Diagnose, Instruct, Practice, Assess

Sirius Instruction Online and in Print

When used for intervention in the diagnosis of weaknesses, implementation of Sirius Programs typically involve three main stages: 

1. Diagnostic Tests to identify needs

2. Lesson instruction and STAAR practice

3. Assessments to monitor student progress over time and at the end of the determined period of instruction

Teachers, however, may decide to enter the instructional flow at any point or suggested stage along the way, and the implementation of instruction is supported through flexible assignment making online and/or in print. 

Key to your use of the instructional flow stages hinges on how you plan to use your Sirius programs’ resources, including diagnostic tests.

• If you are using them for intervention or test preparation, you will likely more closely follow the stages described below in order. 

• If you are using diagnostic tests and other resources with other instructional goals or targets in mind, you might deviate from these stages and come up with your own pathways through your Sirius program resources vs. lesson by lesson.

Sirius Instructional Flow Stages

Let’s begin with a diagram containing instructional flowstages along with core actions that instructors consider as they deliver instruction to students, including the following actions: diagnose, analyze, plan, teach, practice, reteach, and assess.

1. Diagnostic Tests

Instructional Goal Determination for Diagnostic Tests

How do you plan to use the diagnostic test(s)?

• To diagnose needs, weakness, and strengths with intervention in mind?

• As a pretest to establish a baseline among other understood data points?

• As a general test of knowledge with the goal of creating instructional groups (homogeneous or “like” students, or heterogeneous groups to inspire other types of learning)?

• As an additional end of semester post-test (along with practice tests) to determine progress?

• As a means to determine how students engage in online learning, and to determine opportunities for improving their ability to engage leading to greater learner?

Diagnose

The first step in our sequence is to assign and administer an auto-scored Diagnostic Test under simulated testing conditions. You’ll find one or more diagnostic tests in theTable of Contents or Main Menu of your program. For example, Math programs may have one central diagnostic test, while RLA might have several according to grade level and associated TEKS/Standards.

To learn more about navigating Sirius Online as well as making and managing assignments, please refer to our Sirius Online ©2024–25 How to Use Guide: Teachers, Co-Teachers, Tutors (061024).

Note: Sirius Online offers computer-scored diagnostic assessments inTest Mode, a mode in which students do not receive feedback as they work on items. Contrast that toPractice Mode, one in which students receive rich feedback in support of their learning.Sirius Online records ‘first tries,’ time on task, and the use of blue button scaffolded supports (Hints, Sample Answers, etc.) as a key element of engagement so that instructors gain deeper insights into areas in which students need additional instruction along with how they engage interactively in their learning.

Other Considerations

• Administer tests as if students were taking the actual STAAR Test for real.

We encourage use of Diagnostic and Post Tests under conditions as similar as possible to the actual STAAR test. This can include the physical setting. The goal is for students to feel a similar stress/anxiety as when taking the actual test. This also applies to the Cumulative Review, Post Test, and especially the full-length Practice Test.

If you’d like to gain even deeper insight into student performance, you can assign post tests from the previous grade level early in the new school year.

• Observe student behavior while they test. 

Teachers should carefully observe students during their work on Diagnostic tests  to identify their test-taking behaviors. For instance, consider the following questions as you observe students: 

• Do students write on the test items or use mark up tools online as they work? 

• Do they rush or go very slowly? 

• Do they change their answers often?

• Do they skip over items? 

• Do they flag skipped items and return to them later? 

• Do they check their work? 

• Do they eliminate wrong answers, and if so, are they doing so systematically or playing guessing games? 

• Do they make careless mistakes?

The first step in helping students address harmful behaviors is to identify them, and then work individually with students to help them cope with their unique anxieties, fears, etc. Just raising observations to students can help them become more self-aware and composed during test taking.

