Welcome to Sirius Online ©2024–25!
This document contains all the information educators need to be successful in implementing and managing learning in courses that have been purchased for use online in SY 24–25. The information in this guide targets teachers, coaches, and subject-area coordinators. It assumes that classes have already been set up by the district or school, or have been added through our self-registration method.
This document can also serve as a participant guide for SES 101: Introduction to Sirius Online, the first course in a series of Professional Learning courses that focus on using Sirius Online to achieve your instructional goals and implementation needs leading toward students’ STAAR success.
For more information on getting Sirius Online set up at your district or school, please see System Requirements and Rostering in Sirius Online (Formerly “Getting Started Guide”).
Direct link: https://sirius4learning.zohodesk.com/portal/en/kb/articles/getting-started-guide
To learn more about Sirius Online ©2024–25, please visit this link.
Direct link: https://siriuseducationsolutions.com/products/online/
Upon review and hands-on experience with the topics included in this How-to-Use Guide, educators and professional users will be able to perform the following functions within each major interface/user experience tab.
Upon review and hands-on, participants will be able to:
Notes:
Explain the difference between Practice (Feedback) and Test Mode
Search course content by tag, category, and alignment
Course Report—View and analyze performance, usage, and engagement by course and course activities.
Standards Report—View and analyze performance, usage, and progress by standard or TEKS.
Most teachers will not need to set up classes, as they are rostered automatically by district IT staff or other support staff. Access to Sirius Online is embedded in the district portal, or available through Clever, ClassLink, Edlink, or your district Learning Management System (LMS).
If you do not have Single Sign On or rostering available to you, you may need to set up classes through our self-registration process.
For more on self-registration, please see Section 4 of our System Requirements and Rostering in Sirius Online, including our video overview of the registration process contained within the resource.
Direct link: https://sirius4learning.zohodesk.com/portal/en/kb/articles/getting-started-guide#Teacher_Self_Registration_and_Login
A special note about video tutorials referenced in this document
The referenced videos in this document are labeled as firewall-friendly and will work within your firewall as long as your IT department has “whitelisted” our main URL. If you are not able to view them, we recommend you use a computer on a different network or your phone to view the streaming-friendly/YouTube video clips for optimal playback.
We also present the full YouTube playlist of videos. Please share the link with your colleagues, co-teachers, and tutor staff, and encourage them to go “hands-on” with Sirius Online immediately after viewing.
FULL YOUTUBE PLAYLIST: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSl1FwYfNBI4L5j7pGYeQs06jWqTl8eT-
Firewall-friendly video clip: https://publisher.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=EBECD666898E4B15B493AB30039DF6F6
Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oh5urMYM3M
If you need access to support resources, click the Support tab in the top-right of your screen when you log in.
You’ll navigate to a support landing page that allows you to access online support resources in our Knowledge Base, participate in our online educator Community, or create a ticket if you need technical support from our Customer Care team.
You can also submit a ticket for technical or customer support directly by emailing support@siriuseducationsolutions.com.
Contact Information
Toll-free voice: 800-942-1379 (#2 - Tech Support)
Toll-free Fax: 844-329-0913
Tech support email to ticket: support@siriuseducationsolutions.com
Chat: Available at www.siriuseducationsolutions.com
Messages and notifications from the Sirius Online Team and system-related messages can be found in the upper-right corner in the circle icon with a number inside. The number represents system notifications and messages from the Sirius team that are currently active. When you see the number in the icon change, you should review messages and notifications, as we often include special notices about application updates as well as notices of exports with access to them.
Your profile icon can be found in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Click the profile icon to activate the pulldown menu.
Then click Profile.
If you’re self-registered, you’ll be able to update a limited amount of information, including your password and profile icon.
If your school does rosters for you, you’ll be only able to change your profile icon.
You can log out from the account profile icon.
Sirius Online courses include all programs purchased by your district or school.
The new image will be visible to students and co-teachers when viewing the class card from this point forward.
Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: hhttps://youtu.be/zPtK5kLj1Hs
IMPORTANT NOTES:
There are two methods for adding content to classes in Sirius. The first allows you to quickly assign content to multiple classes; the second allows you to add one or more courses or assessment folders of content to a single class.
Use this method to save time in adding the same course to multiple sections of the same subject.
Use this method to save multiple courses or assessment folders to a single class.
Your content will be added to your class and will appear on your class card in the courses link.
Note: Be sure to add the Sirius Online Tutorials module in which you will find the Sirius Tools Tutorial and teacher/educator-focused eLearning Modules that will introduce you to Sirius Online. The Sirius Tools Tutorial reviews all relevant tools and accommodations that students will use on the new online STAAR test, so it is an important resource to use with your students prior to working on course content.
