What are NoRedInk Unit Diagnostics?
Unit Diagnostics are baseline assessments to help you track student growth over the course of the unit.
We recommend giving a Unit Diagnostic at the start of each unit of study. Unit Diagnostics are structured like a quiz; you can select specific skills to assess and students will receive a percentage grade upon completion.
A Unit Diagnostic is also the first step in building a writing and grammar skills unit cycle in NoRedInk. At the end of a unit, you can create a Growth Quiz and compare it to your Unit Diagnostic results to see how your students grew.
How do I assign a Unit Diagnostic?
1. Head to our Assignment Library by clicking “Browse and Assign” at the top of your screen and then choose "Assessment."
2. On the next screen, select the Unit Diagnostic activity.
3. Choose a category to browse writing and grammar topics.
- You can use the search bar to look for a specific topics.
- You can also filter topics by recommended grade level.
4. Select the topics that you want to include in the assignment. Click "Assign Unit Diagnostic" when you're done.
- We recommend choosing topics within a single skill area (Pathway) to keep your students and their data focused.
- You can check the number of topics and associated questions at the bottom of the page. Adjusting the number of questions will adjust the estimated time the assignment will take for students to complete.
5. Finally, you'll choose which class(es) you want to receive the Unit Diagnostic. You'll also set a start and due date, and create a name for your assignment.
Ready to assign?
If you've previously assigned a Planning Diagnostic, you can generate a Unit Diagnostic from that assignment's results page by clicking the "Start unit" button next to the pathway you want students to work on.
- Click here to create your own Unit Diagnostic from the Assignment Library.
What do students see?
Starting the assignment
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At any point during the assignment, students might come across a short tutorial explaining how to answer the following questions. They can click “Got it. I’m ready!” to see the next question.
During the assignment
- Students can come across a variety of question types. For example, some might involve clicking, highlighting, drag-and-drop, or typing.
- Submitted answers are scored right away. Students can see the number of questions left in the upper right-hand corner.
- Students do not have an option to skip questions during Unit Diagnostics.
Completing the assignment and optional remediation
- Once a student has completed the diagnostic, they will see their final score and the number of questions they got correct.
Reviewing their own results
- To view the results of their past assignments, students just need to click "Past Work" at the top while logged in to their account.
- From their Past Work page, students can view the summary of their diagnostic again, or click “View Answers” to see their answers compared to the correct answers.
Want to preview your assignment as a student?
- Once an assignment is created, you can click the
eye icon on your Assignments page to preview it. For Quizzes and Diagnostics, you are also able to see Answer Keys for the assessments.
- You can also preview active assignments using the view as a student mode, which allows you to see what students in your class will experience.
How do I view student results?
Viewing your class performance
- To view the results of your Unit Diagnostic from your Assignments page, click on the graph icon
next to the assignment. You can also click on the assignment’s name from the Student Data "Grades" tab to view the results. - In
Want more tips? Click here to learn about additional features you can use in your Unit Diagnostics results.
Reviewing scores in your gradebook
- To get to your gradebook, click on the Student Data tab at the top of your teacher dashboard. You'll find students' scores for their assignments in the Grades tab.
- If students have not yet started the Unit Diagnostic or if it is incomplete, you will not see a score appear until the assignment is finished.
- Unit Diagnostics are scored like traditional tests (correct answers out of total questions answered). Click here to learn more about the Gradebook symbols.
Best practices and tips: Build a unit
💡 Click “Start Unit” from your Assignments page and use the Unit Diagnostic to kick off a full unit cycle. Click here to learn more about creating units in NoRedInk.
- Look for trends in results data and leverage them in your instruction. For example, you can group students who fall in similar proficiency bands together or create specific assignments for different groups or students.
- Follow up with targeted skills practice assignments based on the results of your diagnostic to help students focus on topics that need improvement.
- Assess students’ growth at the end of your unit by assigning a parallel Growth Quiz and comparing results with the original Unit Diagnostic.