Viewing and interpreting reports

For frequently asked questions about interpreting reports, please select from the links below.

• How do I know when there is a meaningful difference between two scores?
• How can I get the range of scores for individual students?
• What does the red circle on the Individual Learning Pathways report mean?
• How do I get a Console Report on a subset of students in my class?
• One of my students sat a test, but when I bring up the ILP or the Tabular Report, the student’s scores are missing.
• Why do the Learning Pathways Reports repeat items and achievement objectives in different quadrants?
• If two students get the same number of questions correct, why are the scores different?
• How come my high scoring students have no strengths, while the low scoring students have lots of strengths listed in their ILPs?
• Are the data in the Tabular Report sortable?
• What do the labels aMs, aRs, aWs on reports mean?
• How can all students in a year level within a school be compared to the national mean?
• What do the boxes on the Console Report mean?
• Students cannot open the objective links on their Individual Learning Pathway Reports.
• How do I view a Tabular Report? When I select the Tabular Report icon, the report does not display.
• Why do I have to select a school, then a group in order to view reports?
• Why are some of my Year 6 students reported as Year 7?
• Why is the attitude bar sometimes blank in the Multitest Console Report?
• My Numeracy Project tests do not appear in the "View Reports" list. How can I access my Numeracy Project information?
• How does the Learning Pathways report work for writing?

How do I know when there is a meaningful difference between two scores?

The standard error of measurement is about 15 asTTle scale points in each subject. Any point difference of more than 22 points between two students, two classes, or two performances over time for the same student, is statistically significant.

Teachers should interpret this as reflecting a change in that individual's or group's performance. Changes of less than 22 points are not so meaningful and not so much dependence should be placed on such close-to-random differences.

How can I get the range of scores for individual students?

You can get this information from the Tabular reports.

Where do I get the individual attitude scores?

The overall attitude score is shown on the Tabular report. This is the mean from the 6 attitude questions. 1 indicates low (negative) attitude whereas 4 indicates high (positive) attitude.

For more information, go into the marking screen and view what responses were entered or look at the students' individual test forms.

What does the red circle on the Individual Learning Pathways report mean?

The circle represents one standard error of measurement around the student's score. This is like the "margin of error" reported in political polls – two out of three times the student’s true score will lie somewhere between the top and the bottom of the red circle.

How do I get a Console Report on a subset of students in my class?

You need to create a special group for those students. Go to "Manage Student" from the left-hand menu and create a new group (class) that includes those students. Students can be in multiple groups in e-asTTle.

One of my students sat a test, but when I bring up the ILP or the Tabular Report, the student’s scores are missing.

E-asTTle requires a student to get three valid questions correct in a strand or overall to receive a score. If students do not get three questions correct in a strand, surface, deep or even overall score in any assessment a "-" will appear in the score table.   

The ILP will only display the curriculum objectives (all the incorrect questions in the "To be Achieved", and any correct in the "Strengths"). The table at the bottom will display a “-” for each of the score and level rows. 

No one score should be relied upon for high-stakes decisions. A student needs to get at least three items correct before a score is estimated. This reduces the risk of a student getting one or two items correct by chance and skewing their scores. 

Why do the Learning Pathways Reports repeat items and achievement objectives in different quadrants?

Items can measure more than one objective, and objectives are measured by a number of items of varying difficulty, so they can appear in different quadrants. This is determined by comparing the difficulty of the items with the ability of the student, and whether the questions were answered correctly or not.

If two students get the same number of questions correct, why are the scores different?

While getting the same number of questions right gives the same total raw score, a student's asTTle score is determined by the relative difficulty of the questions they get correct. A student who does poorly on a hard question may get a higher asTTle score than one who does well on an easy question. A student who gets the harder questions right on the same test will get a different overall score.

How come my high-scoring students have no strengths, while the low-scoring students have lots of strengths listed in their ILPs?

The position of objectives into the four quadrants is based on the relative position of the item's difficulty to the student's individual overall ability and whether they were answered correctly or not. It is not possible to have strengths if all the items answered correctly were easier than the student's overall ability.

