Discovery Education Assessment
Information
Nuts and Bolts
 Class lists are already created in Discovery Education. Teachers will only need to “Assign
a Test” to their class(es) ahead of time. These directions can be found on the ABSS
Accountability website.
 Teachers will be unable to add new students to the Assessment function. Once a new
student has been added to PowerSchool, the information will automatically be uploaded
onto Discovery Education that evening.
 Most school websites have the Discovery Education link in the Student Resources page.
Students’ logins and passwords are the same as their district computer login and password.
Students can also use the Gaggle portal to access the Discover Education site.
 There is not a “Test Administrator Manual” script for teachers to read.
 All benchmarks are comprehensive where the questions span the scope of a full year’s
course. The benchmarks are designed for teachers to determine each students
understanding of the content at a given point of time.
 Especially in the beginning of the school year, students will not know the answers to some
of the questions. Since these benchmarks are to help teachers determine student strengths
and weaknesses, ABSS is recommending that students NOT guess. Any questions that are
skipped will be marked as an incorrect answer. This will provide teachers with valuable
information as to which content students will need additional instruction.
 Discovery Education estimates that the average benchmark takes 45 – 50 minutes. We
recommend more time be allotted (about 75 minutes).
 It is highly recommended that a benchmark window be open for a single day at a time and
during school hours. For example, September 4 (8 am) to September 4 (3 pm). This will
prevent students from entering the assessment at home. Benchmarks can be re-opened
under the “Manage Assessments” feature for additional days.
 The following features are NOT available on Discovery Ed: highlighting, marking off
distractor choices, digital math tools (calculator, ruler, protractor), read aloud for grades 3
and up.
 Neither teachers nor school administrators will have the ability to reset an assessment. If a
student becomes ill or if there is a need to reset a benchmark, please contact Amy Gross.
(If the student does not finish the benchmark, you will still be able to access it and it will
not need to be reset.)
Materials
 Students should be given access to pencils, scrap paper, graph paper, and a calculator for
the mathematics benchmarks.
 Grade 8 only – students should be given a periodical table for the Grade 8 Science
benchmark.
 It is recommended that teachers already have computers ready and turned on before their
testing time begins.
Reports
 Immediate results should be available after students finish the assessments.
 A document with Sample Benchmark Reports is available on the ABSS Accountability
website.
Accommodations
 EXTEND1 – There is not an EXTEND1 version.
 Read aloud:
 Grades 3 through 8 and HS – Students with read aloud accommodations will require
the teacher to provide this accommodation. All students have the same items in the
same question order to allow for small group settings. If teachers wish to read from
a paper copy, they can acquire one from a school administrator.
 Grade 2 – The first 11 questions require a verbal prompt. All 2nd Graders have the
read aloud function on the computer. For item questions #12 - #32, Discovery
Education only reads the questions and answer choices (not the passages). For
students with read aloud accommodation for the Math benchmarks, teachers will
need to read the answer choices also to the students. It may be easier for these
students to turn OFF the sound and have the teacher read the whole benchmark.
There is a Teacher Version in paper form.
 Multiple Test Sessions – Students can enter and exit their benchmark test as many times as
needed as long as the following occurs:
 Teachers edit the testing window.
 Students still have questions to answer. Once a student answers all of the questions
and selects “finish”, they will not be able enter his/her benchmark.
 Paper/pencil accommodation – Students with this accommodation can take the assessment
on paper. Please see a school administrator for a copy. The teacher would need to enter
the answers online (as if they were the student taking the test).
 Spanish Version – All ABSS students should take the English version.
 Combination classes of mixed grades can take the benchmarks at the same time in the same
room. If there is a 2nd grader, they will need headphones.
Information for “Test A” Benchmarks for 2014-15
Grade
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
HS
Number of Questions for Test A
ELA
Math
Science
32
32
34
32
30
34
30
34
38
34
34
34
34
34
34
43
32
36
44
August 28, 2014