Creating an Item Bank Assessment – DnA & ISE

The Item Bank is a repository of prebuilt and user-built assessment questions that can be accessed, used, and added to by users across the district, providing a flexible tool that users can draw upon to mix and match items to create assessments. Item Bank assessments can be created by filtering existing items by linked standards, item type, grade level, subject, etc., adding the desired items, and creating new items from scratch to fill any gaps. This lesson walks through how to create an Item Bank assessment.

Where to Start

Select Assessments.
Select Create Assessment.

Select the Item Bank assessment tile.

Create a New Assessment

Enter an Assessment Name into the text box.
Select Create.

The top navigation bar of the Item Bank assessment creation screen is available throughout the creation process, and offers various navigation and settings options.

The top Item Bank assessment creation bar, with Exit labeled as step 1, the assessment title labeled as step 2, Description labeled as step 3, Tags labeled as step 4, Browse Items labeled as step 5, Built Assessment labeled as step 6, the Help icon labeled as step 7, the Settings gear labeled as step 8, the Materials icon labeled as step 9, the Preview icon labeled as step 10, Create Item labeled as step 11, Done labeled as step 12, and the Assessment Summary tab labeled as step 13.

Select Exit at any time to leave the assessment creation screen, and return to the Item Bank Browse page.

Until published, Item Bank assessments are considered to be unpublished, or a draft. If the assessment creation screen is exited before publishing, the assessment draft can be found in View Assessments, under Draft Item Bank Assessments.

Select within the assessment Title field to edit the assessment title.
Select + Description to type an assessment description.
Select + Tags to open the Assessment Settings window to the Tags section. View the Assessment Settings section below to learn more about adding tags.
Select the Browse Items tab to view and add already created items to the assessment.
Select the Build Assessment tab to view the items that have been added to the assessment, and alter item settings.
Select the Help icon to open the Item Bank help documentation in a new web browser tab.
Select the Settings gear icon to open the Assessment Settings window. View the Assessment Settings section below to learn more about this menu.
Select the Materials icon to link files from your device to the assessment. View Upload Materials to an Assessment to learn more.
Select the Preview icon to view a preview of the assessment as it is currently set up.
Select Create Item to create an item from scratch to add to the assessment. View the Item Bank Items manual to learn more about creating new items.
Select Done to publish, save, or discard the assessment. View the Publishing Assessments section below to learn more.
The Assessment Summary tab at the bottom of the screen displays the number of items added to the assessment, and provides a breakdown of the included standards, item types, range of depth of knowledge, and linked passages.

Browse Items

Unless an assessment requires many new items to be created, most Item Bank assessments will be made up of already created items within a district's different Item Banks. The Browse Items tab allows users to apply filters to view relevant items, view item details and previews, and add items to the assessment being created.

Select the Browse Items tab.
The Browse Items screen is split in two. The left-hand side of the screen displays the Filters menu.
The right-hand side of the screen displays the list of items that match the currently selected filters, including item details, a preview of each item, and the option to add items to the assessment.

Filters

The default filters are Standard, Bank, and Item Type. Further filtering options can be enabled, allowing users to drill down to a list of items that match the requirements of the assessment being built.

Select the checkbox next to a filter to enable that filter.
- The list of items to the right updates in real time as filters are selected and deselected.
- Filters under the same heading utilize an OR function. For example, if the filters for the Ordering and Charting Item Types, the items that appear can be and Ordering type OR a Charting type.
- Filters under separate headings utilize an AND function. For example, the filters selected in the image above require items to be linked to the CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1 standard AND to be saved within the My Items bank.
Use the Search field to quickly locate desired filters under headings that contain many filter options.
Filter headings containing many filter options will appear with a Show # More link, which can be selected to reveal all filter options. Select Show Less to hide the full filter list again.
Select Clear All to remove all selected filters.
Select the Settings gear to enable further filter options.
Under Reorder Filters, the currently enabled filters appear in a list. Select the 6-dot icon for any filter and drag to reorder how filter headings appear in the Filters menu.
The default filters cannot be removed, but any optionally enabled filters can be removed from the Filters menu by selecting X.
Select further optional filter headings to enable those filter options in the Filters menu. Available filters include Assessment Target, Contains Passage, Copyright Owner, Difficulty, Draft Items, Item In Use, Language, Locked Item, Original Author, Original Source, Recently Added, Response Language, Revised Bloom's Taxonomy, and various national testing filters.
Select Add Filter to add the selected optional filter to Filters menu list.
Select Back to Filters to leave the Settings menu and return to the Filters menu.

