This page opens after you have chosen to find Accelerated Reader 360 articles for a new plan, either by skill and standard or by topic and keyword. The class and timeframe that you chose on the New Assignment Plan Setup page are shown at the top of this page.
There are four ways to find assignments starting from this page:
- Skills by Recommendation shows you the recommended skills for your students based on their Star Reading scores (if they have taken the test) or their projected scores based on grade and the time in the school year (if they have not taken the test). You select the skills that you want to find assignments for.
- Skills by Domain helps you find skills based on domain. You select the skills that you want to find assignments for.
- Browse by Topic lets you search for article assignments by topic, grade, and/or keyword rather than skills.
- My Content lets you find article assignments that you have created and added to the software yourself. You may also be able to find Star Custom Reading assessments that you have created if your school has Star Custom.
Select a tab to choose which method you'd like to use.
Note: If you choose to find assignments by skill (either by recommendation or by domain), on the next page, you may have the option to choose other resources as well (such as instructional resources or Star Custom skill checks), depending on the Renaissance products that your school has available. If you choose Browse by Topic or My Content, only article assignments will be found.
Skills by Recommendation Tab
When you first come to the page, the Skills by Recommendation tab is selected if you chose to find assignments by skills and standards. On this tab, you can choose skills that you want to find assignments for; the skills that match your students' Star Reading scores (or projected scores) are shown first.
If your students have taken Star Reading tests, you will see a bar like the one below. The lowest Star Reading Scaled Score for your students will be marked on the left side of the bar, and the highest will be marked toward the right side of the bar. In between, you'll see colors that represent the benchmark skill categories and the Scaled Scores that mark the boundaries of each category (cut scores). The width of each category represents the number of skills for students in each benchmark category. The median Scaled Score will be marked on that bar. The benchmark categories that are used are the default benchmarks that have been selected for your site (School, District, or state).
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). The median score for those students who have tested will be marked on the bar.
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.
If you are planning for just one student, and that student has taken the Star Reading test, you will see the full learning progression range. You will not see the cut scores, and lighter colors will be used for the benchmark categories.
If none of your students have taken a Star Reading test, you will also see the lighter colors. The projected score (placement) will be shown on the bar; instead of a Star score, the projected score is based on the students' grade and the current timeframe in the school year. The cut scores will be shown.
Below the bar, you will see a list of skills; check the skills that you want your 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 (390 in the example below) and the number of students; underneath the score, you'll see the recommended skills. Some skills are focus skills; these will be marked in their rows as shown 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.
If your students have taken Star Reading tests, the color shown to the left of each skill shows which benchmark category that skill falls into. In the example above, the skill rows have a bright green border on the left, showing that they belong in the bright green benchmark category.
For each skill, you will also see the standard number and skill name as shown below. 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.
Another way to find skills is to search by keyword. Type a keyword from the skill name in the search field; then, select Search. After you search, the bar will change to 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.
These keywords may be helpful as you search for article assignments: Argumentation, Author's Purpose, Author's Purpose and Perspective, Author's Word Choice and Figurative Language, Cause and Effect, Compare and Contrast, Connections and Relationships, Facts vs. Opinion, Inference and Evidence, Main Idea and Details, Modes of Representation, Organization, Prediction, Sequence, Summary, or Word Meaning.
To cancel a search, select the X in the search field.
Check the skills that you'd like to find assignments and resources for. When you are done, select Next: Find Resources at the bottom of the page.
Skills by Domain
On the Skills by Domain tab, you can 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' Star Reading score range, benchmark categories, and median score. If your students have not taken the Star Reading test, the projected score is shown for their grade and the current point in the school year.
Unlike the Skills by Recommendation tab, the Skills by Domain tab shows the full Scaled Score range instead of just the range of your students' scores. The range that includes your students' scores will use 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 taken the Star Reading test, the entire bar uses the lighter colors.)
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, the matching skills will be listed. In the bar above the list, skills that are in the selected domain will be marked with triangles.
The software chooses the skills to show first based on the median score shown on the bar. You'll see a section for that median score with the number of selected students. Use the scroll bar to scroll through the matching skills; skills that are not in that domain will not be listed.
If your students have taken Star Reading tests, the color shown to the left of each skill shows which benchmark category that skill falls into; in the example above, the skills are part of the green benchmark category. For each skill, you will also see the standard number and skill name. Focus skills will be marked in each row.
As on the Skills by Recommendation tab, you can also search by keyword. Type a keyword from the skill name in the search field; then, select Search. After you search, the bar will show you 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'd like to find assignments and resources for. When you are done, select Next: Find Resources at the bottom of the page.
Browse by Topic
Select this tab if you want to use topics, grades, and or keywords to find assignments for your students instead of skills. The Browse by Topic tab is selected by default if you have chosen to find assignments by topics and keywords.
First check the grade levels for which you want to find assignments:
Then, there are two ways to look for assignments:
- You can enter a keyword to search for.
You can enter a keyword and select a topic as described below.
- To see the articles and assignments available by topic, check each topic that you are interested in.
After you select the options that you prefer (and enter a keyword if you'd like), select Next: Find Resources to find matching assignments.
My Content
Select this tab to use assignments that you have created. For Accelerated Reader 360, you will find the skills practice assignments that you have added to the software. Note that this will find only the assignments that you have created personally, not those created by others in the school or district.
If your school has Star Custom as well, you can choose whether to find the Accelerated Reader skills practice assignments you have created, Star Custom reading assessments that you have created, or both (ALL).
Select Continue to go to the next page and see the assignments.