The School District of Philadelphia – Philly Elementary ...
Benchmark 1 Information – November 2017
Please carefully review the information below for important details about Benchmark features and policies.
- Most information has not changed from the 2016 - 2017 Benchmark program. New information for the 2017 - 2018 program (except dates) is highlighted in yellow. The Assessment webpage has electronic versions of this document and other Benchmark resources.
- To access the Assessment website before November 1, use this link: .
- To access the Assessment website starting on November 1 and beyond, use this link: .
- Contact information for questions is listed on the last page of this document.
Test Window Dates & Times
- The Benchmark 1 testing window opens on November 1 and closes on November 17.
- The online testing system will allow students to take an online Benchmark only on school days beginning at 7:30 A.M. and ending at 3:30 P.M.
- No online Benchmarks will be available on weekends, November 7 (Election Day), and November 10 (Veterans’ Day observed).
- The test window opens and closes each school day. That means the website will always show the test window closes on the current date, (e.g., on Nov. 1st, Acuity will display that the window closes on Nov. 1st; on Nov. 2, Acuity will display that the window closes on Nov. 2, etc.) The window WILL close each day, but it will OPEN AGAIN the next morning for all of the dates specified above.
Benchmark Test Content
- All Benchmarks for 2017-2018 are NEW EXCEPT for the Biology (90989), Biology BLOCK (90987, 90979), English 2 (91023), and English 2 BLOCK (91022, 91024) tests.
- All 2017-2018 tests will have new five-digit test IDs that are unique from the 2016-2017 test IDs. If you printed last year’s tests, which have different test IDs, you CANNOT use those for all grades and subjects except Biology and English 2. For Biology and English 2, you can print the tests with either last year’s or this year’s IDs, and no adjustments need to be made when students enter the answers online.
- Changes to the ELA tests are minor. Most tests have only one or two new items.
- Changes to the Math tests are significant.
Benchmark Test Design
- The Benchmarks are designed to be low-stakes, formative assessments.
- The Eligible Content assessed on each test corresponds to the Eligible Content specified in the Scope and Sequence for Quarter 1 for each grade/subject or course.
- Grades 3 – 8 have grade-specific ELA Benchmarks and grade-textbook specific Math Benchmarks.
o To accommodate the different textbooks used in the district (enVisionmath, Math Expressions, Big Ideas, Pearson HS), unique Benchmarks were designed for each grade-textbook variation. This ensures that the content assessed by each Benchmark corresponds with the unique Scope and Sequence designed for each textbook. Each test name specifies the applicable grade and textbook. For example, 3rd graders using the enVisionmath textbook will use the “Benchmark 1 Grade 03 enVisionmath” test, and the 3rd graders using the Math Expressions textbook will use the “Benchmark 1 Grade 03 Math Expressions” test.
- Grade 8 students enrolled in the Middle School Algebra I course have specific 8th grade Algebra Benchmarks customized for each textbook series (91019 and 91027).
o Because of complexities with assigning tests, students in Middle School Algebra I courses will also have the Grade 8 Math test assigned. The only test that needs to be completed is the Grade 8 Algebra test. Students do not need to also take the Grade 8 Math test.
- Grades 9-12 have course-specific Benchmarks for Algebra 1, English 2, and Biology.
o Students will take the corresponding test only if they are enrolled in the course.
- Each test has 25 multiple-choice items.
- Item 26 on the ELA, English 2 and Biology tests is a constructed response item.
- Items 26 and 27 on the Math tests are constructed response items.
- There is only one form of each Benchmark test, and the items will appear in the same order for all students.
PDFs of Benchmarks, Test Maps, and Scoring Guides
- Copies of each Benchmark test, Test Map, and Scoring Guide for constructed response items are also posted in the “Benchmark PDFs and Scoring Guides” section of the Outreach page on Schoolnet.
o (Click on the “Benchmark PDFs…” link in at the bottom of the Curriculum Engine section on the Schoolnet homepage. OR From the Schoolnet homepage, click “Outreach”. Choose “District of Philadelphia” in the dropdown, leave the school dropdown blank, and click “Go”. Then click “Welcome Teachers and Staff’ and then “Benchmark PDFs and Scoring Guides”.).
