1 - City University of New York



Test Results on All Reading (and Writing and Math) Skills Exams Upon Exit From Remediation – Fall 2003

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About this document

The following conventions are used throughout the text for this exercise:

|CUNY IRDB Entity |Displayed as… |

|Business area |Bold italics e.g., History Facts Business Area |

|Folder |Bold e.g., History Facts |

|Item |Italics, e.g., Headcount |

IRDB References

As you define the specifications for your queries you will want to know what business areas, folders, and data items contain the information you need. Documents that will guide you to the information you need include:

Accessing IRDB Documentation – This set of instructions explains how to access documentation straight from the IRDB. Discoverer workbooks display codes, descriptions, and format for data items contained in the IRDB. Additional workbooks include a Crosswalk from Show-Registration and Performance Layout to History Facts Business Area, which is particularly helpful to users who are used to performing analyses using the traditional ‘flat’ files.

Instructions for Citrix and Discoverer-This document provides preliminary directions about how to create a connection to and access data from the IRDB using Oracle Discoverer via Citrix.

General Instructions for Generating a Discoverer Query – In addition to explaining the 5-step discoverer Wizard, this document contains a list of subjects within each business area within the CUNY IRDB.

Connect to Discoverer via Citrix

1. Open up an Internet browser (Internet Explorer is best) and go to .

2. Enter your username and password, select your domain, and click “login”. (If you are a new user to Citrix, please refer to the document “Instructions for Citrix and Discoverer” to download and install Citrix.)

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Workbook Wizard Step 1: Create/Open Workbook

3. Open Oracle Discoverer Desktop application, and Log into Discoverer using your database Username, your Password, and either irdbtest2 or irdbprod2 as the Connect. (Refer to the document “Instructions for Citrix and Discoverer” for more details.)

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4. After you log in, click “Create a new workbook”, select “Crosstab”, and click “Next” to continue

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Workbook Wizard Step 2: Select Items

5. Select the History Facts Business Area for skills test results of students exiting remediation.

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6. The History Facts and History SKAT Exit Facts folders contain all the items you will need to create this workbook. Begin by selecting items that will be displayed in the crosstab as a row, column, data point, or page item. To see a list of the items in the folder, click on the [pic] sign to the left of the folder. The table below shows the items you will need to select for this exercise.

|Folder |Items |Crosstab Layout Position |

|History Facts |Headcount |Data point* / Row |

|History SKAT Exit Facts |Exit Reading All Test Exit Flag |Page Item |

| |Exit Reading All Test Pass Fail Level Desc |Column |

|*A data point is a numeric item that fills the cells of a crosstab table. Data points are variables that have values upon which|

|you can perform a mathematical operation such as sum, average, minimum, or maximum. The default operation for the Headcount item|

|is SUM, which is the operation needed for this exercise. |

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7. In this exercise, you are counting students so the data point to use is Headcount. Click on the [pic] sign to the left of the History Facts folder and highlight Headcount as the data point. Click the [pic] button to move the item to the “Selected” window.

After Headcount has been moved to the “Selected” window, collapse the History Facts folder by clicking on the [pic] button to the left of the folder.

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8. A variety of History SKAT Facts folders exist, representing different aspects and times when tests were taken. Specifically, folders reflect students’ first test results, their highest scores, scores obtained in their first or second year of attendance, and upon exiting remediation (Initial, Best, Year 1, Year 2, and Exit, folders respectively).

As the name of this exercise implies, we want to examine test outcomes for students exiting remediation. Accordingly, scroll down to the History SKAT Exit Facts folder and click the [pic] sign. Items for the ACT and CUNY test formats are listed separately in this folder. Items labeled “All” include results for both ACT and CUNY test formats, by test subject i.e., Reading, Writing, or Math.

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9. We will set an implicit condition to restrict records to only those students exiting remediation who took reading skills exams during the test time period for the semester. Scroll down to the Exit Reading All Test Exit Flag item and display its values by clicking the [pic] sign to the left. Highlight the value of ‘Y’, and click on the [pic] button to move this value into the “Selected” window.

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Note: Although not required, you may include an implicit condition(s) as a page item in the crosstab table because the condition will be displayed in the final worksheet. The inclusion of an implicit condition as a page item helps make it clear the population was limited by that condition.

10. The columns in the crosstab table are formed by Exit Reading All Test Pass Fail Level Desc . Select the Exit Reading All Test Pass Fail Level Desc item, and click the [pic] button to move it to the “Selected” window.

11. Click “Next” to continue.

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Note: No implicit condition was set for this item. All values of Exit Reading All Test Pass Fail Level Description will display across the columns of this query. To see all possible values for this item, click on the plus sign [pic] to the left of Exit Reading All Test Pass Fail Level Desc.

Workbook Wizard Step 3: Crosstab Layout

12. For this query, Discoverer has placed all selected items as column items, thus a warning message appears. Click “OK” to close the warning window and to proceed with changing the crosstab layout.

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13. First, to create the row variable, drag and drop the Data Point item to the row area in the left margin -- down and to the left of the column headings.

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14. Check the “Show Page Items” box and drag the Exit Reading All Test Exit Flag item to the “Page Item” window.

15. Click “Next” to continue.

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Workbook Wizard Step 4: Conditions

16. In addition to the implicit conditions set earlier, the following explicit conditions need to be defined in order to limit the records selected for this query.

|Items |Condition |Value(s) |

|History SKAT Exit Facts Term Enrolled Date |= |01-SEP-2003 |

|History Facts College ID |= |Select your college ID |

Click “New” to create an explicit condition.

