SecureTest
Help for teachers

What you can do, and how

SecureTest locks a student's Mac for the length of a test. This tool is where you build that test, run the session, watch it live, score it and report on it. Each topic below is a few steps and a picture; start at the top or jump to what you need.

Get started

Sign in with your school Google account. Everything you own, or that is shared with you, is on one page.

  1. Open the app and press Sign in with Google. Use your school account.
  2. You land on Assessments: each row shows its status (Draft or Published), its test sessions and a Results button.
  3. Assessments a colleague shared with you sit under Shared with you until you press Add to my assessments.
  4. Your class lists come from PowerSchool and refresh every morning; you never type a roster.

Anything odd? Send feedback, top right of every page, reaches the project team with the page you were on.

The Assessments home.

Build an assessment

Start blank, add questions of any type, and check it the way a student will see it.

  1. On the home page press New assessment and give it a name.
  2. Press Add question and choose a type: multiple choice (one or several answers), short answer, essay, fill in the blank (dropdown or typed blanks inside a sentence), matching, ordering, hotspot on a picture, drawing, or a table.
  3. Write the question and its answer key. Math goes between dollar signs, for example $\frac{1}{2}$, and shows as you type.
  4. On an essay, tick Let students format their answer for bold, italic, underline, bulleted and numbered lists and a first-line indent. Students on SecureTest 1.6.0 or later can use it; every student also gets undo and redo (Cmd-Z, Shift-Cmd-Z) in written answers.
  5. Upload pictures on the Images page (link at the top of the home page), then add them to a question.
  6. Press Show preview to see exactly what a student will see, without the lockdown.
Adding a question.
Show preview: the student's view.

Bring in an existing test

Most tests already exist on paper. Let the tool read them, then check what it found.

  1. Inside an assessment press Import items from PDF and choose the file. Scanned pages work too.
  2. The tool proposes questions, answer keys and reading passages, including fill-in-the-blank questions. Nothing is added until you accept it. Generate questions can propose fill in the blank too.
  3. Check each proposal, fix what it got wrong, and add the ones you want.
  4. Maps, charts and pictures show under figures found in the PDF. One marked Not used isn't on a question yet: choose Use with item… to show it above that question, or Save to Images to add it later with the question's Image… button.
  5. A colleague's exported test? Use Import assessment file on the home page.
Looks wrong but isn't: a source marked "Looks shorter than the document — check it" means the tool thinks it missed text. Compare it with the paper before adding.
Figures found in a PDF: one already on a question, one not used yet.

Readings and sources

Put a passage, or several labelled sources, next to the questions that use them.

  1. Add a stimulus: the passage or sources, with any charts, shared by one or more questions.
  2. Choose its layout. Side by side puts the sources beside the question and is the default whenever there are sources.
  3. In Settings, set How students move through the test to One question at a time. Side by side needs it.
  4. Students can switch between Beside and Above themselves, and click a chart to enlarge it.
Looks wrong but isn't: sources above the question instead of beside it usually means the test is set to one scrolling page, or the student's window is narrow.
A stimulus with its sources, set to Side by side.

Accommodations

Each student's documented supports, such as contrast, font and zoom, follow them into every test.

  1. Open Students. Your class list is already there from PowerSchool.
  2. Press Import TIDE settings to bring in the state testing accommodations file.
  3. Open a student to review or change their supports. Your edits survive the next TIDE import.
  4. On each assessment, tick the tools allowed on that test in its Allowed on this test tab. It saves as you go, and Who gets what under the list shows what each student will actually get.
  5. To treat one class period differently, use By class period on the same tab (below).
Students, with their supports.

Three places, one rule

  1. Students page: who is entitled to a support. Set it once; it carries over to every test.
  2. Allowed on this test tab (on the assessment): which supports are allowed on this test. Ticking a tool here gives it to no one by itself; it lets students who have it on the Students page use it.
  3. Exceptions for this test tab (on the assessment): for one student on this test only, add or switch off a tool.
So a student gets a tool when: it is on their Students page record and allowed on the test (or for their class period), or their class period gives it to everyone, or you added it as an exception. Who gets what shows the result for each student, and why a tool on someone's record isn't reaching them. In a co-taught class, both teachers' records count for the students each teaches: your Students page shows a co-teacher's as "Also on … record", and an exception added by either teacher applies.
Allowed on this test, with Who gets what below the list.

