Assessments Tab

Student assessments are entered at the Assessments tab. The available assessments in LACES NexGen fall into two categories – NRS Approved and NRS Not Approved. Only NRS approved assessments will populate an educational functioning level (EFL). Assessments that are not approved to populate an EFL may still be selected from the list and scores may be entered, but the level will be ‘Level Not Defined.’

The scaled score or SPL/GLE ranges in LACES NexGen may produce EFLs that differ slightly from the test manufacturer’s indicated range. LACES NexGen uses the NRS Test Benchmarks for assessment crosswalks, which do not accommodate differences between the various difficulty levels such as TABE 9M versus TABE 9D. The NRS Test Benchmarks can be viewed at:

www.nrsweb.org/docs/NRSTestBenchmarks.doc

EFLs populated by approved assessments:

ABE=Adult Basic Education

ASE=Adult Secondary Education

ESL=English as a Second Language

Beginning ABE Literacy	ABE
Beginning Basic Education	ABE
Low Intermediate Basic Education	ABE
High Intermediate Basic Education	ABE
Low Adult Secondary Education	ASE
High Adult Secondary Education	ASE

Beginning ESL Literacy	ESL
Low Beginning ESL	ESL
High Beginning ESL	ESL
Low Intermediate ESL	ESL
High Intermediate ESL	ESL
Advanced ESL	ESL

NRS approved assessments available in LACES NexGen

	Levels
CASAS Life and Work Reading	ABE, ASE, ESL
CASAS Adult Life Skills Reading	ABE, ASE, ESL
CASAS Life Skills Reading	ABE, ASE, ESL
CASAS Reading for Citizenship	ABE, ASE, ESL
CASAS Secondary Level – Reading for Language Arts	ABE, ASE, ESL
CASAS Life Skills Math	ABE, ASE
CASAS Secondary Level - Mathematics	ABE, ASE
CASAS Life and Work Listening	ESL

TABE 9 and 10 Reading, Math, Language	ABE, ASE
TABE Survey 9 and 10 Reading, Math, Language	ABE, ASE
TABE Clas-E	ESL

Wonderlic GAIN English	ABE, ASE
Wonderlic GAIN Mathematics	ABE, ASE

BEST Literacy	ESL
BEST Plus	ESL

Current Level may be entered at the time of intake and displays in the Current Level field in the assessment tab header. This is an EFL assigned to a student based on a measurement determined by the agency. When a level-defining assessment is entered at the student assessment tab, the Current Level field will be overwritten.

Views

There are four available views on the View dropdown list in the assessment header:

• All

• Pre/Post (default)

• Pre/Post Scaled

• Pre/Post SPL

Click on the down arrow in the dropdown menu to display and select one of the available views. The selected view will remain in place when using the record indicator at the top right to move forward or back to records within the Assessment tab.

Each assessment view contains a combination of the following fields.

Fiscal Year	A read-only field displaying the fiscal year for which the assessment is being used.
Assessed Date	Editable date of the assessment.
Pre/Post	A read-only field used to indicate if the assessment is considered by the database to be the pre-test (populating Entry Level) or a post-test (potentially populating Current Level).
Instrument/Form/Level	Assessment instrument, form, and difficulty level information.
Subtest	Subtest/subject area of the assessment.
Scaled	Editable scaled score.
Scaled Gain +/-	A read-only field that calculates the scaled score gain or loss between assessments within the tracked subject area. Scaled Gain +/- calculations cross fiscal years.
SPL/GLE	Student Performance Level/Grade Level Expectation.
SPL/GLE Gain +/-	A read-only field that calculates the SPL/GLE gain or loss between assessments within the tracked subject area. SPL/GLE +/- calculations cross fiscal years.
Raw	Editable raw score (raw score is not used for calculation of Educational Functioning Levels)
Assessed Level	A read-only field indicating the Educational Functioning Level (EFL) set based on the scaled score or SPL/GLE for an assessment. Only NRS-approved assessments will populate a level. All approved subject areas will display an EFL with valid scaled score or SPL/GLE data, but the student can only be tracked for reporting purposes in one subject area (typically the lowest EFL). This subject are will display in the assessment header.
Subject Area	The subject area/subtest
Select Subject	Displays “1” for true is the subject area has been selected to populate the student’s tracked subject area, and “0” for false if this is not the selected subject area for tracking. This field is generated from a checkbox in the assessment card that can be edited to select an alternate subject area, if necessary.
Staff	Editable field indicating the staff member who administered the assessment, or the student’s instructor.
Creation Date	System-generated date indicating the date the assessment record was entered in the database.
Edit	Click to open the assessment record for editing.
Move Forward	Click to move an assessment forward from the preceding fiscal year to the current fiscal year.
Delete	Click to delete the assessment record.

Header Fields

The header fields display key information about the assessments in the student record that is currently open, and display above the assessment grid. The header itself cannot be edited, but the fields that display in the header may be edited elsewhere in the student detail record, or populate automatically. The assessment header will update to display any changes.

