Skill Selection for Your Lesson Plans

Creating a new Lesson Plan is a four-stage process—this page is for the second stage:

1. Selecting the students and timeframe
2. Selecting skills to teach
3. Choosing assignments
4. Scheduling assignments

florida b.e.s.t. standards and planner

For our customers in Florida, in Planner, domains are referred to as strands, and standards are referred to as benchmarks.

Selections for Your Lesson Plan

At the top of this page, you will see the subject, school, and class/group (or grade) that you are creating the lesson plan for, along with the date the plan is scheduled for.

Below this is the Select Skills section, which is divided into three tabs:

The Skills By Recommendation tab is open by default; select another tab to open it.

• Skills By Recommendation shows you the recommended skills for your students based on their Star assessments (if they have taken a test) and typical growth over time or their projected scores based on grade and the current date in the school year (if they have not taken a test; see "Calculated Projections" below). It answers the question: "If the students in the class/group (or grade) that I have selected were to take a Star assessment on the first day of the time period I have selected, what would their median Scaled Score be?" This estimation allows you to use Star's science (Star's proven validity and reliability) to have a very good sense of your students' achievement level as of today.
• Skills By Domain helps you find skills based on domain.
• My Content lets you find assessments that you have created personally and added to the software yourself, such as skills practice assignments in AR 360 or assessments in Star Custom.
  
  

  On the My Content tab, there is only one selection to make: whether to view all assignments you have created, only those for AR360, or only those for Star Custom.
  

  Once you make that choice and then select Continue, you will immediately go to the next step (choosing assignments)—all the assignments you have created of the chosen type will be listed on that page, and you can assign them just like any other type of assignment.

  Note: If you selected Math as the subject in the prior stage, AR360 will not appear on this tab.

The skill selection process is slightly different between the Skills By Recommendation and Skills By Domain tabs—a separate set of instructions for each is provided below.

Skills By Recommendation tab

1. At the top of this tab you will see a colored bar that is related to the Scaled Scores for the students/groups or grades you selected.

   • If you selected Reading as the subject for the lesson plan, the student's score from the most recent Star Reading test is used. (If the students have only taken Star Early Literacy tests and have not taken any Star Reading tests, a converted Star Early Literacy score is used. If the students have taken both Star Early Literacy and Star Reading tests, only the Star Reading scores are used to calculate placement.)
   • If you selected Math as the subject for the lesson plan, the student's score from the most recent Star Math test is used.

   The appearance of the bar and the descriptive text above it will vary based on the following criteria:

   • All of the selected students have taken a test and have a Scaled Score.

     The bar will show the entire range of Scaled Scores received by the selected students, with the median score (based on Star assessment scores and a growth calculation based on time of year) marked. The colors indicate the scores' relation to the district's default benchmarks and cut scores (a key is shown below the bar; the cut scores are shown by dashed vertical lines on the bar). The text above the bar describes the same information.
     

   • Some of the selected students have taken a test and have a Scaled Score.

     The bar will show the entire range of Scaled Scores received by the students who have taken a test, with the median of their scores (based on Star assessment scores and a growth calculation based on time of year) marked. The colors indicate the scores' relation to the district's default benchmarks and cut scores (a key is shown below the bar; the cut scores are shown by dashed vertical lines on the bar). The text above the bar describes the same information, and tells you how many of the selected students have no test data.
     

   • None of the selected students have taken a test and have a Scaled Score.

     The bar will show the highest and lowest possible Scaled Scores a student could get on the test (0–1400). The colors, which will be lighter than normal, indicate the district's default benchmarks (a key is shown below the bar). The placement shown is a calculated projection, based on typical placement of a student in that grade at that time of year.
     

     Calculated Projections

     Renaissance has run thousands of simulated Star tests, creating a pool of testing data for "hypothetical" students in every grade. This data was passed through our SGP calculations to give each student an end-of-year (spring) SGP; the data was also compared to the cut scores for every state.

     For each grade and state, a student was selected from the data pool who met two qualifications:

     1. The student met the end-of-year proficiency requirements for the student's grade and state, and
     2. the student was in the 50th percentile of his/her peers.

     This means that for every grade in every state, we can take this student and reverse-engineer that student's journey through the school year, calculating the student's placement in the learning progression (reading and math) for any given date within the school year. That calculated placement is used to place students who have no test data/scores of their own.

     If you are planning for more than one group of students who have different benchmark categories, no benchmark colors will be shown on the bar.
     

   • You are making a lesson plan for one student; that student has taken a test and has a Scaled Score.

     The bar will show the highest and lowest possible Scaled Scores a student could get on the test (0–1400). The colors, which will be lighter than normal, indicate the district's default benchmarks and cut scores (a key is shown below the bar; the cut scores are shown by dashed vertical lines on the bar). The median shown is based the student's Star assessment score and a growth calculation based on time of year.
     

   • You are making a lesson plan for one student; that student has not taken a test and does not have a Scaled Score.

     The bar will show the highest and lowest possible Scaled Scores a student could get on the test (0–1400). The colors, which will be lighter than normal, indicate the district's default benchmarks (a key is shown below the bar). The placement score shown is a calculated projection, based on typical placement of a student in that grade at that time of year (see "Calculated Projections" above).
     

