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British Ability Scales 3 Scoring & Reporting Service: User’s Guide

1. Overview of the SRS

The online Scoring and Reporting Service (SRS) is a major element of the new British Ability

Scales 3, as it essentially replaces the normative tables that could previously be found in the

BAS2 manuals. In line with customer requests for the size and weight of the BAS3 Complete

Set to be reduced, and in order for the publisher to make any updates quickly and

efficiently, the normative tables have been removed from the BAS3 manuals and can now

be accessed via the SRS website.

While use of the SRS is anticipated to be the default option for scoring the BAS3, we

recognise that some customers will still have need or a preference to complete scoring the

BAS3 by hand. For this reason, all the tables needed for scoring the BAS3 are provided in the

SRS in downloadable format. These can be printed off or saved onto a computer.

2. Access to the SRS

All BAS3 customers, whether as individual users or as part of their group service, will receive

free access to the new BAS3 online Scoring and Reporting Service (SRS) on purchase of a

Complete Set. The SRS allows BAS3 scores to be calculated quickly and accurately, reducing

the amount of errors known to be made when scoring by hand, and providing all the data

needed to interpret the results of an assessment. The SRS also instantly generates a variety

of customised reports, which can allow users to include their own interpretations and

comments. These reports currently include:

Results Summary: A precise and clear report showing all the tabulated scores and

results from the analyses, including a visual profile.

Parent Report: A simplified report written specifically to help parents understand

the overall testing process and the resulting scores. This report can be

customised to the needs of individual children, parents and the assessment

circumstances.

Psychologist Report: A more technical and detailed report, including

interpretative and comparative analyses for use with more complex cases. This

report provides the child’s data and visual profile as per the Results Summary

and can also be customised to individual needs and circumstances.

Note: Examples of these reports can be accessed at www.gl-assessment.co.uk/bas3.

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3. Structure and pricing of the SRS

The SRS is structured to feature two levels:

The first level is available to all users free of charge. Following simple data entry,

this level allows users to generate an instantaneous Results Summary, which

shows a child’s scores on all the scales administered. This level also allows access

to the norm tables and relevant blank forms for any users who prefer to hand

score their results.

The second level is available to users who have paid an annual licence fee. For

this fee, users can generate unlimited quantities of two types of additional report

– a Parent Report and a Psychologist Report. More reports may become available

in the future. The licence fees for access to these reports are as follows:

Note: To generate both ‘Parent’ and ‘Psychologist Reports’, users will need to belong to an

organisation which has purchased an annual licence. Please contact Customer Services on

0845 602 1937 (Option 2) to upgrade your account. If your organisation has not purchased

an annual licence, then you will only be able to generate a ‘Results Summary’ and access the

lookup tables. An organisation must purchase a licence for all of their users (i.e. it is not

possible to allow only some users access to the second level reports).

Licences are available dependent on the number of users within an organisation:

Type of licence Cost per user

Single user licence £110

Multi-user licence (3-10 users) £105

Multi-user licence (11+ users) £90

The licence is set from the date that of purchase (not the date the invoice is paid) and

expires after one year. The main contact for the account will be emailed prior to the expiry

date and requested to renew their licence. If the licence is not renewed, then access to the

creation of second level reports is turned off (although previously generated reports will still

be available). Should a customer not pay their invoice, access to the second level reports will

be turned off until the invoice is paid.

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Note: Access to the first level of the system (i.e. the Results Summary and the lookup tables)

will always be possible as this part of the service is free.

The SRS has been designed so that all users within an organisation can access and view all

the child data, records and reports created for that organisation (and not just the data etc

that an individual user has created). Individual usernames and passwords are still necessary

however in order for:

Reports to be automatically customised to include the individual user’s name.

The number of users within an organisation to be monitored should the organisation

wish to purchase an annual licence fee to access the second level reports (NB the

licence is charged per user).

The SRS to confirm to international data security standards.

Should a psychologist leave an organisation, then their access to the SRS under that

organisation will be cancelled; however any data, records and reports created by that

individual will remain with the organisation for future use.

4. Data protection and the SRS

In order to conform with the Data Protection Act and ISO standards on data security, no information regarding a child’s name, address or school is required to be entered into the SRS. Each child is instead allocated an ID number. It is imperative for all users to keep a careful, confidential and secure record of all ID numbers, names and schools.

