TheEverythingSuccessMakerGuideforMathReadingK8CheatSheetB2S

SuccessMaker Reference Guide
Assessments
How do I assess students with Successmaker?
Successmaker assessment levels are based on the grade
levels you input into the system. The pre assessment is
referred to as IPM (Initial Placement Motion). Grade levels
indicate levels of learning. For example:
Any student listed as a 3 rd grader will automatically be
tested at a 2 nd grade level (starting point).
Each student’s assessment starting point will be one “grade”
lower than their actual grade. This starting point allows
students to become comfortable with the program and also
allows them to become confident in their skills by starting
at a level where they are likely able to be successful.
As students continue in the assessment phase, questions
and skills will begin to increase in difficulty as a way to
assess what the student currently knows. Throughout this
process, students will see skills they are highly confident
with, familiar with, and those for which they have never
been exposed to. This process helps determine the skills
that have already been mastered, those that the student is

familiar with, but needs more practice, and those skills the
student has never seen before.
As this continues, the computer is internally collecting
data about which skills have been mastered and can be
exempt from the program, those that should be included,
and where the student’s level of learning is based on which
questions they answered correctly and incorrectly.
Once the questions become too difficult and the student
can no longer answer the questions correctly, the program
will “place” the student at a level. This placement reflects
where the student is at overall, and in each of the specific
strands. This data is useful in that teachers are able to use
the levels from specific strands to provide additional
resources, small group activities, and supplemental
materials to strengthen the student’s knowledge in specific
areas. While the program will present material in each of
the strand areas, the student is likely to see more material
in the areas of greatest weakness as identified by the pre
assessment.
Do not help the student in any way with the assessment.
The computer is gauging every single skill a student knows
and does not know. Even telling a student what a division
sign means is telling a student about a skill that they have
not learned. In doing this, the computer will think the

student knows what a division sign is when really, they
don’t. Because skills are built upon based on a student’s
current foundation, this interference can hurt a student
and cause the program to give a student material they are
not ready for. This leads to deep frustration on the
student’s part.
The main reason the program adjusts up and down to fit
the needs of each student is so that they do not start the
program after assessment at a level much too difficult for
them. The program wants to have students start at an
independent level where frustration is low. This will allow
the program to bump up the level intermediately and at a
pace students are ready for, without causing frustration.
Can I manually set the grade level the student begins their
pre assessment at?
Yes, you can manually set the level to start the pre
assessment. Input the students information as you would
normally do. Then, assign the subject (math or reading)
under the roaster tab by clicking courseware. Once that is
complete, go to the performance tab, find your student,
click the gear to the right of the student’s name, and select
edit assignment settings. Slide the bar at the bottom to set
the level you have chosen, mark save, and you are all set.

How long does the pre assessment take?
In general, the pre assessment can take anywhere from 30
minutes to 4 hours. This is a wide time frame because it
just depends on where the student is at knowledge wise.
The better a student does, the longer the test takes. The
theory here is that the program will keep posing more
difficult questions as long as the student is answering
questions correctly. It will do this until at some point, the
computer acknowledges that the student is no longer
understanding the material because he/she is getting more
and more questions incorrect. In this case scenario, the
computer will bump up the level in increments of 0.10.
For students who do not seem to answer very many
questions correctly right from the get-go, the program will
bump down the level as needed until the material is
recognized by the student and the student can answer
some questions correctly. This up and down movement of
the levels helps determine exactly what the student knows
and does not know. In this case scenario, the student is
likely to complete the test fairly quickly.
As a guideline, I tell teachers to commit to 2 hours per
student to be safe.
Teachers will recognize when students have completed
their individual test by scrolling through the list of student

names under the performance tab. Under the IP level,
there will be a number next to each student. This is the pre
assessment level.
Post assessment is internally done and is reflected as the
current level. Once a student has completed all of the time
they will work in the program (last day of tutoring services),
you will use the current level as the final assessment level.
There is not another option for giving a post assessment.
Successmaker Tabs
Performance tab—this tab shows all of your students once
they have been assigned a subject. This is the tab you will
uses the most often and refer to for a quick glance at what
is happening with your students. For usage purposes, this
basically the home page.
Roster tab—this tab show all of the students registered in
the system. It is your class roster.
Groups tab—this tab is where your groups are listed. You
may have your students listed in different groups. For
example, I might have a math group and reading group, or
Mr. Jones’ class and Mrs. Clark’s class. By making groups,
you can refer to data specifically by clicking the group
name.