- Benchmark content should not be shared with students prior to when the tests are administered. The purpose of the tests is to inform instruction, which will be undermined if students review the content early.
- Schools CAN print copies of the Benchmarks for any/all students who want to take the test using a printed version instead of the online version. However, all student responses for multiple-choice items MUST be entered into the ONLINE system (Acuity) by either the students or their teachers. Scores will not be available to students or on Schoolnet unless responses are entered into the online version of the Benchmark.
Grade 6 enVisionmath Delay
- The Grade 6 enVisionmath test, test map, and scoring guide are not available as of October 30, 2017. There was an error found late in the review process, and the test is being revised.
- Due to limitations with deploying tests to Acuity during active test windows, the Grade 6 enVisionmath test will be available for only paper testing during the test window of November 1 – 17.
- After the original test window closes, the revised test will be deployed to Acuity and assigned to students, and a new test window will be created for the end of November.
- Students should use paper copies of the test to record and save their answers. Once the new test window is opened, students (or their teachers) will need to input those saved answers into the online version of the test in Acuity to allow for reporting in Schoolnet.
- Additional details will be provided about the dates for the new test window that will open in late November for the purpose of inputting answers into Acuity.
- Notification will be sent when the Grade 6 enVisionmath materials are available on Schoolnet.
Assignments and Auto-Assign
- Tests were assigned to students based on enrollment data from October 19 and will be available to students beginning on November 1.
- Students in grades 3 – 8 are assigned a test corresponding to their grade for ELA and for their grade and textbook series for Math.
- Students in grade 7 or 8 Algebra 1 classes are assigned Grade 8 Algebra 1 tests specific to their textbook AND the grade 7 or 8 math test. They need to take ONLY the Grade 8 Algebra 1 test, but they can take both.
- Students in Algebra 1, English 2, and Biology full year courses are assigned the respective Benchmark 1 tests. Students in “block” courses are assigned as explained in the “Block Courses” section below.
- An “auto-assign” feature will be used that automatically assigns to students enrolled in a Benchmark tested class the test already assigned to the other students in the class if the student matches the grade level of the assigned test.
- This feature is meant to help primarily schools with grades 3-8 students so they do not have to contact the Acuity Help Desk during the test window to have newly enrolled students assigned the tests.
- Only 12th graders will be affected by the auto-assign in high schools because all of the high school forms are associated with grade 12*. This means 12th graders may have Benchmarks assigned to them for courses in which they are not enrolled. (*The Acuity system has to associate each test with one specific grade, so they chose to associate all of the high school Benchmarks with 12th grade. The high school Benchmarks are not testing grade 12 content, and they are not only for grade 12 students. They are for any student enrolled in Algebra 1, Biology, or English 2 courses, and they are testing the content of those courses.)
- Since most 12th graders are not enrolled in the Benchmark courses, there should be minimal impact from the auto-assign feature.
- If any students are missing test assignments, schools should contact the Acuity Help Desk (800-282-4705 or Acuitysupport@) to have the test assigned. Note that students’ information must first be correct in the School Computer Network, then transfer overnight to Schoolnet, and then transfer overnight to Acuity for the correct information to be in Acuity’s system. Acuity cannot assign tests if the students are not showing in the correct grade/course in Acuity’s system.
- In all cases, students should take only the Benchmarks for courses in which they are enrolled, even if additional tests were assigned to them.
Block Courses
- Students in Algebra 1, Biology, and English 2 Fall “block” courses will take both Benchmark 1 and Benchmark 2 in November. For purposes of Benchmark testing, a block course is defined as a course that meets only for terms 1, 2, or 1&2 and covers the content in the Scope and Sequence for all four terms 1, 2, 3, & 4. At the end of term 1, students in block courses should have covered instructional content from terms 1 and 2; therefore, they will take both Benchmark 1 (testing term 1) and Benchmark 2 (testing term 2).