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17. In this example leave the “Generate name automatically” option checked to allow Discoverer to assign a name for the semester condition. Type ‘Semester’ for the “Description”.

18. To create an explicit condition, select an item, the condition, and the value(s). Under the “Item” list box.

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Note: Items contained in the folder(s) selected in Workbook Wizard Step 2 display. To set a condition on an item from a different folder, go back to Workbook Wizard Step 2 and either: (1) select the item in a different folder and create an implicit condition, (2) select the item in the new folder and edit that item by adding an explicit condition in Workbook Wizard Step 4, or (3) temporarily select another item in the new folder so that all items from the new folder will now appear in the “More Items” list.

19. The first explicit condition you set will limit the query to include only students from a particular semester. Scroll down to the end and select the History SKAT Exit Facts Term Enrolled Date item. Click “OK” to continue.

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20. For condition, use the default value “=”.

21. The “Values” list box contains pages of date values in ascending order, beginning with ’01-JUN-1980’. Scroll down to select ‘01-SEP-2003’, and click “OK”

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Note: The IRDB represents semesters as the first day of specific months:

|Term Enrolled Date |

|Item Value |Semester for all colleges |Special semester values |

|01-JUN-YYYY |Summer | |

|01-AUG-YYYY | |Fall-only, Kingsborough |

|01-SEP-YYYY |Fall | |

|01-DEC-YYYY | |Winter, LaGuardia until early 1990s |

|01-JAN-YYYY | |Fall-only, Kingsborough |

|01-FEB-YYYY |Spring | |

22. Click “OK” to confirm the definition of this condition.

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23. Click “New” to set an explicit condition that limits the query to include only students enrolled at your college.

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24. Under the “Item” list box, choose (History SKAT Exit Facts College ID) the condition (‘=’), and the value (your College ID). Click “OK”.

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25. Click “Next” to continue.

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Workbook Wizard Step 5: Calculations

26. If you are creating calculations, click the “New” button. Since there are no calculations for this exercise, click “Finish” to finish the wizard steps.

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The results are as shown in the table below:

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Further Edit of the Table: Percentages

27. So far the only data point to be displayed is the number of students (Headcount) in each outcome category i.e., Fail, High Fail, Pass. To create a row that shows the percentage of students in each outcome category, select “Percentages” in the “Tools” menu.

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28. Click “New” to build a new percentage calculation.

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29. Discover will calculate percentages in various ways: grand total for all values, grand total for each column, grand total for each row, or subtotal for each change in a specified item. In this example, we want to display the percentage of students in each outcome category by row (i.e. each outcome category). Therefore, under “Calculate as a percentage of”, select “Grand total for each row.”

Check the “Display grand total and grand total percentage” option and set the label to “Total”.

Click “OK” to continue.

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30. Click “OK”, and Discover will calculate and add the percentages to the crosstab.

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Edit Worksheet: Headings, Title, and Format

The utility and presentation of the worksheet can be improved with a few simple modifications. We need an explanatory title for the query results, percentages should be displayed out of one decimal place, and for better organization we should give the worksheet a more meaningful name than the default ‘Sheet1’ displayed on the tab.

31. To edit the title of your worksheet, go to the “Sheet” menu and select “Edit Title..”.

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32. Type in the new title, and click “OK”.

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33. To make further edits to the worksheet, choose one of the options from the ‘Sheet’ menu on the command menu atop the screen. In this case, we want to change the way the percentages displayed. Highlight the “Percent Headcount SUM” row, and go to the “Format” menu and select “Data”.

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34. Select the “Number” tab, highlight “Percent”, and increase “Decimal Places” to 1.

35. Click “OK” to confirm the change.

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36. Right-click on the “Sheet 1” tab and choose “Rename Sheet”.

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37. Type the new name - “Exit - Reading”, in the space provided, and click “OK”.

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And this will be the look of your crosstab now:

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Duplicating a Worksheet

38. Now that the Reading crosstab table is complete, it will be easy to replicate the worksheet to display outcomes for the other two skills exams: Writing and Math. From the “Sheet” menu, select “Duplicate as Crosstab”.

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39. Choose the “Select Items” tab to change the items for the Reading Skills exams to those for Writing Skills exams.

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40. Remove both Reading Skills items by selecting the History SKAT Exit Facts folder and clicking the [pic] button.

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41. From the History SKAT Exit Facts folder, select these two items: (1) Exit Writing All Test Exit Flag with implicit condition set to ‘Y’, and (2) Exit Writing All Test Pass Fail Level Desc.

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42. Select the “Crosstab Layout” tab, and drag Exit Writing CUNY Test Exit Flag to the “Page Items” space.

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43. Click “OK” to execute the new Writing test query.

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44. Double-click the title, and edit the title from ‘Reading’ to ‘Writing’. Click “OK”.

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45. Right-click on the ”Exit-Reading2” worksheet tab, and select “Rename Sheet”. Change the worksheet name to “Exit-Writing” and click “OK”.

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46. To complete the Basic Skills exams series to include the Math Skills exams, repeat steps 38 through 45 by replacing ‘Writing’ items and text with ‘Math’.

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Note: It is good practice to save your work periodically as you build and add to queries.

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