OARS Training
Questions/Clarification
October 15, 2003

1. How should we enter combination classes?

Use the Setup folder tab and choose a program by grade level according to the instruction level of each child. Then choose the “reading teacher” by clicking on this prompt in the blue tool bar. The students will show up on each teacher’s class list when grouped by “teacher” or “reading teacher”.

2. When should SASI be updated?

The updated information will be sent by the 10th of each month. If a teacher receives a new student after that date, they will have to hold onto their scores and input them the following month.

3. Why are teachers having difficulty saving their data?

They should be using the “Save and Continue” or “Save and Exit” button instead of the “File/Save” command in the top toolbar.

4. Some people are having difficulty logging onto OARS. What can they do?

The first thing is to log on with their first initial, last name (all lower case, no spaces; the field will only recognize the first 8 characters of the last name). The password word will either be the default password or whatever each person changes it to. If a password gets forgotten, email either David Ward or Brenda Worden, and they will change it back to to the default.

5. Could we add “number of days in Open Court” to the field information for disaggregation?

This is not only difficult for the OARS coordinator, but unnecessary. The data is to be used to inform instruction. If students are new to the program, then their needs show up on the assessments. It doesn’t matter how long they have been in the program.

6. What is the end of year assessment for grades 1-6?

The end of year reporting is only the average of the last fluency passages. We’ll want to keep the last OARS date on our Assessment Pacing Calendar.

7. Do teachers need to use the NCR forms for recording hard copies of their students’ scores?

Teachers can either use the NCR forms provided with the assessments or copy the form from OARS. Their student names are already written and are in the correct order, which makes inputting scores easier.

8. What do teachers do if students do not take the assessments?

Leave the fields blank instead of recording a zero, which would mean the student scored a zero on the assessments.


9. Why won’t my computer print the reports in color?

The World Web is not always the best medium for printing. You may need to:
On a Windows PC:
1. Launch Internet Explorer.
2. Go to “Tools” > “Internet Options.”
3. Click on the “Advanced” tab.
4. Go down to the section on “Printing”.
5. Make sure that “Print background colors and images” is checked.
6. Click on “OK”.
7. Select “File” > “Page Setup”.
8. Look for margin settings (the location of these settings may vary by printer).
9. Set the left and right margins to 0.5 inches each. (While this should be fine for most printers, your report may still get cropped. If so, try setting the left and right margins to 0.25 inches.)
10. Click on “OK”.
11. When finished be sure to turn the “background printing” off to avoid wasting ink with future printings.

On a Macintosh Computer:
1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Go to “File”> “Print Preview”.
3. Ensure that “Print Background” is selected. This will ensure that colors print correctly.
You should also check this setting if you are printing on a black and white printer, as green scores will appear with dark shading, yellow scores will appear with light shading, and red scores will appear as bold text with no shading. Black and white reports are actually very readable.
4. Ensure that “Shrink Pages to Fit” is checked. This will prevent the report from being cut off on the side (although it may still run to more than one page).
5. Click on “Close” when you have finished.
6. When finished be sure to turn the “background printing” off to avoid wasting ink with future printings.

Frequently Asked Questions/Answers
October 7, 2003 

1. Some of us are finding the assessments are taking longer than we planned and are not able to stay on the pacing calendar.  Can the calendar be changed? 
Unfortunately, the pacing calendar can not be changed for this school year. Here are a few suggestions that might help with your pacing:
       ~Skip the last lesson assessment and give the unit
       assessment instead.  Or do the lesson assessment
whole class on an overhead for additional testing practice.
~Plan a four day week during the week of unit assessments.
~Do the fluency checks and writing assessment pieces either the week prior to, or early in the week of the unit assessments.

 2. When should my assessments be posted on OARS?
 As a general rule of thumb, plan on having them posted one week
after you finish the last unit according to the pacing calendar. You can also refer to the Assessment Pacing Calendar provided with this memo.

 3.Can I read the writing prompt to my students?
        It is assumed your students can read the prompt for themselves, so allow those who are capable to read it independently.  Those who need support, may have it read to them one-on-one, but resist the temptation to help with the pre-writing.  For all other assessments, follow the teacher directions.

 4. How should I use the writing rubrics? 
       It is suggested that each grade level at each school site come to a consensus on what each point value looks like using samples of students’ writing assessments.  It will not be necessary to average all the areas within one writing rubric every time.  In the beginning, you will want to average each category for each rubric, but eventually you will become comfortable with the range and won’t need to do this each time.  When you encounter averages with a decimal point value, always round either up or down depending on the range (1.3 = 1; 1.5 = 2).

 5. When giving a Fluency Assessment, how do I mark proper nouns that are misread repeatedly throughout the passage?
        Only count proper nouns repeatedly misread as one error, but all other repeated errors are scored by the actual number of miscues. 

 6. What do I do when a student misses a unit assessment?
        It is important to have the data on each child, so you will need to find opportunities to have the child make up the assessment.

 7. Can I use the unit assessment scores for the report card?
 The intent of unit assessments is to assist you when planning for the diverse needs of your students.  They are a monitoring tool to be used to inform instruction. Look to multiple measures to include in your student portfolios, i.e., daily writing, lesson assessments, investigation projects.

 8. Are the vocabulary tests testing the vocabulary taught in the unit?
 The vocabulary section of the unit assessment focuses on the skill taught in the unit.  At the beginning of each unit, look ahead to the assessments and make sure the skills being assessed are taught throughout the unit.