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What’s New in Otus?

At Otus, we pride ourselves on being responsive to educator’s needs and innovating to provide the best possible experience with technology. That’s why 98% of educators who use Otus say the tool makes them more efficient and saves them an average of 2 hours per week! Check out our latest product updates here so you never miss a new feature.

What's New

10+ New Progress Monitoring Features

Otus Plans is designed to help educators provide every student with timely and targeted support. This summer we released exciting new features designed to save educators more time when monitoring student progress.

Filter Plans by Demographics and Groups

Looking for a faster way to analyze progress monitoring data for a specific population of students? We’re adding a filter to the Plans so you can disaggregate data by School, Class, Grade Level, Student Group, Ethnicity/Race, and Gender.

AUGUST

Student and Family Gradebook Downloads

Student and Family Gradebook Downloads in Otus

Student and family users can download the Assessments Gradebook or a spreadsheet of their missing assessments. Both reports will download as a .csv.

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Plan Templates: Dropdown Column

Plans Dropdown in Otus

Use the new “Dropdown Column” in Plans to organize predefined information, such as:

  • People’s Names or Roles: Principal, Counselor, Interventionist
  • Locations: Classroom, Hallway, Cafeteria
  • Priority Levels: High, Medium, Low
  • Resources: Intervention Program, Textbook, Assignment Notebook
  • … and more!

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JULY

Plans – Display Progress Indicator in Status Cell

Plans Display Progress Indicator in Status Cell in Otus

A new indicator identifies if a student’s status has increased or decreased since the previous update to their progress monitoring goal(s), making it easy for educators to determine where they need to focus their effort.

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Plans Data Automation – New Option to Choose “Percentiles”

Updates to Individual Plan in Otus

When choosing student data that will be tied to a progress monitoring plan, educators can now select the student’s percentile as the data point that will appear in their Plan.

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Plans – Clone a Section

Template Builder in Otus

Clone an entire section of a Plan to save time when building your template.

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Plan Details – Access Performance History from Drilldown

Details Access Performance History from Drilldown in Otus

In the “Details” drilldown page, educators can click into a student to access their Performance History for a particular item or goal.

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Plan Details – Update >1 Student’s Item Status

Plan Details Update Students Item Status in Otus

Educators can now bulk update the item status of several students to save time.

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Visual Updates to Overall Status Column

Visual Updates to Overall Status Column in Otus

When looking at a specific Plan, educators can more easily understand the current performance level students have achieved. The color of each student’s status will display in the cell and for students who do not have an overall status yet, their cell will read “Not Tracked.”

Rubric Assessment – Rich Text Description

Rubric Rich Text for Rubric Description in Otus

When creating a rubric, educators can use rich text features such as hyperlinks and bullets so students can access more information directly within their assessment.

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JUNE

Plans – Display Date in Status Cell

Plans Display Date in Status Cell in Otus

Educators can quickly and easily see when a plan item was last updated, eliminating the need to click into items and review the data to find the last update.

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Plans – Rich Text in Template Description

Plans Rich Text in Template Description in Otus

When building a Template in the Plans module, administrators can now add rich text to the template’s overall description, including bold, italics, underline, bulleted list, numbered list, & hyperlinks. This provides educators with access to more information directly in students’ Plans.

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Query – Alphanumeric Sort Order

Query - Alphanumeric Sort Order in Otus

When building a Query report, all criteria drop downs sort alphanumerically.

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Class Board – Pin Multiple Posts

Class Board Pin Multiple Posts in Otus

Educators can now pin more than one post to their Class Board.

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Bulk Add Assessment Comments

Bulk Add Assessment Comments in Otus

Use the checkboxes in the Assessments Gradebook to add an assessment comment to all selected students at once.

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MAY

Plans – Update >1 Item’s Status at Once

Plans - Update >1 Item’s Status at Once

Educators and administrators can update the status of multiple items in an individual student’s plan at once. This time-saving feature eliminates the need to click into each item separately for updates.

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Query and Historical Reports – “Current Enrollment”

Query and Historical Reports - “Current Enrollment”

Administrators can select the “Current Enrollment” option in the School Year drop-down menu to view data for all students who are actively enrolled in a specific class, not students who were at one point in the selected class during the current school year.

Learn more about Query Reports

Learn more about Historical Reports

APRIL

Hide Multiple Items in Plans

Hide Plans in Otus

The new toggle at the top of each section of items allows you to automatically hide all items in that section for the student(s) on that Plan.

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Filter by Active Student Plans

Filter by Active Plans in Otus

Use the “View” column to filter between Active Plans, those that students are currently assigned to, or All Plans, where you will see both active and inactive plans. Inactive plans do not have students added to them yet.

