Mastery Item Bank offers pre-built questions that Otus users can incorporate into their Advanced Assessments. These questions are linked to Common Core standards and include many other searchable criteria. Because the items have been professionally researched, built, and tested with valid and reliable results, they are unable to be edited by the Otus user. The Mastery Item Bank is only available in Advanced Assessments.
Access to the Mastery Item Bank is based on district settings. For more information about what item banks you have access to, please speak with your main Otus contact or reach out to the Otus Support Team via the chat tool.
Create the Advanced Assessment
Step 1: Select the Assessments module
Step 2: Select Create Assessment in the upper-right corner.
Step 3: Select Advanced from the Otus Assessment options. Give the assessment a name, select a type, and select a grading scale.
Step 4: Select Create.
Access the Mastery Item Bank
Step 1: Click on the dropdown that says My Items.
Step 2: Select Mastery Item Bank.
Option 1: Filters
Step 1: Use the drop-downs to apply one or more of the filters
Subject
Language
Depth of Knowledge (DoK)
Cognitive Demand
Step 2: Click Apply when all filters needed have been selected.
The item in the bank that populates will include all of the criteria you selected.
Option 2: Search by Standard
Step 1: Select Search by Standard
Option A: Browse manually
Click through the menu folders to navigate to the standard you want.
Each folder represents a standards authority (e.g., Common Core, or a specific state).
Open a folder to see the standards available under that authority.
Keep clicking into sub-folders until you find the specific standard you're looking for.
Option B: Search directly
Instead of browsing, type the standard code (e.g., "CCSS.MATH.5.NBT.1") or a keyword into the search box.
This searches through all child folders automatically, so you don't have to open them one by one.
Step 3: Click the desired standard(s). Once the standards are chosen, they will be added to the filters. Click Apply when all standards (and other desired filters) have been selected.
The items that populate the list are linked to the standard you searched for. Please note that those questions will also likely be attached to additional standards other than the one you searched for.
ℹ️ The standard appears in the search field as a tag noted with a string of numbers and letters, rather than the name of the standard itself.
Option 3: Search by Content Reference
You can search by titles, keywords, and question types. See the image below.
1: Search by title here. Example: "E605214"
2: Search by keyword here. Example: "weather"
3: Click the dropdown arrow to select a question/feature type.
4: Select "Published" (not required).
Add Mastery Item Bank Items to Your Assessment
Once you have generated a list of items using one of the search methods:
Step 1: Click on the item name (Navigate--591533 for this example) to preview/add.
Step 2: From the preview window, click Add Item.
You will then see the item from the Mastery Item Bank included under the Assessment Builder section at the top of the page.
💡 Tip: Click into the point value box to adjust the points for a Mastery Item Bank item. This only applies to Mastery Item Bank items. Point values for custom-created items can be edited in edit mode of an item.
💡 Admin Tip: Admin accounts will see an additional option below the Assessment Builder window: "Hide item bank items above from teachers." Toggle this ON if you're using Mastery items for benchmark or other district-wide assessments. This prevents students from seeing the same questions duplicated on teacher-created assessments.
Mastery Item Rubrics for Essays
The Mastery Item Bank includes rubrics for all Extended Text (Essay with rich text) items. All other items, including what we classify as short text (single-line answers) do not include a rubric.
For the extended text, the rubrics can be found by using the same item reference with “_rubric” added at the end.
For example, the item you selected can be found by using the Reference field to search by the item number which is displayed as the title of each Mastery item which in this example is Navigate--576770. The reference field is labeled with a 1 in the screenshot included in the Search by Content section above. You can search for the rubric by adding _rubric to the item's reference number - Navigate--576770_rubric.
Otus Live Video
Click to see a video from our Otus Live series on creating an Otus assessment using the mastery item bank.
Click to see a video from our Otus Live series on creating an Otus assessment using the mastery item bank.
FAQ and Troubleshooting
Click to see FAQ and troubleshooting details.
Click to see FAQ and troubleshooting details.
Can the items from Mastery Item Bank be edited in any way?
No. Because the items have been professionally researched, built, and tested with valid and reliable results, they are unable to be edited by the Otus user, including the scoring.
Can I change the standards on Mastery Item Bank questions? There are many standards linked to items in the Mastery Item Bank, and they all appear in the Gradebook.
No, since the item can't be edited, this also means the linked standards cannot be customized. Therefore, any standards that the district has enabled in the Otus Gradebook (state, NGSS, CCSS) will appear in the Gradebook.
If you use Otus to run progress reports/report cards, one option would be to create standards tags that include the specific standards you want to appear on the report card. In that case, the extraneous standards would still show in the Gradebook, but not on the report card.
Who developed the Mastery Item Bank?
The Mastery Item Bank is developed and provided by Instructure.