WHAT is SAM? - Northwood High School

WHAT is SAM? SAM stands for Scholastic Achievement Manager. Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) and Scholastic Reading Counts (SRC) are programs that are managed by SAM. The Scholastic Achievement Manager, SAM, is the learning management system for the Enterprise Edition Suite. SAM collects and organizes performance data students generate while using the Scholastic programs. SAM allows teachers and administrators to understand and implement data‐driven instruction. Media specialists can import new Reading Counts quizzes. Starting the Program and Logging In The Scholastic Achievement Manager, Scholastic Reading Inventory and Scholastic Reading Counts! Programs are installed on the classroom computer desktops. To access SAM, double click on the icon: Enter your username(as your computer login, ex: lmurphy and password, which is password; click Login. This will open your SAM Home Page which looks like this: WHAT is SRI? Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) helps educators assess student reading levels and monitor reading progress. SRI will help you identify struggling readers, plan for instruction, gauge the effectiveness of your curriculum, and demonstrate accountability. WHAT IS SRC?
SRC Motivate readers! Reading Counts! begins with great books! Students read fiction, nonfiction, and curriculum‐connected books based on their interests and Lexile® level. Students then take a computer‐generated quiz to test their comprehension. Hundreds of unique quizzes can be generated for each title. THE SAM SCREEN
Each SAM screen consists of three main areas: 1. The SmartBar is located along the left side of the screen; single‐ and double‐click to select different accounts. 2. Tabs and Headers provide one‐click access to the different types of SAM screens. The Header appears on every SAM screen so that you never get lost, and will always be able to: •
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Exit SAM. Get Help. Go to your Profile screen. Return to the SAM Home Page. Tabs are your access to the different functions in SAM. They allow you to: •
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Return to the Home Page. See Rosters or Profiles. View and run Reports. Find Resources. Search for Books. 3. The Main Display area displays the various data managed by SAM. The Main Display area varies based on the SmartBar selection and the Tab clicked. Note that Resources and Book Expert screens have slightly different attributes; the SmartBar is not active on these selections. MANAGING YOUR CLASSROOM
SAM is the central management component that maintains the information for all of the classes, students, and
groups using Scholastic programs. SAM is where you can access the appropriate Profile pages to organize your
classroom, view and maintain student information, track performance, and generate reports.
After your District and School Profiles are created, you should set up your classes next (this is a required step).
Then create your Groups, and create the Student Profiles last, as it is easier to associate students with classes and
groups if they are already in the system.
The Class Profile is the best way to view key information about any class. Just double-click the class name on the
SmartBar to display the Profile.
Each Profile contains several sections:
1. Basic Profile information at the top left.
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Manage Roster section with links to access windows for adding and editing Profiles and managing class
enrollment.
3. The
Usage Summary Table contains high-level information about Scholastic program usage.
4. Quick links to view Reports associated with this Profile.
5. The Programs table has links to program Settings and Grading Tools for each of the Scholastic programs
being used by this SAM account. There is also a link to Certificates for those programs that allow you to
print achievement certificates for your students.
ADDING A STUDENT TO A CLASS
There are a few different ways to add a student to a class.
From the Class Profile screen:
1. Click the Edit Class Profile link under Manage Roster. The Edit a Class window will open.
2. Click the Roster tab to display the class
roster.
3. Click the check boxes in the Select
Students table to select or de-elect
students for inclusion in the class.
4. When you are done, click Save to save
the changes and return to the Class
Profile. Or, click Cancel to close the Edit
a Class window without saving any
changes.
From a Student Profile window:
1. Double-click the student name on the SmartBar that you would like to add to the class. This will
open the Student Profile screen.
2. Under Manage Roster, click the Edit Student Profile link. This will open the Edit Student Profile
window, displaying the Profile tab.
3. Use the check boxes on the right side of
the window to select the class in which
to include the student.
4. When you are done, click Save to save
the changes and return to the Student
Profile. Or, click Cancel to close the
Edit a Class window without saving any
changes.