- Block students do not need to complete the Benchmark 1 and Benchmark 2 tests in the same session. Each test can be taken on different days, as long as both are completed by the end of the testing window.
- Benchmark tests for block students will have the word “BLOCK” in the test name.
- For the January/February Benchmark administration, students in Fall block classes will not take any Benchmarks.
- For the March/April Benchmark administration, students in Spring block classes will take Benchmarks 1 and 2.
- Students in block classes will not take Benchmark 3 at any point during the year.
Technology Updates
- Please ensure that your testing stations meet the minimum requirements by reviewing the specifications listed in the document “2016 Acuity Minimum System Requirements” located in the “Benchmarks” section of the Assessment webpage.
o To access the Assessment website before November 1, use this link: .
o To access the Assessment website starting on November 1 and beyond, use this link: .
- As best practice, the following actions are recommended:
o Chrome is the preferred platform
o Apply any outstanding Operating System updates
o Update any necessary plugins that the testing station can support (e.g., flash)
o Update your browser, if applicable
- For those using Chromebooks as testing stations, please review the information on how to prepare them for testing found in the “Benchmarks” section of the Assessment webpage.
- IF you have been keeping your machines updated with the latest versions of browsers and Flash, you should be okay for taking Benchmarks – No changes are required for this round of testing.
How to Take an Online Test PPT
- A Powerpoint explaining how students access and complete an online Benchmark is posted in the “Benchmarks” section of the Assessment webpage.
o To access the Assessment website before November 1, use this link: .
o To access the Assessment website starting on November 1 and beyond, use this link: .
- The only change from last year is login procedure because of the switch to Infinite Campus.
- Review this Powerpoint before testing begins!
Practice Test
- The “Practice Test” is available now through November 17. The “Practice Test” was assigned on October 16 to all students.
- Students who enroll in a homeroom/course after the Practice Test was assigned will not have a Practice Test available for Benchmark 1.
- The Practice Test serves two purposes:
o ensure the browser and computer settings will work successfully with an online Acuity test and
o allow students to familiarize themselves with how to take an online Benchmark.
- The Practice Test is three questions and an ELA passage that do NOT serve to review the skills and knowledge that the Benchmarks will assess.
- The Practice Test will appear as an Assessment in Acuity. (More detail in the How to Take an Online Test Powerpoint.)
- A student can complete the Practice Test only once before each Benchmark Assessment.
- Completing the Practice Test is optional but recommended.
Usernames/Passwords
- To access the online Benchmarks, students must first login to the School District website, then link to StudentNet via Infinite Campus, and then link to Acuity. (More detail is provided in the How to Take an Online Benchmark Powerpoint.)
- Usernames are students’ seven/eight-digit local IDs
- Passwords can be obtained from the Student Password Lookup Application, which school staff can access through the Master Login page.
- More detail on passwords and the Student Password Lookup Application is provided in the document titled “StudentNet Access_v7”, which is available in the “Benchmarks” section of the Office of Assessment webpage.
o To access the Assessment website before November 1, use this link: .
o To access the Assessment website starting on November 1 and beyond, use this link: .
Time Limit
- Students have no set time limit for completing a Benchmark test.
- Students can start a Benchmark one day, save their progress, and continue the test on a later date.
- Benchmarks must be completed by the last day of the testing window, November 17. Any test that was started but not completed by November 17 will be “force scored”, meaning the test will be scored based on however many items the student actually answered.
Saving and Finishing Benchmarks
- In the online Benchmarks, after the last item on the test, there is a page with a “SAVE/EXIT” button and a “FINISH TURN IN TEST” button. (See the How to Take an Online Test Powerpoint for a visual.)
- The SAVE/EXIT button saves the answers and temporarily exits the assignment. Students can return to the assignment at any time to change answers or finish the assignment before submitting the assignment for scoring. Clicking this button does NOT submit the test for scoring.
- The FINISH button exits the assignment and submits it for scoring. The student cannot access the test again after clicking this button.