   Summary

   Number of Students	Students Who Have a Scaled Score	Benchmarks Bar: Scaled Score Range Shown	Benchmarks Bar: Benchmark Colors	Benchmarks Bar: Cut Scores Shown	Benchmarks Bar: Median Score	Text Above Bar
   Multiple	All	Lowest to highest of all students	Normal benchmark colors within score range, lighter outside of range	Yes	Median of all students' scores and typical growth over time	Describes data
   Multiple	Some	Lowest to highest of students who have taken tests	Normal benchmark colors within score range, lighter outside of range	Yes	Median of scores of students who have taken tests and typical growth over time	Describes data, indicates number of students without scores
   Multiple	None	0–1400	Lighter than normal	No	Calculated projection (placement)	Describes data, indicates that placement is a projection
   Single	Yes	0–1400	Lighter than normal	Yes	Actual test score and typical growth over time used as median	Describes data
   Single	No	0–1400	Lighter than normal	No	Calculated projection (placement)	Describes data, indicates that placement is a projection

2. Below the bar, you will see a list of skills. The color shown to the left of each skill shows which benchmark category that skill falls into. Check the skills that you want the selected students to work on.
   
   The software chooses the skills to show first based on the median score shown on the bar. In the list, you'll see a section for that score and the number of students; underneath the score, you'll see the recommended skills. Some skills are focus skills (skills that are most critical for success at each grade level); these will be marked as   .

   You may decide to assign skills that occur before or after the recommended skills in the learning progression. Use the scroll bar on the right side of the list to scroll up and down to see these skills. As you scroll up and down, note the scores and grade levels that are in the list.

   For each skill, you will see the standard number and skill name. If you select a skill name, a window opens that includes the skill details, domains and standards, and prerequisite skills (if applicable). Select each category on the left side of the window to see the information.
   
   

   You can also find skills by searching for them. Enter a keyword in the field above the upper-right corner of the list of skills and then select Search. After you search, the bar will change:
   
   • The entire range of possible Scaled Scores will be shown (0–1400).
   • All the benchmark categories and cut scores will be shown.
   • Black triangles will appear above the bar , pointing to where skills matching the search keyword are in relation to the benchmarks.
   • Only skills matching the search term will appear in the list.
     
     To cancel a search, select the cancel icon in the search field.

3. As you make selections, the number of selected skills will be updated at the bottom of the page. When you are finished selecting the skills you want to find assignments and resources for, select Next: Find Resources to move to the next stage: choosing assignments. You can also select Remove All to clear your selections.

   

Skills By Domain tab

1. On the Skills By Domain tab, you find skills by domain and then choose the skills that you'd like to find assignments for.

   Like the Skills By Recommendation tab, the Skills by Domain tab has a bar that gives you information about your students' Scaled Score range, benchmark categories, and median score based on Star assessment scores and a growth calculation based on time of year (a calculated projection is shown for the median if none of the selected students have taken a Star test in the selected subject yet).

   Unlike the Skills By Recommendation tab, the Skills By Domain tab always shows the full Scaled Score range (0–1400)—the range that includes your students' scores is shown in the typical benchmark colors (the rest of the bar will use lighter colors). If you have selected only one student, or if no students have Scaled Scores, the entire bar uses the lighter colors. If you are planning for more than one group of students who have different benchmark categories, no benchmark colors will be shown on the bar.

   In the example below, 5 of the selected students do not have a Scaled Score; of the students who do have Scaled Scores, the lowest score is 306, and the highest is 576; the median of those scores is 426.

   

   Summary

   Number of Students	Students Who Have a Scaled Score	Benchmarks Bar: Scaled Score Range Shown	Benchmarks Bar: Benchmark Colors	Benchmarks Bar: Cut Scores Shown	Benchmarks Bar: Median Score	Text Above Bar
   Multiple	All	0–1400	Normal benchmark colors within score range, lighter outside of range	No	Median of all students' scores and typical growth over time	Describes data
   Multiple	Some	0–1400	Normal benchmark colors within score range, lighter outside of range	No	Median of scores of students who have taken tests and typical growth over time	Describes data, indicates number of students without scores
   Multiple	None	0–1400	Lighter than normal	No	Calculated projection (placement)	Describes data, indicates that placement is a projection
   Single	Yes	0–1400	Lighter than normal	No	Actual test score and typical growth over time used as median	Describes data
   Single	No	0–1400	Lighter than normal	No	Calculated projection (placement)	Describes data, indicates that placement is a projection

2. By default, the page shows recommended skills for all domains. Use the Choose Domain drop-down list to choose to see skills from a specific domain.
   

3. After you select a domain, the skills matching that domain will be listed. The color shown to the left of each skill shows which benchmark category that skill falls into. Check the skills that you want students to work on. In the bar above the list, skills in the selected domain will be indicated with black triangles .
   

   The software chooses the skills to show first based on the median score shown on the bar. In the list, you'll see a section for that score and the number of students; underneath the score, you'll see the skills matching the chosen domain. Some skills are focus skills (skills that are most critical for success at each grade level); these will be marked as .

   You may decide to assign skills that occur outside the range indicated by the students' Scaled Scores. Use the scroll bar on the right side of the list to scroll up and down to see these skills. As you scroll up and down, note the scores and grade levels that are in the list.

   For each skill, you will see the standard number and skill name. If you select a skill name, a window opens that includes the skill details, domains and standards, and prerequisite skills (if applicable). Select each category on the left side of the window to see the information.
   
   

4. You can also find skills by searching for them. Enter a keyword in the field above the upper-right corner of the list of skills and then select Search. After you search, the bar will change:

• • Black triangles will appear above the bar , pointing to where skills matching the search keyword are in relation to the benchmarks.
  • If you have selected a domain, only skills that are in the domain and that match the search term will appear in the list.

    

    To cancel a search, select the cancel icon in the search field.

5. As you make selections, the number of selected skills will be updated at the bottom of the page. When you are finished selecting the skills you want to find assignments and resources for, select Next: Find Resources to move to the next stage: choosing assignments. You can also select Remove All to clear your selections.