and/or Proficiency Profile levels:
This graph shows that nearly 50% of the students scored either Near Basic or Below Basic.
Key Question 3: What is our demographic profile?
The demographic profile question allows educators to view enrollment by demographic group and special program. At the district view, the question enables educators to view the same data district-wide, or school-by-school.
You may make selections from the drop-down menus and criteria fields, just as you do under Question 1. The resulting report displays current enrollment data, based on the latest update from your student information system.
In this example, current enrollment displays by state accountability groups.
This report may be run at the district, school, or class levels. All reports created in Inform can be saved as Favorites.
This question is available only from the district view and allows district administrators to view performance data from all schools or defined groups of schools. The question enables the district to compare programs, look at performance across the district, and/or target assistance to schools.
Step-by-Step
1. Make sure you are in the District view.
2. Select Question #4, How are our schools performing?
3. Select the criteria in which you are interested, just as you do for Key Question 1:
• Subject:
• Cohort:
• Intervention Group:
• Year:
• Current grade level:
• Proficiency Profile:
• Categorize by: above/below standard
• School Classification:
4. Click Get Assessments. Select the assessment: 5. Click Show Report.
The resulting report looks similar to the one below. Remember, if you choose more than one assessment, Key Question 4 automatically aggregates the performance data.