Firewall-friendly video clip: https://publisher.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=266AEF030691468590DFA993A133A46D
Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: https://youtu.be/zC7ldcp9bBo
If you are an Elementary RLA or Math teacher (Grades 3–5), you can now access both new English-based courses and brand new English-Spanish bilingual courses, allowing you to assign either an English or a Spanish translation of an online activity to your students.
Our recommendation for any classrooms with at least one Spanish-speaking Emergent Bilingual student (EBs) is for teachers to use our English-Spanish bilingual courses.
The new bilingual courses allow you to make both English and Spanish-language assignments from the same course for easier, quicker, and more insightful score comparisons across activities.
If your class does not contain EBs, we recommend that you use the English-only versions of these courses.
After logging in, you will see the Classes screen, which serves as a dashboard giving you access to many key features.
The top of the screen has tabs allowing access to the major features you will need:
Classes
Assignments
Reports
Support
In addition to the tabs at the top of the screen, you can click any of the blue text hyperlinks within a class card to jump directly to key items, including:
Course—The Sirius Online courses/programs assigned to your class.
Assignments—Current and past assignments.
Class Roster—Your current list of students in your class.
Class Settings—General settings, including co-teacher access codes.
Accommodations—Your current accommodation settings apply to students and carry over to all Sirius classes. Please consult colleagues in the event there are any discrepancies that need to be resolved for multiple classes.
Groups—Create instructional groups within each class.
Firewall-friendly video clip: https://publisher.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=FEBD14CAB09140F9A8214ECA3F0406BA
Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: https://youtu.be/xZEus6Ycw1E
Let’s take a deeper look at navigating courses.
To begin, click Course.
On the course page, click an Open button to see the full contents of a course broken into main categories of content by type.
Click the Open button associated with the Introduction and then Course Contents to view your course’s structure. Be sure to peruse the Teacher Guide for your course along with Getting Familiar with STAAR Item Types that may be new to you and students.
Click the Close button to close the current resource you are viewing.
Next, click the Open button for any assessment—including any Diagnostic Tests that you’d like to overview—and then Next at the bottom of the screen to advance a couple of screens.
Note: The QuickNav, the orange button in the upper-left, is an alternate way to navigate a course once you launch any activity within a course.
6. When you’re finished reviewing a test, such as a diagnostic test, click the X in the upper-right to exit.
Let’s now consider the difference between activities in Practice (Feedback) Mode vs. Test Mode.
Practice (Feedback) Mode
Test Mode
Sirius Online offers the ability to search for course or program content by tag, category, or alignments, by clicking Go to Search from the main Courses screen.
Once activities are found, teachers can assign them directly from the search results window.
Teachers can also search through activities and assignments by key words appearing in assignment titles for quick management.
In Search by Tags, teachers can
In Search by Alignments, teachers can search by one or more applicable TEKs to reveal specific activities that correlate to their selection by clicking a checkbox next to the standards or benchmark.
Note: When first opened, all assignments appear in the main section of the screen; the Search by Alignments feature filters the full set of activities down to specific activities that match the standards you are searching for.
You may assign any activity that you’ve searched for by clicking the Assign button. See the sections below for additional information on making and managing assignments.
Upon selecting an activity that you’d like to assign, click the Assign button.
Make the following selections within the Assign screen:
If you’d like to assign this same activity or resource, click Yes and assign it to another class, group, or individuals without leaving the screen.
Notes:
Activity assignments appear in the small icon with the number of assignments per activity (e.g., 1x, 10x, etc.).
When the assignment number icon is clicked, teachers navigate to the Scorecard Summary screen.
You can also navigate directly to any items that require manual (teacher) scoring.
Firewall-friendly video clip: https://publisher.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=083F1598376342D5A071DA7E9D04DD88
Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: https://youtu.be/pBxieDVzin0
Firewall-friendly video clip: https://publisher.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=588D4249660E4015AFEF39CFDFC008DD
Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: https://youtu.be/1-Z9c6DzP8M
Firewall-friendly video clip: https://publisher.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=5C62AA28C10C4306953541BDC2FED55F
Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: https://youtu.be/a4V2J0TMsbc
Let’s now look at the Assignments tab.
A few general notes to consider prior to digging in:
Assignment Summary: View General Performance, and Status for each student.
Leave assignment-level feedback, reassign, unsubmit or review student work
Assignment Details: Item analysis view in the Scorecard.
The Scorecard’s Engagement analytics tab provides the following information concerning how students interact with their assignments. As engagement data flows into our Course Report’s new Engagement (Beta) tab, teachers will be able to easily spot trends relating to student engagement behaviors with an eye to improved test-taking skills based on deeper levels of feedback that you can offer to students over time.