By class period

One test, several periods: an honors period without a tool, or a co-taught period where everyone gets one. On the Allowed on this test tab, open By class period and pick the period under Settings for.

  1. Use a different list for this period replaces the test's list for that period only. On a test assigned by the school or district a period can only narrow the list.
  2. Give everyone in this period gives a tool to every student in it, with or without a record. A student's own setting for that tool is kept.
  3. Apply to all my periods copies the period you are on, its list and the tools given to everyone, to every other period you teach. If another period already has different settings, it names them and asks first.
  4. Exceptions still win: switching a tool off for one student removes it even if the period gives it.
  5. Who gets what follows the period you pick; tools given to the whole period say Whole period.
  6. Which period counts: the one the test session names. A session for all your sections uses every set period the student is in.
  7. Copies: Duplicate keeps the period settings. A Share copy keeps them only for periods your colleague also teaches. A backup file keeps the test's list but not the period settings.
By class period: one period gets Spell Check for everyone.

Publish and practise

Only a Published test can be given. Try it yourself, locked down, before your class does.

  1. Press Publish. A Published test is locked so a running test can't change; Unpublish to edit.
  2. Open Test sessions and press Practice on my Mac. A practice session opens for you alone for the rest of the day.
  3. Open SecureTest on your Mac, sign in, and find the test under Your tests. It is the real thing: full screen, locked, timed.
  4. Back in the tool, See my answers shows how you did; Practice again starts over.

Practice never appears in your results, Monitor or printouts, and is deleted a week later. It needs SecureTest on your own Mac.

Test sessions, with Practice on my Mac.

Run a test session

Open the test for your class, watch it live, and decide when it ends.

  1. In Test sessions, choose who it is for (all your sections, one section, or picked students) and how long it stays open, then press Start session.
  2. Students see the test under Your tests right away. The six-letter Session code is for anyone whose list is empty.
  3. Monitor shows every student: Not joined, In progress, Idle, Needs attention, Handed in. View screen shows one student's screen once (they are told you looked).
  4. Need more time? Adjust time for everyone, for one student, or for students you tick. No time limit removes it. On a test with no time limit of its own, a deadline you set stays after the session ends — once it passes, that student can't resume until you adjust their time again.
  5. Close session when you're done, then Hand in everyone to finalise work still in progress.
The Monitor during a session.

A test that takes more than one class

  1. Publish once and leave it published. Unpublishing doesn't stop students; closing the session does.
  2. One session per class period. Start a session when class starts and Close session when it ends. Answers are saved; nothing is handed in.
  3. Next class, start a new session. Students see the test under Your tests with Resume and continue where they stopped. No new code to share.
  4. Close the old session when the class ends. Students see each test once under Your tests even with two sessions open, but an open session lets them keep working outside class time.
  5. When everyone's done, close the session, open Results and press Hand in all in progress. It covers unfinished work from every session (pick a section first to limit it to one class).
Scoring queue: only handed-in work reaches it. Work that is saved but still In progress shows on the Monitor and Results, not in the queue.

Three clocks: what ends a student's test

Time limit

Set in Settings. Counts per student from when they open the test. At zero their Mac ends the session; answers are kept.

Stops the student

Session length or Close

When the session runs out or you close it, students return to Your tests with answers saved. They can resume in a later session.

Stops the student

Hand in

The student's Finish and hand in, or yours on the Monitor. Nothing is scored until work is handed in.

Finalises the work

Score and give feedback

Questions with answer keys score themselves. Essays and hand-scored questions wait for you, with help from AI if you want it.

  1. On an essay question, Upload rubric (PDF, Word, Markdown or pasted text) or reuse one from your library.
  2. Open the Scoring queue. Each answer waits there with its rubric.
  3. Press Score with AI for a proposed score and feedback per criterion. Approve it, change it, or score it yourself.
  4. The question's scoring method decides what happens next: with AI, every AI score waits for your approval; with Hybrid, a confident AI score becomes final on its own and the rest wait for you.
Safeguarding alerts: handed-in writing is screened for signs that a student may be at risk, and for attempts to trick the AI scorer. An alert appears on your home page beside the assessment. Follow your school's usual process for a student at risk; the alert does not replace it.
The scoring queue, with an AI proposal to review.

Fixed an answer key after students handed in

  1. Fix the key on the question and press Save question. Questions with keys are scored when each student hands in, so work already handed in still has the old scores.
  2. Open Results. Rescore with current key shows how many students' scores the saved keys would change; it is greyed out when every answer already matches.
  3. Press it to see each question that changes, then Rescore. The earlier scores stay on each student's page under Earlier scores.

