By following the steps below, you can find article assignments by skill. You can also schedule the assignments for specific days to choose when the assignments will first appear in students' Assignments list.
You can find articles and assignments by topic and keyword instead if you prefer. You can also assign the Featured Articles.
- Select Find Articles by Skills and Standards at the top of the main AR 360 page.
- The next page will list the plans that you have created so far (if any). Select New Plan.
- On the next page, if the class that is selected by default is not the one that your new plan will be for, select Change Student(s) to begin selecting the classes or groups that you want to plan assignments for.
- Choose the classes and groups that you want to assign work to. For most school personnel, the school is already selected in the first column. However, if you have access to more than one school, you can choose whether to include all schools or to select specific ones; if you decide to select schools, check the schools that you want to create assignments for.
In the second column, first choose whether to plan assignments for all classes or to select classes. If you choose to select classes, check the classes that you're planning assignments for. (You can search the items in a column by clicking within that column and then pressing Ctrl+F or control-F on the keyboard.)
In the third column, check the groups to include; check Whole Class to plan assignments for the class as a whole.
When you're done, select Apply.
If you started creating assignments for this group previously, and you didn't finish, after you select the students, you will see a message like the one below. Choose whether to continue working on the plan you started (with the skills you previously selected) or to start over.
If you need to create groups, see Manage Groups Page. - Next, select the timeframe that you want to assign work for. You can choose one of the week-long time periods in the drop-down list, or you can choose custom dates.
Click the Select Week drop-down list and make a selection. If you choose Custom as shown below, in the calendars, select the first date, then the second one; then, select Apply. (You can use the arrows on each side of the months shown to see a previous or future month.)
It is helpful to schedule assignments just one week ahead so that you can make adjustments as needed based on how students do on the work.
- Edit the plan name in the Name Your Plan field as needed. Note: It's helpful to give each plan a unique name so that you can identify the plans easily later.
- Select Start Planning on the New Assignment Plan Setup page to continue.
- Next, choose the skills that you want to find and assign articles for.
If you decide that you want to find assignments by article topic or keyword instead, simply select the Browse by Topics tab instead of Skills by Recommendation. Then, see Finding Articles and Assignments by Article Topics and Keywords.
If some of your students have not taken a Star Reading test, the text above the bar will tell you how many (7 students in the example above).
If students have taken Star Early Literacy tests, but not Star Reading tests, the Star Early Literacy scores will be converted to the scale and will be used instead of Star Reading scores.
Benchmark colors and cut scores are not shown at all if you select students from more than one school or if you select classes with different grade levels. This is because cut scores are different across grades and may be different between schools.
You can find skills based on the median score, by domain, or by searching. You can also choose to find article assignments that you created.- Finding skills by median score: In the list of skills below the bar, the skills that match the median or projected score will be shown first and will be marked "Recommended." Check the skills that you want your students to work on. In the list, you'll see a section for that score (390 in the example below).
You may decide to assign skills that occur before or after the recommended skills in the learning progression. To see skills before the recommended skills, use the scroll bar next to the list to scroll up. To see skills that come after the recommended skills, scroll down. As you scroll up and down, note the scores and grade levels that are in the list. Also, note the colors to the left of each skill row; they show the benchmark category for each skill. Focus skills are also marked. To see more information about a skill, such as skill details, domains and standards, or prerequisite skills (if applicable), select the skill name. - Finding Skills by domain: If you prefer to find skills by domain, select the Skills by Domain tab. On this tab, the bar that shows your students' median Star Reading score (or the projected score by grade) includes the full Scaled Score range. By default, the page is showing recommended skills for all domains. Use the Choose Domain drop-down list to choose to see skills from a specific domain.
After you do this, only the matching skills will be listed. In the bar above the list, skills that are in the selected domain will be marked with triangles. Check the skills that you want your students to work on. As on the Skills by Recommendation tab, you can scroll through the list to find skills that occur before or after the recommended skills in the learning progression. - On both the Skills by Recommendation tab and the Skills by Domain tab, you can search for skills by keyword. Type a keyword from the skill name in the search field; then, select Search. After you search, the bar will show the full Scaled Score range and all benchmark categories, with the skills that match the search term marked with triangles. Use the scroll bar to scroll through the matching skills; skills that do not match will not be listed. Check the skills that you want your students to work on.
- To quickly find article assignments that you have created, select the My Content tab. If the tab includes options for assignment types, select either AR360 only or ALL to find the article assignments that you have created. (If you select ALL, you will also find any Star Custom reading assessments that you have created.)