QUICK SEARCH FOR BOOKS The Book Expert's Quick Search allows you to use keywords, titles, or author names in Quick Search to search the Scholastic Reading Counts! Library for books and suggestions to help you address your curriculum needs. To use Quick Search: 1. From any screen in SAM, click the red Books tab. The Book Expert screen will display. 2. Enter a keyword in the Quick Search field, or choose a category from the Search by field to further narrow your search. 3. Click Go. Your results will automatically display on the Search Results screen. 4. You may click on the column headings to re‐sort the results by book/quiz title, author, Lexile level, reading level, Guided Reading Level (GRL), words, point value, genre, or number of copies in your library. If you click on a book title, the Book Info window will display, providing you with detailed information on the book. It is also where authorized users can adjust the Quiz point value for this book. 5. Use the check boxes to select (or deselect) book titles to include on your Custom Book List. To view your Custom List, click either the View Custom List button at the bottom of the screen, or click the Custom List tab above the table. Click here for information on Printing your Custom Book List. ADVANCED SEARCH FOR BOOKS 1. To open the Book Expert search screen, click the Books tab on any SAM screen. The Book Expert will open to the Advanced Search tab. 2. Enter information and use the radio buttons and check boxes to enter search criteria in 10 different categories. Click the red bars to expand and compress the categories so you can enter search criteria to refine your search. Categories include: •
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Book Info, such as Title, Author, Book Type, and Language Book Level Awards Comprehension Skills Culture Genre Interest Level Program/Series Theme Topic 3. Click the Search button once you have selected all of your search criteria. Your results will automatically display on the Search Results tab. 4. You can click on any book title to display the Book Info window, which provides details on the selected book. USING RESOURCES
SAM provides access to a wide variety of printable instructional resources that enhance the effectiveness of your
Scholastic programs. Resources can serve as a connection between Scholastic’s software-based activities and
your classroom-based instruction. For example, you can use resources as printed homework assignments to give
your students extra practice in skills they are learning on the software. Make sure your SAM computer also has
access to the World Wide Web. You will need an Internet connection to search for and print resources.
These resources can be used for the following purposes:
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For the classroom: lessons, graphic organizers, and passages
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For individual students: practice pages/BLMs, speed drills, certificates, homework, rubrics, QuickWrites,
and passages
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For professional development: professional articles, Scholastic Research Reports, Scholastic Red
professional development course previews, and funding grant tool kits
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For implementing Scholastic programs: classroom management forms and software manuals
You can print resources to use in the classroom, with individual students, for your professional development needs,
or for help implementing Scholastic programs.
The Resource Finder is your tool for locating resources that you can use with Scholastic programs and for
professional development. To use the Resource Finder, click the green Resources tab from any SAM screen.
There are three different ways to use the SAM
Resource Finder. For details on each method,
click the appropriate link below.
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Keyword -- uses a SAM keyword found
on Scholastic's print-based teacher
materials.
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Advanced Search -- allows you to
narrow your search by specifying a
resource type, strand and skill to search
for appropriate resources related to a
specific Scholastic program.
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Browse -- allows you to view resources by type, associated with a specific Scholastic program.
You can also find resources directly from reports that address specific skills, clicking the
information on resources related to reports, click here.
button. For more
SAM Reports Once your SRI testing is underway or completed you can begin running reports. For a complete list and description of reports, please see the SRI Educator’s Guide published by Scholastic and available. Below are some of the most requested reports. When running reports, keep in mind that the Grading Periods are not the same as the SRI Testing Windows, but instead coincide with elementary trimesters or secondary nine‐week marking periods. Also, aside from custom date ranges on some reports and the ability to choose which column to sort by, the reports cannot be customized. To access the reports: 1. Click the appropriate level in the SmartBar (Grades, Teachers, Classes or Students) 2. Click Reports Tab 3. Make a selection in the Show menu (All, Multi‐classroom, Classroom, and Student) 4. Click the report of interest 5. If necessary, select a time period.9 6. Click Run Report. 7. Some reports will display in the next window. Some, in the next window, will require you to pick Print Preview (PDF) to see the report. 