SOLARO is a self-paced study tool where a student has access to lessons and practice quizzes/tests to help explain the various concepts laid out in the provincial/state curriculum. These are not meant to replace what the student is learning in class but rather supplement it as a resource for exam preparation.

SOLARO can be used at home or in class to improve their marks, stay on top of studies and get ahead. They can also use SOLARO as a reference while they do homework and projects and use the quizzes and tests to check how well they know the content they are learning. When students use the site regularly, they will develop study habits and strategies that will make it easier to master the subjects they are learning at school.

How can SOLARO help my child?

SOLARO offers students a safe, reliable learning environment with resources that support their daily schooling. Students can use these resources at school, home, or even on the go! SOLARO takes a proactive approach to your child’s education by continuing the learning process outside of school hours. SOLARO offers students and their parents several ways to support the learning process:

Real-time reporting and updates on the progress and content mastery for each of your registered children
Practice with quizzes and tests to identify strengths and weaknesses
Create digital notes and flashcards to make studying and reviewing easier
Review detailed solutions to every completed practice question
Access lessons, quizzes, tests on the web or via mobile applications for iOS, Android or Windows
All learning content is age appropriate and aligned to regional standards

Where can I see THE KEY study guide or SNAP workbook in SOLARO?

SOLARO is a Digital Study Guide; it is not an e-book version of THE KEY or SNAP study guides. We do not offer downloadable ebook versions of the printed books

The content and information in SOLARO is very similar to the KEY study and SNAP but there are some differences and it is not displayed in the same order or format as the books.

Are there any training videos or documents available to learn how to use SOLARO?

Please refer to http://www.solaro.com/support/overview/. This link will take you to the tutorial videos and printable manuals demonstrating the various features available for the school administrator, teacher and student accounts.

If you still have questions regarding how to use SOLARO, you may contact support@solaro.com or use the technical support form on the website.

Is SOLARO available offline?

SOLARO is designed to be viewed in a digital format and does require a working network connection.

For the most part most sections of SOLARO are not meant to be printed, including lessons, student practice quizzes, practice tests, reading practice or the pre&post tests. The only exception for printing are the student Notes and teachers are able to generate pdf versions of any custom assignment that they build from their teacher account.

Available Content

How are SOLARO courses structured?

SOLARO breaks courses down into small, manageable parts for you to review as you choose. Courses are specific to the provincial or state. Topics include the broad aspects that make up the course. Each topic is broken down into more specific Sections and within each Section are several Lessons, some with activities which are used to convey the content.

SOLARO is designed to be a tool which can be tailored to individual students’ needs. As a result, some students may methodically work through lessons one at a time, completing sections and topics as they go in order to complete a course. Others may pick and choose specific lessons and assessments in their areas of need or interest without worrying about completing a course. A practice quiz will be available at the end of each Section and a Topic/Practice Test available at the end of each Topic.

Will SOLARO be updated to reflect changes to curriculum standards?

All lessons and practice questions are aligned to the regional standards for each subject and grade. Our team of educators will realign our courses in SOLARO to reflect any changes introduced to your regional standards.

Why is my state or province missing?

SOLARO offers a significant number of courses in provinces and states across Canada and the United States. Please visit www.solaro.com or www.solaro.ca to see what courses are available or recommended for your region.

Does SOLARO have support for learning disabilities and/or audio dictation?

Unfortunately at this time we do not have any features in SOLARO to allow for the student to have the lessons or questions read out to them. There are some third party companies that offer software or browser plugins to provide reading support for websites. Some of the accessibility features for mobile devices and tablets may also provide some options. However we cannot confirm whether or not they are compatible with SOLARO.

Do you offer content for Grade 1 and 2?

At this time, we do not have any plans to add grade 1 or 2 classes to SOLARO.

Where can I find the Social Studies courses?

Currently, we only offer Social Studies courses for Alberta Provincial Achievement Test, High School and Diploma level grades.

Do you offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses?

Our courses are designed to align with the curriculum standards for the individual American states and Canadian provinces but we do not currently offer any of the Advanced Placement courses.

Since the Advanced Placement program is designed to also offer college-level curriculum standards our high school course would only cover somewhere between one- and two-thirds of the AP curriculum. The student could use the course available but it will only supplement part of their school year in that class

Do you offer any courses in French?