- Finding skills by median score: In the list of skills below the bar, the skills that match the median or projected score will be shown first and will be marked "Recommended." Check the skills that you want your students to work on. In the list, you'll see a section for that score (390 in the example below).
- If you are finding skills on the Skills by Recommendation or Skills by Domain tabs, select Next: Find Resources after you check skills.
If you are on the My Content tab, select Continue to find the assignments you created.
You will go on to a page where you can choose assignments; after that, you can choose the days when you plan to teach the skills and use the assignments. - On the next page, the skills that you selected are listed on the left, and the first skill is selected by default. (If you chose the My Content tab, you will see "All" and "All my content" instead of one or more skill names.)
In the middle column, the article assignments that are available for the skill (or the assignments that you created) are listed; for each assignment, you'll see the name, a brief description, and the Lexile® Measure and ATOS book level. To add one of the assignments to your plan, select + Add.
In the drop-down list that opens, select the day when you want students to start seeing the assignment in the Assignments List on their Home page.
The assignment will be added to the day you select in the Schedule list on the right. If you want to change the day for an assignment, select the check mark to see the days again and make a different selection. If you decide you want to remove an assignment that you have added, select X to the right of the assignment name.
As you view and select assignments, you can do the following:
- To preview an assignment, select Preview on the assignment card. The assignment will open, and you will see the assignment as a student would see it, starting with the assignment instructions, and then continuing with each assignment item. (The article text is included with each item for reference.) To go on from one step to the next, select Next > or select one of the item numbers at the bottom of the page. Any work you do on the assignment will not be saved since you are previewing. On the last item, select Finish; then, select Finish again in the confirmation message. If a quiz is included, you can select Take Quiz to take it. Select Close Preview to close the assignment when you are done. (You can also select + Add to Plan to add the assignment to the plan while previewing it.)
- If you want to narrow the list of results, you can select the icon; then, search for a keyword in the search field and press enter or select Apply.
- If you want to see other types of assignments (in addition to article assignments), select the icon; then, check the additional types of assignments that you want to see, such as instructional resources or Star Custom skill checks. The types of assignments available depend on the products that your school has purchased; if your school does not have Renaissance products other than Accelerated Reader 360, no other assignments or resources will be available. When you're done, select Apply.
- To go back and choose other skills, select Change next to the Selected Skills heading on the left.
- If you have more than one page of results, use the arrows at the bottom of the page to go to the next page of results (), the previous page (), the last page of results (), or back to the first page ().
- After you finish adding assignments for one skill, you can select the next skill if necessary to find assignments for that skill.
Some skills do not have matching Accelerated Reader 360 article assignments. If you need to go back to select different skills, select Change next to the Selected Skills heading.
- When you have finished choosing the assignments for the group(s), select Review under the schedule.
- On the next page, you can schedule the skills and assignments that you have selected. If you have also selected resources and assessments, they will also be on the plan in separate rows. At the top of the page, you can choose when you will be teaching each selected skill. To move the skill, click the skill and drag it to the day(s) that you prefer.
To expand the skill over multiple days, select the arrow to the right of the skill name and drag it to expand the skill over the days that you prefer.
Any days off that your administrator has added for the school are marked so that you can avoid scheduling work for that day. Days off are not shown if you selected students from multiple schools.
If you want to delete an assignment or to preview it, select the assignment card. Then, click Delete in the Details window to delete the assignment from the plan, or select View to preview it in a new browser tab.
If you want to add more assignments, select Add Assignments to go back to the page where you choose assignments. - It is a good idea to print or save the schedule. To do this, select PDF at the bottom of the page.
Since you can't change the assignments after you create them, it can be helpful to print or save a PDF copy of this page as a record of the days you selected for skills and assignments. This is also helpful if you want to share the assignments with other teachers since only you can see the assignments that you have created.
- When you have finished setting the schedule for skills and assignments, select Create Assignments at the top or bottom of the page.
If you need to go back, select < Back at the bottom of the page or one of the links at the top of the page.
- The window that opens will confirm the students you are planning for and the date range.
The name that you entered for the plan when you started it is shown. You can change the name if necessary. It is helpful to make each plan's name unique so that you can identify plans easily.
You'll also be reminded that the assignments will be listed in the students' My Assignments list on the dates that you have chosen. You cannot change the schedule once you click Continue; be sure that you have the assignments and schedule that you want before you continue (click Cancel if necessary). When you are ready to finish and schedule the assignments, select Continue. - When the window confirms that work has been assigned, select OK.
Students will see the assignments that you selected in their Assignments list on the dates when you scheduled them.