Before students can take the test, you should check the following:
- Explain the test to your students. The Test Administration Manual will walk you through a basic orientation with your students.
- Cover or remove any materials on the walls, whiteboards, and other areas that might help students answer the test items.
- Make sure there is enough light and ventilation in the test area.
- Make sure the area is free from noise. Try to avoid distracting locations or times when other students, school bells, or public address announcements can interfere with student concentration.
- We recommend enabling "full screen" mode on your browser to ensure no scrolling is required. Browsers with customizations (bookmark tabs, extensions, etc.) and low-resolution screen settings result in a smaller available space which could result in needing to scroll to see the Next button during testing.
- Ensure all testing devices are working properly. If you are administering the test with a tablet or laptop, make sure the battery is adequately charged before testing.
- Create a list of student user names and passwords for the students in your class.
- Check the setting of the Dates and Times for Star Custom preference to make sure students are able to take tests on the date you have chosen. If necessary, have a district administrator or school administrator change the preference settings.
Students follow these steps to log in and take a test:
- Start the web browser and go to the address provided by your school network or school. The Renaissance Welcome page opens.
- Select I'm a Student.
- The student enters his or her user name and password, and then selects Log In.
- The student will see any Star Custom assessments that are ready to be taken in the Assignments list on the Home page. The student selects the name of the assessment to start it.
- There are two types of questions that can appear in a Star Custom test: multiple-choice and constructed-response. How the student selects an answer varies depending on the type of question and the kind of computer the student is taking the test on.
Multiple-choice questions
- Tablet: Tap on the answer you have chosen.
- Mouse: Click on the answer you have chosen.
- Keyboard: Press the number (1, 2, 3, or 4) that is next to the answer you have chosen.
The selected answer will be highlighted on the screen.
Constructed-response questions
- Tablet: Use the tablet's on-screen keyboard to type your answer.
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Keyboard: Use the computer's keyboard to type your answer.
A character counter and a word counter will appear below the response field for constructed-response questions, in case student responses need to reach a specified minimum length. Student responses can be a maximum of 10,000 characters long (spaces are counted as characters).
- Star Custom tests are non-linear: students can answer the questions in any order they wish, and skip back and forth to review or change their answers.
- Students can tap or click < Back to go back one question, or Next > to go forward one question.
- Students can jump to a specific question by tapping or clicking on the numbered boxes at the bottom of the screen. The numbered boxes (and the number in the upper-left corner of the screen) shows you which question you are on.
If necessary, you can pause a Star Custom test and resume it at a later time.
- Students can tap or click < Back to go back one question, or Next > to go forward one question.
- Once the student finishes answering all the questions, the student submits the answers by going to the screen where the last question is and tapping/clicking Finish (or by pressing Enter or return on the keyboard while on this screen).
- If students have forgotten to answer any questions, they can select either Go Back and Review Questions to go back and answer the questions they missed, or Finish to submit the responses to the questions they did answer.
Any questions the student missed will be marked with a yellow exclamation point . - If students have answered all the questions, they can select either Finish to submit their answers, or Cancel to return to the test so they can review and change any answers they want to.
- If students have forgotten to answer any questions, they can select either Go Back and Review Questions to go back and answer the questions they missed, or Finish to submit the responses to the questions they did answer.
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Once students have selected Finish to submit their answers, the test is over.
- If none of the test questions require hand scoring, the test results should be available immediately for the student to review.
- If there are test questions that require hand scoring, the student will not be able to review the test until the teacher has finished hand scoring the test.