All of the material currently offered on SOLARO is only available in English. We are a Canadian company so this could always change, but unfortunately at this time there are no plans to release any courses in French.

Subscriptions

What does a SOLARO membership include?

Each SOLARO subscription includes access to one parent and one student account.

You will have access to all of SOLARO’s services, including:

Parents

On-demand reporting for parents to monitor the activities and progress for each registered child.
Standards-aligned reporting provides parents with clear explanations of their child's performance related to regional standards and SOLARO's lessons and practice questions.
Manage each student’s account, including passwords, login information, and payment information.

Students

Access to all the content for up to 10 SOLARO classes/courses at a time.
Explore and search through hundreds of lessons in each grade that will help students understand key concepts.
Practice with quizzes and tests to identify strengths and weaknesses.
Create digital notes and flashcards to make studying and reviewing easier.
Review detailed solutions to every completed practice question.
Access lessons, quizzes, tests, and other study tools on the web or via mobile applications for iOS, Android or Windows

What types of subscriptions can I purchase and what does it cost?

There are many different subscription plans available for SOLARO.

The subscriptions mentioned below include access to regionally aligned Mathematics, English Language Arts, Sciences and Social Studies* courses from Grades 3 to 12.
*Social Studies is currently only available for Alberta and select grades.

Option 1: Purchasing a monthly recurring subscription from SOLARO.com (https://app.solaro.com/user_registrations/new)

You can purchase a subscription directly from the solaro.com sign up page at a cost of $30+tax/month. Please note, this is an automatic recurring subscription which will bill to the credit card each month until you choose to cancel the subscription.

This type of subscription will automatically create both a parent account and a student account. The parent account is created using the parent's email address and as the parent, you will have the option at that time to change both the username and password used for the student to login.

Option 2: Purchase a non recurring SOLARO subscription from the Castle Rock Research bookstore or solaro.ca bookstore websites:

If you don't want a recurring subscription and prefer not to be billed to the credit card each month, you can purchase 30 days access for $30 - or - 12 month access for $199/yr (approximately a 44% discount of the monthly rate) from our bookstore websites.

Alberta: https://castlerockresearch.com/all-books-alberta/solaro-math-science-and-english-language-arts-1-month

Other regions: http://www.solaro.ca/all-books-ontario/solaro-digital-study-guide-for-math-science-and-english-language-arts-online-phone-tablet

Orders from the bookstore take about 24 hours to process and we will provide you with a student username and password to login. Once logged in you still have the option of creating a parent account (no extra charge) for yourself. These types of accounts do not recur and will automatically expire once the term is complete. However you always have the option of renewing by purchasing another set from the bookstore.

Some third-party resellers may also offer other types of SOLARO subscriptions on their websites. These subscriptions may follow different rules such as the number and type of classes you can access.

Do you offer a trial membership?

We offer a 15 day money back guarantee for the automatic recurring subscriptions. Please note, this only applies to new accounts. Any parent or student account where a subscription was previously purchased does not qualify for the money back offer.

Do you offer a yearly membership?

Yes, a 12 month subscription plan can be purchased from either of our bookstore websites: Please see for more details

Alberta: https://castlerockresearch.com/all-books-alberta/solaro-math-science-and-english-language-arts-1-month

Other regions: http://www.solaro.ca/all-books-ontario/solaro-digital-study-guide-for-math-science-and-english-language-arts-online-phone-tablet

Do you have a discount if I purchase multiple subscriptions?

Special pricing largely depends upon the size of the group. For inquiries, e-mail support@solaro.com.

Can an account/subscription be shared between two students?

SOLARO accounts are designed to be used by only one student at time and it is not recommended for students to share the same account. Although it is possible to login on multiple devices at the same time it can cause other problems and confusion when it comes to saving answers for quizzes/tests and properly tracking the student’s progress.

What currency will be charged to my credit card for the membership?

SOLARO memberships may be charged in Canadian or US dollars. SOLARO will determine the appropriate currency based on your region when accessing the website.

Please note, use of VPN connections and other online tools that mask your ip address, may affect what region SOLARO recognizes when you access the website for the first time.

What credit cards can I use to make payment?

