Groups in Accelerated Math Instructional Practice

In Renaissance software, you can create, edit, or delete math groups, which can be used with Accelerated Math Instructional Practice.

Follow these steps to create new groups:

1. On the Home page, select Math Reports.



2. You will go to the Reports page, and the Math Practice tab will be selected. In the Monitor Progress section of the page, select Math Overview Dashboard.



3. Select Manage Groups in the top right corner of the Math Overview Dashboard page.



You can also select the Manage Groups button on other dashboards or the Record Book (if available) in the Math Reports.

4. On the Manage Groups page, your school will be selected. If you have access to more than one school, and you need to change the selected school, click Change Selection; then, select a school in the window that opens and select Apply. (The Change Selection button is not available if you only have access to one school.)





5. Then, select Create New Groups.



6. On the next page, one or more of your classes will be selected by default. If you want to change the classes from which you will create the groups, click Change Selection. (If you only have access to one class, the button may not be available.)



In the window that opens, your school will be selected. (If you have access to more than one school, select one.) Next, check the teachers whose students you want to add to groups. In the last column, you can choose whether to select all classes or specific classes; if you choose to select specific classes, check the ones that you want to create groups for. (You can search the items in a column by clicking within that column and then typing Ctrl+F or control-F on the keyboard.) When you have finished, select Apply.



7. Next, use the first drop-down list to choose the subject. For groups that you will use with Accelerated Math Instructional Practice, select Math.



8. Use the second drop-down list to choose the scale for the Star Math Scaled Scores that you want to see and use for grouping:
• Star Enterprise will show the latest Star Math score on the Enterprise Scale (0-1400).
• Star Unified will show the latest Star Math score on the Unified Scale (0-1400). The Star Unified scale provides you with increased measurement precision and one consistent scale across all computer-adaptive Star assessments.



9. Use the third drop-down list to choose which benchmark categories (School, District, or State) that you want to use to start your groups, or choose "No default grouping." The benchmark colors will also be shown for student scores.



If students have taken a Star Math test, they will be placed in a group according to their benchmark category to start (unless you choose "No default grouping"), but you can make adjustments before saving the groups.

10. Select Create Groups to the right of the drop-down lists.
11. You will see the following:
• If you have selected students from more than one class, you will be asked to enter a name for the groups you are creating. Enter a name that shows the purpose for the groups. (If you selected only one class, you won't be asked to enter a name.)



• Below the subject and benchmarks that you selected, you will see the groups that have been created. The number of groups is based on the number of benchmark categories (if you chose a benchmark type). The example below has four groups. Each group is named according to the color used on this page; to give the groups your own name, click in each field and edit the name as needed. (Note that you can't re-use group names that you've used for other groups for the selected students.) To add more groups, select Add. To delete a group, select the to the right of the group name.



• Below the options, you will see a list of the students that includes their Scaled Scores (and their benchmark category colors), Percentile Ranks (PR), and the group numbers. A check mark in a group column means the student is in that group, and the color around the check mark is the group color. Students can be in more than one group. For each student, check the columns of the groups that you'd like to put the student into (or make changes to the default grouping as needed). Note that you can click the Student, SS (Scaled Score), and PR (Percentile Rank) column headings to choose which column to sort students by and to choose whether to sort students by highest scores or lowest scores.



• As students are added to groups, you will see their scores in the Student Growth & Achievement chart to the right, which reflects your students' Scaled Scores and Student Growth Percentiles. Students are only included on the chart if they have taken more than one Star Math test and the tests are in two different testing windows.



If you have students with different grades in the groups, you can use the drop-down list at the top of the chart to choose which grade's benchmark categories you want to see.



Students will be shown as circles on the chart in the color of the group(s) that you have selected so that you can see where they fall in the benchmark categories. If you select a circle for a student, you can see that student's Scaled Score and Student Growth Percentile. (If students have overlapping circles, you may also see a drop-down list that lets you choose which student's score you want to see.)



For more detailed information about the page where you create groups, see Manage Groups Page.

12. Make adjustments to the group(s) for each student as needed. When you are done, select Save.

You will return to your list of groups for the school, and your new groups will be in the list. Notice that math and reading groups are listed separately. Math groups are used with Accelerated Math Instructional Practice (and other math products).



If you want to delete a set of groups, select Delete in the row for that group. A message will open to remind you that any assignment activities that are in progress or upcoming (not started) will be deleted. If you want to continue, select Yes.



If you want to make changes to the groups (the number of groups, the names of groups, or the students in the groups), select Add/Edit.