The first time your students log in to Prodigy Math or English, they’ll enter a world filled with epic quests and exciting adventures! They’ll also start completing the Placement Test automatically — without even realizing they’re being evaluated.
If you're a parent looking for more information on the Placement Test, check out our support article linked here.
The Placement Test starts gathering insights as soon as students answer their first question, and automatically runs every subsequent January and August.
The Placement Test determines the content students see in-game and places students at the grade level that’s right for them. It’s the baseline that all their other work in Prodigy builds upon.
The Placement Test starts with content in the grade levels below the grade selected at the time of registration and moves up to one grade level above.
Typically, the grade level is chosen by the teacher who created the account/classroom. If a student creates their own account, make sure they select the correct grade!
The student will then begin to encounter representative strands or domains from the grade. The student will continue to move forward until the system determines their approximate level of understanding.
Using the information based on strengths and weaknesses within each strand, the system will place each student in the appropriate grade level.
The Placement Test is scheduled for 3 weeks on your Assignment List as it typically takes students 3-4 sessions to complete the test. Since every student is unique, those who complete the Placement Test early will progress into level-appropriate content while those who take a little longer will continue through the Placement Test until its completion. If any students miss the scheduled Placement Test window, they'll be provided it when they next log into Prodigy.
Our Prodigy teachers recommend scheduling three or four 15-minute sessions until the Placement Test is complete!
If the Placement Test has resulted in an erroneous grade selection, which can occur if, for example, the student was provided aid during the test, Prodigy offers a Grade Override function.
Find more information on Grade Overrides here.
At this time, the Placement Test cannot be re-assigned manually to your students. If your student is receiving questions too far below, or too far above their grade level, we recommend apply a Grade Override and/or utilizing Assignments to guide the student's content back on-track. Students will be provided a new Placement Test twice per year, in January and August.
Your students' grade levels will change as they progress through Prodigy's curriculum-aligned content, however it is important to note that the Placement Test Report displays the results of the Placement Test at the time it was completed.
The Curriculum Progress Report will provide information on how students are progressing through their grade level, while the Student Activity Report will provide a comprehensive overview of the questions your students have been working on. These reports can be compared to the Placement Test Report to see how students have advanced since completing their Placement Test.
There are a few things that might prevent a student from completing the Placement Test. You can find out more about this by clicking here.
The Placement Test Report gives you a deep, comprehensive snapshot of student learning. Use it to:
- Plan lessons
- Set up fun station rotation activities
- Communicate with parents about student progress
- Deliver targeted intervention or small group instruction
- Differentiate math content in Prodigy or in the classroom
- Engage and reward students to get them excited about learning
- Set assignments that align Prodigy questions with your lesson plans all year long
And so much more!