This lesson will guide you through setting up an online assessment using the Illuminate Student Portal. This process requires you to select the group of students who need to see the assessment. Students must have active Portal accounts to access their assessments.
If you want students to access assessments without using the Student Portal, see the guide Online Testing Setup Using a Quick Code.
Before You Begin
Your students will need the following information to access their online assessments:
- A link to your district's Portal website (e.g. yourdistrict.illuminatehc.com).
- A Student Portal Username and Password.

- Click Assessments.
- Select View Assessments.
- Click the title of your assessment to open it.

- Select Administration.
- Click Online Testing.

1. Click + Test in Portal to create a testing session.

This page is where you will select the dates and times of access to the assessment and the students who have access to the test.
- Testing Window Start and End Dates and Times: This is the entire window of availability for this test in the Portal. By default, the test will be available from the start date and time through the end date and time, including out of school hours and weekends.
- Academic Year: You can choose a certain Academic Year to choose all students rostered in that year.
- Grade Level: You can choose an entire Grade Level to choose all students in that grade at the site you have access to.
- Site: You can assign the test to an entire site. District or school options will be determined by what sites you have access to.
- User: If you choose a school site, you can then drilldown to a specific user to choose all students that are rostered to that user.
- Departments: If your district includes department data in your course information, you could assign to any student with a class in that department.
- Course: Select the course you would like to assign this test to.
- Section: Allows you to choose which class section or period should have access to the test. You must choose a school site to have access to the class sections.
- Students: All students who meet the other criteria you've selected will be chosen by default. In order to pick individual students, you will need to choose a user first.
- Student Count: The total number of students selected.
- When finished, click Save.
Note: Teachers will only have access to their site of affiliation and the students rostered to them. Teachers can choose the academic year, grade level, department (if available), course, and sections, but all of their rostered students will show without any options selected.

- A roster will appear in the list of Active Administrations.
- Your students will now see the assessment when they log into their Portal accounts.

The Online Testing page displays the following information:
- Delete: Allows you to delete the roster and removes it from Active Administrations. Note: Please do not delete existing rosters or you will not need to administer this test online. Any roster can be edited to make the appropriate corrections.
- Edit: Navigates you to the page to edit your roster settings.
- Created by: Indicates the user who created the online testing roster.
- Date Window: Displays the time period the assessment is available.
- Time Window: Displays All Day or a Daily Window.
- Duration: Displays a time limit if added to the roster.
- Status: Displays the status of the roster (Pending, Current, Passed).
- Site Info: Displays Academic Year, Grade Level, School Site, and User settings selected.
- Course Info: Displays Department, Course, and Section settings selected.
- Student Info/Tools: Displays the number of students assigned to take the test online and gives you access to the Assessment Panel (Live Proctoring).
- Auth Info: Displays password you created under Administration Settings - Availability if applicable.
- Deleted Administrations: Allows you to view rosters you have deleted.
Assessment Settings Overview

The settings can be customized to best fit the needs of your students. Most settings default to the most common settings that will automatically set you up for success. However, you have the option to change the following:
- Administration Settings determines when and how they will take the test.
- Tool Settings determines which tools students will have access to while they take the assessment.
- Assessment Review Settings determines when and how they will see their results after finishing the test.
Select Show to open Online Testing - Administration Settings. These settings allow you to customize when in the administration window this test is available as well as if this test requires a secure testing environment. You can also add an inline test booklet for hybrid or flexible assessments so the test booklet does not have to be printed out.
-
Time of Day Window:
- All Day: The assessment is available all day throughout the Testing Window Start and End Dates.
- Daily Window: The assessment is available for a certain window of time throughout the Testing Window Start and End Dates.
- Time Duration: Sets a time limit for the student assessment. Default value: 0.
- Student Pauses: Allows students to pause the assessment in progress for a quick break (e.g. restroom break, recess). Default value: 3.
-
CR Input Method (Constructed Response):
- Online Entry: Students will see a box to type their answers.
- Written: Disables online testing boxes so students cannot type their answers.
-
Availability:
- Open: Students can access the assessment instantly.
- Password: Requires students to enter a password the first time students access the assessment. The password is not required if they continue the test in another testing session.
-
Browser:
- Any Browser / Device: Students can access the assessment on any browser or device.
- Lockdown Browser Only: Students must access the assessment using a Lockdown Browser application installed on their devices. This prevents students from opening new tabs while logged into the assessment.
- Test Booklet (Hybrid and Flexible Assessments Only): Select the test booklet students need to see alongside their online bubble sheet.
-
Randomize Answer Choices (Itembank Assessments Only):
- Normal Choice Order: Displays the answer choices in the default order outlined by the answer key.
- Randomize Choice Order: Displays shuffled answer choices for each question. The question order remains the same based on the answer key.
Locked Browser Only The browser feature is permission-based and will only be seen on the screen if enabled by a System Administrator. In order to use this feature, specific set up is required. To learn more about our Locked Browser, visit Enabling Locked Browsers for Online Testing.
Select Show to open Online Testing Tool Settings. These settings provide students with tools to assist in answering questions during the assessment.

Each tool has a variety of options on how it is assigned to students to utilize during the assessment:
- By default, Itembank items are set to Use Item Settings.
- Enable will turn on the tool and make it available to use for all items.
- Disable will turn off the tool and it will not be made available, even if the tool is part of the item setting.
- By default, the Digital Notepad and Strikethrough are available for students in their toolbar during the assessment.
To learn more about the online testing tools, see the guide Online Testing Tools Library.
What does Use Item Setting mean? When using content item banks to build your assessments, the authors have previously selected tools to be used for the item. By default, if items are tied to a specific tool, they are automatically turned on throughout the assessment. If you select Enable, you are turning that tool on for every item on the assessment.
Select Show to open Assessment Review Settings. An overview of the student's performance on this assessment will be available in the Student Portal. However, these settings allow you to determine if students will be able to review the actual test (questions or booklet) along with their answer choices. By default, these are set to No.

By default, these options are set to No. Use the guide Enable Assessment Review Settings to learn more.
Before administering the assessment, take a peek from the student's perspective! Preview Assessment is a great way to see the settings you have enabled and determine if they are what you want your students to experience.
See the guide Preview an Online Assessment to learn more.
Next Steps
Get to know our progressing monitoring tools while administering the assessment in Monitoring Progress on Online Assessments and Assessment Panel or Live Proctoring.
For additional resources on Online Testing, see the Illuminate U! lesson: U350 Online Testing Administration.
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