Pear Assessment Release Notes

Pear Assessment

December 9, 2024

New

Added support for LaTex format on math dropdown questions. LaTex format can be added via the backtick button (`) on your keyboard, which is the same button as the tilde, when creating questions or entering responses. Please note that this feature is currently in beta.

Fixed

Fixed a bug preventing changes to clone of a dynamic parameter item on assigned tests.

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Changed

Teachers who use the AI grading feature no longer need to accept the AI-generated feedback to score assessments.

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November 11, 2024

New

Expanded Adaptive Tests with reports structured like PSAT and SAT reporting:
- Adaptive tests will be enabled for all Enterprise and Premium users with predefined templates that mimic popular types of adaptive tests
- Adaptive tests in Pear Assessment have multiple sections with students’ path through sections determined by their performance on prior sections. Test authors can customize score thresholds for each section
- View progress, raw, and scaled scores in the Live Class Board
- The Student Adaptive Scaled Score Report is an adaptive test score report for student-level reporting of scaled scores (similar to SAT/PSAT report card)
Implemented sharing changes to keep teachers on the same test form:
- The default permissions when sharing tests will be View and Assign, helping teachers who are using the same test stay on the same test form
- The default permissions when adding co-authors will be upgraded to All Actions, creating fewer hassles for teachers who are developing assessments together
- Additional and clarified explanatory messages throughout the lifecycle of sharing a test, explaining permissions limitations and considerations about cloning tests. These messages are placed while creating a clone and while editing an ongoing assignment
- Administrator-facing sharing settings in the Manage District portal have new news to make the sharing permissions of each setting more clear
Empowered new teachers to assign tests quickly to students with Easy Assign, which condenses the assignment settings to the most popular options listed below. Please note that experienced Pear Assessment teachers can switch between Easy Assign and Pro Mode, which shows all assignment settings.
- Class/Group
- Open and Close Date
- Restrict Navigation Out of Test
- Shuffle Items
Improved usability and clarity of the new Dashboard thanks to user feedback.
Added Build using AI to the new Dashboard for users with the AI Add-On subscription, letting you generate questions with AI. If you don't have a subscription, sign up in the "Start Your Free Trial!" popup, which gives you access to our AI features and more.
Enhanced Test Review to support revision, conversion into different question types, and difficulty adjustments for AI-generated questions on unsaved tests:
- Revise Questions
  - Simplified Language
  - Improved Clarity
  - Custom Prompt
- Convert Question Type
  - Multiple Choice Question
  - Multi-Select Question
  - True or False
- Adjust Difficulty
  - Easy
  - Hard

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October 7, 2024

New

Access a new and improved Dashboard, which will be gradually rolled out to users. Teachers can toggle on the old dashboard if needed. Please read our blog for more information.
Schedule automatic assignments in Pear Assessment in districts with OneRoster with Auto Assign. The feature automatically associates assignments to newly created classes that meet specific predefined criteria set by the administrator. It reduces the manual effort of assigning tests to multiple classes.
Extract a document's contents into a digital test by importing questions from Google Forms or a supported file type: DOCX, PDF, JPG, and PNG. Pear Assessment will import the following supported question types: multiple choice, true/false, and multiple selection. Please find the feature in Test > New Test > Import Google Form/Doc.
Simplified, renamed, and consolidated standard sets to ease the selection of the correct state and national standards during setup.

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September 2, 2024

New

Built a filter and search bar for the teacher Dashboard to enable quick access to tests, items, and assignments in the content library.
Enhanced the Create Test button with a new menu to let teachers easily edit or create a test. The menus are Create from Scratch, Import Google Form, and PDF to Test (Snap Quiz).
Added a Performance by Rubric Criteria report to Standards Mastery Reports, empowering teachers with more reporting when they assign standards to a rubric criterion.
Added standard and domain-level reporting for external test data in Data Studio.
Introduced the ability to generate tests with AI based on text documents and websites as part of the AI add-on.
Extended multi-language support to include French, Mandarin, German, Arabic, and Korean for premium users. Please find the additional languages in the following locations:
- The + Add Language tab when creating items
- The Text-to-Speech (TTS) voice in the Customize TTS feature
- The Print Test menu
- The Translate Language dropdown menu when translating text is expanded for users with the AI add-on