8. If desired, click Print Preview (PDF) to print the report. Some reports will allow you to sort the data by different columns and the PDF will reflect the sort you choose. However, the PDF for some reports will not reflect the sort. Types of Reports: PROFICIENCY SUMMARY REPORT (for a group – no individuals) Purpose: Provides a quick overview of the reading ability of a certain group. SmartBar Navgation Levels: School, Grades, Teachers and Classes Reports Tab > Show menu option: Multi‐Classroom Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run on individual students; use Student Progress Report instead. READING PERFORMANCE REPORT (shows individual students) Purpose: Shows students’ performance standard based on most recent SRI score plus percentile rank, NCE, and Stanine. SmartBar Navgation Levels: Grades, Teachers and Classes Reports Tab > Show menu option: Classroom Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide or on individual students. RECOMMENDED READING REPORT (for individual students) Purpose: Creates a custom reading list for each student based on student’s interest and Lexile. SmartBar Navgation Levels: Grades, Teachers, Class, Group or Students Reports Tab > Show menu option: Student Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide. TARGETED READING REPORT (for individual students) Purpose: Helps to explain what Lexiles are On Level, Easy or Challenging – helpful for those new to Lexiles. SmartBar Navgation Levels: Teachers and Classes Reports Tab > Show menu option: Classroom Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide or on one student at a time. STUDENT PROGRESS REPORT (for individual students) Purpose: Shows individual student’s SRI test history during a specific time frame. SmartBar Navgation Levels: Grades, Teachers, Class, Group or Students Reports Tab > Show menu option: Student Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide. STUDENT ROSTER Purpose: Provides user with a student list and the students’ usernames and passwords for SRI and Reading Counts! SmartBar Navgation Levels: Grades, Teachers, Class Reports Tab > Show menu option: Student Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide or on individual students. For an individual student, just double‐click the student’s name in the SmartBar and view the Roster tab. BOOKS READ SUMMARY REPORT (for a group – no individuals) Purpose: Shows the total number of books read by a class or group. Ideal for school, grade or class level competitions. SmartBar Navgation Levels: Grades, Teachers and Classes Reports Tab > Show menu option: Classroom Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide. POINTS STATUS REPORT Purpose: An overview of the number of points earned, used and available, sorted by student. Ideal for individual student competitions. SmartBar Navgation Levels: Grades, Teachers and Classes Reports Tab > Show menu option: Classroom Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide. POINTS REPORT Purpose: Shows individual student’s Lexile score along with RC Points, average Lexile score of books read and total words read. SmartBar Navgation Levels: Grades, Teachers, Classes Reports Tab > Show menu option: Classroom Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide. POINTS SUMMARY REPORT (for a group – no individuals) Purpose: Points, avg. Lexile of students, avg. Lexile read, and avg. points for groups of students. SmartBar Navgation Levels: School, Grades, Teachers, Classes Reports Tab > Show menu option: Multi‐Classroom Reports Restrictions: School‐wide report only shows by grade level. PARENT REPORT I AND II Purpose: To inform parents about their child’s reading success and how they can help. Report I introduces parents to Reading Counts (more ideal for the beginning of the year or new students), whereas Report II is geared toward parents who have received RC reports before. SmartBar Navgation Levels: Grades, Teachers, Class, Group or Students Reports Tab > Show menu option: Student Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide. STUDENT READING REPORT Purpose: An individualized comprehensive report of books read; quiz success/failures, goals, points earned, reading level and more. SmartBar Navgation Levels: Grades, Teachers, Class, Group or Students Reports Tab > Show menu option: Student Reports Restrictions: Cannot be run school‐wide. Report may not run properly on larger groups. 1 Online Reading Counts Quizzes Complete list of Reading Counts quizzes available online for teachers and parents to access: http://src.scholastic.com/ecatalog/default.asp?UID=2645FA
DA4A014C08B6E34E848E377268&subt=0&Test=NA FAQ Reading Counts! Quizzes Q: Should I assign students appropriate books to read or let them select their own? A: Self‐selection is an important part of an independent reading program. By allowing students to select their own books as often as possible, you encourage ownership and responsible reading practice. Should you feel it necessary to assign books, you can do so by using the search feature within Book Expert to create a book list by specific reading levels, Lexile range, interest levels, genre, topic, and many other categories. Q: What if a student wants to read a book for which there is no Reading Counts! quiz? A: Encourage him to read it. Students should be given opportunities to read simply for the pure pleasure of reading. The Scholastic Management Suite includes a teacher quiz option that allows teachers to write their own quizzes. Be sure to check the Scholastic Reading Counts! e‐catalog for the latest update of all quizzes available to order. Q: How can Reading Counts! quizzes help me meet my instructional needs? A: Reading Counts! quizzes are grouped into a wide assortment of collections that span a variety of categories including theme, genre, topic, author, and also grade level, guided reading level, Lexile level and reading level. The teacher‐quiz function can be used across all academic areas as it allows every teacher to create quizzes for his or her own class (social studies, science, and math). Q: Can a student watch a movie and pass the quiz even if he has not read the book? A: If a movie is released for a recent or future Reading Counts! quiz, the Scholastic quiz writers view the movie and then formulate quiz questions to ensure that students must read the book in order to pass the quiz. Q: How do Reading Counts! quizzes address higher level