- Students should finish the test and submit it for scoring after completing all 25 multiple choice questions. They should not wait until completing the constructed response questions before submitting the test for scoring. As explained in the Constructed Response section, students cannot enter their answers for constructed response items in the online test. Constructed response items must be completed on paper and scored separately. Therefore, once they have completed the 25 multiple choice items, students should click Finish to submit the test for scoring.
- Benchmarks that were prematurely submitted for scoring can be reset by calling the Acuity help desk (800-282-4705 or acuitysupport@). Resetting a test will erase all previous answers and allow a student to complete the online test again.
Constructed Response (CR)
- CR items will appear on the online test, but students cannot enter answers for these items in the online test. Students must answer CR items on paper or via a separate word processing program on the computer.
- Schools must have a strategy for how students will answer CR items. Below are some suggestions, but each school will determine its own strategy:
o Students can view the CR items on the computer via the online test during the same session that they complete the multiple choice items. This requires sufficient time with computers in the testing room. Students can answer on paper or via a separate word processing program on the computer. They cannot submit their answers via the online test.
o Students can view the CR items projected on a screen, white board, or wall. PDFs of the tests will be able to allow this option. Students will need paper to write their responses.
o Students can view the CR items on paper copies that the school has printed using the PDFs of the test. Students will need paper to write their responses.
- CR items will not be scored by the testing company. They will be scored locally at the school using a strategy determined by each school (e.g., teachers score their own students, teachers swap and score a colleague’s students, grade-group teachers score all of their students collectively, a selected team scores all students, etc.).
- CR scores will not be collected by the Central Office and will not be included in score reports on Schoolnet. Benchmark scores reported on Schoolnet will be based solely on the 25 multiple choice items.
- Completion and scoring of the CR items is mandatory.
- Scoring Guides will be provided for CR items. (See PDF section above.)
ELLs
- Students in ELL proficiency levels 1 do NOT have to take the ELA Benchmarks.
- Students in ELL proficiency levels 2 or above who are enrolled in grade 3 - 8 DO have to take the corresponding ELA test.
- Students enrolled in “English 2 Sheltered” courses DO have to take the English 2 Benchmark.
o Students should have an ELL proficiency level of 3.0 or higher to be rostered into a “Sheltered” high school English course.
- All ELL students, regardless of their proficiency level, do have to complete any applicable math and Biology Benchmarks.
- Students who are in the country for the first year are exempt from the ELA Benchmarks ONLY IF they are proficiency level 1.
- Two separate voluntary accommodations are allowed specifically for ELLs in their first three years in ESL services for the math and Biology Benchmarks, not for any part of the ELA Benchmarks:
o Word-to-word translation dictionaries, without definitions and without pictures
o Qualified interpreters/sight translators.
- There are no translations of the Benchmarks in any language, including Spanish versions. When available and appropriate, translators can provide word-to-word translations for the math and Biology Benchmarks. No ELA test can be translated.
PASA
- Students who take the PASA do not have to take the Benchmarks. They will most likely have Benchmark tests assigned to them in the Acuity system, but they do not have to participate in Benchmarks.
Accommodations
- In general, accommodations that students are provided for the PSSA and Keystones should be provided for the Benchmarks, when available.
- There is no text-to-speech option for the Benchmarks, so students who need this accommodation will have to have a teacher read items aloud from the computer screen or from a printed copy of the test.
- Any student can have math or Biology items read aloud upon request. No student is allowed to have the ELA items read aloud.
- Students needing the entire math/Biology test read aloud should be placed in a separate group. There is only one form of each Benchmark, so despiraling is not necessary. Teachers can read the items off a computer screen or printed copy. There is not a maximum group size limit for Benchmark read aloud like there is for PSSA/Keystone.
- For accommodations specific to ELL students, see the ELL section.
Calculators
- Calculators are allowed for all items in the grade 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 math and the Algebra 1 Benchmarks.
- Calculators are NOT allowed for the grade 3 math test.
- A calculator icon will appear at the top of the screen in the online tests for the grade 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and Algebra Benchmarks. If students click on the icon, they will have access to a calculator they can use on the test.
Rulers, Protractors, Formula Sheets, and Online Test Tools
- Students do not need rulers or protractors for the math Benchmarks.