Standards

Due to the wide array of standards used by instructors creating items and assessments, the Standard filter features a list of Base Standards. The Base Standards are a short list of standards that are unique to each user, so that the most frequently used standards are easily accessible as filters, while still allowing the flexibility to search and utilize less frequently used standards as the need arises.

The list of currently selected Base Standards appears under the Standard filter header.
Select Edit Base Standards to add and remove standards that appear in the Base Standards list for item filtering.

Items can be linked to multiple different standards, and all linked standards will display on the Browse Items tab. However, when an item is added to an assessment, only the standards included in the Base Standards list will carry over with that item and to the assessment as a whole. This helps to keep assessments focused on a certain standards set from becoming cluttered with tangential standards that carry over from each item. Standards that should be linked to the assessment being built, and the items within it, should be included in the list of Base Standards, or otherwise they will need to be re-added to items manually.

The My Standards window, with Providers labeled as step 3, Subjects labeled as step 4, Grade Levels labeled as step 5, the list of filtered standards labeled as step 6, the Filter search bar labeled as step 7, the standard checkbox labeled as step 8, Clear All labeled as step 9, the X button labeled as step 10, and Done labeled as step 11.

The My Standards window appears. To search standards to add to the Base Standards list, select Providers. Select at least one provider from the list.
- Standard providers are determined by district. If a standard provider is missing, contact a system administrator to enable those standards for the district.
Select Subjects. Select at least one subject from the list.
Select Grade Levels. Select at least one grade level from the list.

At least one provider, subject, and grade level must be selected before standards will appear. More than one provider, subject, and/or grade level can be selected at one time to display all relevant standards at once. Standards may also be added to the Selected Standards list from one set of filters, those filters can be cleared, and further standards can be added from a different set of filters.

A list of standards will appear, according to the provider, subject, and grade level filters that were applied.
Use the Filter search bar to search specific standards or keywords.
Select the grey circle next to a standard to add it to the Selected Standards list on the right.

It is recommended to select specific standards to add to the Base Standards list, rather than clusters or domains, since items are usually linked to specific standards, and not parent standards. For example, select 8.EE.A.1 instead of 8.EE.A or 8.EE.

Select Clear All to remove all of the Selected Standards.
Select the X next to any standard to remove it from the Selected Standards list.
Select Done to save the new list of Base Standards.

Add Items

Once the desired filters have been selected, the filtered list of items appears on right-hand side of the Browse screen.

An example Browse Items list, with the Search Items icon labeled as step 1, the View options labeled as step 2, an example Passage labeled as step 3, the View # Items button labeled as step 4, Show More labeled as step 5, Fullscreen labeled as step 6, the Standards and tags linked to the item labeled as step 7, the administration options labeled as step 8, the lock toggle labeled as step 9, the Add Item button labeled as step 10, and the 3-dot menu labeled as step 11.

