Scoring

Scoring

Standards-Based Scoring

Empower is a standards-based grading software. That means all evidence scores given in Empower will be aligned to standards (aka targets, competencies). 

For example, in a traditional model we might say to a student, "This essay was good, but you turned it in late. Here's a C." In a standards-based model, we are able to give multiple scores aligned to the standards. For example, some feedback to students could be: "Good job understanding character motivations. Full marks for that and also for Grammar and Punctuation. However, since this was turned in late, you earned a lower score for work habits." 

In this way, we can celebrate what students are good at while simultaneously diagnosing their specific needs. 

Doing this over time builds a body of evidence that Empower helps teachers analyze to determine what we really want to know: "What does this student know now?"

This video discusses those concepts and also how to use Empower's Gradebooks. This is also discussed in depth in the rest of this article.  



Gradebooks

Q: What is a gradebook in Empower?

A: A gradebook in Empower is nothing more than a teacher's view of whatever standards they want to see.
In Empower, the main idea to remember is that evidence is gathered against a proficiency scale, and that evidence score is attached to the student.

In traditional systems, the scores are attached to a course that the students are assigned to, and those evidence scores all roll up into a course score. Empower turns that idea on its head, and believes that the scores belong to the student. 

With that idea, it is always okay for a teacher to have multiple gradebooks, as gradebooks are just views of standards. Let's look at a couple of examples.



In this class (6th grade math learners), we are looking at a gradebook named "Adding & Subtracting Fractions", and that gradebook contains two standards ("MA.06.NS.04.05 Factors and Multiples" and "MA.06.NS.05.05 Long Division"). You can also see we are on the standards side of the gradebook, as opposed to the evidence side.

When I select the dropdown list for selecting gradebooks, you can see the three gradebooks that this teacher has created (Adding & Subtracting Fractions, Quick Evidence, and TEST of COPies).



Looking at the Quick Evidence gradebook the teacher created, you see a different set of standards.



Remember, gradebooks are just a way for teachers to view a set of standards. It is perfectly fine to have multiple gradebooks.

When creating a playlist in the Instruction tab, a playlist is automatically created for you using the standards selected in the Big Idea. No need to create a separate gradebook in that case!


Create a New Gradebook

If you'd like to watch this being done, please reference the video above. 

  1. Go to the scoring tab
  2. Select a class or group to create a gradebook for
  3. Click the green + button on the toolbar left of the Gradebook dropdown 


  4. Select Create a Gradebook


  5. Give it a title
  6. Select the Targets to be included
  7. If you are done, click the X to exit. This gradebook will be assigned automatically to the class you had selected
  8. If you'd like to use this in multiple classes/groups, then click assign.
  9. Select the groups you want to use the gradebook with.
  10. Upon returning to your Scoring Tab, you should see your new gradebook as an option. 

Edit a Gradebook

Users can edit the gradebooks they create.

They cannot edit gradebooks...
  1. Created by the Big Idea of a Playlist
  2. They do not have edit rights to
To edit a gradebook, click the pencil next to the title in the Gradebook dropdown on the Scoring Tab


To remove the gradebook, click the trashcan icon. 


Use an Existing Gradebook

If others at the district have made their gradebooks publicly available, users can search and use them. 

  1. Go to the scoring tab
  2. Select a class or group to create a gradebook for
  3. Click the green + button on the toolbar left of the Gradebook dropdown 


  4. Select Find a Gradebook


  5. Fill in the parameters to search
  6. Press Go
  7. Find the gradebook you want to use
  8. Click Assign to use the original gradebook or click Copy to make a copy you can be the owner of.
If you assign an original gradebook, it will keep in sync with the original author's changes. If things are changed in the original, they will reflect in your gradebook too. 



Evidence Scoring

Evidence scoring refers to the scores taken by teachers on the day-to-day activities students are completing. 

Evidence scores do not appear on progress reports but are visible to all stakeholders through their Empower Portals. They are used as evidence to support a summative decision, an overall score on a target. The summative score is what will appear on progress reports. 

This chart shows the relationship between the evidence gradebook and other features in Empower. These are discussed more in-depth in the sections and videos below in this article. 




