Assessment and Report Selections

In the Quick Setup window, for each subject, once the type of report has been selected, what is to be assessed and reported, in the way of domains and strands/dimensions and text boxes for comments, etc, must be nominated.

When you click a cell in the Quick Setup window, one or a combination of A, R or S will appear

By clicking the various non-shaded cells, one or a combination of the following will appear:

•	A means that the item is to be assessed. In this case an assessment item will be created in the subject and will appear in the teachers’ classes. Data will need to be entered for that item.

•	R means the item is to be reported, ie it will appear on the report for the particular subject.

•	S indicates the particular domain or dimension/strand selection will appear in the Summary report’s graphical result table, ie the subject will contribute to the student's overall or aggregate domain results.

In some cases you need to cycle through a series of possible combinations with successive clicks.

Where selections have been made that are to be added, a plus appears before the A, R or S and the cell becomes coloured, as shown above. Changed, unsaved selections are also indicated by a green triangle, as is the case throughout Accelerus.

What you may select for inclusion on the AusVELS reports is limited in several ways:

•	Firstly, the Quick Setup window indicates the areas that may be selected – these are the non-shaded cells of the table.

In many cases the shaded or unavailable areas appear as a result of the subject mapping selections made in the Quick Setup Structure window.

•	Other limitations are determined by the structure selected, eg only Primary text box fields appear in the Primary structures. Also, there are the differences between the Catholic and Government structures which restrict selections.

•	The report type, eg Sum, Full, etc, will constrain the selections that may be made in the domain and dimension cells, and therefore, what appears in a cell – A, R and/or S – when you click it.

The report type of the subject will restrict the selections of A, S and R that may be made in each cell

For instance, as shown with subject 06SCI above which is to have a full-page report, we can assess the Science strands, and choose to have the domain score and graphic appear in the printed report for 06SCI as well as in the summary report: R and S at the domain level and A for strands.

On the other hand, in the part-page report for 06AR, The Arts domain can only appear on the summary report – R cannot be selected for part-page reports.

Note that this varies for Catholic configurations where a school has chosen to report at the domain and strand level for a particular domain.

•	The English and Mathematics strands do not allow selection at the domain level – the dimensions which must be assessed and are reported, whether just on the summary page or on both the summary and full page report.

•	In the Standard Text Boxes sections, many fields only become available for particular report types.

For example, when PLG is selected as the report type, only the Personal Learning Goals fields, within the Standard Text Boxes branches, are available, as shown below.

•	Some field selections in the Standard Text Boxes sections are set automatically and cannot be changed. For example, with part page reports, the Single overall comment field is automatically selected, and one of the three teacher name fields is mandatory.

Some fields are only available for a particular report type and others are automatically selected

In the Catholic AusVELS structures, additional selections and limitations apply:

•	An Overview Text Boxes section appears, varying in the Primary or Secondary structures. These may only be selected if the subject is of the correct report type::

•	RE or Full for Primary levels.

•	RE only for Secondary subjects.

•	With the exception of English, Mathematics, Religious Education and EAL, Catholic schools may assess strands and

➢	Have only the averaged domain score and graphic appear on the report

➢	Print both the overall domain and strand scores and graphics on the report, as shown in the example for The Arts below.

Catholic schools may choose to report at the domain level or at both the domain and dimension level

An additional sequence of A, R and S selections are available in the Quick Setup window for Catholic schools. They may select R and S at the domain level and A R S for the strands. Where you choose to report at the strand and domain level, you cannot deselect the R for the domain, without also deselecting the R at the strand level.

In the graphic below, The Arts is being reported at the domain level and strand level in the full page subject 04IT.

In other types of reports, eg part page or summary reports, R will not appear at all but the summary domain graphic table will display both the overall domain score and the individual strand scores. This is indicated by S in all three cells in the case of subject 04AR below.

The dimensions and the domains are to be reported in the full page report, as well as appearing on the summary report

When configuring a Quick Setup structure, you select which AusVELS levels apply to which subject levels. Where a yellow warning symbol has been selected for a particular feature for a particular subject level, this indicates that the level did not usually apply to the subject level. In this case, pink shading will appear in the Quick Setup window if this feature is selected. If you hover your mouse pointer over the pink shading, a warning message will be displayed.

As shown here, the three strands for Science have been selected for the 01IT, subject, and these are not usually assessed for this subject level and, therefore, appear in pink. Likewise for the Exploring and Responding strand of The Arts.

When a dimension is not usually assessed at the particular level, the cell is shaded pink

Be aware that for non-Australian Curriculum domains, ie those still being assessed under the VELS curriculum, the highest rating that can be attained if the minimum score is given for any domain will always be a D. Therefore, where a student is assessed in a strand below the expected year level, and they are assigned the lowest score possible, they will receive a D in Government schools, or Below Standard achievement in Catholic schools.

This will also be the case where students are in their first semester of study of a domain and receive the minimum score for a particular domain or strand, as applicable. Therefore, if a Prep student receives a score of 0.00 for Reading, they will receive a D rating, or a student in Year 2 is assigned a 3.00 for LOTE, and so forth.

For Australian Curriculum subjects, the above is not the case with the exception of Prep students who receive a D for the lowest possible score when assigned 0.00 in semester 1.

If a series of subjects currently visible in the Quick Setup window require the same set of domain and field selections, you may fill the selections from one cell to others to the left or right of it.

Right click on the selections and select from the context menu that is displayed.

Of course, selections may not fill across exactly, if you are filling across from one type of subject to another, eg from a Full subject to Part. The Fill processes will ensure that the selections copy across in a way that is consistent with the type of the subject.

Make the set up of selections easier by using the fill right and fill left options

To make the selection of features quicker, it is recommended that you add subjects in groups, eg all of the English subjects, or selectively display subject columns that are to have the same selections, hiding those that are not, before you use the Fill options.

Be aware that if you fill across selections that have already been generated, they will be copied over in an ungenerated state to any subjects that do not already have the selections.

Also, filling across to a subject column that has already got generated selections may result in changes to these selections, eg a minus may appear next to an already generated A, R or S, removing the selection when you next build the subject report parameters.

Once you have made selections in the Quick Setup window, you must save them, like all windows in Accelerus that allow changes to data. Saving the Quick Setup window means that the selections you have made thus far are retained should you close the window.

Where you have made a change to a selection, a green change triangle will appear in the top right corner of the particular cell.

Saving a Quick Setup instance does not result in the creation of any of the report parameters for the particular Quick Setup. An additional step, building the subject report parameters, must be undertaken. Until particular selections are built, they appear with purple shading.

Also, a plus or minus will indicate the change to be saved and/or built. For example, below, the Science Inquiry Skills strand is being added to 06SCI when next building the subject parameters, but R will be removed for the Humanities – History domain in the 06AR full page subject..

Selections that have not yet been built appear in a purple cell, whereas built selections have a white background

In the Quick Setup window, a Print quick setup grid icon is available, allowing you to print out a replica of the currently displayed branches and subjects of the grid, and your selections therein.

A grid of the visible subjects and revealed features may be printed

The print out includes:

•	Subjects that are currently visible.

•	Only the visible domains, strands and text box fields.

For example, if The Arts domain is expanded to display its dimensions, it will print the domain and dimension rows. On the other hand, if it were contracted, only the domain would print.

•	Whether the selections have been built, in which case they appear on a white background. Otherwise, their cells will be shaded.

To display just the subjects applicable to, say, one learning area, close all of the domain headings you do not want to print, and reveal the strands of the applicable domains only. Then print the grid for the learning area, eg for the learning area coordinator, to check, make corrections, etc.