In the Scholastic Dashboard, you can use the Grouping Tool to create small groups informed by data gathered through Scholastic Ready4Reading, F.I.R.S.T., W.O.R.D., Literacy Pro, SRM and NSGRA. The more time students spend using Scholastic digital programs, the more data there will be to inform your small groups.
To automatically generate small groups based on your students’ skill performance, interest, or grade equivalent scores, select “Create Small Groups” from the “Grouping Tool” drop down .
Organize Your Group
Select how you want to organize your new group.
The Grouping Tool provides four ways to automatically create student groups using the most current data, and the ability to create teacher-selected groups.
- Teacher Selected: Allows teachers to organize students into small groups, aligned to their own preference.
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Reading Level: Automatically generates small groups according to reading level scores:
- Lexile measures, determined by the Scholastic Reading Measure (SRM) or manually entered into Literacy Pro
- Guided Reading Levels (GRLs) determined by Next Step Guided Reading Assessment (NSGRA) or manually entered into Literacy Pro.
- Skills: Automatically generates small groups according to student skill performance, obtained through usage of Ready4Reading, Scholastic F.I.R.S.T., W.O.R.D., and/or Literacy Pro.
- Interests: Automatically generates small groups according to students' interests, obtained through preferences entered into Literacy Pro or NSGRA.
- Grade Equivalent: Automatically generates small groups according to Grade Equivalent (GE) scores, determined by the Letters2Meaning (L2M) Assessment, included in the Ready4Reading system.
When there is insufficient data to automatically generate a group, group organization choices will appear disabled. If you do have one of the required programs, have your students complete the SRM or L2M assessments, or have them spend more time in one of the digital programs to generate sufficient data.
Without access to at least one of, Ready4Reading, Scholastic F.I.R.S.T., W.O.R.D., Literacy Pro, SRM and NSGRA, group organizations choices will also appear disabled.
Customize Your Group
Once you’ve identified how to organize your groups, additional information may be required, to automatically generate the small group. Enter the required information and select "Continue".
Group Names
When teacher-selected is the group organization selected, group names will need to be identified before moving to the next step. Enter a group name for each of the groups required. Use “Add a Group” to add more groups.
Tie-Breakers
The Grouping Tool uses tie-breakers to split student groups if there are more than six students that match to the same group. Select one of the available tie-breaker options to differentiate students on another data point, in the event that there are more students with the same score, than can fit into a small group.
Number of Groups
Identify the number of groups required in your class. The recommended number of students per group is four to six, for optimal small group management. The Grouping Tool may adjust the number of groups to best fit the student scores in the class, according to the organizing principles you have selected.
PREVIEW & EDIT GROUPS
After you select the organizing principles for your groups, the Grouping Tool will generate a set of groups. In this step, you’ll have the option to edit the automatically generated groups, or create your student groups if you’ve selected teacher-selected.
Group Header
The header at the top of each group provides an overview of the group’s levels, skills, and interests.
- Grade Equivalent or Reading Level: The range of grade equivalent scores or reading levels, from low to high, within the group.
- Targeted Skills: The skills that students in this group would benefit from additional practice with, according to their performance in their Scholastic Digital programs.
- Top Interests: The interests that the majority of students in the group share.
- See More Data: Opens a report that provides a full overview of student skill performance from the data used to inform the small groups.
Student Data Summary
Additional detail is available about each student. At the bottom of the screen, toggle to “Student Data Summary: On” to open each student’s tile and reveal that student’s top three targeted skills,top three interests, and their reading level.
Customize Your Groups
You can customize the groups generated by the Grouping Tool:
- Review your groups and make any revisions by moving students among groups.
- Review the name of this set of groups; revise as needed.
- Review the name of each group; revise as needed.
When you have finished, select Save Groups.
Move Students Within Groups
To move students within groups:
- Check the box(es) next to the student(s) you’d like to move to another group.
- At the bottom of the screen, use the Select a Group drop-down menu to choose the group the student(s) will be moved to. (You can also add a new group.)
- Select Move Students. You’ll see the selected student(s) in their new group. (The data in the Group Header will update automatically.)
- Continue moving students as needed.
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Select Save Groups when you have completed your groups.
Group Data Chart
For detailed information about each student in a group, select the See More Data in the group header to view a Group Data Chart. This printable report displays the most recent data from Ready4Reading, Scholastic F.I.R.S.T., W.O.R.D., Literacy Pro, and/or NSGRA (depending on which resources your students have access to).
Student Data Chart
To view this report by student, select the graph icon next to the student’s name.