How do I create an item-based assessment?

In Mastery Connect, you can create assessments using items from available item banks. Teachers can create item-based formative assessments and admins can create item-based formative and benchmark assessments.

Assessments can align to single or multiple standards and can be kept private, shared with your school, or across your district.

In the Analysis tab of the Assessment Editor,  you can view an analysis of the assessment's balance, rigor, and question distribution based on metadata, and view a detailed answer key for the items in the assessment.

If your district has purchased the Mastery Item Bank (MIB) or Mastery Item Bank Supplemental (MIBS) item banks, you can flag items that require review for issues like typos, factual errors, standard misalignment, bias, or scoring issues in the Assessment Editor.

Note: Admins can designate item-based assessments as District Approved assessments

How do I create an item-based assessment?

How do I create an item-based assessment?

1. View Assessment Editor

Enter and save assessment details for an item-based Formative assessment. If you are a Mastery Connect admin, you can also create an item-based Benchmark assessment. When you click the save button for the assessment details, the Assessment Editor displays.
View Assessment Editor

2. Add Items

To add items to the assessment, click the Add Item button.
Add Items

3. Select Item Source

To add an item from an item bank, click the Add from Item Bank link. To create a new item, click the Author New Item link.
Select Item Source

4. Enter Search Text

To search for a specific item, enter the item name or number in the Search field
Enter Search Text

5. Select Items Randomly

To select items randomly, click the Select Randomly link.
Select Items Randomly

6. Filter List Items

The Item Organizer displays all items that align with the assessment. To filter the list, click the Filter Items button.
Filter List Items

7. Select Filters

In the Filter tray, select filtering options.
Select Filters

8. Sort Items and Select Sorting Method

To sort items in the Item Organizer, click the Sort icon. Then, select a sorting method from the list.
Sort Items and Select Sorting Method

9. Add Item

To select an item, click the Add icon.
Add Item

10. Add Selected Items to Assessment

To add selected items to the assessment, click the Add Items button.
Add Selected Items to Assessment

11. Flag Item

To flag items from the Mastery Item Bank or Mastery Item Bank Supplemental for review, click the Flag icon.
Flag Item

12. Edit Mastery Levels

To edit mastery levels for the assessment, click the Scoring button.
Edit Mastery Levels

13. Enter Mastery Levels

Enter lower boundary percentages for the Mastery and Near Mastery levels in the fields. To edit mastery levels for each standard in a multi-standard assessment enter the lower point boundary for mastery and near mastery in the field for each standard.
Enter Mastery Levels

14. Save New Mastery levels

To save the new mastery levels, click the Save button.
Save New Mastery levels

15. Reset Default Levels

To return to the default mastery levels for your district, click the Defaults button.
Reset Default Levels

16. Edit Assessment Settings

To edit assessment settings, click the Settings button.
Edit Assessment Settings

17. Enter Title and Description

To edit the assessment title or description, enter new text in the appropriate fields.
Enter Title and Description

18. Select Privacy Settings

To change privacy settings for the assessment, click the Privacy drop-down menu.
Select Privacy Settings

19. Select Assessment Type

District Admins can create both Formative and Benchmark assessments. If the Assessment Type menu displays, to change the assessment type, click a radio button.
Select Assessment Type

20. Create District Approved Assessment

District Admins can designate both benchmark and formative assessments as District Approved assessments. To designate an assessment as a District Approved assessment, click the District Approved toggle on.
Create District Approved Assessment

21. Save Changes

To save changes to Settings, click the Save button.
Save Changes

22. Create Assessment

To create the assessment, click the Create Assessment button.
Create Assessment

23. Save Assessment as Draft

To save the assessment as a draft, click the Exit button.
Save Assessment as Draft

24. Delete Assessment

To delete the assessment, click the More button. Then, click the Delete link.
Delete Assessment
This guide covered how to create an item-based assessment in Mastery Connect.

Note: If your assessment includes at least one item from the Mastery Item Bank, you can use the Quick Reassess feature after scoring to generate a new, automatically aligned reassessment. This option is available for both formative and benchmark assessments.

Learn more about using the Quick Reassess feature.