We accept payments with VISA and Mastercard. Some other major credit cards may also be accepted.
Unfortunately, the online credit card processor used by SOLARO for recurring subscriptions does not accept some Visa-Debit, MasterCard-Debit cards or prepaid credit cards. If your credit card is not accepted for recurring payments, you can try to purchase a non-recurring subscription from the bookstore website as it does use a different payment processor.

Please see: What types of subscriptions can I purchase and what does it cost?

Can I put my monthly subscription on hold?

Currently, we do not offer a subscription hold option. However, if you cancel a subscription your parent account will remain accessible to re-subscribe for SOLARO at any time.

How do I cancel my monthly subscription?

The subscription can be cancelled from the parent account. To cancel a subscription:

Go to https://app.solaro.com and log in to your parent account.
Click on the student’s name to access the student profile
Click the "Cancel Subscription” button at the bottom of the page

Alternatively you can also email the request to support@solaro.com or use the technical support form on the website. Please make sure to indicate the username for the student account or the order number.

Can I get a subscription from my public library?

There are multiple libraries that are now offering free SOLARO accounts for their library card holders. Each library will have a different setup available on their website for how to register for a SOLARO account. Most of the libraries have put the link to register for a SOLARO account under their e-resources, electronic resources or student resources section of their website.

This page will list all of the libraries or library systems who currently offer SOLARO accounts. Find your library and click on the logo to be directed to the page on their website to complete the registration process:

http://castlerockresearch.com/solaro-for-libraries/

Please note, if your library's name doesn't appear on the list it is still possible that they are registered for SOLARO. Some smaller libraries are listed by the library system they are part of instead of each individual library across the province/state. If your library is part of one of these library systems, you can visit your library's website and look in the e-resources section for SOLARO or ask your library for help with registering for e-resources.

Troubleshooting

I keep getting redirected to the SOLARO login page after trying to log in or whenever I try to click a link?

Usually being redirected to the login page is due to either the browser not being set to accept cookies or that the browser window is set to a Private browsing mode.

Please make sure that your web browser (Safari, Firefox, Chrome etc.) is not using a Private/incognito browsing mode and that the browser is set to accept cookies.

I can’t find the Google sign-in option on the mobile apps?

Unfortunately the google sign-in option is not available for the SOLARO iOS and Android apps at this time. We are hoping to have it added to the apps in the near future. The google single sign-on is available in the web browser version (https://app.solaro.com/).

If you would like to use your google SOLARO account in the SOLARO mobile app please contact support@solaro.com or use the technical support form on the website to request a mobile app password for your account.

I see an upgrade message when I try to access the lessons/quizzes?

There are various reasons why the content for a class may not be available for a student. This is usually a sign that a licence has expired or that the class the student is trying to access does not match the criteria for the subscription that was purchased. Please contact support@solaro.com or use the technical support form online and we can confirm the expiry date for your subscription or if there are any class/course restrictions for the type of subscription purchased versus the classes that have been selected in the account.

I have logged into my new account but I cannot find how to access the content?

Here is a quick overview of how to navigate SOLARO to find the lessons. If you just purchased a new subscription it is mostly likely that you are currently logged into the parent account instead of the child-student account. The easiest way to tell which account you are currently logged into is by looking at the color of the bar by the SOLARO logo. (Teal=parent, green=student, orange=teacher, blue=school administrator).

1) Parent account (username is the email address used to place the order)

The parent account is used to manage the student account (reset passwords, select classes, purchase and cancel SOLARO subscriptions). The parent is also able to view the child's progress in SOLARO by viewing various activity reports. However the parent cannot see any of the lessons, practice quizzes or classes. The student must log in with their own account to view the content.

2) Student-child account
The student account is used by the child/student to access the classes and study in SOLARO. When the student logs in for the first time they will select which classes they want to be enrolled in. Once they have selected their classes, they can click on the SOLARO logo and access their homepage. On the homepage the student clicks on the class name (i.e. Math 3). Next they will see the list of Chapters/Topics for the course (i.e. Number, Patterns etc.), and when they click on a chapter they will see the all of the lessons and the practice quizzes that go along with them and continue from there

How can a parent assign work to a student’s to-do list?

Unfortunately the system is not designed to allow parents to send assignments to the student's todo list. This is a feature that we are currently looking into to see if it's something that can be added in future updates.