Goals tab—this tab shows you where your class is at only if
you have inputted a target end date that is the same for
every student and only for students in the basic math and
reading course. Custom courses do not show here. This tab
is not very useful in gauging accurate data.
Mastery tab—this tab allows you to look at skills mastered
or not mastered per student or by groups of students.
Choose the subject, and then to the far right, choose a
student. When the graphs appear, you can click on the
colored portions of the graph to have specific data appear
showing you what skill was mastered or not mastered and
how many attempts were taken. If selecting groups, you will
see the same information only all students in the group will
be included. This is helpful for putting together small
groups of students to work on a specific skill.
Students tab—this is the tab that gets you to the “home
page” I mentioned under the performance tab.
Courseware tab—this tab has 3 additional tabs to choose
from. Assignments tab--lists the two basic subjects and
then any courses you have created where you have
removed the IPM so that students can begin the program
without assessing. This is where you will assign courses to
students. My Custom Courses tab—lists all the custom
courses you have created for students. School Course

Repository tab—lists all courses created for whoever
shares licensing with your school. If there are five staff
members with log ins, then all the courses they create will
show up here.
Resources tab—this tab stores common core aligned and
next generation science standards worksheets and other
resources connected to the skills used in Successmaker
and is used as a supplement to the online program.
Far Left Tabs
Students tab—lists all your students in the program. You
can pull up data on an individual student or as many
students as you want at the same time to be displayed. To
do this, the performance tab needs to be clicked on. Then,
click students and then click on the student (s) that you
want to see data on. You will know they have been selected
because their names will highlight in yellow. To remove a
student, simply unclick to remove the highlight.
Assignments tab—this is below students tab on the far left.
These two tabs work together to pull data under the
performance tab. After you have made student selections
as described above, be sure to select the subject they are
in under this tab, or simple select “all subjects” to ensure all
data is pulled. These two side tabs are basically a quicker
way to pull data.

Legend tab—this tab is found at the upper far right. It
shows the percentage breakdown.
Actions tab—this tab is used to add students into the
system, remove students from the system, and add students
to an existing group.
Running Reports
The first step to running reports for all of your students is
to make sure that on the far left side, the “students” tab is
selected and then “my students” is highlighted. Next select
the “assignments” tab, and then select “all assignments”. By
doing these two steps, you are making sure that all student
data in all subjects is being run.
From there, you have different report options to choose
from. I will list each option and its use below:
Student Performance: by far the most popular and
provides the most information in a snap shot. This report is
what you would run once a month and print off to keep in
a binder for data collection. By doing this, you have data
for each month that show continued growth. It is also the
report you would use as the “go to” for meetings, data
review, parent conferences, etc…This report is packed full
of information. It includes student name, grade, subject, ip
level, ip correct, ip percentage correct, ip time spent, the

date they finished the test (placed), cumulative since ip,
cumulative including ip, assigned course level, current
course level, gain, number exercises correct, number
exercises attempted, retention index, skill mastered, skills
assessed, skills percentage, help used, audio repeats used,
report card views used by student, glossary used, overall
time spent in program, total sessions, average session time,
performance by strand (8 in reading, 16 in math) including
specific strand level, exercises attempted, exercises
correct, and exercises percentage. In addition, it also
includes any data on areas of difficult, independent
practice, and remediation.
To Run This Report: on the home page choose “students”
and “performance”. On the far left, select “students” and
then “my students” so that all students are included. Below
that choose “all” and then “all assignments” so that all
assignments are included. Now click “run a report” at the
bottom, select “student performance”, then a window will
pop up. Make sure “yes” is selected for all three options
and that “4 weeks” is selected. Click run. Two different
windows will pop up. One window contains the math
reports and the other window contains the reading reports.
From there, print off the reports.