- A formula sheet will NOT be included in the online version of any Benchmark.
- The formula sheets created by PDE for the PSSA and Keystone will be available for download on the Schoolnet website in the same section as the Benchmark PDFs. Schools can choose to print these and make them available for students for the grade 4-8 and Algebra 1 math Benchmarks; however, formula sheets are not required for the Benchmark 1 tests.
- The following features are available in online Acuity tests:
• Highlighter/Eraser – allows student to highlight selected text
• Answer Choice Eliminator – allows student to put a red “X” over any answer choice
• Magnifier – allows student to magnify any section of the screen
• Line Reader – allows student to view a line or set of lines and block other text
- Directions on how to use these new tools are included at the end of the How to Take an Online Test PPT (see above).
Scratch Paper
- Students can use scratch paper for all Benchmark tests.
- Scratch paper should be collected and discarded after each testing session.
Reports and Scoring
- Students will not have access to score reports in Acuity or StudentNet until after the testing window closes on November 17.
- Administrators and Teachers will have access to reports in Schoolnet. Score reports from tests completed on a particular day will be available the next day in Schoolnet.
- Teachers will have the same Benchmark reports as always, Item Analysis, Skills Analysis, and Standards Mastery. A brief overview of these reports is provided in a Powerpoint, “Benchmark Tests – Using Data Effectively,” located on Schoolnet: Click on the “Benchmark PDFs…” link in the Curriculum Engine section of the Schoolnet homepage. Choose “IMS Tutorials” from the left menu. Scroll down to the “Acuity/Benchmarks” section.
- Administrators will have Aggregate Item Analysis, Anchor Analysis, and Completion reports. The Completion report will allow schools to monitor during the testing window which students have completed the various Benchmark tests.
- Benchmark scores will be reported as raw scores and percent correct only. There will be no proficiency levels or growth scores, and there is no “passing” score. Benchmarks are meant to inform instruction. They cannot predict performance to the PSSA or Keystones, nor can they be used to show growth over time. Ultimately what matters most to students and teachers is not a student’s overall score on the Benchmark but an evaluation of his/her skill-level performance and a plan to address deficiencies.
Constructed Response (CR) Items Removed from Schoolnet Reports
- CR items are not accessible on Schoolnet Benchmark reports.
- In previous years, the items have been included in Schoolnet reports so users could click on #26 and #27 to view the actual test items, and the CR items had a points possible value of zero so scores would report based on only the 25 multiple choice questions.
- Some users found some reports confusing because items with zero points earned out of zero points possible were included. To avoid confusion, the CR items are no longer be included in Schoolnet reports. This does not affect scoring.
- Benchmark scores in Schoolnet will continue to be based on the multiple choice items only.
- Use the Benchmark PDFs to view the actual CR items.
Benchmark Protocol
- Two versions of a Benchmark Data Analysis Protocol can be downloaded from the “Benchmarks” section of the Assessment webpage.
o To access the Assessment website before November 1, use this link: .
o To access the Assessment website starting on November 1 and beyond, use this link: .
District IT Help Desk – 215-400-5555, helpdesk@
- Contact the SDP help desk for
o problems with usernames and passwords or the Student Password Lookup Application,
o logging into the District website,
o Internet connectivity, browsers issues, operating systems, hardware, site slowness, etc.,
o questions about the School Computer Network.
Schoolnet Help Desk – 866-744-5243, philahelp@
- Contact the Schoolnet help desk for
o problems accessing StudentNet after students have successfully logged into the District website and clicked on the StudentNet icon,
o questions about locating the PDFs of Benchmark tests and Scoring Guides,
o questions about Schoolnet reports.
Acuity Help Desk - 800-282-4705 or acuitysupport@
- Contact the Acuity help desk for
o problems accessing Acuity after students have successfully accessed StudentNet and clicked on the Acuity icon,
o missing or incorrect test assignments,
o questions about online test functionality,
o requests to reset Benchmarks submitted for scoring prematurely,
o missing or incorrect score reporting.
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