For non school accounts, the student's ToDo list is generated based on what content they have begun to look at but not completed (e.g. started a quiz but didn't complete it, finished a quiz but haven't reviewed the answers. etc.). If the student hasn't accessed any of the content yet it will simply say "There are no items in your To Do list". The todo list is more for the student to keep track of their progress and what needs to be completed.

We realize the name “ToDo” seems to imply the ability to assign work. This is in part because there is a feature available when the student account is part of the SOLARO@School program and used in conjunction with a teacher's profile. Teacher's have the ability to create customized assignments which can then be assigned to the students ToDo list. That assignment feature doesn't apply when the account is not part of the SOLARO@school program.

Where do I find my licence key and/or class code?

The "Class code” and “Licence key" fields are used as part of the SOLARO at School program. Teachers can invite students to access their SOLARO class using a class code. Schools also have the option of purchasing single course licence keys rather than a full 10 course subscription.

For a typical SOLARO subscription you will not be using either fields. In order to register for your SOLARO classes you just need to click on the "Add Course" button on your dashboard page. Select the proper region and grade level and the list of available classes should appear below. Select the classes you want to add to your account and click the save button. SOLARO subscriptions from solaro.com, solaro.ca or CastleRockResearch.com will allow you to select up to 10 classes at a time. You can change your class selection at any time

Please note, there are some subscription types (usually sold from third party resellers) that are restricted to a particular grade, subject and/or course. If your subscription has these restrictions you will not be able to access other classes in the class list.

Student

How do I find the lessons and quizzes?

After logging into the student account, on the homepage the student clicks on the class name (e.g. Math 3). Next they will see the list of Topics for the course (e.g. Number, Patterns etc.). When they click on a Topic they will see all of the lessons and the practice quizzes that go along with the lessons and continue from there.

What are SOLARO notes?

As you work through the lessons, you can create notes using SOLARO text and graphics. You can also add your own text. This tool allows you to record and save important information and examples as you work through the lessons. You can create your own summaries and study notes or copy and paste phrases from SOLARO lessons.

How do I create notes?

While you are looking at a lesson in SOLARO, you can highlight the text and graphics in the lesson with your mouse. A pop up message will appear and you click on the "Add Note" button. A new window will open and the information you highlighted will be displayed.

In that window, you can add a title to your note, change fonts, add your own words to the information, etc. When you save the note, it will be linked to that lesson page for you to review later, and you can find it on the Notes section for that class.

From the Notes section, you can also select and group notes together to review on screen, or to create a PDF for printing.

How do I create flashcards?

While you are looking at a lesson in SOLARO, you can highlight the text and graphics in the lesson with your mouse. A pop up message will appear and you click on the "Add Flashcard" button. A new window will open and the information you highlighted will be displayed.

In that window, the text you highlighted becomes the “answer” for your flashcard, and you need to create the question about the text you highlighted. When you save the flashcard, it will be linked to that lesson page for you to review later, and you can find it on the Flashcard section for that class.

From the Flashcards section, you can quiz yourself with the flashcards you’ve created and test your memory!

What is the difference between a test and quiz?

Practice tests and quizzes function the same way. Every Topic is divided into groups of lessons. Each group of lessons has a quiz that the student should take after reviewing the lessons within that group. A test is found at the end of each Topic. The test is longer than a quiz and addresses the material covered by all of the lessons within the topic. (Quiz approx. 6 questions, Test approx. 20 questions)

Guidelines to follow when taking a Test of Quiz:

Navigation: Do not use the back button in the browser to return to a previous page in the quiz. Try to use the controls provided by SOLARO. If you use the browser back button and it may take you back to the Topic page rather than the previous question.
Just Guessing: If you are not sure about an answer, select an answer and then instead of clicking “Next Question”, click "Just Guessing" instead. That question will be marked with a special icon as a reminder to review it later regardless of if you answered it correctly or not.
You will need to answer all questions before you can click on the “Save and Score” button.
If you need to pause a quiz/test that you have started, click on the “Finish Practice Later” button and all your current answers will be saved. You can then return at a later time to finish the same test/quiz.
Assignments: if the test you’re taking is an assignment that was given to you by your teacher, if you do not finish the assignment by the teacher’s deadline any unanswered questions will be marked as incomplete.
After clicking on the Score button, it is important to review all of the questions that were incorrectly answered. If you do not review all of the incorrectly answered questions, the Test or Quiz will not be marked as completed. We also recommend looking at the associated lesson for each incorrect answer in order to review the content.