Prescriptive Scheduling: is not a report I am familiar with
or have ever used in my five years working with
Successmaker.
Last Session: this report shows data from the very last
session a student completed. It is useful to determine the
data it was completed, how long they spent working, how
much progress that made in that single log in, and to see
how many questions were answered. I use this sometimes as
a way to check up on students to see if they are spending
their time appropriately. This is determined by the number
of questions answered and their percentage, but is not
necessarily accurate if a student had a difficult session.
This is for when you see a student who is not using their
time wisely and can use this report as evidence!
To Run This Report: on the home page choose “students”
and “performance”. On the far left, select “students” and
then “my students” so that all students are included. Below
that choose “all” and then “all assignments” so that all
assignments are included. Now click “run a report” at the
bottom, select “student performance”, then a window will
pop up. The tabs you should see are “none”, “student”, and
“student name”. Leave these alone. Just click run and then
print off.

Cumulative Performance: This report is your ‘start to
finish” report that gives you all the data from the time a
student or all students started up until the moment you
run the report. I use this report as a monthly report that I
print and place in a binder to showcase all student data in
one compressed report. It helps me compare student to
student progress and group to group progress.
To Run This Report: on the home page choose “students”
and “performance”. On the far left, select “students” and
then “my students” so that all students are included. Below
that choose “all” and then “all assignments” so that all
assignments are included. Now click “run a report” at the
bottom, select “student performance”, then a window will
pop up. The tabs you should see are “none”, “student”, and
“student name”. Leave these alone. “All dates” should be
selected. Just click run and then print off.
Areas of Difficulty: shows the skill, strand, date at risk,
description of skill, and any student you have included in
the report. This is awesome for grouping students based on
skills needing intervention for an easier way to teach
specific skills to students. This data is also useful to share
with classroom teachers to show them where students are

struggling. It works nicely to establish a starting point for
interventions and where to focus supplemental instruction.
To Run This Report: on the home page choose “students”
and “performance”. On the far left, select “students” and
then “my students” so that all students are included. Below
that choose “all” and then “all assignments” so that all
assignments are included. Now click “run a report” at the
bottom, select “student performance”, then a window will
pop up. The tabs you should see are “none”, “strand”,
“student name” and “since IP”. Leave these alone, however,
you can click on strand to choose another way for results
to be displayed. Just click run and then print off.
Frequently Asked Questions and Tips
What is under the gear all the way to the right of a
student’s name?
If you click this gear while under the student performance
tab, you will be able to edit some things in the program.
Click edit assignment settings. You can set the session
length. This is the amount of time the program will run for
each log in. It is recommended that the sessions be set to
30 minutes, however, if you are tight on time 20 minutes is
sufficient, but anything below this is not beneficial.

The student performance link simply shows you a color
graph of progress.
You can change the amount of time that program runs idle.
You can choose how many times a student can check their
progress while working in the program.
You can turn on or off several resources. I recommend
turning off the scratch pad (students play) and calculator.
Leave the exit button, show answer, and display LO
buttons on.
I recommend increasing speed games time per question up
to 6 and total time to 1 minute. This is often a skill that
really brings down students percentages and positive
attitudes!
Active assignment allows student access to the assignment.
If this is deactivated, a red symbol appears to the left of
the students name and does not allow them access to the
specific subject. This comes in handy if a student is
working in two or more subjects and you want them to only
work in one subject. It prevents accidental log ins to the
wrong subject and will retain all data when deactived.
Remove assignment removes the current assignment and
makes the student visible under the roster tab only, but not
the performance tab (until assignment is added again).

