Implementing Illuminate District Benchmark Assessment Metric

What connector populates this metric?

This metric only works if you have the illuminate_test connector. The illuminate_dna connector is not supported. The illuminate_test connector includes only test scores and does not have item-level response data. It is not possible to have both connectors. Please reach out to support if you have illuminate_dna but are interested in accessing this metric.

How is this metric calculated?

• Only overall scores are included. This metric does not show specific standard-level nor question group performance.
• This metric only includes assessments classified as benchmark assessments. See the section below to ensure you have the necessary scope classification set up in Illuminate DnA for this metric to populate.
• This metric shows students' percent scores, which we define as the sum of the points a student earned, divided by the sum of possible points. By default, we classify a score of 70% or higher as ‘mastery’, but this setting can be configured.
• By default, we only calculate this metric for the following subjects: Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, and History-Social Science. All of these labels can be configured. We can also include additional subjects at your request.
• This metric shows performance by specific test periods. The default test periods are Fall, Winter, and Spring. See below for additional detail on test period configuration. Since we calculate a student’s percent score by taking the sum of points earned divided by the sum of points possible, this score may reflect performance on multiple assessments. We do not add any additional assessment weights beyond the points possible value.

How do I set up the correct assessment scopes?

• This tile will only show student performance on specific types of Illuminate assessments.
• We rely on the specific assessment “scope” to determine which tests should be classified as district benchmark assessments. We get this value from the scope_translation field in the illuminate_codes_dna_scopes table.
• To ensure that these metrics populate correctly, go to Data Configuration Settings and indicate all of the possible scopes that could be used to calculate a district-created benchmark assessment metrics. Then, work with your implementation specialist or Schoolzilla support to narrow what’s included in the dataset, such as test subject or test names, for each specific metric tile.
• If you are unsure how to populate this field in Illuminate, please refer to the excellent documentation, “Managing Assessment Scopes or Subject Areas”, on their support page.

  

How do I determine which assessments are linked with which scopes?

For districts that are using Illuminate's legacy item bank only:

1. In the left menu, select "Assessments", then select "View Assessments" in the fly out menu.

   

2. On the View Assessment page, select "All Assessments". By default, you will land on My Assessments. Switching to All Assessments will show all assessments that have been shared with you. Any assessment must be shared with you in order to view it.

   

3. Next, choose +Add Filters

   

4. Choose the scope or scopes that represent the district benchmarks you'd like to include in Schoolzilla and then select "search".

   

5. You should now see a list of assessments associated with those scopes!
6. If you do not see the expected assessments, it can be due to two factors:
   • You need the assessments to be shared with you by the creator.
   • The assessments do not have any scopes assigned to them. You can search by keyword or year for those assessments and retroactively assign scopes to them as long as you have access and are using one of the legacy item banks. 

How do I set up test subject in Illuminate?

Schoolzilla's Illuminate metrics rely on the Test Subject field in the Illuminate platform. Schoolzilla uses the Test Subject from Illuminate to filter the metrics in Schoolzilla. To ensure the metrics populate correctly, please complete the subject field in Illuminate. Schoolzilla pulls this information from the following table and field in Illuminate:

• Table: Illuminate_DnA_Assessments_Assessments
• Field: code_subject_area_id

If you are using the Legacy Itembank assessments, you can find edit the Subject by using the code management feature shown below.

If you are using Illuminate’s New Itembank, you can find the test subject in the screenshot below from Illuminate. Please keep in mind the subject area is hardcoded on the backend in Illuminate.

How do I configure Test Periods?

Illuminate DnA does not quite have the same concept of ‘Test Periods’ that the dashboards use (there are administration windows, but these are set on a test-specific basis). Since test period information is not available in the source data, we populate this information with a default set of test periods as follows:

• Fall: 7/1 to 11/30
• Winter: 12/1 to 2/28 (or 2/29 during a leap year)
• Spring: 3/1-6/30

Please download and submit the Test Period Template if you wish to overwrite these default configurations. You can submit this via My Data.