Analyze

In order to gain a deeper understanding of your students’ performance on diagnostic tests or any other test or practice activities, access their work in the assignment summary Scorecard, grade manual items that cannot be computer scored for reporting, and then review live, dynamicStandards and Course reports which offer deeper metrics relating to student performance, usage, engagement, and engagement. 

To learn more about reviewing student work in the Scorecard as well as releasing scores to reports, please refer to our Sirius Online ©2024–25 How to Use Guide: Teachers, Co-Teachers, Tutors (061024).

Note: Please reference our more in-depth Sirius Online: Sample Teacher Reports for more information about reporting as well.

Direct link: https://publisher.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=95D3029F2A404F03BFF32F5BBBE08BF4

Note: Sirius Online allows you to review Item Analysis raw scores by class via export to CSV in the Scorecard, along with student performance reports based on computer-scored items.

2. Lesson Instruction 

Before you begin:  Sirius Programs offer lesson work in print workbooks or online through the use of interactive activities. Students can highlight text, create notes, mark up, or erase their mark up on the lesson content. Teachers examine and score student work in the Scorecard and they can view performance reports against the work that they have scored and released to reports.

Plan: Create an Action Plan

As you examine student performance on diagnostic assessments―including use of test-item analysis data from previous STAAR tests, if available—you should plan concrete goals for each day and week.

Be sure to assign the Sirius Tools Tutorial (available for all Sirius courses) so they understand that their online or print experience is representative of what to expect on STAAR, including the newest changes to the STAAR Testing Platform (Cambium) and new interactive test items.

Other Considerations

• Focus on high priority readiness TEKS available in your programs.

• For weaker students, focus on their strengths. 

For especially weak students that will have a hard time improving their scores enough to pass, remediation should focus on the TEKS that they appear to already know. This allows these students to reinforce and clarify what they already know, and to build upon their strengths. These students need to show progress in their test scores by getting additional items correct. For such “reluctant” students, extra efforts to encourage them by focusing on their attitudes and affective needs (like low self-worth, etc.) can often make a significant impact on their retest performance.

• For average students,  focus on their weaknesses.

Many students only need to get a few more test items correct to pass. Because of the limited preparation time, these students would ideally focus on the TEKS that they most need help with—their weaknesses. Nevertheless, it can be helpful for them to begin with lessons that they likely know. Then the students can transition into lessons they need to relearn by focusing on TEKS that they most need help with.

For additional considerations on this topic, refer to our two-page document titledImplementation Approach: Ways to Use Sirius Programs in Your Instruction.

Teach: Deliver Instruction/Learning

Based on the needs of your class, groups within classes, shadow partners, and individuals, work with your students according to your best practices for delivering instruction with student learning in mind. That may be teacher-led, activities done in collaborative groups, self study, or when students themselves take the lead on delivering instruction to their classmates. 

Readiness lessons review the TEKS content in a non-STAAR format. This can be helpful for many students. But these lessons can be skipped or replaced by teachers. The goal of these lessons is to prepare students for the STAAR Practice items that are similar to what students will see on the actual test. Therefore, the bulk of class time should be focused on solving STAAR test items.

Other Considerations

• Start with reviews of core concepts in each lesson or skill area.

• Create project teams who work collaboratively together (live or in breakout rooms) so that students can share ideas and understanding with one another.

• Once you’ve got collaborative groups set up and they’ve worked with the topics at hand, it is time to assign STAAR practice work to your class or student groups to gain deeper understanding and to bridge gaps.

3. Lesson Practice 

Practice

Assign STAAR practice following or during instruction. STAAR practice is delivered in Practice Mode (vs. Test Mode) with the goal of providing students with rich feedback based on their initial and subsequent responses as they work with STAAR-formatted practice questions.

Note: In Practice Mode, the technology behind the scenes tracks first responses as right or wrong, time spent working on each activity, students’ use of blue button feedback or scaffolded supports, annotation tools, resources, and language tools. Though students may eventually get correct answers in practice mode, only their first response is scored and tracked in the scorecard (be sure to remind students of that!).

