Navigate the Content tab and access assessment banks, including pre-built tests.

Search for assessments using standards and/or tags.

Explore available item banks and pre-built assessments.

Create a new content/assessment main folder and a subfolder to help teachers locate assessment materials.

Develop an initial assessment and provide descriptive information.

Add items to the test staging bin, arrange, and sequence them within the assessment.

Build and refine assessment drafts.

Share newly created assessments with colleagues within the campus or district.

Review and collaborate on shared assessment drafts from colleagues.

Move assessment folders to live or add new tests/pre-built tests to the Live folder, making them available to teachers.

Set visibility restrictions by limiting assessment access to specific dates and times.

Assist teachers with test administration and notify them when assessments are ready.

Add new assessments to Live folders as needed.

Share Teacher Resources with teachers on how to administer the District Assessments

Test Building Process

This guide offers a comprehensive overview of the assessment creation process in the STAAR Summative Assessment Bank, providing district administrators with a step-by-step framework for developing and analyzing tests—from initial construction to final result interpretation.

Quick Guide for Building Assessments

Step1: Review Content 

Login and navigate to the Content tab on the main Sirius Dashboard to review courses, content, test banks, and prebuilt assessments.

Filter assessment banks by grade level, TEKS, item type, language, keyword, or point value.

Tips and Best Practices

1. Curriculum and content coordinators should thoroughly review item banks, prebuilt assessments, and TEKS to ensure comprehensive coverage.
   
2. Pre-built assessments and item banks can only be reviewed in the Content tab, tests are built in the test builder folder.
   

Step 2: Create Folders

• Open Test Builder > My Drafts > Create New Assessment Folder. 
  
• Plan folders based on the assessments to be administered. 
  

Tips and Best Practices

1. Use a hierarchical structure: Create a main benchmark folder for each grade/content area (e.g., “Grade 8 Math Benchmarks”) and subfolders for each testing period (e.g., “Spring 2026”).
   
2. Folder names serve as header labels in Reports and in the Add Course to Class interface.
   

Warning 

Do not move the main folder to “Live” until you are ready to launch your assessment program.

Navigate to Test Builder > My Drafts > Create New > Assessment, and start to build the assessment by defining the Name, Description, and Template fields. 

Tips and Best Practices

• Use a standard naming convention such as “Grade/Subject/Assessment Name/Date/Type.”

• Establish a district-wide naming standard for assessments and folders to maintain consistency across documents. For example:
  

• Name: Grade 8 Math Benchmark 1/September 1–15/Pretest
  

• Description: TEKS 8.2, 8.3, 8.4
  

• Template: Math Grade 8 Test
  

Navigate to Test Builder > My Drafts > Find Items/Add Items to New Assessment to select questions from the SSAB Item Bank that match your assessment plan.

Select the appropriate item bank (EOC, Grade 3 - 5, Grade 6 - 8, or STAAR Released Questions) and then begin to filter the items by Standard or Tags. 

Tips and Best Practices

• Use Standards and Tag filters to refine your search. 
  

• Add candidate items from the staging bin by clicking (+), and sequence them as needed.

• Adding all items at once can be more efficient. 

• Always review the test sequence to ensure it meets the intended cadence and objectives.

Working with Pre-Built Assessments

Navigate to Test Builder > Live and select the assessment folder the test will be added to and click Open on the subfolder where the test will reside.

Click Add > Pre-Built Assessments and choose the appropriate resource bank.

Click on the White Checkbox to the left of the testing icon and then click Add to Live and then click Yes to proceed with publishing the test.

Tips and Best Practices

• Once a pre-built test is moved to Live, it can no longer be edited. 
  

• To make changes to a pre-built assessment before publication, refer to the SSAB Administrator’s User Guide.

Step 4: Peer Review

Navigate to Test Builder > My Drafts and select the assessment (orange assessment folder) to be shared.

Click on the Ellipse > Moved to Shared to open the assessment for a peer review.  A copy will be available to test builders to review.

Tips and Best Practices

• Moving tests from My Drafts to Shared Drafts creates copies. Any edits made to tests in Shared Drafts do not affect the original versions in My Drafts.

• Use the peer review process to gather feedback without jeopardizing the original test content.

Step 5: Publish

Go to either My Drafts or Shared Drafts (this will depend where your final draft was completed) > Move to Live to publish assessments. 

Tips and Best Practices

• Live tests will be visible to teachers for assignments. 
  

• Distribute Administering STAAR Summative Assessments: A Guide for Teachers to your school personnel so they are familiar with the test administration process and can assign the assessments to students.

• Teachers can review student’s assessment results in the Sirius platform in the Assignments > Scorecard and Reports section.

• Remember: once a test is published “live,” it cannot be edited. Ensure all details are finalized before publishing.

Step 6: Reports and Analytics

Once assessments are complete, go to Reports on the main dashboard to review district test performance and other key insights. 

Tips and Best Practices 

Regularly monitor reports and analytics to gauge assessment effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.