Fields that display in the assessment header:

Assessment Status in Subject Area	Automatically calculated to indicate one of three assessment statuses for the student within the current fiscal year: • Never Assessed this FY: The student has not had a valid assessment within the current fiscal year date range, or has not had an assessment moved forward from the prior FY to be used for tracking in the current FY • Assessed once this FY: The student has received one valid assessment in their tracked subject area, or has had an assessment moved forward from the prior FY to be used for tracking in the current FY • Assessed 2+ this FY: The student has received two or more valid assessments in their tracked subject area, one of which (the pre-test generating the Entry Level) may have been an assessment moved forward from the prior FY to be used for tracking in the current FY • Exempt this FY: The student is exempt from assessments, as indicated in the student Education tab at the Education panel. Assessments may not be added when a student is exempt, and a student may not be changed to exempt if assessments already exist in the fiscal year.
ESL Student	Student Education tab/ Education panel; when ESL Student is Yes, then assessments that can produce ASE, ABE, or ESL Educational Functioning Levels will convert to the appropriate ESL level.
Scaled Gain in Subject Area	Automatically calculated scaled score numeric point gain; this will be blank if there is no posttest, or will display 0 if the posttest results in no gain.
Instructional Hours Since Last Assessment in Subject Area	Automatically calculated from the student’s instructional hours entered on or after the date of the last approved assessment in the student’s subject area.
Instructional Hours Between Pre and Post in Subject Area	Automatically calculated from the student’s instructional hours entered on or after the date of the pre-test, but does not include instructional hours entered on the same date as the last approved assessment.
Current FY Instructional Hours	Automatically calculated from the student’s total instructional hours entered in the current FY.

Fiscal Year Filter

The Fiscal Year Filter allows you to filter the student’s assessments by All Fiscal Years, Current FY, or by a specific fiscal year.

The fiscal year is determined by the date of the assessment. If you have old data that was migrated to LACES with incorrect dates, you will see incorrect fiscal years on the filter. Go to the All Assessments tab and sort by the Fiscal Year column to find the records with the incorrect dates. It is not necessary edit the records, but to be aware of why the incorrect fiscal years display on the filter.

Add Assessment

To add an assessment to the student record:

1. Click the down arrow on the Add Assessment dropdown list.

2. Click the arrows to expand the list. (Assessments are organized in a ‘tree’ display.

3. Once you have expanded the list to display the assessment instrument/form/level you wish to enter, click to display the assessment card. Enter the date, staff (if applicable), and scores.

4. Make a subject area selection if appropriate.

5. Click Save.

Assessments cannot be entered with future dates.

Fields on the assessment card

Date Completed for All

This date field defaults to today’s date, but may be changed. Enter the date and check the box if all assessments were administered on the same date. Checking the box will automatically populate the date in the Date Completed field.

Staff

Optional field for the name of the staff member administering the assessment, or the instructor for the student.

Raw

The raw score may be entered, but a raw score by itself will not populate and EFL.

Scaled

You can enter either the Scaled Score for the subtests, or the SPL/GLE, or both. The Level field will automatically populate based on either the Scaled Score or the SPL/GLE.

If you enter both, the database will default to using the EFL generated from the Scaled Score, EXCEPT when a TABE is entered. The SPL/GLE overrides the Scaled Score for TABE when both are entered.

SPL/GLE

Select Subject

Check to manually override the subject area.

I tried to enter an assessment but I got a message that the assessment must be on or before 6/30/2014. Why did I get that message?

NRS approved assessments are typically approved for 3 or 7 years. When an assessment expires, the assessment will be left in the list, but it cannot be entered past its expiration date. When you get this message, first check to make sure you have entered the date correctly, and make sure you have selected the correct assessment.

You can review the Federal Register for more information.

Subject Area

Assessment instruments with multiple subject areas can show EFLs for each subject area, but only one subject area is tracked for reporting gains in a given fiscal year.

The database will automatically track in the subject area with the lowest scaled score within an Educational Functioning Level. If two or more subtests produce the same lowest EFL, the database will track in the one with the lowest scaled score or SPL/GLE. You can manually override the database to track in a specific subject area by clicking the checkbox for Select Subject.

For example, on the TABE assessment card below, the subtests Reading, Total Mathematics, and Language each populate a subject area and an EFL. Notice that the Reading and Language scaled scores both populate the EFL Beg Lit ABE, which is a lower EFL than Beginning ABE. In this case, if the assessment is saved without checking a different subject area on the assessment card, the subject area will automatically populate Language. This is because the Language scaled score is lower than the Reading scaled score within the lower EFL. However, in the screenshot, the Select Subject checkbox is checked for Total Mathematics. When the assessment is saved, the selected subject will override Language, and the student’s subject area will be Math.

When you are entering assessment data, you cannot navigate to a different tab or panel in the student detail record until the assessment data is either saved or canceled.

After entering the data in the assessment card, click the Save button in the bottom right hand corner to save the assessment information, or the Cancel button to return to the Assessments grid without saving.