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Rubric “Class Grading” Improvements

Class Grading in Otus

Educators are able to enter text into the dropdown menus and use keyboard shortcuts in the class grading page. These accessibility features make the grading process smoother and more efficient, saving valuable time for educators.

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Decaying Average Mastery Setting Options

The Main Administrator can adjust how the decaying average is calculated when a standard is assessed multiple times on the same assessment.

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Historical Reports – Percentile Added to Data Table

If percentiles are uploaded to a particular third-party data set, these scores will display in the student summary data table, side-by-side with the student score.

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Query Reports – Display Total Student Population

When running a Query report, administrators can see what percentage of the total student population is represented in the results. This adds valuable context, enabling you to quickly determine if there are any concerns or actions needed to better support the students highlighted in the report.

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MARCH

+Plus Assessment Standards-Based Grading Improvements

Colors in Plus Assessment in Otus

Keyboard Accessibility
Enter text such as the first letter of the grading scale level or number in the Score column to quickly select grades and move down your student list when grading a standards-based +Plus assessment. By pressing enter, you are able to make a selection and move down to the next field, or student score, repeating the process.

Updated Table and Dropdown Components
The Score column of standards-based +Plus assessments is updated so that there’s a drop down menu for every student. Once a score is selected, you’ll see the color that aligns with the level of the grading scale that has been selected. For example, the lowest level of your scale may be red and if that level is selected, the Score column will appear red.

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Move Student Assessments

Move Assessment Modal in Otus

Teachers can move an assigned assessment to a different class without losing any student work or data. This ensures that mistakes made when assigning an assessment can be easily fixed.

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Percentile Data Visualizations in Third-Party Analytics

Percentile Visualization in Otus

For data sets that include a percentile, you can now view an “Attempt Breakdown” of student performance based on their Percentile score.

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FEBRUARY

Improved Third-Party Analytics

The visuals in Otus’ third-party analytics have been refreshed, providing an improved and more intuitive experience when analyzing student data. Some of new and noteworthy enhancements include:

  • Student data opens in a new page, making it easier to focus on the scores you are analyzing and eliminating any other distractors.
  • Student data for the current school year will automatically populate. Educators can use the calendar to select an alternate time frame.
  • The ability to view student data using a line graph or bar graph.
  • A more intuitive experience when comparing and contrasting student attempts including graphs that are stacked and easier to interpret as well as a hover tool that highlights common performance levels across assessments for a glance at how many students fall into a particular level.

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Take a Tour

JANUARY

Question Analysis: Student Drilldown

Question Analysis: Student Answer Drilldown in Otus

Educators can see a breakdown of which students answered an assessment question correctly or incorrectly as well as their specific answer selections on multiple choice and true/false items.

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DECEMBER 2023

Display Overall Performance for Non-Points Assessments

Standards Breakdown - Gradebook

Understand how students performed on assessment questions or rubric descriptors with a color-coded visual that breaks down overall proficiency levels in the Assessments Gradebook.

Otus will sort question performance into color-coded groups that align with the language and color utilized in a school district’s standards-based grading scale. The size of each colored group will vary and indicate the frequency of responses that fall into a particular proficiency level. This feature is available for administrators, teachers, students, and families.

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Updated Grading Scale Colors

Custom Grading Scale in Otus

Administrators can now choose from ten unique color options when creating a custom grading scale. This allows for more customization of grading scales and will display the chosen colors across the Otus platform.

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NOVEMBER 2023

Administrator Activity Dashboard Updates

Plans Activity Dashboard in Otus

Administrators can view which progress monitoring plans are most often used, how many students are being exited from plans, and which third-party data sets have been updated with new data.

Take a Tour

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Use Current Enrollment in Reports

Current Enrollment in Reports in Otus

Administrators can create Query and Historical Reports using only the students who are actively enrolled in the student group(s) they have selected. For example, if you want to run a report for IEP students, when you select “Current Enrollment” you are only running the report for students currently with an IEP – not students who were at one point during the current school year assigned to the IEP group.

Learn More: Historical Reports

Learn More: Query Reports

Edit Advanced Assessment Content

Edit Assigned Adv Assessments in Otus

Educators can edit the content of an advanced assessment after it’s been assigned to students. This allows you to easily fix typos, update correct answer(s), update item/question styling, link/unlink standards, and add/delete questions.