Other Considerations

• Prioritize the easy and medium difficulty STAAR practice Items

For students who are new to STAAR or need to retest, we recommend focusing on the easy and medium difficulty level STAAR Practice items (approximately the  first two-thirds of the items in each lesson). Teachers should guide students with additional feedback about what they should work on because the current version of Sirius Online assigns and grades all test items. The first third is easy and builds confidence. The last third of the items is difficult and likely to be particularly challenging for most students.

• Take advantage of scaffolded instruction for problem solving.

First, encourage students to use the STAAR tools such as the highlighter, sticky notes, and eliminator, and to flag items to come back to later. Using annotation tools can help many students read problems more carefully and boost their comprehension

To help students take the time to think, we need toslow them down. One suggestion is to have them highlight the “given” information in one color and what the question is “looking for” in a different color. Additionally, students can write sticky notes directed to teachers, which teachers can respond to as they review student work.

Students should use Hint and Try Again as scaffolded instruction to help them actively “work” problems. Additionally, some students make careless mistakes and should be encouraged to check their work. One strategy is to have them have the computer read the question using text to speech, including their answer selection, before pressing Submit.

Finally, help students take breaks to stretch and clear their minds. This is a habit that can help them focus while solving a problem as they learn to relax between problems. This technique is also helpful on test day as it can be both a physical and mental marathon!

Reteach: Cumulative Review

After analyzing and interpreting student progress reports, especially individual Student Performance and Standards reports against trends in your class, plan activities and projects around re-teaching the most difficult skills. 

Other Considerations

• Prepare students for exposure to random or illogically-sequenced questions.

STAAR tests items appear randomly sequenced, meaning that they do not follow any logical order. This means students cannot predict what the next test item is going to be about, and it requires students to be flexible and change gears as well as apply different problem solving skills (including identifying what the question is asking and what they are looking for). 

• Set up formal administration of Cumulative Reviews under representative testing conditions.

Your Sirius programs may contain one or more Cumulative Review assignments. In Sirius Online, Cumulative Review assignments are delivered in Test Mode where students get one attempt, and do not receive any immediate feedback, hints, or other feedback supports.

The format is powerfully similar to the actual STAAR test (except that text-to-speech and translate are available as defaults).

• Encourage students to review their practice and cumulative review work in depth.

For students to fully benefit from the Cumulative Reviews, we encourage them to review and analyze the items that they got incorrect and to see the full solution. They can also see any sticky notes or feedback as comments from the teacher, along with any follow-up practice or lesson work that the teacher has suggested or assigned.

4. Practice Tests 

Assess: Post Tests and Full-length Practice Test Dress Rehearsal

The final stage in our process involves assigning Post Tests and Practice Tests.

We encourage teachers to use Post Tests and our full-length Practice Test in a way that represents STAAR testing conditions whenever possible. If time is available, students can use Post or Practice Test results to review either TEKS lessons with which they still have difficulty, or new lessons that they did not review based on the initial diagnostic test results. Students should carefully review their work to ensure that all test work and practice become a learning opportunity for them.

Other Considerations

• Practice as if they were taking the STAAR TEST, especially the Practice test.

Tell students to think of their final practice as a dress rehearsal for a performance or a scrimmage before the first game of the season. Remind them that the post and practice tests can help them build physical, mental, and emotional test-taking “muscles,” if they give it their best effort!

• Analyze performance on test items following post and practice tests.

• Plan more than one hour for students to carefully analyze the test items that they got correct (ensuring they fully understand it with the sample solution) and items that they got wrong. Remind students that reviewing the test will help them score higher on the actual STAAR test by avoiding making the same mistakes on test day.

Final Reteach

For any groups of students who need more instruction, zero in on specific skills or concepts that need to be reinforced. For students who attain mastery of the material, provide them with extensions to their learning, or involve them in diverse groups as helpful participants in new group assignments.