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August 5, 2024

New

Empowered teachers to control the test-taking process by locking and unlocking each section after the first section of a test. The Lock Sections feature is available for all Section Tests under the Settings tab > Section Settings > Sections. The feature is disabled by default and is available for premium subscribers.
Added a Re-Sync Classes button on the Dashboard page to ensure students can be added to classes with synced rosters at any time.
Eased teachers' ability to update the grades and subjects they teach by selecting the relevant settings on the homepage under the "Welcome back to school! What are you teaching?" banner. The settings improve reports, search results, and recommended content.
Improved Switch Account by clarifying the feature's active state, the number of accounts linked, and the linked accounts' subscription plans.
Added a search bar to easily find assignments and classes, a total account of assignments, and folders to the Assignments page.
Introduced new Spark Science items aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Enhanced accessibility and user experience of the Video Quiz feature. Please note that the Video Quiz feature is an add-on.
Generate passages and passage-related questions via AI when creating new tests in Item Bank > New Item > Passage > Passage with Questions. Please note that this feature is an AI add-on.
Use AI to create questions, rewrite text, translate text to Spanish, and generate hints and solutions to questions in the Item Bank > New Item > select a question type > Question > Get AI Assistance. Please note that this feature is an AI add-on.
Expanded graphing calculators to include scientific and function calculators for state exams. Please find the calculators in the test Settings tab.These calculators are available for premium subscribers.
Introduced a Domain Analysis report in Data Studio, enabling educators to analyze student performance across various domains and standards for external tests, including state summative and benchmark assessments. Please note that Data Studio is an add-on.
Improved Data Studio Imports History to enable users view the status of uploaded tests, identify any data issues, and use the Re-upload button to correct errors, all from one page. Please note that Data Studio is an add-on.
Built support for Stacked Translation, letting students view questions in both English and Spanish when tests have been authored in both languages. Stacked Translation can be enabled in multiple ways:
- For a specific student: Manage Class > click on a classroom > select a student > Actions > Edit Student > Configure Accommodations > Stacked Translation > Stacked
- On a test for all students: Test > add or create a test > Settings > Accommodations > Stacked Translation
- In a CSV file upload:
  - Column Title: SbacStackedTranslation
  - Default value: Not enabled
  - Accepted values: Stacked, NA, blank
    - Stacked: Enable
    - NA: Disable
    - Blank: Leave in the current state

July 1, 2024

New

Improved user experience for editing a test in the Live Classboard tab with the Edit Test button near the test title.
Reorder questions on multi-section tests by dragging and dropping them to the end of the section or selecting the question and reordering it with the Move To button in the toolbar. A dashed border shows when the question hovers over the potential landing spot for drag and drop.
Disable students' access to scores from past year's assignments in Manage District > Settings > Test Settings > Default Options > Allow Student to Review Past School Year Assignments. The default setting is Yes, letting students access past assignments.
Link standards directly to rubric criteria for a precise assessment of student performance on a standard based on criterion scores. Please note that only the authoring of rubric criteria with a standard is supported in this release. Criterion-based standard reporting will be available soon.
Insert audio at your cursor's location when authoring an item. Teachers can add spacing or adjust location with the enter/return key on their keyboards.
Added a Copy Link button next to the title of a drafted or published test card, so the test can be shared with other teachers.

Changed

Introduced a progressive web app (PWA) called Pear Assessment (Formerly Edulastic), which has the same functionality as the original ChromeOS Kiosk app. Outreach about transitioning to the new PWA for secure testing is upcoming.
Moved Canvas syncs from the teacher level to the district level. District administrators can now sync rosters from Canvas to Pear Assessment in Manage District > Settings > District Policies > 3rd Party Integrations > Canvas.
Renamed Grading Rubric to Add Standard Aligned Rubric under Scoring when editing an item.
Renamed the buttons on test cards to the following for clarity:
- Details > Test Review
- Preview > View as Student
- Assign > Quick Assign
- Clone > Clone Test

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June 3, 2024

New

When creating Items, teachers can search and select Standards to auto-generate reports and grading. Add Standards by Subject, Standard Set, and Grade.
Administrators can now add students to an existing group in Manage District > Groups tab > Student Groups > click on the group's name > Add Students.
Teachers can delete an assignment in Assignments > click Actions in the assignment row > Delete. Please note that the assignment cannot be restored after deletion.
Teachers can now customize Text-to-Speech (TTS) when creating a new Item or viewing an existing Item. The customized TTS generates audio and supports the Spanish language.
Streamlined access to class and student reports by making them directly available in Manage Class.
In Manage Class, click Analyze by Test Scores or Standard Mastery for access to multiple assessment and standard mastery reports with pre-filtered class data.
Access individual student data from Manage Class > click on the icon under the Insights column.

Changed

Simplified, renamed, and merged duplicate standard sets, reducing the total from 309 to 48. These improvements also help with suggested standards in the Item Bank, Test, and Playlist.
When viewing passages in Edit Mode, the command bar now rests above the passage instead of it.
In the Review tab of a test, expired KDS items automatically show a Replace button to swap them with equivalent items.
Expired KDS items must be replaced to assign the test.
Under Insights > Performance by Rubric Criteria, the report now shows only rubrics in the selected test. Previously it showed all rubrics available in the district.
Reordered the Anti-Cheating settings in tests to show Kiosk Mode before Restrict Navigation Out of Test. The new order is the following:
- Restrict Question Navigation
- Require Safe Exam Browser/Kiosk Mode
- Restrict Navigation Out of Test