Warning: This information will not be available to the publisher at any point and, therefore, will not be retrievable by the publisher.

5. How to register as a user

Once a BAS3 Complete Set has been purchased, both you and your organisation will need to

register as a user of the SRS. You can do this by:

Completing the ‘BAS3 Scoring Registration Form’ included within your BAS3

Complete Set and returning this by post to: CUSTOMER REGISTRATIONS, GL

ASSESSMENT, FREEPOST LONDON 16517, SWINDON, SN2 8BR

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Completing an electronic version of the ‘BAS3 Scoring Registration Form’. This

can be requested by email from BAS3reg@gl-assessment.co.uk. Please return to

the same email address.

The BAS3 Scoring Registration Form asks you to complete the following details:

Organisation name, address and account number (if known).

The name, position, email address and telephone number of the principal

psychologist within the organisation. This ensures we have a main contact for the

account.

The name, position, email address and telephone number of all the qualified

psychologists within the organisation who need access to the BAS3 SRS.

Please remember to:

Print all information clearly and in capital letters (if filling the form out by hand).

Wait until you have the details for all your psychologists before returning the

form. It is easier for us to create user accounts once we have all the information

to hand.

Once we have received your ‘BAS3 Scoring Registration Form’, we can create an account for

your organisation and add users to this account. Your login is your email address and you

will be sent an email (entitled ‘Testwise Report Generator Tools - Password request’)

containing a randomly generated and unique password. This will allow you to access the

SRS. Should you not receive your login password by email, please check your spam folders in

case they have been sent there.

Note: Only qualified psychologists who are registered with GL Assessment as a qualified test

user will be allowed access to the SRS. Information on how to register as a qualified test user

can be found at www.gl-assessment.co.uk/downloads/regform.pdf.

For any queries regarding the BAS3 SRS registration process, please contact GL Customer

Services on 0845 602 1937 (Option 2).

6. How to login

To login to the SRS secure website, go to http://rgt.testwise.net/bas3 and save this page

under ‘Favourites’ for easy access.

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Enter your email address and password as supplied by GL Assessment and select ‘Login’.

You will then be asked to change your password.

Confirm your current password, and then type in a new password. As you type, the

‘Password strength’ will indicate whether the password you have chosen is ‘Very weak’,

‘Weak’, ‘Better’, ‘Medium’, ‘Strong’ or ‘Strongest’. Only ‘Strong’ or ‘Strongest’ passwords

will be accepted. Passwords must:

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Be 8 or more characters long

Contain both lower and upper case letters

Contain at least 1 digit or special character, such as ()!^&*+#?

Not contain all or part of your name, address or any researchable term that could

easily be guessed (such as a birthday, a partner’s name or a job function)

Avoid simple substitutions (such as 1 for i, 0 for O, 5 for s) and obvious

combinations and sequences (such as 1234abcd, p4s5w0rd).

Retype your new password and select ‘Update’. You will then be taken to your ‘Welcome’

page, which contains the ‘Terms of Service’ for the BAS3 SRS. In order to use the service,

you will need to agree to these terms and conditions. Please read and select ‘I agree’ at the

bottom of the page if you wish to proceed. If you select ‘I disagree’, you will be logged out

of the service.

7. How to navigate the SRS

Once you have entered the site, you will see the main menu with the following options:

View BAS3 children

o Create records for each child assessed

o Input test results

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o Add your own comments to customise reports

o Choose which reports to download, print and save

o Access previous reports

Download BAS3 tables and forms

o Access the lookup tables needed to score BAS3 by hand

o Access the blank Results Summary form and visual profile

o Access further information on how to use the lookup tables

To download any or all of the above files, simply check the box of

the relevant file/s, then select ‘Create selected lookup tables. It

can take a number of minutes for all the tables to generate, so

please be patient. Once the files have downloaded, you will be

prompted to either ‘Open’ or ‘Save’ the files to your computer.

Modify contact details

o Update your email address, password, name, position and telephone

number.

To return to the main menu, simply click on the ‘Home’ icon in the top right hand corner.

Note: You will be logged out of the SRS after 30 minutes after inactivity. Please be aware of

this time limit and regularly save any on-going work.