Select the Search Items magnifying glass icon to search for items or passages by their ID number.
Select the desired View layout to view an Expanded or Collapse View of the item list.
Items that fall under the applied filtering and are also linked to a passage will appear as a Passage item, with the number of filtered items in parentheses.
Select the View # Items button on a Passage to view the linked items. This will open a popup screen with the full passage displayed on the left-hand side, and the linked items displayed on the right-hand side. These items and passages can be added to the assessment from this screen.
Select Show More to expand the Passage or Item to view further details.
Select Fullscreen to view the Passage or Item in a fullscreen popup window.
Linked standards and item tags appear along the top of each item. Select # Standards to view the names and descriptions of the standards linked to the item.
The administration icon displays if the item can be administered on both paper and web (as pictured above), or as web only, which depicts only the monitor screen icon.
The lock toggle displays if the item is locked, and allows users with permission to lock the item.
Select + Add Item to add the item to the assessment. Once selected, this button turns green, with a checkmark and Item Added text.
Select the 3-dot menu to view further item options.
- Edit Item - The Edit Item option only appears for items the user has created, and for items the user has permission to edit.
- Duplicate Item - Duplicating an item allows the user to create a new duplicate of the item, and then make edits and changes as desired, without affecting the original item.
- Delete Item - The Delete Item option only appears for items the user has created, and for items the user has permission to delete.
- Report an Issue - This option displays for prebuilt items provided by Renaissance Learning, and allows users to give feedback on items that may contain issues, such as typos or incorrect tags or standards.

Note that item edits will not push to any assessment that has at least one student that has started the assessment. Assessments containing student data must be duplicated in order to revise the included items.

Build Mode

The Build Assessment tab provides a view of the items that have been added to the assessment, with tools to alter item settings, and to rearrange items as desired.

An example assessment Build Assessment mode, with the Build Assessment tab labeled as step 1, the View options labeled as step 2, Standards labeled as step 3, Question Groups labeled as step 4, the Lock toggle labeled as step 5, Weight labeled as step 6, Scoring labeled as step 7, the 3-dot menu labeled as step 8, the 6-dot icon labeled as step 9, and the checkbox labeled as step 10.

Select the Build Assessment tab. The current number of items added to the assessment appears in an orange bubble above this tab.
Select the different View icons to adjust the item layout.
Select + Standards to view and add linked standards to that item.
Select + Question Groups to add items to a premade grouping.
- If Question Groups have not been created, take a look at Adding Question Groups to Assessments to learn more.
Use the lock slider to lock that item.
- When an item is locked, it is only accessible to users with the permission Itembank - Lock, Unlock, and Use Locked items.
The item Weight can be adjusted as desired.
- Item weight can be adjusted after the assessment has been administered by completing the edits and re-scoring the assessment. To learn more about re-scoring, take a look at Re-score an Item Bank Assessment.
- should only be adjusted before an administration window is open for the assessment. Altering the item weight while an administration window is open does not adjust the item weight in reports for that administration.
If the item type supports Partial Credit, select the Scoring icon to adjust to scoring type.
- Partial Scoring is OFF by default, and needs to be manually enabled for each item.
- This cannot be altered after the assessment is Published.
- This does NOT retroactively affect any previously published or administered assessments.
- Take a look at Items Types: Overview and Best Practices for Using to view supported item types.
Use the 3-dot menu to Edit, Duplicate, or Delete the item, or score the item as Extra Credit.

Select and drag the 6-dot icon on an item to rearrange the order of items on the assessment.
Select one or more checkboxes next to items and select Remove to remove the selected items from the assessment.

Assessment Settings (Optional)

Select the Gear icon.
By default, the General tab will be open.
Use the dropdown menus to select tags for the following categories:
- Assessment Year
- Scope
- Subject
- Grade Levels
Use the calendar icon to select the First Date Administered.
Use the slider to Lock All Items.

To add Question Groups, take a look at Adding Question Groups to Assessments.

Publishing Assessments

The Done menu, with the Done button labeled as step 1, Publish labeled as step 2, Save Draft labeled as step 3, and Discard labeled as step 4.

Select Done when all items have been added.
Select Publish to make the assessment available for testing.
Select Save Draft to continue working on the assessment later.
Select Discard to delete the assessment.

Once an assessment is published, the Partial Scoring setting cannot be altered. An assessment must be duplicated and Partial Scoring changed there.

Next Steps

Want to learn more about the Question Types? Visit Item Bank Items to explore!

Ready to see what's next? Visit Item Bank Assessment Landing Page Overview to get started.