“Placement” is the first experience students will have when they start using My Math Academy or My Reading Academy. There is nothing that Teachers need to do to get their students into Placement or initiate the Placement Test other than getting them started using the programs.
Each year, students in pre-K through 5th grade will initially work on a series of short, adaptive assessment activities to evaluate their abilities and understanding, with the programs automatically adjusting the questions’ level of difficulty based on each student’s real-time performance. There is a maximum number of activities that scales up for higher grade levels, but some students may get fewer activities if the program has a higher confidence level for the right place to start the student. Students just get one Placement Test at the beginning of each school year; they are not retested, but the programs are continually evaluating their work, adjusting their curriculum, and reporting on their progress.
Note: Pre-K students do have a short Placement test but do not get a Placement Report.
After these assessment activities, the programs place each student at the right level for them to start learning (erring on easy side at first). Follow this guide to understand more about the Student experience during Placement Tests.
- What Should Students Expect
- How to Check Your Students’ Placement Status
- How to View a Student’s Placement Report
- How Our Programs Adapt to Student Progress After Placement
What Should Students Expect
The initial Placement Test activities target the end of the prior grade’s knowledge and skills. We’ve designed the tests to efficiently gather sufficient evidence of each student’s prior knowledge to place them as accurately as possible within the curriculum without students enduring overly long test times. You can expect that testing times will be shorter for the lower grades than the higher grades.
Students often perceive these initial assessment activities differently. Some may report the experience was quite challenging if they were presented with a series of questions that stretched their current understanding. Others might say it was really easy if they quickly and confidently answered the initial questions correctly.
Teachers should not be concerned by this variance in perception among students. The programs are adaptive and will learn what each student needs and determine the “just right” level of challenge for each student.
We do recommend that teachers prepare students for their placement experience, reassuring them that it’s normal that activities may feel hard. Students won’t all get the same set of questions, as in a traditional test. The activities presented during this placement period are designed to help identify the individual strengths and areas for growth for each student, which includes challenging students with activities that are above their level.
In kid terms: the Placement Test is trying to “stump” them, so some questions should feel hard.
Fun tip: When you see Shapeys in lab coats, it indicates that students are about to enter Placement in My Math Academy, and when students select a tile on the My Reading Academy Hub that does not show the usual book cover or game title, it indicates they are entering Placement.
The following screenshots show the Hub where students will enter their Placement Tests.
Web Version of My Math Academy:
App version of My Math Academy:
Web Version of My Reading Academy:
Learn more and see additional examples of Placement Test activities here:
How to Check Your Students’ Placement Status
1. Log in to your Educator Center.
2. Click Dashboards at the top of the page, and then Progress in the drop-down menu.
3. In the Skills Progress Status section of the dashboard, there’s a chart showing you which skills each child Needs Support on, which are In Progress, and which are already Completed.
In the Placement Status column on the far right, you may see these four statuses:
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See Report: This link indicates the student has finished the Placement Test AND gone to the program hub where recommended lesson are presented to the student. Clicking the See Report link will take you directly to that student's Placement Report.
- Completed: Student has completed the Placement Test but the Placement Report has not yet been generated (reports are next day, up to 24 hours).
- In Progress: Student is working on the Placement Test or has not yet returned to the program hub after the test.
- Not Started: Student has not started the Placement Test.
Note: The dashboard status will continue to display the "Completed" status until the student starts a new activity after Placement. If your student has completed the Placement Test but hasn’t started any other activity after the test, have them do that as soon as possible.
How to View a Student’s Placement Report
Note: It may take up to 24 hours after a student completes the Placement Test for the Placement Report to be available to download and print. So, you should expect to see the Report the day after the Test was completed.
- Click the See Report link in the Skills Progress Status chart for any student.
- On the Print Reports pop-up, select (1) a grade, (2) an individual student or All Students (that option can be a bit overwhelming), and (3) Placement Report. Then click the blue View Report button.
- Your web browser should open a new tab for the report, which is quite detailed. At the top, you'll see a bar graph showing the student’s current grade-readiness. The next section shows the student’s placement scores by domain (for this first grade math student: Algebraic Reasoning, Geometry, Measurement and Data, Number and Operations, etc.). This is followed by a Placement Summary for the student.
- The bottom section of the report details What's Next for the student, detailing the skills they will be working on and the standards that apply to them.
- You can print the report the way you would any other web page. On most browsers, Print is an option from the File menu.
How Our Programs Adapt to Student Progress After Placement
Placement is not the only time that My Math Academy or My Reading Academy assesses and adapts to student skills. In fact, our programs continue to adapt to the student’s level, in real time, whenever students are engaged in any learning activities, throughout their use of the My Math Academy or My Reading Academy.
Within the adaptive system powering these programs, it is important for students to demonstrate full mastery of all skills and concepts before moving on to next-level activities to make sure they are not missing something that may prove problematic later if not fully mastered early on. As the more advanced students demonstrate sufficient levels of mastery of the curriculum, they will move ahead more rapidly and begin to feel more challenged by new activities.
If at any point an activity is too challenging, the program will provide scaffolding and feedback to support the student’s learning needs. If the student continues to struggle, the program will provide future learning activities at an easier level to ensure they are building the underlying, foundational skills they need to master the full curriculum.
If a more advanced student is frustrated that activities are too easy, teachers sometimes feel like there’s a problem and want to find a way to “fast track” the student, skipping activities or resetting the Placement Test so they can try again to move ahead. Students cannot skip activities,
Accelerate Mode
While students cannot skip activities, we developed a new Accelerate Mode that’s now built into our programs for the 2024-2025 school year. Accelerate Mode is designed to enhance student efficacy and advancement by accelerating the learning activities for students who demonstrate their skills consistently. When a student enters Accelerate Mode, they will be able to skip direct instruction within the activities, allowing them to more quickly demonstrate their advanced knowledge and skills, complete more activities, and move forward in the curriculum more rapidly.
A student is flagged for Accelerate Mode when the student successfully passes four assessment activities in a row. Starting the next day, the student will be recommended assessment level activities and will receive scaffolding as needed. If the student does not pass the assessment, they will move back to Standard Mode but will still have the opportunity to re-enter Accelerate Mode by passing four more assessments in a row.
Helpful Resources:
- Student Placement Reports: Tips and Troubleshooting
- My Math Academy Placement Activities
- Are my students at the right level for My Math Academy?
- My Reading Academy Placement Activities
- Are my students at the right level for My Reading Academy?
- How does adaptability work?