e-asTTle features

The user's main point of reference for navigation

This is the standard e-asTTle test.

The process allows you to go through and select the subject, test duration, curriculum level, curriculum strands, and how you want to administer the test (onscreen vs. paper).

• The teacher selects the difficulty level of the first stage.
• e-asTTle selects the difficulty of the next stage based on the student's performance in the first stage. For example, if a student performs well on a set of intermediate-level questions, e-asTTle will present a set of questions at a more advanced level. If the student does not perform very well on the first set, e-asTTle will select an easier set of questions.
• Available for reading and maths.

• Creates a test with the same subject, duration, curriculum level, strand and delivery method as an existing test.

• Creates a copy of an existing test, with the same questions 
• Reports for original and copied tests are kept separate.

• Impacts on the number of curriculum strands the user can select 
• You can select a test duration:
  12–60 minutes for a reading or mathematics test
  24–40 minutes for a pānui or pāngarau test
• You can select extra time for reviewing the test and/or answering the attitude questions.

• You can select between one and three adjacent curriculum levels.
• One exception: user needs to select a minimum of two levels when creating a pānui test of 30 minutes or longer duration.

The number of strands that can be selected depends on the test duration.

Test duration – Max. number of strands:

• 12–23 minutes – 1 strand
• 24–35 minutes – 2 strands
• 36–47 minutes – 3 strands
• 48–59 minutes – 4 strands
• 60 minutes – 5 strands

Selecting "Few" equates to around 10% or 3–5 questions.

 User needs to select how they wish to administer the test to their students (paper vs. onscreen). This is important as it helps determine which items are chosen. Some items are suitable for pen and paper only and others for onscreen only.
 Users now have the ability to print different components of a test:

• test summary
• administration guidelines and instructions
• marking guide
• test questions and cover page (Test Questions)
• reading passages located in a test (Reading Passage booklet)
• vocabulary guide (for pānui and pāngarau tests)
• answer sheets for tests with 100% closed questions.

Depending on the test type, there may be some options that are not available.

Additional options to select from:

• Time to review test
  Student review time (if any) is variable (six options) – during this time the response times are disabled. Students can control when they move to the Answer Questions phase.
• Time for attitude questions
  Four options ranging from 2–5 minutes 
• Total test time
  This is a read-only field that incorporates the test duration, the review time, and the attitude question time.
• Proportion of closed questions
  Closed questions are defined as those that can be marked by e-asTTle without teacher input.
  The user can specify the proportion of closed to open items (a guideline only).
  An "estimate" of marking time is provided.

• Sit Test Demonstration movie is available in the Help menu.
• While sitting the test, the following tools are available:

• a "delete" to remove the current answer, or clear highlighting
• a "highlight pen" to highlight one line of text for later reference
• a "highlight block" to highlight a section of text
• an "I'm not sure" to put a question mark against question to act as a reminder at the end of the test to go back and check an answer.

• This is equivalent to the Manage Test option in v4.
• You can view onscreen tests in the Test Player, as students would see while sitting the test.

• You can specify if onscreen test can be sat "Anytime", on "Week Days" only, or during "School Hours" only.

• For paper tests, enter in details just as with asTTle v4 
• For onscreen tests, only mark open-ended questions. You can mark before due date provided all of the students have finished the test.
• Demos are in the Help section to walk you through the differences for both tests 
• Data entry – must use a, b, c, or d for multiple-choice questions (no longer numerical equivalents).

• The student needs to get at least three items correct in a test for an overall score to be estimated, and three items within each strand before a strand score is estimated.
• "–" shows on report if fewer than three have been answered correctly.

• There are now seven major report formats.
• New options are provided for longitudinal reporting.
• The progress report can be used to track student progress over time. It can be viewed by both teachers and students. An improved tabular report can be opened in a spreadsheet package for analysis. This can be generated for multiple tests and subjects.
• Principals can focus on performance presented at a time level, for example a date range.
• Teachers can focus on performance presented at a group level, for example group or sub-group summaries.
• A new reporting scale will allow, at a later date, for scores for younger students to be placed on the same underlying scale.

• The user can set realistic targets for students.
• Takes into account the student's progress in a subject to date, the expected performance for a student of the same level, and the New Zealand performance level.

• The student's user setup details are maintained within e-asTTle.
• Separate URL for student login.
• Automatic creation of a new student's username and password.
• Viewing and printing of student's login details.
• Resetting a student's password.
• Unlocking a student who has unsuccessfully attempted to log into e-asTTle multiple times.

• It is possible to upload student and group information from SMS into e-asTTle, using .ast files.
• Student scores and demographics can be exported from e-asTTle via the tabular report CSV file.

• Every time data is added, it is saved to an offsite database. For teachers, this means that familiarisation will be more difficult than with asTTle v4.

• Some of the ways around this are by sitting with a student or by signing on as a student then asking the school administrator to delete the test.

• The school leader user is able to (dis)allow student performance data to be made available for research purposes.