If, for any reason, the assessment is not successfully saved, you should receive an error message indicating the reason the database could not complete the request.

The process for adding a pre- or post-test is the same. Remember, LACES NexGen will consider the assessment with the earliest date within the fiscal year, and the lowest educational functioning level in the subject area to be the establishing pre-test for reporting purposes, unless indicated otherwise through a manual override. Any assessments conducted after that date within the fiscal year and within the same subject area will be considered a post-test. The Subject Area, Entry and Current Levels, and Assessment Status in Subject Area fields will be updated accordingly.

Editing and Deleting Assessments

Click the Edit icon to open an assessment record for viewing or editing. This will open the assessment card and allow you to make and save changes to the Staff, Scaled, SPL/GLE, Select Subject, or Date Completed fields. When you are editing assessment data, you cannot navigate to a different tab or panel in the student detail record until the edits to the assessment data are either saved or canceled.

The Delete button will delete the assessment record in that row, after verifying that you wish the delete that record.

Deleting an assessment can affect the Subject Area, Entry and Current Level, and Assessment Status in Subject Area fields. Please review the following scenarios:

Student Assessment Status of “Assessed Once this FY”

1. If the assessment deleted is the only level-defining assessment in the current FY, the Subject Area will revert to ‘No Value Entered,’ the Entry and Current Levels will revert to ‘Level Not Defined,’ and the Assessment Status in Subject Area will revert to ‘Never Assessed this FY.’

2. If there are additional level defining assessments available (in other subject areas), the database will automatically select the assessment with the subject area in the lowest educational functioning level from the remaining assessments and convert the Subject Area, Entry and Current Levels, and Assessment Status in Subject Area to this subject area’s information.

Student Assessment Status of “Assessed 2+ this FY”

1. If the assessment deleted is the pre-test, the data from the earliest post-test in the FY year will be used to populate the Entry and Current Levels

2. If there was only one post-test, the Assessment Status in Subject Area will convert to ‘Assessed Once this FY.’

3. If the assessment deleted is a post-test, any level gains made from that post-test will be lost.

4. If there were multiple post-tests, deletion of one post-test will result in the database using the next newest post-test for tracking, and the Subject Area, Entry and Current Levels, and Assessment Status in Subject Area fields will be adjusted according to the data from that post-test.

Moving Assessments Forward

Assessments may be moved forward to the next fiscal year either pre- or post-rollover. The number of days to move assessments forward is typically 90 days from the first date of the current fiscal year, but some states have customized this to allow for a longer window of time.

Moved forward assessments allow a student’s assessment from the previous fiscal year to populate an entry level in the new fiscal year. For example, a student entered your program in the last quarter of the previous fiscal year, had an assessment, then continued in the current fiscal year. If the student’s assessment was within 90 days of 7/1, the assessment may be moved forward to count as the pretest in the current fiscal year.

How does a pushed forward assessment record affect the student record?

1. Pushed forward assessments automatically populate a record in the Overall Status History folder with a date of 7/1. If an assessment is moved forward pre-rollover, this record will not populate until the rollover has taken place. Assessments moved forward post-rollover will automatically populate a record in the Overall Status History folder.

2. If there is no assessment in the current FY, the moved forward assessment will populate entry and current level. If an assessment record has been entered post-rollover with a date of 7/1, then an assessment from the previous FY is moved forward, the assessment with the lowest EFL will populate the student’s entry level and subject area.

3. If an assessment record has been entered post-rollover with a date later than 7/1, then an assessment in the same subject area with a lower EFL is moved forward from the previous FY, the student will show a level gain.

4. If an assessment record has been entered post-rollover with a date later than 7/1, then an assessment in a different subject area with a lower EFL is moved forward from the previous FY, the student’s entry level and subject area will reflect the moved forward assessment.

5. Assessments that have been moved forward cannot be edited. A message will display if the moved forward assessment record is opened.

6. If a change to the original assessment record is necessary, the moved forward assessment must first be deleted, then moved forward again after the changes have been made and saved.

7. Moved forward assessments always populate with a start date of 7/1 in the Overall Status History folder, whether the assessment is pushed forward pre-rollover or post-rollover. It is important to look at the assessments dates to make sure the student is being tracked with the correct assessment and in the correct subject area.

8. The number of instructional hours between pre- and post-test will calculate from the actual date of the moved forward assessment.

To move an assessment forward, select the assessment you intend to move forward and click the Move Forward icon .

You should not push forward all subject areas from a preceding year’s assessment. ONLY move forward one assessment in the subject area you will be tracking the student in during the current fiscal year. Remember, the database only tracks and reports in one subject area.

If you have already entered an assessment for a student in the current fiscal year, there is no reason to move forward an assessment from the preceding fiscal year.

When an assessment is moved forward, a duplicate assessment record will be created with all data exactly the same except the Fiscal Year indicator will display the current fiscal year. The Assessment Status, Subject Area, and Levels fields will populate based on the moved forward assessment data and the assessment will count as a pre-test for the current fiscal year.