For an assessment to produce valuable information about students’ abilities, it needs to be appropriately targeted to uncover what students can do and understand, as well as what they cannot yet do and understand.
So, when a student responds correctly to approximately 50% of questions, the test is well targeted and provides the maximum information about the skills a student is demonstrating, and those they are still developing.
There is no need to choose a test when using PAIS Adaptive. Students' entry testlets – the first block of items the student sees – are automatically assigned according to their estimated abilities. If a student previously completed a PAIS test in the same learning area within the preceding two years, that scale score is used to determine a suitably difficult starting point.
In some cases, for example, where a student has not previously completed a PAIS test, but you know their ability is relatively high or low compared with the 'average' for the year level, you may decide to override the automatically assigned entry level:
- Select the student’s name from the Students page
- Click Tests
- Click Edit starting level next to the assigned PAIS Adaptive test
For reference, the default PAIS Adaptive entry levels for each year level are listed below:
- Level 1: foundation, year 1
- Level 2: year 2
- Level 3: year 3, year 4
- Level 4: year 5, year 6
- Level 5: year 7, year 8
- Level 6: year 9, year 10
- Level 7: year 11, year 12, year 13