How do you determine if a student is making the
appropriate gain?
For every 30 hours of Successmaker in a single subject, a
student should make 1 full year gain. To determine if a
student is on track to meet/make the appropriate gain you
will need to follow this formula:
# of hours worked divided by 30 hours = expected gain
Example: Susie worked 8 hours in reading so we divide that
number by 30 hours to get-0.266 therefore, Susie should
have made a gain thus far of 0.266.
So, this will allow you to track student growth and gather
data for reporting purposes or for collection purposes.
Print off this cheat sheet below for a quick reference
30 hours = 1 full gain
25 hours = 0.83 gain
20 hours = 0.67 gain
10 hours = 0.33 gain
5 hours = 0.17 gain

When I say gain, what do I mean exactly?
Gain refers to the amount of growth a student is making in
a given subject. The gain is comparable to the length of
time a child spends in the classroom receiving instruction.
With that being said, all schools and students are different
and you may very well see some fluctuation in this
statement where students may do very well in the program,
yet that does not translate to the classroom and vice versa.
So, if you are discussing a student and sharing that
student’s data a fair representation of Successmaker and
the progress being made would sound like this:
Susie has made a gain of 0.70. This means that Susie has
learned material equal to that of 7 months of classroom
instruction. Although Susie has not spent 7 months on
Successmaker, she has spent x amount of hours working
directly in a subject and has been exposed to the same
amount of material she would have been exposed to over
the course of 7 months in a classroom.
Remember, classrooms usually focus a block of 90 minutes
of instruction time on math and reading so that may help
you understand better how this comparison is made.
Again, some students will do well, even though their
classroom assessment data may reflect that the student is

struggling. There are many reasons for this as I will discuss
later on.
Why am I seeing the same story/problem?
Once the student has begun working in the program, they
may complain about seeing identically questions being
repeated. There are a couple of reasons for this. In the
reading, if a student does not read and answer all the
questions associated with the reading prior to a session
ending, it will be marked as not completed. This means the
very next time the student logs in, the same story and
questions will be given. To avoid repeating a story, a
student will need to complete the reading and answer all
the questions prior to the session ending.
Another reason a student will see the same question
(reading or math) is that they got it wrong. The program will
repeat a question three times. The first time it is answered
wrong it is noted. The second time it is answered
incorrectly, it becomes a skill at risk. The third time it is
answered incorrectly, it falls into the “not mastered”
category and is noted. Students receive three attempts to
understand the problem and get it right. Along with this
keep in mind that each time it is answered wrong, the
program shows students step by step the steps they should
have taken in order to get the correct answer. It is

important that students pay attention to the tutorial so
that they can better understand the concept for the next
time it is given.
Another reason a question may repeat is to see if a student
actually knows the skill and didn’t just guess correctly. If it
is a skill a student understands, then they should get it
right the second and even the third time.
Please note: students often get frustrated with this
process. It is important to let students know that they
must stick with it and answer to the best of their ability
even if they think it is too easy. Each time they mark an
answer wrong, the computer thinks they do not know the
skill and will keep repeating it. The best way to move past
the skill is to answer the questions correctly each time so
the program can note the understanding and mark it as
mastered.
Are the stories read to you?
The stories are read to students in kindergarten through
2 nd grade, and even a bit of 3 rd grade material. Sometimes
students will move up a level where they were read to and
then find that the program will not read to them anymore.
This is normal and is a progression of skills. Students should
do their best work and read the story as best as they can.

Do I need a microphone to do the program?
There is a racing game under fluency that asks students to
record speaking words. If you have a microphone for
students, great, allow them to use it. If not, I have
instructed students to say the words out loud for this
exercise and it works just fine.
Do I need headphones to work in the program?
Yes, headphones are needed to block out noise coming
from the classroom and to keep coming from the program
from distracting students in the classroom.
What happens if the program freezes?
In my experience using Successmaker, I have had the
program freeze. To avoid this, make sure students are not
continually pressing the mouse button. One click to move
on is all that is needed. Otherwise, if your program freezes,
try click on the paw and clicking something else. This has
helped me before. If that does not work, you will have to
log the student off and log them back in. They will have to
start their time over and sometimes the program does not
credit the time prior to freezing. There is nothing to be
done about this
When logging back in, a box will pop up saying that the
student is already logged in. Click yes and continue on.

