How Pre-Assessments Get Assigned Automatically
Spark assigns the right pre-assessment for you. You don’t pick one by hand or set anything up before the first session.
Two things happen. When you add students to a group, Spark works out which pre-assessments the group needs from its curriculum and grade level. Then, once the group’s icebreaker session is behind it, Spark puts those pre-assessments onto the group’s sessions. For the wider picture of how sessions get their content, see How Content Gets Assigned to Your Sessions.
How the Pre-Assessment Is Chosen
- Curriculum drives the choice. The platform looks at the group’s curriculum (Math, Reading, or both) and assigns the matching pre-assessment. A group that covers both subjects gets a pre-assessment for each.
- Grade level sets the version. Spark calculates a grade range from the grades of the students in the group and uses the lowest grade to select the pre-assessment. For Math and for Reading, the pre-assessment is chosen from the grade level or levels tied to the group.
- It happens as students are added. The list updates as your group is built, so by the time your roster is set, the correct pre-assessments are already worked out.
Who Gets It, and When
Pre-assessments are assigned per student, not per session. Each one goes to every student who hasn’t already submitted it in the current Program’s date window. So students sitting in the same session may be working different assessments, and a student may have more than one to get through.
A student’s submission travels with them across groups in the same Program - a student who moves between your groups mid-Program won’t be asked to retake it. A new Program starts fresh, even if its dates overlap an earlier one.
Tutor-administered assessments are assigned the same way. You decide which students to pull for one and launch it when you’re ready. See Launching Assessments and Activities.
If a student has finished every pre-assessment on the list but the group hasn’t moved on to lessons yet, that student has nothing auto-assigned for the session. What they do with the time is your call.
When the Group Moves On to Lessons
The group advances once enough of it has submitted every assigned pre-assessment - by default 60% of the students, rounded up, always at least one. A student who still owes one gets it on their next session, so nobody is left behind by the group moving forward.
What Happens to Grade Level After Assignment
Grade level is editable while you’re setting the group up. Once the pre-assessment is auto-assigned, the grade level locks so the assigned assessment stays aligned with the students in the group.
Reviewing or Changing the Assignment
You can see the assigned pre-assessment on the Group Details page. If it isn’t the right fit, you can override it - see Overriding the assigned pre-assessment.