8. How to create a new record

For each child you assess, you will need to create a new record.

Select ‘View BAS3 children’. This takes you to a screen which shows a list of the children

whom you have already assessed. It allows you to enter data for a new child.

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Select ‘Create new child’. This takes you to a screen where you can create an individual child

record.

An ‘ID number’ will be automatically generated for each new child record.

Note: You must keep a note of this ID number as the identifying number for that child, as

no records will be held by GL Assessment.

Enter the child’s ‘Date of birth’ by using the calendar which appears when you click in this

box. Use the double arrows (<<) to scroll through and select the appropriate year; use the

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single arrow (<) to scroll through and the select the appropriate month. Then select the

exact day to confirm the date of birth. Alternatively, you can type in the date using

dd/mm/yyyy format. Do not use full stops as these are not recognised by the software.

Enter the remaining information (gender, home / first language, ethnicity, special needs) by selecting from the drop-down menus, then select ‘Submit.

Note: All the languages are in alphabetical order, except ‘English’ which is at the top of the menu. If a child has no special needs, select ‘None’ from the top of the menu. If a child’s special need is not listed in the menu, select ‘Other’ and use the box provided below to specify the need.

Note: If a child has multiple needs, then please either select the primary need, the ‘Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties’ option or specify the additional needs in the ‘Other’ box.

9. How to enter scores

After creating a new record, you will be automatically prompted to enter more information regarding an assessment via the following page.

Enter the ‘Date tested’ using the same method as above. The SRS will automatically select

the relevant battery administered (i.e. Early Years or School Age) dependent on the age of

the child. However, you can override this if you have administered a battery outside of the

recommended ages, by selecting either ‘Early Years Battery (3:00 to 7:11 years)’ or ‘School

Age Battery (5:00 to 17:11 years)’

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You will then have the opportunity to customise your reports by entering text into the

‘Background to assessment’ and ‘Behavioural observation’ boxes. Please use the prompts

that appear when you click in these boxes to help you complete these sections.

Note: If you leave these sections blank, they will not appear in any reports.

Warning: Do not use the child’s full name in any text entry as this will compromise the

security of the child’s data. GL Assessment cannot be responsible for any personal

information inputted by the user. All reports include space for a child’s name, address and

school to be entered by hand once printed.

You then have the option to:

‘Save’ the record. This will allow you to input scores later. You will be returned to

the list of children.

‘Enter and edit scores’. This will take you to the following screen where you can

input scores directly.

Raw scores can be entered for all the different scales within BAS3 – Core, Diagnostic and

Achievement Scales – as well as scores taken from YARC (York Assessment for Reading

Comprehension). Simply enter the child’s ‘Raw score’ in the left-hand boxes and select the

appropriate ‘Item set’ administered from the drop-down menus in the right-hand boxes.

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Note:

It is not necessary to enter scores for every scale – only those administered.

A score cannot be accepted if it exceeds the scoring parameters. A pop-up alert

will confirm the maximum score acceptable for each scale, dependent on the item

set administered, when you try to save the record.

Only one score should be entered for the Pattern Construction scale – dependent

on whether the Standard (Std) or Alternative (Alt) scoring procedure was used.

Please select as appropriate.

Only one score should be entered for Word Reading (select A or B).

You then have the option to select:

‘Save’ the record. This will save any information you have inputted and allow you

to create reports at a later stage. You will be returned to the list of children.

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‘Create reports now’. This will allow you to choose which report you wish to

generate.

‘Cancel’. Warning: By selecting ‘Cancel’, you will loose any data that has been

entered on this page. You will be returned to the list of children.

10. How to generate reports

Note: It is only possible to generate one report at a time. We therefore recommend that you

generate, save and view a ‘Results Summary’ first, so that the basic scores can be examined

before any further customised reports are generated.

Select the type of ‘Report’ you wish to generate and the ‘Confidence interval’ you wish to

use (95% or 90%).

As suggested above, you may wish to leave the following six boxes empty (‘Background to

assessment’, ‘Behavioural observations’, Views of the child’, ‘Views of the parent’, ‘Views of

the psychologist: Next steps’, ‘Any other comments’) until you have viewed the child’s

‘Results Summary’ and decided how best to proceed. After that stage, you can return to this

page to generate both ‘Parent’ and ‘Psychologist Reports’ using the prompts which appear

when you click on the relevant box. Please use this opportunity to customise your reports.