This video explains evidence scoring. 



Q: What is the Gradebook Filter, and how can I effectively use it?

A: Find more about the Gradebook Filter here.

Possible Scores

Empower comes "off the shelf" with some typical metrics such as a 1-4 scale, but there are other buttons as well and even more possibilities can be turned on or off or created custom for your site. 



Common Score Options

 1-4 - This scale uses 3.0 as mastery. 
 .5s - 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 can be useful to give an option to show smaller increments of progress.
 M - Missing. Does not calculate in scoring calculations. When this score is given, parent and student portals receive an alert.
 UO - Update Overall. Turning this on allows users to give an evidence score AND a summative (standards, target) score simultaneously.
 UA - Unassign. Selecting this option and painting it in a cell will result in an N/A score for all targets in the assignment. This indicates that the learner is not expected to complete this item. 
 Trashcan - Select this and then click the scores you want to delete.
 Dialogue Bubble - Select this and click a cell to get a chance to edit the score, the comments, and the date.
 History - Select this and click a cell to see some data and charts about this student's history with this target.
 Ten Key - Turning this on enables users to use their keypad to enter scores quickly

What do some of the icons mean in the grade book?




In the above screenshot, there are green checkmarks, red exclamation points, N/As, OVDs, NMs, and red cells with question marks. There may even be some green cells with +s in them in your gradebook. What do they all mean?

A green checkmark means that a student has turned in work AND it has been reviewed by the teacher

A red exclamation point means that a student has turned in work and it has NOT been reviewed by the teacher.

N/A means that the activity is not assigned to that student.

OVD means the activity is overdue for that student. (Disclaimer: this only shows up if the teacher has set due dates for the activity. It does NOT mean the same as "missing", one of the scoring options mentioned above.)

NM means the activity did not meet the requirements of the goal score (this score ONLY shows up for quizzes. See below for more about how this works).

A red cell with a question mark indicates that the student has clicked on "help" in the completion step for the activity.

A green cell with a "+" indicates that the student has clicked on "complete" in the completion step for the activity.


Adding Custom Scores

If you have custom local scores you want to use as options in Empower, you can request via our Helpdesk that those be added to your install.

Be sure to include:
  1. The exact scale language
  2. 1-2 letter abbreviations for each scale level
  3. The order of the scale items including which is considered mastery level.
One common custom score is a score of "AP" (Auto-promoted). This is used when you want to score a standard at the proficient level, but don't have any evidence to support the score. This is usually used when students transfer into a system (for example, when a sixth-grader comes into the district and you want to fill the progression with scores of proficiency in grades PK-5 - there is no need to gather evidence on these standards), or when a student enters a course mid-year.

Once they are ready, you will need to activate them in EACH content area in which you want to use them.

Only Admin users can perform the following function.

  1. Click the Empower Tool Menu (three lines in the blue header bar)
  2. Open the Standards Editor
  3. Select the Content Area you want to work in
  4. Click the edit button next to the Content Area dropdown
  5. Use the Possible Scores dropdown to select the scores you want as options for this content area
  6. Click Save

This video shows the same process




Quick Evidence

Gradebooks will populate with relevant items from the Instruction Tab, but users can also add quick evidence without needing to make full-blown activities in the instruction tab. 

Learning happens anytime, anywhere, so when unplanned learning is demonstrated, it should be simple to capture as evidence. This can also be useful if things are performed outside of a playlist, such as a paper & pencil activity. 

Here is a video of the process



  1. Go to the Scoring Tab
  2. Make sure you are on the Evidence side of the Gradebook


  3. Make sure that a Group and Gradebook are selected
  4. Click Add Evidence in the upper left-hand corner of the gradebook. 


  5. Give a Title at least
  6. Press Select Targets to Score
  7. The targets presented will be those in the Gradebook you have selected on your scoring tab
  8. Select the targets you want to score in this piece of evidence
  9. Check and set the goal scores for each target
  10. Press Save and Close

Warning! You can NOT add quick evidence to a grade book for a playlist! This is because a playlist is designed for learners to work through without a teacher present, and quick evidence is mainly used for evidence gathered in the classroom, like bell ringers and exit tickets.