Can I help students who do not know a skill?
Once the student is out of the pre assessment and working
in the program, you can and should help students who are
struggling. This is a great way to bond with students and
help them learn new skills. I have found that once you give
students assistance, they seem to pick up on that skill for
next time and that is exactly what we want to see!
Are there any resources for students to use?
I had notebooks with students’ names on the front to use
each time they worked on Successmaker. I stacked them on
a table and as students come in, they grab theirs and a
pencil or marker to use. At the end of each session,
students come to me and show me the work they did. I sign
it and put that session’s percentage on the page. My goal
here was to show students that if they stop guessing and
actually try to work out a problem then they would see an
increase in their percentages.
Encyclopedia’s, dictionaries, pens, rulers, etc… are
available for students if needed.
A student is getting frustrated with a skill and not doing
well in the program the last couple of sessions. Any
suggestions?

This has happened to me and it is exactly what you want to
keep an eye on. If you see this happening or a student
approaches you about this, what you want to do is pull a
report on the areas of difficulty and/or a last session
report. Talk with the student to see what skill is causing
the most concern.
The next time your student is scheduled to log into the
program, opt to have a one on one session instead. Use a
game or activity to work on the skill. The purpose here is to
help the student understand the concept and provide some
practice time. Otherwise, they will just keep getting the
questions wrong on the program and the skill will be marked
“not mastered”. Since the goal is to help students master
skills, it is important to know when to provide one on one
or small group help.
I have several students struggling with a concept. Any
suggestions?
I had a group of seven students whose area of difficulty,
according to the report, was nouns (common and proper). I
was a bit taken aback, but with some many students not
understanding the skill, I felt it necessary to assess to see
what the problem was. So, the next session was spent
working with students doing a game where nouns were
sorted into common or proper. Students did very well. I was

stumped. When I spoke with them, it turned out the
context was different. After doing the game and reviewing
nouns, students were able to get back on the program and
answer the questions correctly. Sometimes, all you need is a
different approach.
I have a couple students who are not making anticipated
gains? Why?
As a title one teacher, I have most definitely encountered
this, so no worries! Simply put, not all students will be
successful learning in an online format. My approach is to
watch the student(s) careful over the next few sessions.
This sometimes means sitting right next to them and
watching how they interact with the program.
Unfortunately, some reasons are lack of motivation on the
student’s part, outside influences that affect learning like
hunger or sleepiness or just the fact that the format does
not resonate with the student. I do my best to figure out
the source of the problem and if it is something I can
control or fix I work on a solution like shorter session
lengths or letting a student choose the subject they work
on that day. Sometimes giving students a little bit of
control can go a long way.
Otherwise, you may have to just accept the fact that some
students will not click with the program. This does not

mean failure! A couple years ago I did alternating groups
during Successmaker. I had half of a group work on the
computer T/Th and the other half work with me in a small
group. I flipped back and forth, changing the subjects as
well. It was a very high demand schedule that required
another schedule to keep track of (LOL) but it somehow
worked.
Students were able to work on the computer, small groups,
games, and choice time alone or with a partner. I had a lot
going on in the classroom but by mixing it up students were
receiving Successmaker three times each week and other
interventions that were more engaging.
Now, you sometimes can’t win them all. I did have two
students who were not benefiting at all from
Successmaker. In this case, I cut them loose and provided
an alternate intervention that would be more effective.
Should I use incentives?
I am a firm believer in positive reinforcement and I know
from experience that it works! This year, I started the 80%
club. Students are required to show me their percentage at
the end of every session. If students score 80% or higher,
they receive a raffle ticket for a drawing. This worked well
for several months; however, I found that there were some
students who felt like they just couldn’t make the grade, so

