If you see an asterisk (*) in your reports, first please check the module status in 'Assessments' section of the platform. An asterisk usually indicates that the student hasn't completed the module in which case the module will show as 'Pending'.
If you have a missing score and the module status is 'In Progress' this can be for various reasons. It may be that the assessment has been partially completed but the session was interrupted. The student could have accidentally clicked on the module and begun the practice questions, or the module results have not returned to us automatically. The student will see a warning message at the end of the module advising them to let the teacher know there if there has been a problem saving and returning the module results to us automatically.
What can cause a missing score?
Sometimes, despite the status for all modules showing as 'Completed' in the Assessments section of the platform, you might find a score has not generated and instead you are presented with an asterisk (*). Here we will cover the likely scenarios when this can happen.
First, it's important to understand the distinction between modules and sections within the assessment. There are 5 modules, and each module (excluding spelling) has multiple sections making up the module. In our Core package, you have access only to module level scores. For the Core package you can see the scores at module and section level.
The most common reasons you will see an asterisk instead of a score are below for you:
Developed Ability Module
This module includes the Picture Vocabulary and the Non-Verbal sections. The Non-Verbal section requires the student to successfully complete some example items before they can progress to the actual assessment items. This is because if they don't understand the activity, they will score 0 for the section and the overall module results will be inaccurate. Failure to answer the example items correctly will result in a missing Non-Verbal section score and hence a missing Developed Ability module score.
Arithmetic Module
The sections in this module come in the following order: addition, then subtraction, multiplication and division. If the student is not getting many right, stopping rules may cause the assessment to exit without presenting any items in one or more of the later categories. An Arithmetic module score will be present in this case but if have the Plus package you may notice that some of the later section scores are missing.
Reading Module
This module requires the student to achieve an average age equivalent score of 4 or more on the first two sections (Word Recognition and Word Decoding) in order to be presented with the Comprehension section. Failure to achieve a high enough score in these first sections will result in a missing Comprehension section score that you may notice if you have the Plus Package. If a student hasn't been presented with the Comprehension section, they will be credited with the minimum Comprehension score in the calculation of the composite Reading score.
What should you do about missing scores?
The action you take will depend on the scenario and the student.
- You can choose to simply use the scores you have available to support with your planning for that student (in most cases, a missing score indicates a lower ability in that area).
- You could have the student retake the module where you have missing scores (especially where you don't feel the missing score is representative of their ability). Please note that retakes are at modular level and will overwrite all scores for the entire module. It is not possible for the student just to retake one or more sections of a module.
- If the missing score is due to not progressing past the Non-Verbal example questions of the Developed Ability module, we strongly recommend explaining the format of these questions to the student in advance of a re-take. Please see the article below for more information.
Detailed Guides and Supporting Information
Preparing for the Developed Ability module (Non-Verbal section)
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