There are so many things to love and appreciate about Mastery Connect! Since it’s Valentine's Day, we wanted to share a few things we love about Mastery Connect, including tracker visuals, the benchmark compare feature, and inline item authoring! Also, don't forget to watch the Video Blog about this post as well!
FEATURE 1 | TRACKER VISUALS
Mastery Connect trackers provide a visual overview of students’ mastery of the standards, as well as access to the assessments used for measurement. You can use the customizable tracker interface to assess student mastery of core standards and monitor student performance.
Student Button
- You can adjust the settings to hide and display students in a tracker based on their demographics. You can filter by Race, Ethnicity, or Group status for students with an individualized education plan (IEP), or for English Language Learners (ELL).
- If your tracker is linked to a Canvas course with multiple sections, you can also filter students by section.
- By using the checkboxes in the Student Display menu, you can display available options for different student groupings.
- Note: The demographic information is based on data provided by your Student Information System (SIS).
Community page on our Student Button
Tracker Button
- You can manage the display of the assessments, units, and standard groups in your tracker. As you make selections, the tracker will update automatically.
- By using the checkboxes in the tracker display menu, you can hide or display benchmark assessments or multi-standard assessments, as well as show only power standards.
- You can also hide or display items in a unit or groups of standards.
Community page on our Tracker Menu
Student Mastery Levels
- The student list can display the number of standards students have achieved for each mastery level.
- By selecting the mastery display toggle (bottom left corner of tracker that looks like a sideways stop light), you will turn on the totals per mastery level for each student.
- Mastery level scores display from left to right, with highest mastery level on the left and lowest in need of remediation level on the right.
Community page on our Student Mastery Levels
Pro Tips on Tracker Visuals
- The display filters stay in the last position when you exit, so you may want to return them to showing all students.
- Use the Student button views not only on the main tracker, but also when looking at assessment results on the tracker.
FEATURE 2 | BENCHMARK COMPARE
Benchmark assessment results have their own column in the tracker, and are not included in a tracker's standard columns mastery calculations. The benchmark compare feature allows you to view students' formative and benchmark scores side-by-side in standards columns. This view enables you to identify discrepancies or trends among student assessment scores and performance.
Benchmark Compare
- The benchmark compare feature, when activated, will split all standard columns that were used in the benchmark. The left side of the column will show the most recent formative data, and the right side of the column will show the benchmark data.
- This feature can be turned on and off through the benchmark assessment column in the tracker.
- Note: You can only compare one benchmark at a time. Also, for Mastery View Predictive Assessments, you will need to wait three business days after the benchmark window has closed to see the accurate benchmark data color.
Community page on Benchmark Compare
Pro Tips on Benchmark Compare
- After a benchmark is delivered, utilize the benchmark compare feature to compare how students are performing on formative assessments vs. benchmark assessments.
- Reflect on what you see to determine if formative assessments are at the same rigor as benchmark assessments.
FEATURE 3 | INLINE ITEM AUTHORING
Educators can build assessments from the tracker or assessment tab. Educators can save valuable time authoring assessments when using the new assessment experience, because inline item authoring allows you to author items and pick from an item bank, all without leaving your assessment.
Inline Item Authoring
- While creating an item-based assessment, you have the ability to also author your own questions while building the assessment.
- Items created within an assessment will also appear in the author's personal item bank or other bank as directed by the creator, allowing you to use the question in future assessments.
- This feature enables you to add additional questions to a standard that doesn’t have enough questions on an assessment to show the full range of mastery levels.
Community page on Inline Item Authoring
Pro Tips on Inline Item Authoring
- If you are building items within an assessment that will use passages, you will need to add the passage through the Items tab in order to use that passage on created items.
- Keep your assessment in draft form until you confirm all questions authored within the assessment are accurate and ready to use.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Mastery Connect has so many great features to help educators look at data in various ways. We shared our favorite features and would love to hear what your favorite features of Mastery Connect are as well!
Please comment below your favorite feature. We’d love to hear from you!
Our Mastery Services team provides expert professional development, strategic consulting, and alternative options designed to support the vision, goals, and adoption of Mastery products. If you would like to learn more about our services check out our Professional Development Options and contact your CSM for more information!