A score you set yourself, or an AI score you approved, is never changed by a rescore. If the class was already sent to PowerSchool, press Send again to update the changed scores. Students who saw instant feedback at hand-in saw the old score.

Instant feedback when students hand in

  1. On the Settings tab, choose Instant feedback at hand-in. Score only shows the points on the questions scored right away. Right / wrong adds a ✓ or ✗ for each question with the student's own answer. Correct answers also shows the right answer for each question they missed. Off shows nothing.
  2. This setting saves as soon as you change it and still works on a Published test, so you can turn it on after the last period.
  3. At Correct answers, choose Show correct answers: After I release them (the default) or At hand-in. Until you press Release answers (on Settings or the Results page), students see right / wrong and a note that you will go over the correct answers. Students who handed in before you release do not see the answers in the app.

Students see feedback only when they hand in themselves — not when you hand in for them, use Hand in everyone, or their time runs out — and not after a pass back. Releasing answers affects students who hand in from then on; anyone who already handed in will not see them in the app, so go over the answers in class. Essays and other questions you score yourself show as “scored by your teacher”.

Results and printing

One row per student, one column per question, and several ways to put it on paper.

  1. Results shows the class, with a section filter, totals and percent. Download CSV takes it to a spreadsheet.
  2. Open a student for their answers, scores and a timeline of their session.
  3. Print report gives a class summary, or a single family-facing page for one student.
  4. Print student work prints each student's answers, optionally anonymous with a key page or with essays double-spaced, for marking by hand.
  5. Send to Google Docs (on Results for a class, or on one student's page) makes an editable Google Doc of each student's essays in your Drive and shares it with the student. Choose what goes in the Doc (prompt, sources, score, feedback), Skip or Make a new Doc for students who already have one, and optionally Double-space essays or give the student ownership. Formatting from the test (bold, italics, lists, indents) carries over. Changes in the Doc do not come back here.
  6. Pass back returns a handed-in test to a student to keep working; earlier scores are kept as a record.
  7. Send to gradebook puts each student's total points into PowerSchool, one class section at a time. Pick the section and a category; the name and due date (today) can be changed before sending. It creates the assignment in PowerTeacher Pro, and publishing follows that category's default.
  8. Only fully scored work is sent. Anything still waiting in the scoring queue is held back, and a later send picks it up. After you change a score, Send again updates just the changed ones.
Results for a class.

Earlier versions of an answer

  1. Written answers (essays, short answers and tables) keep earlier versions while the student works: one copy a minute, and always one just before a large deletion or a cleared answer.
  2. Open the student from Results or the Monitor. Under the answer, Earlier versions lists each one with the time it was saved and its length. Copy takes the text.
  3. Restore this version makes it the student's answer again. The answer it replaces is kept in the same list, so a restore can be undone.
  4. On a handed-in test, a restored answer loses its old score and waits for you to score it. To let the student keep working, use Pass back; they see the restored text when they resume.

Restore is not available while a session holds the student's test in progress, because the student's next save would overwrite it. Close the session first. Earlier versions are kept for 30 days after hand-in. Multiple-choice, matching, ordering, hotspot and drawing answers have none. Only teachers who can edit the test see them.

Earlier versions: the full essay was kept just before it was deleted.

Share and co-teach

Give a colleague their own copy, or work on the same test with a co-teacher.

  1. Press Share and enter a colleague's school email. They get their own copy; later edits don't travel either way.
  2. For a class you teach together, use Co-teach in the same dialog. You both see and run the same test and its results.
  3. Duplicate makes your own Draft copy, for a second period's version or before a big edit. Period settings (By class period) come along.
The Share dialog.

Read-aloud and speech-to-text

Give a student a voice that reads the test aloud, reads their answer back, or types what they say. Each is granted per student.