In this case, you will have to create a manual grade book to add quick evidence.


Adding Artifacts to Evidences/ Activities

Students and teachers can upload artifacts as evidence. In other words, attach files or links to activities.

This video shows how.



Instructional Tab Items

As shown in this graphic, activities in playlists assigned to a Class/Group will automatically appear in gradebooks that cover any of the same targets.



Only targets included in the gradebook will appear. For example, if a Hamlet activity is aligned to 5 targets, only 3 of which are in the selected gradebook, then you will see Hamlet with 3 scoring columns. 


Scoring Evidence

Once a Class/Group and a Gradebook are selected as well as some activities or quick evidence populated, it is time to enter scores.

This is done using what we call "pick and click." 
  1. Select the desired score
  2. Click the appropriate cells to 'paint' in the score. 





The score given will be tagged with the date and any comment entered in the toolbar. 

For an explanation of the scoring buttons and how to customize them, see the section in the article called Possible Scores.

To quickly populate an entire column, select a score and then click the arrow at the top of the column


Q: Can the Goal Score (MAS) default to 4.0 vs. 3.0? 

A: We wouldn’t recommend that.

MAS (Maximum Achievable Score) is a misnomer, in a sense. Even though it may be set to a 3.0 you CAN still give a 4.0 score. Think of MAS as the Goal Score. It is important not to set a goal of 4 if that’s not the goal because Empower will then count a 3 as less than expected when it does certain calculations and the student status will show that they didn't meet the expectation. 

Q: I created an activity and assigned it, but I don't see it published in my Evidence Gradebook.

A: Activities will only appear in the Evidence Gradebook if they have been aligned to a Standard that is covered by that Gradebook. Please double-check that you selected at least one standard that is also included in the Gradebook.





Scoring Quizzes

Quizzes cannot be scored on the scoring tab. Some question types will be scored automatically and others that require your attention can be accessed directly from the quiz tile on the Instruction Tab.

  1. From the Instruction Tab, click the lower right corner of a quiz
  2. Select Scores


Automatically Scored Questions

The question types that are automatically scored are
  1. Multiple Choice (single answer OR multiple answers)
  2. True & False
  3. Fill-in-the-Blank
  4. Matching
If needed, teachers are able to override these automatically scored questions by clicking on the question number to pull up all responses and scores for that question. 



Manually Scored Questions

The question types that are manually scored are
  1. Essay
  2. Drawing
To score these, click the top cell which contains the question number. This will show you the responses from each student. Teachers can then review the answers and enter total points earned and comments if desired. 



What are "NM" Scores?
A common question regarding quizzes is "What is an NM score and why can't Empower give higher or lower scores based on how the students did?" NM stands for Not Met, and means exactly that. The student did not meet the expectations.  It is not a zero or a failing grade. It is just an indication that the student attempted to demonstrate mastery but was not able to do so. If a quiz is set to award a score 3.0 when a student is successful, Empower is not able to tease out exactly what a student understands through auto-scored questions. Empower also does not apply a percentage to calculate a range of scores, as that would be in conflict with most Competency-based learning environments. If you want to hear a discussion of this topic from the tail end of a custom-produced training video, you can listen to it here.



What is the difference between "reset" and "re-open" when scoring a quiz?



Re-open: When the teacher clicks on that button, all saved answers and scores will remain as is for the student, but the student will be able to take the quiz again and attempt any unanswered questions IF the student has any unanswered questions in the quiz. When the student submits the quiz, scores will be recalculated.

Resetting a quiz completely resets the quiz, erasing all answers the student has previously entered. It's the equivalent of a student starting fresh on the quiz, as all previous answers AND scores will be completely erased.




Summative Scoring





Score Automation Options

If it is not managed correctly, scoring in a Competency-based System can seem like it is overwhelming and can distract from working with students.  Teachers are expected to provide ongoing formative feedback as well as overall summative scores that are associated with standards. Trying to stay on top of daily scoring while also keeping an eye on the larger summative scores can be a difficult task.  Empower can help lighten this load.

