Overview

Target Audience: Students and their parents; teachers.

Introduction

Welcome to Sirius Online ©2024–25!  

Be prepared! The Scouts’ motto is as appropriate to the STAAR test as other endeavors.

The more practice you get in, the better you will do when you take the STAAR test. If you pretend as if you’re taking the STAAR test for real during your practice sessions, you’ll feel less anxiety when it matters most. And that will make a great deal of difference in your success.

This guide is designed to help you quickly learn how to use and navigate Sirius Online along with how to succeed on the STAAR test. It is designed in a way to allow you to quickly zero in on how to use your Sirius courses online, along with tips for using online tools in a way that represents the type of student experience you’ll have when taking the STAAR test.

Student Experience Guided Tour Video

The Student Experience videos cover general experience and use of tools.

General Student User Experience

Firewall-friendly video clip: https://api.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=FE11AC1492684DD79F1A71308A2A10E8

Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: https://youtu.be/hTb0qBAvZ2I

Student Tools and Accessibility Features

Firewall-friendly video clip: https://api.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=CAEED075F4F44E14A19DCA98F25DB537

Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: https://youtu.be/sIbnwIlt7cM

1. Getting Started 

Logging In

Log in according to instructions that your teacher has given you. 

For those of you who created their own accounts or joined a second or third class, congratulations! You already know where to log in.

Getting Started 

Student Dashboard

Take a quick scan of the screen. What do you notice?

Perhaps your name and the date, followed by your courses and assignments?

In the main area of the screen, you have likely noticed:

• Courses: Navigate with left and right arrows to course materials assigned to your class; click Open to launch your Sirius Online course.

• Assignments: Your most current assignments, which you can Start, including Due Date and Due Time.

In the top header, you’ll see the name of your class (in the above case, G8 ELA 2023-24).

The main menu in the upper-right will appear on every screen, always in the same place. It includes:

• Dashboard: This main welcome screen that appears when you first log in.

• Assignments: A centralized screen of all your assignments.

• Reports: Where you will review your scores and, more importantly, your scored work.

• Courses: Access to your course materials when you want to navigate to them at any time in your use of Sirius Online.

• Profile Icon: Where you can manage your avatar as well as log out.

Class Pulldown and Join Class

1. In the upper-center, click the Class pulldown by clicking the caret, the small right arrow to the right of your class name.

2. If you are in more than one class that uses Sirius courses, you’ll see them listed there.
   

3. If you self-registered, you can join a new class by clicking the Join Class button. Enter the code your teacher gave to you and click Join. Your new class will appear in the pulldown.
   

2. Navigating Content

The Dashboard’s Course Navigator

Courses Tab in Main Menu

The Courses tab allows you to jump into materials from any screen within Sirius Online.

1. Click the Courses tab. Your course options display for your class.

2. Click a series of  Open buttons to open courses, sections, and subsections within a course until you get to sections with View buttons.

3. You can view content by clicking a View button on content that is not locked or unavailable. 

Note: If your teacher assigned lesson content for you to do, it will be listed in your assignments.

Assignment Status

• Assigned content will have a Continue button that allows you to continue your work with the content.

• Assigned content with a Locked button means that your work is being reviewed by your teacher.

• Assigned content with a Review button means your teacher has scored your work and you can view any notes your teacher has left for you.

• Live tests or practice content will not be accessible unless your teacher assigns them.

Working with Lesson Content

Lesson content now appears the same way practice and assessments appear. You can view both unassigned and assigned content whenever you are using Sirius Online.

Working with Unassigned Lesson Content

View any displayed lesson content regardless of whether it has been assigned or not. The only indication that content is unassigned is that it has a simple View button in the upper-right of an activity card, and your ability to answer questions is not active.

If you’re working with assigned lesson content, you’ll be able to  access it by clicking a Start button. You'll also be able to submit responses as you work through practice items, or click Submit on the final screen of your assessment.

Working with Assigned Lesson Content

1. If you do work but haven’t yet completed it and need to log out, click the Close (X) button in the upper-right.

2. Click the Submit button only when you’ve finished all your work. 

3. Assignments

Accessing Assignments: Dashboard or Assignments Screen

As you read in the first section, you can access your most recently assigned work on your Dashboard, or you can choose to view assignments by clicking the Assignments tab.