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OCTOBER 2023

Administrator Activity Dashboard

When administrators log in to Otus, they see interactive graphs that answer critical questions about student data including:

  • Who is logging in to Otus, from which site, and when are these logins occurring?
  • How many assessments are we assigning and grading?
  • Which types of assessments are we assigning?
  • Which standards are we gathering the most data on?
  • Are we consistently measuring performance on standards?

Administrators can filter their activity dashboard by site and timeframe.

Take a Tour

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SEPTEMBER 2023

Submit an Assessment for Students

Educators can submit an assessment on a student’s behalf. Once submitted, the work can be graded.

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AUGUST 2023

AI Question Generator

AI Simple Assessment Generator in Otus

Use AI to automatically generate multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions in Otus Simple Assessments. Simply pick the question type, write a short description of what you would like students to do, and optionally link the question to a learning standard for more tailored content. AI-enhanced Otus will then suggest a high-quality question or prompt for educators to use in their assessment.

Take a Tour

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Assessment Analytics

Assessment Analytics in Otus

Assessment Analytics provides a comprehensive set of tools for analyzing performance on any Otus assessment. Educators can:

  • Analyze overall performance for all students or specific groups of students such as IEP, English Language Learners, and more
  • Drill down to see the learning standard(s) associated with each question and how students responded to the question
  • Track overall progress toward every learning standard to which the assessment was aligned
  • Use interactive visuals to easily locate standards that need to be revisited in future instruction as well as those that they can move past
  • Group students with similar strengths or needs together to differentiate or better support using a progress monitoring plan

Take a Tour

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Third-Party Data Automation to Progress Monitoring Plans

Third Party Data Automation in Otus

Student scores from any third-party assessment (NWEA MAP, Renaissance, iReady, AIMSWeb, and more) can be connected to progress monitoring plans so the data automatically updates as students participate in testing. This time-saving feature enables stakeholders to better focus on meeting student needs.

Take a Tour

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Add Students to Groups Using Plans Data

Group Students Using Plans in Otus - Progress Monitoring

Educators can add students to groups using the overall performance level of their progress monitoring plans. Groups can be used to disaggregate and analyze student data in other areas of Otus including 3rd Party Analytics, Assessment Analytics, and Standards Analytics.

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JULY 2023

Total Grades Display in the Student Profile

Total Grades in Student Profile with Otus

Educators can view overall performance by class and grading scale in the Gradebook section of the Student Profile. This high-level look at student performance saves educators time and provides a more clear picture of overall progress.

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Redesigned Student and Family Gradebooks

Otus Student Family Gradebook View

Students and families can now view all classes and all overall grades for every grading scale on a single screen. This means overall formative and summative grades (or grades for any scales being used) can be viewed side-by-side providing a clear picture of student performance.

Learn More: Family Gradebook

Learn More: Student Gradebook

Preview a Plan Template

Download a Student Plan in Otus

Administrators now have the ability to preview a progress monitoring plan as it is being built. This enhancement enables administrators to visualize the plan in its final form to ensure the flow and organization make sense for all who will use the plan to support students.

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JUNE 2023

Download a Student’s Plan

Educators can download a student’s progress monitoring plan to print or share the PDF digitally. If a school has enabled plans visibility to students and/or families, they would also have this same option. This feature better enables all stakeholders to access, share, and save important student growth data in an accessible format.

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Student Plans Display in the Student Profile

Otus Plans in Student Profile

Educators can view any progress monitoring plans that a student may be working on in their student profile side-by-side with assessment scores, standards-based grades, 3rd party data, family communications, and more.

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Question Analysis

Visualize how students responded to multiple choice questions on an assessment. View the total number of correct and incorrect responses or dig deeper to see the percent and number of students who selected each possible answer option.

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MAY 2023

Question Analysis

Otus Questions Analysis in Assessment Analytics

Analyze how students responded to each question on an assessment and view any standards the question was aligned to.

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Student Performance Breakdown

Otus Standards Drilldown

Educators can analyze performance on all of the standards measured on an assessment and easily pinpoint students who are struggling or those who have mastered the standards to provide enrichment using interactive visuals.

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Assessments by Status

Otus Assessment by Status

Easily sort students by completion status when grading assessments – no more sifting through class lists to locate student work that is ready for feedback. 

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Easily Add Multiple Goals

Otus Plans Template Builder

Quickly create progress monitoring plans. Add all of the goals (or plan items!) at one time to save clicks.

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APRIL 2023

Custom Student and Family Permissions

Otus Plans Permissions

  • Students and their families have access to personalized learning plans and progress monitoring data directly in the Otus platform from their own accounts.
  • Students and families can track and update progress on personalized learning plans directly in Otus.
  • Download student data from a progress monitoring plan.

Explore Family View of Plans in Otus CTA