Reading vs. completing a lesson?

When you click on the lesson title you will be brought to a page with explanations and easy to understand examples specific to the topic for that lesson. Graphics may be used to illustrate and explain concepts.

During a lesson you can also use the SOLARO notes tool to take notes by either writing your own or by copying and pasting useful information from the lesson into your SOLARO notepad.

Opening the lesson page will automatically indicate the lessons as “read” in SOLARO” but in some cases it may require additional steps in order for it to be marked as “complete”.

Some lessons have practice questions that appear at the end of the text. You’ll know you’ve completed the lesson in its entirety when you’ve reviewed the Lesson content and completed the practice questions where they are available.

What are Practice Questions?

Practice Questions are assignments built into some lessons that you can use to test your comprehension of the concepts being taught in that lesson. Unlike practice quizzes or practice tests these questions are not scored.

What are reading passages?

Reading passages are used in the English Language Arts courses only. They are examples of different genres of writing that you can read to help you understand the differences between them. The reading passages also have practice reading quizzes linked to them so you can also check your reading comprehension.

What are Stars?

Stars are incentives to help keep you motivated and are something you are rewarded with when you've worked hard or reached a goal. Stars are used in SOLARO as a virtual currency to buy avatar rewards.

How do I earn and use Stars?

You earn Stars by completing lessons, doing tests and quizzes or creating and achieving goals. The number of Stars you can earn from each of these is different and grows as you complete Sections and Topics.

How do I keep track of my Stars?

There is a star icon that appears on the main title bar of your SOLARO account. It will display your current number of stars. You can also click on the star icon to view the “My Progress” page, which will show you where you earned stars and the total number of stars.

How do I customize my avatar?

You can customize your avatar by clicking on the avatar thumbnail at the top of the page. You can customize the physical features of your avatar and also choose different clothes and accessories. Initially you will have very limited clothing and accessory choices. As you earn stars, you can use the stars to purchase more clothing and accessory items.

How do I purchase accessories for my avatar?

Go to the My Progress page, by clicking on the star icon and counter at the top of your SOLARO page. Next, click on the Rewards button. To purchase clothing and accessories, simple drag the items you would like to add into the shopping cart. Return to your avatar page and the new clothes/accessories should now be available for your avatar.

How to add more classes to a student account?

From the dashboard page, click on the Add Courses button. From here you can change your region, grade and classes. You can also enter a teacher class code your teacher has provided you.

SOLARO subscriptions from solaro.com, solaro.ca or CastleRockResearch.com will allow you to select up to 10 classes at a time. You can change your class selection at any time

How to change my password?

If you are already logged into your account and you would like to change the password. Click on the menu icon (top right corner), and select My Account. A change password option is available on this page.

I forgot my password, how can I reset it?

If your SOLARO account was set up with an email address as the username, go to https://app.solaro.com, and click on Forgot Password? An option will appear to allow you to send yourself a password reset email.

If your SOLARO student username is not setup with an email address but a username you can try any of the following:

If this is a school account: a teacher or school administrator can reset the password.
If the student account is linked to a parent profile: the parent is able to reset the password for the student.
For all other inquiries, contact support@solaro.com or use the technical support form on the website to request a password reset. In your email please make sure to include your SOLARO username. If possible please send the request using the same email address used to purchase the account otherwise you will be asked to confirm additional information for security purposes.

I do not like the username provided to me, how can I change the student username?

Unfortunately, it may not be possible to change a username once the account has been created. Due privacy laws in certain regions, we only allow usernames to be selected when they are being created from a parent account during the billing process or by a school/organization as they can decide what type of username they want the child to use (how much private information is included in the username). Because we can't confirm the involvement of a parent when accounts are purchased by other means (mobile, bookstores, groupon etc. ) a random username is provided instead.

If your account was provided to you by a school or tutoring organization you will need to contact them to request the new username.
If your account was purchased from any of the bookstore websites or from a third party you may have been provided with a random username. You may be able to change the username by inviting a parent to link to your student account. The parent profile has the option to change a student’s username.
Please refer to: How can I invite myself to have a parent account linked to my child/student’s existing SOLARO username?
If your account was obtained through the public library you will not be able to edit the username information.

