1. Create or edit an item.
2. On the Create/Edit Item page, click Select Subject to select a subject, and then click Low Grade and High Grade to select a grade range for the item. The names for these dropdown menus change to reflect the selections.
3. Click Select Standard Alignment and select the appropriate standards. Use the dropdown menus or search box to locate standards.
4. Click Add Passage to create a new passage or link to an existing passage in an item bank. Passages provide information needed to answer the question or a series of questions, such as a reading passage, graph, or map. Multiple passages may be assigned to a single item, and each passage may be paired to several items. Passages can be linked to items in the same bank or a different bank. If you create a new passage for an item in a bank, it will be saved to the same bank as the item.
5. Click in the Question Content field to enter the test question in the content editor.
Using the content editor
1. Click in the Question Content area to enter the test question.
2. Use the content editor buttons to format, spell check, insert media files, insert equations, and so on. Hover over an icon to see each button's function.
3. Optional: For the Text to Speech accommodation, you can provide alternate text to be read aloud in place of a selected word, math equation, image, audio file, or table. To do so, select the item you want to provide alternate text for, and then click the Alternate Text icon and enter the alternate text to be read aloud. You cannot select more than a single line of text. For tables, alternate text can be entered for content within the table or the entire table (in Table Properties). If alternate text is entered for both, only the alt text for the entire table will be read. You can remove alternate text for a single word or click the Clear All Text to Speech icon to remove all alternate text for the test item. You can use alternate text to improve the pronunciation of certain words. See the phonetic spelling guide.
4. Optional: Click the Grade Level Vocabulary button to view Grade Level Vocabulary reference sheets. This button is available to districts that have uploaded grade-level vocabulary reference files for the item's grade level.
6. Select the Response Language (the language in which students will enter their answers).
7. Select the Text Editor options. Simple text formatting allows students to enter text without the text formatting toolbar available. Rich text formatting allows students to use the text formatting toolbar. With rich text, you can also give students access to Spell Check (for English only) or the Special Character Palette (for French and Spanish only). Select Equation Editor to allow students to enter their answer as an equation, and then select an appropriate grade level and editor.
8. Enter Answer Sheet Options (only available for open response items on a test). Enter the number of answer sheet pages that will be available for student responses, or choose not to capture student responses on answer sheets. When the number of answer sheet pages is set to one or more, select College Ruled or Wide Ruled line spacing. Optionally, click the checkbox to hide the zero bubbles. If any specific answer sheet response instructions are needed, enter them in the designated field.
9. Enter Maximum Points (0-999). Enter the maximum points to be awarded for the response. Points possible may include up to two decimal places. If a test item is linked to a rubric, the "Maximum Points" field disappears.
10. Optional: Select Allow decimal scoring on answer sheets to allow a score with up to two decimal places on answer sheets. This options adds extra rows on the answer sheets for the decimal places.
11. Optional: Add Scoring Instructions. Scoring instructions are used to add other instructions that will be visible to test graders. Add Scoring Instructions with a built-in text editor that accepts tables, graphics, and other content to provide additional scoring details.
12. Optional: Click Select Rubric and use the filters to locate a rubric (only banks for which the "Search this bank when building tests" checkbox is selected on the Item Banks page will be included in the search). Click Attach to add the rubric to the item. Enter the Rubric Score Weighting values, which can include up to two decimal places, such as 1.25. Answer sheets support rubric scores with decimal values. Rubrics can be weighted by skills or by traits. Rubric settings overwrite the subject, grade levels, and standards alignment of the item. See Rubrics for more information.
13. Optional: Enter and/or upload student Exemplars as needed. Exemplars are examples of exemplary student answers or other ancillary documents designed to support scoring of student responses. You can upload multiple files of any type, such as PDFs, images, and Word documents, of up to 4 MB each. The Add Text field has no character limit. Exemplars can be viewed on the Item Detail page.