To find a student's strengths the test must have items in it harder than the student's overall ability – you should give such a student a harder test next time.

On the other hand, a weak student who gets some hard items correct will have strengths. The ILP report is a diagnostic analysis of an individual and it is not intended for comparisons between pupils. The Console Report compares your students to others of the same year level.

Are the data in the Tabular Report sortable?

Yes. The Tabular Report is created as a .CSV file, which you can be open with a spreadsheet application, such as MS Excel. You can then use the application's sort and filter functions.

What do the labels aMs, aRs, aWs on reports mean?

These labels are abbreviations for the e-asTTle scales.

This is the asTTle scale that measures students' performance. Scores range between 100-3,000 points, with the national mean of year 5-7 students set at around 1,500. A weighted score for each item, which takes into account the varying degrees of difficulty of items, is converted to the asTTle subject scale. This allows for more dependable variations between students' scores, and comparison of a student's past and present performance.

How can all students in a year level within a school be compared to the national mean?

The overall asTTle scale score for each subject compares any student to the national sample of year 4-12 students on which the materials were standardised. Because all items are calibrated to a common scale, it is possible to compare performances in a subject regardless of which tests have been completed. All you need to do is collect students' asTTle scale scores and compare them.

What do the boxes on the Console Report mean?

The boxes are commonly known as "Box" and "Whisker" plots. They enable you to get a richer picture of how your students are doing compared to the national group by taking into account the way in which scores are spread, and not just the middle.

The bottom of the box represents the 25th percentile, and the top of the box is the 75th percentile, which means that half of the students are within the box.

The line in the middle of the box is the median (50% of your students are below this point, 50% are above).

The ends of the whiskers represent the maximum and minimum score.

The blue box shows the New Zealand means based on the sample tested by e-asTTle. It is possible for your students to score higher or lower than the students in e-asTTle's sample.

Also see Refresher on box-and-whisker plots.

Students cannot open the objective links on their Individual Learning Pathway Reports.

Links need to be opened in Adobe Reader. If you are using a Mac, PreView will not support the links – you will need to use Adobe Reader for Mac.

How do I view a Tabular Report? When I select the Tabular Report icon, the report does not display.

This can be due to settings on your computer or internet browser.

Ensure that pop-ups are enabled so you can view tests and reports. You can find instructions about enabling pop-ups on the Help with e-asTTle - General navigation page.

If you need more help enabling pop-ups for your particular browser, contact the Education Service Desk at service.desk@education.govt.nz.

Ensure that the correct application is associated with the file download. Tabular Reports are downloaded as CSV files (Comma Separated Values File). These files need to be associated with an application to open the files. The most common applications are either Microsoft Excel (or some other spreadsheet) or Notepad (or some other file editor).

Why do I have to select a school, and then a group in order to view reports?

The school drop-down menu is present because some e-asTTle users work across multiple schools.

Why are some of my year 6 students reported as year 7?

e-asTTle reports are based on the funding year level of the student, rather than the instructional year level. Make sure the year level you want your students reported against is entered into e-asTTle as their year level. Instructional year level is used in e-asTTle for informational purposes only.

Why is the attitude bar sometimes blank in the Multitest Console Report?

Average attitude scores are not reported across tests when the tests have different attitude domains. This is because it is not psychometrically sound to average two distinct attitude domains (for example, motivation and interest).

My Numeracy Project tests do not appear in the "View Reports" list. How can I access my Numeracy Project information?

To view and report on existing Numeracy tests, you will need to select the "Create New Test" button on the left-hand menu, and then select "Numeracy Project". If you select your Numeracy test, you will then be able to select either "Tabular Report" or "Skyline Report".

How does the Learning Pathways report work for writing?

There are only seven objectives in writing. Each one is placed in the three quadrants (there is no "To Be Achieved" quadrant in the top right of the report) according to whether it was performed a lot better or a lot worse than the student's average writing score.

If the student gets 3B as an average overall writing score, then all the objectives that are 3B, 3P, or 2A will be in Achieved. Anything worse or better than that will go in Gaps or Strengths respectively.

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