How do I add a new assessment framework to my SOLAR?
There are 4 ways to add additional frameworks onto SOLAR.
1. You can add yourself manually in Admin>Assessment Frameworks>Add Assessment Framework.
Adding a new Assessment Framework manually To add a new assessment framework not already on your SOLAR manually click on ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK and then Add Assessment Framework.
Enter the name of the assessment framework. Select streaming and a base framework if appropriate. Name the stars and then click Save Assessment Framework.
If you would like more or less than 3 stars in the framework please e-mail support@solarforschools.org.uk with your school name, the name of the framework, how many stars you would like and what you would like the stars named.
Please note – if you are changing the number of stars in a framework you MUST do this before you start to use the framework.
SOLAR then takes you into the 6 tabs for assessment frameworks. Please see example below (Demo Assessment Framework): -
Go to the Levels tab and add your levels. You have to do these one at a time.
Go to the Subjects tab and add your subjects. You have to do these one at a time.
Add your statements. You do this by clicking onto the Statements tab and clicking in the subject field. Select your subject and the levels will be displayed.
Click the Add Statement button on the right-hand side of the subject.
Enter your statement and any details that will help your teacher know what they need to do. You can also at this point mark a statement as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI). If a level has a statement/s marked as KPI(s) SOLAR will still allow you to work cross levels but it will not mark a level as completed unless the KPI statement/s have been completed. Save the statement.
If you set a statement as a KPI, KPI will appear at the end of the statement on the assessment screen.
Continue until you have added all your statements to each of the levels.
If your school is using Key Stage predictions, you can set up the flight path for the assessment framework after you have baselined your pupils in the framework.
You should now attach the Assessment Framework to the classes that will be using this framework
Note – When you have added the assessment framework to your SOLAR you need to attach this to the classes who are using this assessment framework.
2. Adding an Assessment Framework already available on SOLAR
SOLAR has numerous assessment frameworks available for use and you can browse these and select the one/s you require and add them to your SOLAR yourself. Any assessment framework that you select from the list will be added to your SOLAR with 3 stars.
Note 1 – If you add a new assessment framework on SOLAR via the list of assessment frameworks and you want to change the number of stars please open a support ticket by e-mailing support@solarforschools.org.uk and your request will be allocated to the right person in the team to deal with it. Please note that you MUST NOT start doing assessment against the framework until the SOLAR Team have changed the number of stars for you.
Note 3 – When you have added the assessment framework to your SOLAR you need to attach this to the classes who are using this assessment framework.
To add a new assessment framework to your SOLAR, click on ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORKS and then Choose Assessment Framework.
A list of the available assessment frameworks will be shown. We recommend using the search box due to the large number of frameworks available on SOLAR.
Note - We recommend that you download the assessment framework by clicking the Download button, the assessment framework will then be presented in Excel format, you can then check that it is the right one BEFORE you download it onto your SOLAR.
When you have viewed the assessment framework and are happy that you want this on your SOLAR click the Add to SOLAR, the assessment framework will download onto your SOLAR and you will be presented with 6 tabs.
Go to the Levels tab and make sure that the levels are in the correct order (See levels article).
3. Send us the excel file
You can put the assessment framework into the attached format below and we upload free of charge for you. Please note: we do a quick check to ensure that the file is formatted correctly – we will return the file is it is not in the correct format for you to change or we can do this for you but there will be a charge to do this. Please note when we add a new framework this is shared with the other SOLAR schools unless you specify otherwise.
Please note - each assessment framework must be in a separate file and all subjects must be on the same sheet.
4. Let us do the work for you
You can send us the documents and we will give to our Data Inputters to do all the work for you. There is a charge for this but we will give you a quote before we commence the work and you would need to confirm that you want to go ahead. We can also at this time give you an estimate as to when we expect the work to be completed.
You should send your file to support@solarforschools.org.uk who will be in touch with you regarding this.