  1. On the assessment's Allowed on this test tab, tick the tools this test allows: Text-to-Speech (Test Content), Text-to-Speech (Student Responses), TTS for ELA Reading and Speech-to-Text. The list shows only the tools the app delivers today.
  2. Grant each tool to the students who need it: on the Exceptions for this test tab or the Students page. A TIDE import sets them too. A student with no grant sees nothing new.
  3. A granted student sees Speak buttons on questions, passages and sources (which of those depends on the Items / Stimuli value), Read my answer under what they have typed, and Speak my answer to dictate into a short answer or essay.
  4. The first time on each Mac, a student granted Speech-to-Text is asked for microphone and speech-recognition permission before the test locks, and must press Allow. IT cannot approve the microphone ahead of time, so have those students open SecureTest and join once before test day.
  5. If they press Don't Allow, the test still works and the student sees "Speech-to-text isn't available on this Mac. Tell your teacher." You will also see a note on the Monitor. Allow it in System Settings, under Privacy & Security, then rejoin.
  6. Show preview shows inert Speak controls so you can see where they go; they appear for a student only if granted.

Voices stay on the Mac: nothing is recorded or sent anywhere. Limits for now: English only; no speech-to-text inside tables; math is read as words, and anything unusual as "math expression".

Feedback wanted: how do the voices sound on your students' Macs, and is anything missing? Send feedback, top right of every page, tells the project team.

Things that look wrong but aren't

A student's row still says In progress after I closed the session.
Closing returns students to Your tests with answers saved, but does not hand in. Press Hand in on the row, or open another session and they resume.
A student has saved work, but isn't in the scoring queue.
The queue shows handed-in work only. Press Hand in on their row (Monitor or Results), Hand in all in progress on Results for the whole class, or have them press Finish and hand in.
Start session says a session for this class is already open.
One with the same students is still open, and its code is shown. Use that one, or close it on the Test sessions tab and start again.
A student deleted their essay by accident.
Open the student from Results, find Earlier versions under the essay, and press Restore this version on the last full one. If the session is still open, close it first. See Results and printing.
I fixed an answer key, but the students' scores didn't change.
Scores are set when each student hands in. Open Results and press Rescore with current key. If it is greyed out, the fix may not be saved — press Save question on that question first. See Score and give feedback.
A student keeps getting "Time is up." when they press Resume.
Their time ran out, or a deadline you set with Adjust time has passed. Open Adjust time on their row and choose No time limit or a later time.
A student's accommodation from the Students page didn't show up in the test.
The test's Allowed on this test tab doesn't allow that tool. Tick it there. Students without it on their record still won't get it. Who gets what, under the list, shows each student's result.
I ticked a tool on Allowed on this test and no student got it.
Ticking a tool there only allows it. Students get it from their Students page record, or when their class period gives it to everyone (below). Who gets what shows the result before you start a session.
A whole class period needs the same tool.
Open By class period on the Allowed on this test tab, pick the period and tick the tool under Give everyone in this period. To give it to every period, press Apply to all my periods. No need to add it student by student.
A row says Idle while the student is clearly writing.
Idle means nothing has been saved for 10 minutes. View screen shows what they are doing; typed text saves every few seconds on current Macs.
A student's session ended by itself.
Their time limit ran out ("Time is up."), or the session was closed or ran out. Their answers are kept either way.
"Couldn't start a secure session."
The Mac declined to lock for the test. It happens now and then, often to a few students at once at the start of class, and clears on its own. Have the student wait a minute and open the test again from Your tests; it usually works within a few tries. If it keeps failing, restart the Mac. Answers already saved are kept.
My imported maps and charts show at the top, not on my questions.
The tool attaches a figure only when it can tell which question it belongs to. Under figures found in the PDF, choose Use with item… on a figure marked Not used, or Save to Images and add it with the question's Image… button. No need to take a screenshot. See Bring in an existing test.
"No tests assigned right now."
No session is open for a section that student is in today. Read them the Session code.
"This test could not be opened. Could not join." on a test with fill in the blank.
That student's SecureTest is older than 1.6.0, which fill in the blank needs. The Mac updates on its own, usually by the next day; the student can also update SecureTest from Self Service. Other tests still open on the older version.
"This Mac isn't set up for SecureTest yet."
That Mac hasn't received its settings from IT yet. Contact IT, not the project.
Wi-Fi drops mid-test.
Answers are stored on the Mac and sent when the connection returns.
Send to gradebook says some students were "held back".
Their work still has a question waiting to be scored. Finish scoring, then press Send again; partial points are never sent.
I don't see my section in Send to gradebook.
The list shows sections you teach in PowerSchool that have handed-in work on this test (or an earlier send). A co-teacher sends for their own sections.
I renamed the assignment here, but PowerSchool kept the old name.
The name and due date are set on the first send only. Change them in PowerTeacher Pro after that.
Delete is greyed out.
A Published test must be unpublished first; a test with student work can only be archived.

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