                                          Example of Student Dashboard

                                 Example of Student Assignments Screen

The Assignments screen lets you filter by category, including assignments that are:

• Current

• Due today

• Closed (no longer available for you to access)

• Scored (auto-scored or teacher graded)

You can also search for assignments by name in the search field.

4. Completing Assignments

All Screens Utilize the Same Design 

1. Begin work in Sirius Online by clicking an assignment’s Start button.

2. Navigate past the Splash or Title screen by clicking the Next button on the bottom of your screen.

As you may have learned in the Sirius Tools Tutorial, be sure to carefully read each question. You can Highlight key elements of the question in order to focus on what is being asked of you. Cross out wrong answers with the Strikethrough tool. Use other tools such as the Dictionary or  Speak, including text to speech, or Translate for translations to other languages. In Settings, you’ll find general settings such as voice speed, text highlight and magnifier, and speech mode. 

Be sure to ask your teacher to help you learn to use the tools that best fit your learning preferences and style, as well as to understand if any special tools will be available to accommodate or assist you during the STAAR test (referred to as accommodations).

Staying calm and confident can make all the difference in your success! The less stress you feel, the better you will do when you take the STAAR test.

6. Use the flag button in the upper-right to mark items that you would like to return to later. 

Be sure to take your time to understand why an answer is right or wrong. If you need help, be sure to place a Sticky Note on the screen for your teacher, so that they might review the item in class at a later time.

Regarding Live Practice (with Feedback) vs. Test Mode Work

Students practice using a variety of tools that mimic the STAAR test.

Any time you are working on assignments done in Practice Mode, you can choose to receive different forms of feedback after making your first response. You can choose Try Again, Show Hint, View Sample Answer, or Show Correct Answer.

Also note that some courses have other subject-specific tools. For example, Algebra 1 has formulas, a graphing calculator, and graph paper.

Note: Teachers and students can learn more about available STAAR tools and other accommodation functionality in the Sirius Tools Tutorial, available within your course menu (or assigned by your teacher). Teachers must add the tutorial to your class just like they add courses, and assign the tutorial to you so you can practice using the toolset.

5. Viewing Reports

Accessing Your Graded Work and Scores

Why review your STAAR practice and other online tests after you complete them? 

Reasons include:

• To learn what you know and understand about a topic, skill, or subject.

• To understand where you might need to spend more time learning about a topic.

• To ask questions about why one answer is right, while the one you chose was wrong.

• To assist or learn from classmates who may have the same strength or weakness.

What are your reasons for reviewing your work? You likely have many to add to the list.

Steps for Accessing Your Graded or Scored Work in the Assignments Tab

Once your teacher has released your assignment to you, or if your teacher allows you to view your assignment immediately after you submit, you can find and review it in the Assignments tab under the Scored subtab. Click the Review button to view your work.

Steps for Accessing Your Graded or Scored Work in Reports

1. Click the Reports  tab.

Summary (Overall) Color Coding

• Advanced (Green)

• Competent (Blue)

• Beginner (Gold)

Weekly Performance represents your work week-to-week by color and in the form of a bar graph.

3. In Content: To access your assignment scores, click the caret (small right arrow) next to the course where you submitted content or responses.

The items that you worked on are displayed by content (name of activity), score, color-coded performance, and feedback (from your teacher).

4. To review the test or content for which you’ve been scored, click the blue title link of that item.

You will now be able to review your work. 

Please note:

• A green star indicates that you got the item correct.

• A red X indicates that you answered incorrectly. 

Please be sure to speak to your teacher if you do not understand why you answered incorrectly for a particular item and how to do better the next time you see a similar question.

Now go to the last Summary Screen. You’ll see which question items have teacher feedback available for your review (again, the black speech bubble icon will indicate that).

Upon completion of your review, please click the “X” in the upper-right to return to the Reports screen.

6. Updating Your Profile and Logging Out

The final element of your dashboard deals with your account profile in the upper-right. It is also where you log out after class, or after completing your work at home.

1. Click your profile icon to open the pulldown menu.

2. Click Profile. (Or Logout to log out.)

3. If you’re self-registered, you’ll be able to update a limited amount of information, including your password and profile image by clicking Edit.

If your school does rosters for you, you’ll only be able to change your profile image by clicking Edit in the upper-right. 

Closing Words

Although your parents, teachers, and classmates will be helpful to you in learning, it is up to you to practice as often as possible, and under the same conditions that you’ll experience when you take the STAAR test. Ask your teacher to recreate the experience of the test so that you can gain familiarity and confidence with the format and experience.