Your assignment’s scorecard offers a view into raw standards performance by item, including the text of the standards included by item, the class average for the item, and how each individual student who has completed the assignment performs on the standard.
The personalized feedback you provide directly to students based on their work on individual items is critical and can inspire deeper levels of learning.
For each student response, you might:
Exit scoring by clicking the “X” in the upper-right corner of the screen.
The best way to manage multiple assignments for any given activity is through the use of the Assign and Edit Buttons.
Note: To delete one or more assignments for a single activity, select one or all assignments in the left column, click Edit in the upper-right, select the radio button for Delete Assignment(s) and then click Delete.
Firewall-friendly video clip: https://api.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=FE11AC1492684DD79F1A71308A2A10E8
Streaming-friendly/YouTube video clip: https://youtu.be/hTb0qBAvZ2I
Sirius Tools Tutorial forthcoming in mid-August.
Profile icon: Students use to create an image avatar
Courses tab: View current assignments
Courses tab: Switch between classes
Assignments tab
Reports tab
Students access their most recently assigned work on their Dashboard.
Or they can choose to navigate to the Assignments tab.
The Assignments screen offers opportunities to view assignments that are:
Current
Due today
Closed (no longer available for student access)
Graded (auto-scored or teacher graded)
Note: All content—Lessons, STAAR practice, Diagnostic, Cumulative Practice, post test, and final practice tests—is principally auto-scored. Depending on the program and content, there may be some open-response items that require teachers to evaluate and score before releasing scores for reporting.
Students begin work on activities by clicking the Start button.
Remind students to carefully review instructions and then click the Next button.
Students reply to questions by selecting the correct answer or interacting on screen using Sirius tools, and then by clicking Next.
Students use the Go To button at the bottom-center of the screen to navigate among items, or to view items they have not completed or flagged in the slide tray item navigator.
Students flag items that they would like to return to later in their session.
Note: Students doing assigned computer-scored STAAR practice work—done in practice mode—will have the opportunity to receive feedback based on their first attempted response. They can then Try Again, Show Hint, View Sample Answer, or Show Correct Answer. There are some variations on feedback that are specific to programs and item types, and students are required to try submitting answers before more feedback is given.6. Most often, when students have answered all questions, they click the Submit button upon completion of their work. In some practice assignments, they may be instructed to save their unfinished work for later by clicking the Save for Later button.
Firewall-friendly video clip: https://publisher.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=B77A5640EE6A4C5FAB34657661CF25B7
More powerful reporting awaits in the Reports tab.
To view reports, you can:
Click the Reports tab.
Select a Course or Standards Report by clicking the View Report button associated with a class.
NOTES:
- Please note that automatic report generation for teachers and administrators requires the teacher to click at least one of the View Report buttons in either Course or Standards reports in order to initiate our report compilation job routine.
- Reports refresh twice weekly and are available for:
- Teachers on Thursday and Saturday mornings
- School Administrators on Friday and Saturday mornings
- District Administrators on Saturday and Monday mornings
- Assignment scorecard reports are available in real time, including performance scores, item analysis, engagement, and standards raw data.
Please see our Reports Cadence Announcement for more information.
Click the first-row caret to display contents.
Content will display in rows according to content type within the course report.
To access Student Performance reports, click the Details link in the header of the right column.
You’ll land on the performance report by default. You can also access the Usage and Engagement reports from this screen.
Note: If you are actively sending scores to reports, it is important to click VIEW REPORT—a one time task!—for each Sirius class. That action initiates reports to build automatically moving forward during the duration of your class. You can click VIEW REPORT for either Course or Standards to trigger automatic report compilation for your class.
You have the same ability to examine an individual student’s usage reports by clicking the Usage (Minutes) button from the Class Detail (by Student) screen in both Course Reports and Standards Reports.
Let’s review the main opportunities that you’ll have to view your students’ Engagement based on their work on activities.
Notes:
Teachers can now hide columns in the Details view of reports if you would like to do a finer comparison of data in those columns.
To utilize, click the Hide Columns button in the upper-right of your report screen and then select the checkboxes next to the columns you would like to hide, and then the Hide Columns button on the pop-up.
Note: See our more in-depth Sirius Online: Teacher Reports for more information.
Direct link: https://publisher.content2classroom.com/api/publicRedirectToResource?contentItemId=95D3029F2A404F03BFF32F5BBBE08BF4
A simple, powerful, and useful feature of the Standards Report provides teachers with the ability to make quick assignments based on a student’s performance against standards directly from the report.