I decided to give one free raffle ticket to every student
every single Monday. This way, every student had at least
one chance to win. I must say, attitudes improved
immensely.
Each week, I drew two names from the bucket of every
class I serviced and awarded candy. I kept the raffle
tickets and at the end of every month I would draw one
name from all classes and that person got to choose a book.
I had the winner announced on our morning announcement
on the Smartboard, which students got very excited about!
Percentages were improving and students were working
hard! With about three months of school left, I decided to
add more incentives. I gave a “bonus” raffle ticket to
students who scored 90% each session and an automatic
piece of candy. I now had students putting forth a great
effort just for candy! I was impressed with how many
students took this seriously and worked hard to try and
score 80% or more!
Since I really like incentives and I saw a positive
correlation, I introduced the class competition. I created a
bulletin board for this. Whichever class had the highest
cumulative percentage by a certain date, then that class
would get a movie, juice, and donuts. I updated the board
weekly and keep students apprised of what percentages

they would need each time to move into 1 st place. The
cumulative report sorted by class was most helpfulI was
amazed at how much effort students put into this!
Students would come to class and ask would score each
one needed that day. I would give a percentage and they
would all get together and tell each other, “Alright, you
have to pull your weight. We each need to get 70% or
higher today to move into 1 st place.” As each student
completed their session, they would shout out their scores
(as proud as could be). It was so great to see them come
together as a team!
Bulletin Board Ideas
I create classroom bulletin boards to show each students
progress in the program. The components I use are:
Name, subject, and gain amount
I am careful to point out right from the start that each
student’s starting point is different so it is impossible to
compare where one student is to another student.
This is a great way for me to publish student progress.
Below are some ideas for your classroom.

Hopping to Success Bulletin Board
9 lily pads with gains in increment of .10 on them, laminated
Frog cut outs for each student
Grass (made from paper)
“Hopping to Success” letters
Blue paper (water background)
On each frog, I wrote the students name. In the corners I
wrote L and/or M to indicate the subject, and the grade
level in another corner.
Hang the blue paper up. Attach grass at the bottom. Place
the lily pads on a path starting with .10 and ending with .90.
Using sticky tack, place all the frogs on and around 0.10.
As students progress, move the frogs from lily pad to lily
pad. I checked each week. You may be surprised at how
quickly some students will make gains.
The Road to Success
“Road to Success” Letters

9 Strips of different colors of paper about 2 feet wide and
4 feet long (length depends on where your putting it),
laminated
Boy and Girl paper cut outs (for each student)
.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, up to 0.90 cut out and laminated
Place the strips of laminated paper on the wall vertical.
Place the gain (.10) numbers at the top of each paper. Write
student names on the boys and girls. Place the title at the
top. Start students are 0.10. As they make gains, have
students move their person each week by telling them the
next level of success they have achieved.
Unlock Your Success
3 different Printable key images (found mine on yahoo
images)
Background paper
9 Doors made from paper (black or brown)
“Unlock Your Success” letters, laminated
I used the hallway for my display but if you have a smaller
space, make your pieces smaller. For each key, write the
students name on it. Laminate and cut out. Hang your
background paper. For each door, put the .10 up to 0.90.
Place the doors along the wall in order from smallest

amount to largest amount. Hang keys up on .10. As
students increase their gain, move the keys to the
appropriate door to unlock their success at each level.
Thank you for your purchase. I have worked extensively
with Successmaker for five years. I have had over 60 hours
of professional training with this program as well as
unprofessional training. Each year, I instruct around 175
students on Successmaker in grades K-8. I work at a public
school where I am the Title One Program Specialist. I have
also trained district users in Successmaker and am the go
to person for questions in our district. In addition, I work
for a company that provides Successmaker services in the
student’s home for school districts across the USA.
I hope that this guide has been helpful and has answered
any questions you may have had.
Sincerely,
Hocus Pocus It’s Time To Focus