thinking skills? A: The primary goal of Reading Counts! is to motivate students to read by allowing them to experience reading success; however, many quiz questions are written in the cause and effect and vocabulary skills format. You can also access Book Expert and search for titles by specific comprehension skill areas to get a list of Reading Counts! books that address a targeted skill area. FAQ Scholastic Management Suite Entering Students Q: Can I enter a student name under the group or class tabs? A: No, students must be entered under the Student tab. Student names can also be added through Easy Start and Edit (menu bar). Q: I need to enroll hundreds of students. How can I quickly tell if a student is already assigned to a group? A: The program will tell you that the student you are trying to add has already been entered if you attempt to add a student already enrolled in the Reading Counts! program. You cannot determine a student’s group enrollment from the student tab. Groups can be filtered by teacher and individual group enrollment viewed. Q: Can I enter a student name under the group or class tabs? A: No, students must be entered under the Student tab. Student names can also be added through Easy Start and Edit (menu bar). Settings Q: How are Settings tied to the student? A: Settings allow you to customize Reading Counts! to meet the individual needs of your students. For example, under Settings you can customize the number of attempts a student may have to pass a quiz, the number of correct answers required to pass a quiz, and individual goals (number of points or books read). You can also enter settings for an entire group or class; the settings will adjust for each student in the group/class. Q: If the Settings are entered or changed for a student having more than one teacher, will his settings be the same for all teachers? A: The student’s Settings will be the same for all teachers if the program is on networked computers. If one teacher changes the student’s settings, they will change for all teachers. If the program is loaded on standalone computers, each administrator can enter his/own settings for a particular student. Q: Can I designate a quiz as inactive or active for individual students? A: You cannot designate a quiz as inactive for individual students. You can restrict a quiz through the student Settings function for selected students. When a quiz is designated inactive through the Quiz Manager, it becomes inactive for all students on the database. Reports Q: How can I generate a Student Book Rating report for a particular group? A: Easy! Simply go to the group tab, highlight the desired group, then select reports and highlight Student Book Rating report. Preview or print the report. Q: When customizing Reports, can I generate the report to View By individual students, groups or class? A: The View By options in Reports depend on the active tab. When the student tab is active, many reports will allow you to view by student, teacher, class, group, or grade. When the class or group tab is active, many reports will limit the View By options to only class or group. (Note: some reports will only allow you to View By student.) FAQ The Lexile Framework Q: What is the Lexile Framework™? A: The Lexile Framework is a reading measure that matches books to readers. It is unique because it uses a common metric—a Lexile measure—to assess both the level of the reader and the level of the text, making the Framework more than just a measure of readability. By placing both reader and text on the same absolute scale, the Lexile Framework provides a more accurate match between the two. This focus on text readability AND the reader enables educators to not only look at the reading standard for the grade level, but the standard for the individual student as well. In short, the Lexile Framework enables educators to match students to text. When readers are targeted, they read with confidence, control, with just the right level of challenge‐‐‐conditions that are necessary to keep students reading and growing. Q: What is the Research behind the Lexile Framework A: Over the past 15 years, recognized scientists in the field of testing and measurement from Duke University, the University of Chicago, Stanford University, and the University of North Carolina created the Lexile Framework with support from grants by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This group successfully tested the Lexile Framework with over 400,000 students. Once the research was complete, two of these esteemed scientists established MetaMetrics, an independent research and development firm focused on integrating assessment with instruction. MetaMetrics continues ongoing research regarding factors that affect readability. Their goal is to provide educators with a tool to improve the students' overall learning, specifically reading comprehension, by placing both the student and text on the same scale. Today, the Lexile Framework instructional tool is recognized as the most accurate way to match readers with text Q: What Makes the Lexile Framework Unique? A: The Lexile Framework measures the difficulty of the entire book, not just isolated passages or sentences as most other readability measures do. Q: How will the Lexile Framework Benefit My Students and me? A : The Lexile Framework provides educators with a highly effective tool for evaluating and monitoring students’ achievement in reading. And the Lexile Framework provides an excellent means of encouraging parental involvement, by giving parents both a clear idea of their child’s progress and a selection of books that parent and child can read together. Time spent reading outside of school is a powerful predictor of future academic and workplace success. Q: Why did Scholastic choose to use the Lexile Framework? A: Scholastic chose to use the Lexile Framework after an intensive study of all the readability measures that exist. This important decision was made due to the research and