DISCLAIMER: The School of Education works as hard as possible to provide information about LiveText and about the school that is as accurate as possible. However, this information is subject to change. If you have any questions, please contact the LiveText Coordinator, Renee Markowicz (soelivetext@oldwestbury.edu).
Please also see the Faculty FAQ for further information.
What is LiveText?
The School of Education supports its data collection and analysis system by teaming with LiveText to collect, aggregate, and analyze assessment data. The assessments in LiveText review the student teacher’s performance in your classroom and provide the School of Education with data that can contribute to evaluation of both the student’s performance and that of the School of Education. This allows the institution to identify areas for improvement within our programs.
Assessments are posted to LiveText each semester, and you will be asked to complete them by the end of the semester for the School of Education. You will be sent reminders from LiveText 2 days before assignments are due at the end of the semester, but you do not need to wait until that time to complete all of the LiveText assessments. These can be completed as observations are done throughout the rotation. Field supervisors are responsible for reminding their students when their assignments are due and may discuss observation schedules with you, as well.
Faculty Benefits
- Faculty can create rubrics and course assessments, aligning them to current standards.
- Integrates with Blackboard.
- Alignment with state, federal, and accreditation becomes easier and less cumbersome. Programs can identify standards that appear in each assessment and use them as evidence.
- Creating, administering, tracking, and grading student projects, portfolios, and other summative assignments.
- Accurately assess student work over time based on custom rubrics and expectations.
- Provides tools for marking, editing, and evaluating student work.
- Customized privacy settings
- 24/7 access from anywhere.
LiveText Account
If you are serving as a Field Supervisor for Old Westbury student teachers, then the School of Education will send a field supervisor account to your school email address. This email will arrive sometime around the beginning of the semester and will read as follows:
LiveText Account Registration Email
Subject: SUNY Old Westbury requests that you complete your LiveText registration
From: support@watermarkinsights.com
Dear [your name]:
SUNY Old Westbury is providing your access to LiveText services, including a dedicated online account. Registration was started for you. Without delay, please finish the last few items of your registration.
Please promptly finish your registration here:
[A link will be provided here for you to complete your registration.]
Also, please log in for the first time, to be sure you encounter no issues.
If you have questions, support@watermarkinsights.com is available to help.
For more information on the benefits and features of LiveText services, please visit www.livetext.com
Thank you,
The LiveText Team
Once you receive this email, please follow the instructions in the email to set up your account.
*If you do not receive the account email within a week of the semester starting or you are having difficulty creating your account, please contact the LiveText Coordinator, Renee Markowicz at soelivetext@oldwestbury.edu.
What to do if you forget your password:
If you would like to receive an e-mail with a link to reset your password, please follow the steps listed below:
Resetting your password
- Go to https://www.livetext.com
- In the upper right corner of your browser window click the button that says "Login | Register | Buy"
- Underneath the blue "sign-in" button, click the link that says "Forgot Your Password?"
- Enter your school email address, then click the "Continue" button.
- Make sure the first choice ("Email to") is selected, then click the "Continue" button.
- Check your e-mail account. Look for an e-mail from "support@watermarkinsights.com" with a subject line that begins with "LiveText Password Reset Code for". You may need to check your spam or trash folders if you do not receive the email in your inbox. If you have your "Focused Inbox" turned on, you may need to check your "Other Inbox," as well. You may need to add support@watermarkinsights.com to your address book to receive the email if your email provider is filtering the email from your account entirely.
- Your username will be located at the top of the email. Within the e-mail you've received, click the link provided. This should take you back to the LiveText website and you should see a message stating "Reset your password".
- Enter a new password for your account in the textboxes labeled "New Password" and "Confirm New Password". The password must be identical in both boxes. The password must be at least six characters in length and contain a mix of character types with at least two from the following categories: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numeral, and symbols. It is your responsibility to safekeep your username and password if you choose to write it down.
- Click the "Continue" button.
- At this point, you will receive a confirmation message on screen that states "your new password has been reset successfully".
- Click the link "Continue to your LiveText Membership account".
Assessments and Timeline
As soon as your student teachers' placements are created in LiveText (about 2-3 weeks into the rotation), you will have access to the assessments you are asked to complete. They are as follows:
- Field Supervisor Assessment of the Cooperating Teacher: This is completed only once, towards the end of each rotation. These are anonymous; neither your student nor the Cooperating Teacher will be able to see this assessment.
- Professional Attributes: This rubric assesses the professional attributes of your student teacher (e.g., Willingness to Learn and Accept Feedback, Collaboration, Analytical Thinking Skills, etc.). This is completed only once, towards the end of the rotation. Your student teacher will be able to read this assessment once you complete it.
- Observation Assessments: You will complete a number of observations for your student teacher throughout the course of rotation (please see the handbook and speak to your Department Chair to discuss the exact number that are required for your program). For each formal observation you will fill out two assessments, which should be completed when the observation is done and may be entered into LiveText at that time:
- Lesson Plan Assessment (there will be at least two of these in your student teacher's LiveText placement but there may be as many as four, depending on the program that your student teacher is in) -- this is an assessment of the written lesson plan your student teacher turns in prior to teaching the lesson. You should give feedback to the student to improve the lesson before it is taught, but it is generally preferred that you fill out the rubric for the lesson plan as it is first turned in to you. Your student teacher will be able to read this assessment once you complete it.
- Student Teaching Assessment (there will be at least two of these in your placement but there may be as many as four, depending on the program that your student teacher is in) -- this is an assessment of the actual teaching of the lesson plan that you observe. This should be completed as part of the observation, and it is suggested that you have a post-observation conference with your student teacher during which you will discuss the results of this assessment. Your student teacher will be able to read this assessment once you complete it.
Assessment vs. Grading
You may already be familiar with grading rubrics from your own classes. These contain a set of criteria as well as scores (e.g., 1, 2, 3, and 4) for each criterion. These rubrics translate directly to a grade for the student. For example, if the student gets 3/4 on every criterion, then they will receive a 75% for the assignment. This is not the case for assessment rubrics.
As was mentioned above, these rubrics are designed to assess our program as much as they assess our students. Therefor, we are looking for trends in these data, not specific scores. So, please read each score box carefully and give the student the score you believe they have earned. And remember that we do not translate these rubrics directly into a percentage and thus a grade. Grades are determined from a number of factors, but not directly from the LiveText rubrics.
Video Tutorials
(Coming soon: video tutorials to demonstrate how to accomplish specific functions in LiveText.)
If you have any further questions, or would like to schedule a training session, please contact the LiveText Coordinator, Renee Markowicz (soelivetext@oldwestbury.edu).
Faculty User Guides:
Faculty User Guide - Assessing and Scoring Assignments (PDF)
Faculty User Guide - Student-Teaching (PDF)
Faculty User Guide - edTPA (PDF)