Two different types of auto-scoring are possible within Empower. They all provide tools that allow teachers to work with students and provide daily feedback, while reducing or totally eliminating the need to manually calculate overall proficiency scores. 


A few things to note:

1. These approaches can work in conjunction with each other - they aren't mutually exclusive.

2. If you'd like any of these turned on or off, you can request them in the helpdesk or via your CSR.

3. You can also request that NONE of these be active and Empower will perform no automation in regards to summative scoring.

We highly recommend using automated scoring for a few reasons. First, it is one less thing for the teacher to have to keep track of when evaluating a body of evidence. Second, it eliminates any bias in judgment. Third, it creates the idea of the body of evidence and a preponderance of that evidence being the current overall score.

Learn a lot more about summative scoring in this video. 


Option 1: Marzano True Score Estimator (the MTSE ROBOT) and Assisted Scoring (default method of autoscoring)







After at least three evidence scores have been entered, the Marzano True Score Estimator automatically calculates and assigns the most accurate score to standards. The score will be rounded to the nearest possible score for that content area. 










How does the Estimator Estimate? Dr. Marzano will explain that here.

With this scoring feature, teachers have the ability to override and manually adjust a student's score if needed.

This process will run on a nightly basis. 
Once a certain score has been manually overridden, Empower will no longer perform this automation for that student on that score until new pieces of evidence have been entered. You can find a more detailed explanation of how this works here. 

When we do not have enough pieces of evidence (that is, only one or two pieces of evidence) to calculate a mathematically defensible trend score, we have an auto-scoring approach that works based on set rules.  Here is how they work off the shelf.

The first piece of evidence should never determine where a learner is on a standard as an overall score - we prefer to have a body of evidence to make that determination. Therefore, our assisted scoring method lowers a learner's overall score by a half-point in most cases until they build that body of evidence. Let's look at a table. 



If a learner shows evidence at the 2.0 level for the first piece of evidence, they will have an "assisted score" of 1.5 on that standard. If a learner shows evidence at the 3.0 level for the first piece of evidence, they will have an "assisted score" of 2.5 on that standard. 

You may notice that the overall scores in this method do not rise above 2.5. That is because with only one or two pieces of evidence, no mathematical judgment can be made, thus the method is uncomfortable with showing a proficient level (3.0 or higher) on any standard with a minor amount of evidence. 

Once the second piece of evidence comes in, that new piece of evidence determines where the learner is overall on that standard according to the above chart, with one exception. Once a standard score is determined, whether it is via assisted scoring or the MTSE robot, overall scores can only go UP, not down.

Once that third piece of evidence comes in, the ROBOT takes over and can determine a valid trend score.

Option 2: Assisted scoring only (no MTSE robot)


Sometimes, schools would prefer to let teachers look at the body of evidence to make their own determination of the overall scores for learners. In this case, you can request to have ONLY assisted scoring to determine scores, knowing the teachers will ALSO be looking at the body of evidence to determine overall scores.

This assisted scoring will work in exactly the same fashion as described above, now also from the third piece of evidence on.

Q: How does an M (missing) or a blank evidence score factor into the Summative (standards) Score?

Answer: They don't.

It requires a shift in how we think about our pedagogy. 

As scientists say, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

As a student, if I don't turn in my Shakespeare Essay, does that mean I am bad at English? No. It means I have poor work habits. What does it say about my English skills? Absolutely nothing. We have no evidence to draw any conclusions whatsoever about that. So in the service of accuracy and fairness, we don't.

We do need to apply what Dr. Marzano calls "pressure to achieve." And strategies for that include monitoring pace, disciplinary measures at school and at home, ineligibility for extracurricular activities, monitoring soft skills as their own learning targets, etc.. But what we do not want to do is mix any of those soft-skill needs of the learner up with their academic abilities. 

Really, that's the beauty of this model and of Empower. Traditionally, a kid gets a D in English, and mom and dad get him an English tutor or we make him retake the class and we imply, "you're kinda dumb at English." When really he has no issues understanding the material, he may just need us to light the fires of motivation somehow. 



Marzano True Score Estimator










Setting Starting Places



Final Scores



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