validity behind the Framework’s effectiveness in matching students to text. Q: How is a Lexile Text Measure Determined? A: Lexile text measure is the measure of reading difficulty to any written material. At MetaMetrics, the entire book (not just a paragraph or a few pages like other readability formulas) is scanned into a computer‐based program called the Lexile analyzer, which determines the Lexile measure of the book. The analyzer evaluates the text for syntactic complexity (sentence difficulty and length) and word frequency (how often the word is used in the English language vocabulary). Research shows that sentence difficulty and word frequency are the two most powerful indicators of a student’s ability to read. Q: What is the range of Lexiles? A: Lexile measures range from below zero (beginning readers) to 1,800L (postgraduate school and into the workplace) and exist for more than 30,000 books, fiction and nonfiction, from hundreds of publishers. New titles are being added monthly. In addition, many textbooks from hundreds of publishers have been Lexiled, as well as newspapers, magazines, manuals, etc. Q: How is a Lexile reader measure determined? A: In addition to assessing the reading level of text, the Lexile Framework can also be used to evaluate the comprehension level of a reader. The most efficient and accurate way to determine a student’s Lexile measure is to administer the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), a reading comprehension assessment available in both print and interactive versions. SRI uses authentic text passages drawn from fiction and nonfiction material to test students’ comprehension. After they read each passage, students answer a fill in the blank statement that assesses their understanding of what they read. Another way to assess a reader’s measure is by having the student read aloud passages from a book. Ask the student to read a few passages from a Lexile text measured book and evaluate the amount of ease or difficulty the student has reading the passages. If the student is experiencing a significant degree of difficulty reading the passages, his Lexile measure is most likely below that of the book. If he is able to read the passages with ease, his Lexile measure either equals or is above the book’s Lexile measure. Lexile Measures Q: What is the correspondence of Lexile measure to grade levels? A: The Lexile levels do not translate specifically to grade levels. Within any one classroom, there will be a range of readers. In a fifth‐grade classroom, there will be some readers who are reading above grade level and others reading below. To say that some books are “just right” for fifth graders assumes that all fifth graders are reading at the same level. The Lexile Framework matches readers with texts at whatever level the reader is reading. Once students’ Lexile measures have been determined, the world of books is open to them. Choosing the right book for the right reader is key to helping students grow in their reading ability. Q: How do I adjust Lexiles based on my instructional purposes? A: When matching readers to text, one needs to consider the instructional purpose. Is the purpose to facilitate independent or instructional reading? Is it to expose the student to difficult vocabulary and content that requires skill building, or to let him read for the simple pleasure of reading? To accommodate different instructional objectives, the Lexile Framework has developed guidelines for adjusting Lexile measures within students’ instructional and independent reading zones. Think of a sliding scale as you consider what level of materials is appropriate for students in different reading contexts. When students read down from their Lexile measure, as much as 250 Lexiles, they encounter text that is targeted to their independent level and becomes increasingly easy for them to read. When students read up from their Lexile measure, as much as 250 Lexiles, they encounter text that increases in challenge and should be targeted for instructional purposes. Within the instructional and independent reading zones, books may be used for a variety of purposes. Q: Can I use Lexiles with my core‐reading program? A: Many of the books in your core‐reading program may be included in the vast database of Lexiled books from hundreds of publishers. Check the Reading Counts! database of books in Book Expert for the books you are using or visit the Scholastic e‐catalog at www.scholastic.com/readingcounts/ecatalog or the Lexile website (Lexile.com) to determine which titles have Lexiles. Q: How do prior knowledge, interest, motivation, and other such supports influence the Lexile Framework? A: The Lexile Framework is one tool that influences a reader’s ability to handle text. It does not account for prior knowledge, interest, motivation, etc. any more than any other readability formula does. As such, it is important for the educator to not only examine the test before assigning it to students, but to consider the interest level of the book, the student’s prior knowledge of and experience with the topic, and the student’s interests and motivation. One should never discourage a student from reading a book she wishes to read if her interest and motivation will enable her to read it. Though the Lexile Framework addresses only the readability of the text, Scholastic identifies the interest levels of the books published in an effort to help teachers select books for students. The Book Expert in the Scholastic Management Suite incorporates an interest level search feature to help refine the list of appropriate titles. The Lexile Framework is exactly that, a framework. Use it to guide decision‐making and to offer suggestions and recommendations for appropriately leveled books. Ultimately, nothing can replace your knowledge of your students and the books they love to read. To help students develop both reading ability and reading motivation, teachers need to establish the conditions for reading to be engaging