Steps
1. Click the View link in the Details column.
2. On the Details screen, click View to see all the assignments that relate to the standard.
There are multiple assignments that could be assigned containing this specific standard:
Note the Item Level Scores and Assignment Level Scores toggle that allows you to view by item or assignment
4. Click Related Assignments (above) and you’ll navigate to the scorecard’s Related Assignments screen.
This button is your bridge to the scorecard and its data.
5. Be sure to use the breadcrumb navigation at the top of the screen to return to your report after you’ve completed your review.
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; and 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 is 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.
Within each general step, you’ll encounter the following instructional flow stages that are intended to be cyclical:
Diagnose
Analyze
Plan
Teach
Practice
Reteach
Assess
For more information, see the Instructional Flow Overview document in our Knowledge Base at https://sirius4learning.zohodesk.com/portal/en/kb/articles/instructional-flow-overview-10-5-2022.
Any teacher or administrator at a rostered district or school using Clever, ClassLink, or EdLink can now quickly create special pullout sessions or “non-SIS-based classes” using new tools available in Sirius Online. These classes may be set up to help your district or school meet the demands of Accelerated Instruction and the use of tutors.
Teachers can add pullout classes for themselves (in addition to administrators creating them) by following these steps:
Type in the following information:
Once the class has been created, you can add students by clicking the Add Existing Student button.
Search for and add each student who should be added to your class.
Confirm your final list of students on the Roster Screen to be sure all have been added.
Note: Co-teachers or tutors can be added using the co-teacher access code via self-registration if they are not included in the district or school data.
Activate the Active Classes pulldown in the upper-right and then choose Archived Classes.
Your past archived class reports will appear. You can navigate through Course and Standards reports as you do through current active class reports.
You may have integrated Sirius into your LMS when you first set up your Sirius programs for use by students and teachers. What are the advantages? Which strategies can we use to optimize the use of Sirius programs within your LMS?
Some STAAR tests require calculators and districts must ensure that students have access to a calculator. Districts may provide calculating devices or students may bring them from home. Districts can satisfy this requirement by providing students with:
a handheld graphing calculator
a graphing calculator application
the graphing calculator tool included in the STAAR online testing platform
The STAAR® Online Testing Platform (SOTP) provides three different calculators. The calculators and related STAAR tests are listed below:
Graphing calculator: Grade 8 Math and Algebra (optional for Biology)
Scientific calculator: Grade 8 Science & Biology (1 calculator to 5 students)
Four-function calculator: Grades 3–7 Math and Grade 5 Science (eligible students only)
Sirius Online supports the same calculators as the SOTP via the tool bar.
However, instead of emulating the SOTP calculators, Sirius Online uses Desmos STAAR-approved calculators, a free and popular online application. Sirius uses modified versions that are approved for use on the STAAR tests, whether administered in print or online.
Within STAAR tests, Desmos is commonly used on iPads or on separate Chromebooks that can be used offline (no internet access) or in kiosk mode, preventing access to other applications. To learn more see: https://www.desmos.com/test-mode.
Note: Desmos STAAR-test calculators differ from the standard Desmos calculators available on app stores or at Desmos.com.
Sirius makes it easy for students to use Desmos calculators during practice. However, students can also use a handheld calculator. If students use Desmos in Sirius Online all year long, we recommend that schools make Desmos available for the actual STAAR test. As recommended by TEA, this helps to ensure that students are familiar with the calculator they are expected to use on the actual STAAR test.
For more information, please see:
https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/2019-20%20STAAR%20Calculator%20Policy_Final.pdf
Basic calculator: https://www.desmos.com/testing/texas/fourfunction
Scientific calculator: https://www.desmos.com/testing/texas/scientific
Graphing calculator: https://www.desmos.com/testing/texas/graphing
Grade 8 Science, Biology: Four Function Calculator
Grade 8 Science, Biology: Scientific Calculator
Grade 8 Science, Biology, Grade 8 Mathematics, Algebra I: Graphing Calculator
Support for Desmos calculators
Desmos Tutorials
Calculator tutorials are available at learn.desmos.com . Refer to the Desmos User Guide (English) to learn more about the calculator’s functionality. The Desmos User Guide is also available in Spanish and other languages.
Desmos Professional Learning
Desmos professional learning modules are designed to support teachers, schools, districts, and various organizations in using Desmos. Free events and webinars are also available: https://learn.desmos.com/professional-learning
Full-Version Desmos Calculators
A full version of the Desmos graphing calculator is available on their website. You can also download the calculator at the iOS or Android app stores for free. Once downloaded, you can use these apps without an internet connection. Districts can use the full version for instruction; however, the full version will not be available on the STAAR tests. For information on using Desmos in classroom activities, visit:
http://learn.desmos.com/activities