Quiz Scoring Logic
How Quizzes are Scored in Empower
There are 7 question types in Empower.
Objective question types will be scored automatically by Empower
Subjective question types will need a teacher to score them.
- Multiple Choice (single answer) (objective)
- Multiple Choice (multiple answers) (objective)
- True/False (objective)
- Fill in the Blank (objective)
- Matching (objective) (Here is how to use the matching tool)
- Essay (subjective)
- Drawing (subjective)
When setting up a quiz, there is an option called Type. This option allows the creator to determine what kind of scores Empower will enter into the gradebook (if any).
- Practice: No scores generated
- Formative: Formative scores generated
- Summative: Standards scores generated
How Scores are Calculated
Being built on a standards-based pedagogy, Empower's mission is always to know what students know about specific standards. So we don't simply average all of the answers from the quiz.
Each question is aligned to a single standard and a single level of learning. Because only questions that are similarly aligned are addressing the same pieces of learning, it is only appropriate to compare like with like. Thus multiple scores may be generated by a single assessment (quiz) - one for each standard and level of learning. Empower applies a specific logic to calculating quiz/assessment scores, either assigning the goal score that the teacher set or assigning a score of "NM" ("Not Met") if the student does not correctly answer enough questions aligned to a specific standard and goal score. The default cut score is 80% (this can be adjusted at the school level- see below), so if a student answers at least 80% of the questions aligned to a particular goal score for a particular standard, then the student will be given the goal score in the grade book for that standard/goal score.
Again, when a teacher creates an assessment that has items aligned to multiple goal scores for a single standard, then each goal score will be treated as a separate instance by Empower and the 80% logic will be applied individually. In the gradebook, each standard and goal score will get a separate score.
For example, if a teacher creates a 10-item quiz aligned to Standard A, and there are some questions that address score 2.0 content on the proficiency scale for Standard A, and there are some questions that address score 3.0 content on the proficiency scale for Standard A, then the gradebook for the quiz will contain two columns--one for the student scores on the items addressing the 2.0 content and another column for the student scores on the items addressing the 3.0 content. Providing independent scores, even though all 10 items relate to Standard A, allows the teacher to determine a student's exact point of need.
Example:
Mr. Smith wants to measure student's knowledge of Standard A in his 11th-grade ELA class. He creates a 11-item assessment in Empower and names it Hamlet Quiz. Six of the questions address Standard A at the 2.0 level, 4 questions address the 3.0 level, and one question addresses the 4.0 level. A student takes the quiz and receives the following:
2.0 Items: 5 out of 6 Correct (83% Correct)
3.0 Items: 2 Out of 4 Correct (50% Correct)
4.0 Item: 0 Out of 1 Correct (0% Correct)
In this example, three columns would appear in the gradebook, each titled Hamlet Quiz.--a column with scores for the 2.0 items, a column with scores for the 3.0 items, and a column with scores for the 4.0 item. Applying the scoring logic to these three distinct sets of questions, the student in the above example would receive a 2.0 for the third Hamlet Quiz column in the grade book (aligned to the 2.0 score) because she answered 83% of the 2.0 items correctly, surpassing the 80% threshold. For the first and second Hamlet Quiz columns (aligned to the 3.0 and 4.0 scores, respectively), she would receive a score of NM since she did not surpass the 80% threshold for these items (50% and 0%, respectively).
Weighting Questions
Individual questions can be weighted from within the quiz builder. This causes the question to weigh more heavily in the calculations described above.
By default, all questions have a weight of 1.0.
How Do These Scores Affect the Marzano True Score Estimator?
When a student meets the threshold and earns any score, if the quiz is set to enter evidence or summative (standards) scores, then those will become data points just like any evidence score.
NMs have no effect at all on the MTSE.
In the above example, the student's score of 2.0 would become a data point factored into the Marzano True Score Estimator's calculations. The student's scores of NM for the 3.0 and 4.0 items would not be included in the Marzano True Score Estimator's calculations.
Why NM?
A well-written assessment for a well-written set of scales will have different specific pieces of learning to determine the level of rigor of a student's understanding of a learning topic. Not doing well at 3.0 doesn't necessarily mean the student knows the 2.0 content either. To truly get an accurate measurement, questions should be addressed directly at the level of learning and students should be able to address content successfully and directly.
A short video about why NM scores can be found here.
How to Change the Mastery Threshold
As an admin, you can access the Site Admin tool on the Tools Menu page.
Select a school
Select a school year you want to edit
Edit
Set the Min Proficiency %
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