Viewing/Editing School Network Benchmarks

Several of the Star reports use cut scores, benchmarks and benchmark structures to identify students who are having difficulty.

A cut score is a Percentile Rank (PR) score. Cut scores that are chosen as targets for students to meet or surpass are benchmarks.

School network benchmarks are targets that apply to every student in a school network. The school network benchmark applies to all schools and years and is always used for longitudinal reporting.

1. On the Targets & Benchmarks page, select the product you want to view/edit benchmarks for . (The current default benchmark for the selected product will appear below the drop-down list.)
   
2. Select the School Network tab .
3. On the School Network tab, you can see the current settings for the school network benchmark structure and the school network cut scores for the selected product.
   
   

   The benchmark structure is the number of categories, the category names and the minimum proficiency level chosen. There are 5 default categories but the number of categories in the structure can be changed; you can have just 2 categories or up to 5 categories.

4. Select Edit Benchmark Structure to edit the school network benchmark structure.
   
   1. In the pop-up window, use the drop-down list to choose how many categories you want in the benchmark structure (the default is 5, but you can have 2–5 categories).
      
   2. You can change the names of the categories from their default by typing them in the appropriate fields .
      
      
   3. Select one of the categories as the minimum proficiency level you want students in the school network to reach . You cannot use the lowest level as the minimum.
   4. Once you have made your changes, select Save . You can also select Default to restore the original default settings (5 categories: Above Benchmark, At Benchmark, On Watch, Intervention and Urgent Intervention, with At Benchmark as the minimum proficiency level), or Cancel to close the pop-up window without saving your changes.
5. Select Edit Cut Scores to change the PR values of the cut score categories.
   
   
6. In the Edit School Network Cut Scores pop-up window, use the drop-down list under a category to set the cut score value for that category.
   
   
   • The PR values must increase from left to right.
   • The numbers you enter are the upper limit for a category; the lower limit is calculated as the top value of the prior category plus 1. For example, if you had five categories and the upper limit of the fourth one (At Benchmark) was set to 63 PR, Above Benchmark would be set to Above 64 PR.
   • You do not have to enter an upper limit for the rightmost category (it is calculated based on the value of the next-highest category).
   Each set of school network benchmark categories has default PR values: [ open screen-readable version in new window ]
   
   
7. Once you have set the cut scores, select Save , or select Cancel to close the pop-up window without saving your changes.
   
   

   Changes to benchmark structures or cut scores will not take effect until the next school day.

   If cut scores are changed, all activities (such as past assessments) will be recategorised.

   Select Benchmark Guidance at the top of the page for further guidance.