14. Click Preview to see the item as it will appear for students when taking an online test, and then select one of the following preview options. Note: Previewing a new, unsaved item will save it to your Personal Bank. If a new passage was created as well, it will also be saved to your Personal Bank. After previewing the item, you will have the option to Save to Another Bank, which will move the item and (optionally) linked passages to the designated bank.
    • In TestNav: Select to preview the item in TestNav without text-to-speech. Composite tasks display in TestNav with both activities on the same page. For tasks with more than two activities, the previewer displays which activity in the task (testlet) you are on. In the TestNav previewer, all tools and accommodations will be shown when you preview items, not just those that are selected, so it is recommended to preview the entire test in TestNav to view the test as students will see it.
    • In TestNav with Text to Speech: Select to preview the item in TestNav with text-to-speech enabled. This option will take longer to process than other preview options. Note that if you have already previewed speech-to-text and not made changes to the item, the text-to-speech feature will also be available in the "In TestNav" preview option.
    • In preview, you can enter answers to verify that scoring works correctly.
15. Click Save Changes for an existing item or Save to Bank for a new item. If you previewed a new item or edited an item from your Personal Bank, click Save to Personal Bank or Save to Another Bank to move the item to the appropriate bank (you will be asked if you want to move linked passages as well).

• Teacher Explanations: Provide information about an answer choice that will be visible to teachers when reviewing test results in the Student Profile or Item Details (for supported item types).
• Student Explanations: Provide information about an answer choice that will be visible to students and parents when reviewing test results in the student portal.
• Teacher Instructions: Provide information on how to administer a test item. Teachers can download these instructions on the Test Details page.
• Formula reference sheets: A single formula sheet can be attached to a test item to provide math formulas, the periodic table, units of measure, etc. to students. Click the Select button under Formula Reference Sheet (note that tests may use a default reference sheet for the entire test). Formula sheets can be PDF, PNG, GIF, or JPG files up to 1 MB in size. In online tests, a reference sheet is opened from the Exhibit button.
• Tools and Manipulatives: Select an option to allow test-takers to use a manipulative, such as a ruler or calculator, on a test item. For more information see About Tools and Manipulatives.
• Grade Level Vocabulary: If your district has uploaded grade-level vocabulary reference files, you can view them in the Question Content editor by clicking the Grade Level Vocabulary button.
• Text to Speech: The Text to Speech accommodation is supported in TestNav. Text to Speech must be enabled in both Test Properties and a student's PNP to be available for a student. For the Text to Speech accommodation, you can provide alternate text to be read aloud in place of a selected word, math equation, image, audio file, or table. To do so, select the item you want to provide alternate text for, and then click the Alternate Text icon and enter the alternate text to be read aloud. You cannot select more than a single line of text. For tables, alternate text can be entered for content within the table or the entire table (in Table Properties). If alternate text is entered for both, only the alt text for the entire table will be read. You can remove alternate text for a single word or click the Clear All Text to Speech icon to remove all alternate text for the test item. You can use alternate text to improve the pronunciation of certain words. See the phonetic spelling guide.
• Links to external sites: In the text editor for the question content, select the text for the link and click the Insert/Edit Link button to add a link to an external website. Links to unsecure (HTTP) websites require browsers to be configured to use mixed content, and are not recommended.
• Add media: For information on adding media files (such as images, MP3 audio files, and MP4 video files) to test items, see Add Media to Test Items.
• Alerts and messages: Messages will appear on the screen for any actions that need to be completed as well as informational warnings. See Edit Items for information on specific alerts and warnings. When creating a test, you do not need to resolve required alerts before returning to the Test Detail page; however, the test cannot be scheduled until all required steps (alerts) have been completed.
• Symbols and special characters: Symbols and special characters are available via the Equation editor () or Special Characters () functions in the question content editor. Do not use cut and paste to move selected symbols from your Clipboard. While symbols created using this method may render correctly on the Item Detail and Test Detail pages, they may not appear correctly online.

To view or edit the following fields, click Additional Properties. For items that have been purchased from external vendors, these fields are imported. Your system may have up to three additional custom properties for items.