Note there is sufficient space in these boxes for approximately 25 lines of text or 5000

characters.

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Note: These sections will only appear in the Psychologist and Parent Reports. If you leave

these sections blank, they will not appear in any reports.

Warning: Do not use the child’s full name in any text entry as this will compromise the

security of the child’s data. GL Assessment cannot be responsible for any personal

information inputted by the user. All reports include space for a child’s name, address and

school to be entered by hand once printed.

Select which ‘File format’ you prefer:

.docx files can only be opened in Microsoft Word 2007 and later versions. If your

computer supports Microsoft Word 2007 or later, then select the .docx format.

.rtf files can be opened in any word processor software. Generally .rtf files are

not as ‘feature rich’ as other formats so may not be presented as neatly as the

.docx version. If your computer does not support Microsoft Word or similar, then

select the .rtf format.

Note: Separate pieces of software (add-ins) are available to download which allow earlier

versions of Word to open .docx files. This might give better results than using .rtf

documents.

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You then have the option to select:

‘Create and download’. This will automatically create the report selected in pdf.

You will have the option to either ‘Open’ or ‘Save’ the file. Please note that once

saved onto your computer, the security and protection of this file and all

information contained within it is your responsibility in line with your employer’s

data protection policies.

‘Save text’. Text entered into this page is automatically saved every 25 minutes;

however you should regularly save your work in case of computer failure.

‘View scores’. This will return you to the score input page, should you wish to

make any amendments. Warning: By selecting ‘View scores’ you may lose text

entered on this page – please select ‘save’ first.

‘Cancel’. Warning: By selecting ‘Cancel’, you will loose any data that has been

entered on this page. You will be returned to the list of children.

Note: All reports for any particular child are stored on the bottom of this page for up to 2

years. You can download the reports again or delete them from this page.

11. How to search for a child’s record

Over time you may enter information on a large number of children. To access previously

created records quickly and easily, go to your list of children’s records and use the following

search functions:

Use the ‘Filter’ box to search by:

o ID number

o Gender (input ‘M’ or ‘F’)

o Year of birth (input full year)

o Month of birth (input the first three letters of the month i.e. ‘Jan’ for

January)

o Date of birth (using the format yyyy-mm-dd)

If you know roughly the date of when a record was created (i.e. 1 month ago, 6

months ago, 24 months ago), select the appropriate number (1, 2, 6, 12, 24, 36,

60) from the drop-down menu at the top of the page. This will help reduce the

number of records shown.

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Click on the ‘arrow’ icons ID number)to sort each category (ID number, date of

birth, gender, date of last assessment). Dependent on the information to hand

(i.e. date of last assessment, ID number), you should be able to locate each

record.

12. How to access reports

Once a report has been generated, it is stored in a child’s record. To access and view

previously generated reports, go to your list of children’s records and select the icon ‘Create

or view existing reports’ for the relevant child. This will take you to the report generation

page. At the bottom of this page is a list of all previously generated reports. Simply select

the green icon ‘Download report’ to ‘Open’ or ‘Save’ the file.

13. How to enter scores for a new assessment

Re-test information can be entered at any time. It is the responsibility of the user to decide

on the appropriate re-test period. Simply go to your list of children’s records and select the

icon ‘Add results from a new assessment’ and complete the data entry as before.

14. How to customise reports with your logo

The logo of an organisation can be uploaded to the SRS, so that it is included within every

report generated by that organisation’s users. Only the main contact for the account can

upload logos, via the ‘Modify your details’ page, which also includes an option to ‘Edit your

organisation’s details’. Use the ‘Browse’ button to locate and ‘Open’ the file, then select

‘Submit’ to save.

Note: Only jpegs (recommended ratio 6 by 4) can be uploaded.

15. How to use the lookup tables

Full information on ‘How to access and download the lookup tables’, including details on

calculating a child’s age and completing a Results Summary form, can be found on the

‘Download BAS3 tables and forms’ page.

16. Feedback

Please send any feedback on the SRS (including any ideas for how it might be improved) via

the feedback page on the BAS3 website www.gl-assessment.co.uk/bas3.