I need some help understanding the content, can I speak to a SOLARO teacher or tutor?

Unfortunately we don't have tutors on call to answer questions or to be able to offer tutoring help.

SOLARO is meant for self study where you can access lessons and practice questions to go along with what you are learning in class. Of course if you have any questions about a lesson or a question that you've seen in SOLARO, you can show your teacher and ask if they can give you some extra help.

Parent

What is the difference between the student and parent accounts?

In SOLARO, the parent account is primarily for administration and reporting. The parent has administrative functionality over child accounts, such as changing passwords, courses, and grade levels. Student accounts have access to the lessons and content. Both a parent and student account is included with a paid subscription.

Where are the lessons and quizzes?

The parent cannot see any of the lessons, practice quizzes or classes. The student must log in with their own account to view the content.

When the student logs in for the first time they will select which classes they want to be enrolled in. Once they have selected their classes, they can click on the SOLARO logo and access their homepage. On the homepage the student clicks on the class name (i.e. Math 3). Next they will see the list of Chapters/Topics for the course (i.e. Number, Patterns etc.), and when they click on a chapter they will see all of the lessons and the practice quizzes that go along with them and continue from there.

How can I monitor my child’s progress?

The parent account has access to a number of reports showing your child’s progress. From your parent account, go to the child profile page and click on the Reports tab to access all of the SOLARO progress reports. You can see their quiz and test scores, what lessons they have completed, and their overall activity

How can I invite myself to have a parent account linked to my child/student’s existing SOLARO username?

There are cases where a student account may have been created without a parent account created at the same time.

For example:

Username was provided by a school, tutoring agency, library or organization
Accounts purchased from the bookstore websites
Account was purchased from a third party website and the username was provided to you (e.g. GroupOn, Castlerockresearch.com)
Complimentary trial accounts.

How to invite a parent:

In the student account click on the menu icon and select My Account
Scroll down to the Invite Parent section and enter the email address for the new parent account. Make sure to click the Send Invite button after entering the email address.
Note down the parent invitation code that is on that page.
Log out from the SOLARO student account
The parent will receive an invitation email, click on the link and follow the instructions. At one point the parent will be asked to enter the invitation code to complete the verification and setup. This is a security feature. If the wrong person received the invitation email they would not be able to access the student's information.
Once the link between both accounts is complete, from the parent dashboard page click on the student username to view the student profile and reports.

If I have more than one child, can I use just one student account/subscription?

How can I cancel a subscription?

To cancel a subscription you will need to log into the parent account. (If you do not remember your password, use the Forgot Password option on the login page).

Go to https://app.solaro.com and log in using your parent account
Click on the student name to access the student profile
Click the "Cancel Subscription” button at the bottom of the page

SOLARO does not automatically send a confirmation of the cancellation.

If you would like to request a confirmation email, please contact support@solaro.com or use the Tech Support help request form on the website. Make sure to include your parent username and the student(s) username.

Schools and other organizations (tutoring, home school...)

How can we get a demonstration of SOLARO prior to purchasing for our school or organization?

If your school or organization is interested in purchasing SOLARO and you would like to join a free Q&A webinar where you can get your questions answered by SOLARO product experts, please contact sales@solaro.com.

How can I use SOLARO in my classroom?

SOLARO contains hundreds of lessons and thousands of practice questions in each grade covering Mathematics, Sciences, and English Language Arts. Teachers create classes in SOLARO and add the students to their class. Each student is assigned a unique username to login and access the SOLARO content for self study.

Teachers can create assignments using the SOLARO question bank. All items are aligned to regional standards. These assignments can be printed for in class use or sent in digital format to the student’s SOLARO todo list. The teacher has full control of how long a student has to complete the assignment. Any unanswered questions will be treated as incomplete. Teachers can see the student’s score and responses in real time as they complete the digital assignment.

SOLARO’s Individual student reports help teachers identify student strengths and weaknesses for each concept and regional standard.

What access does SOLARO at School provide students?

Students of eligible schools will have full access to SOLARO, however depending on the settings selected by the schools students may only be able to access classes/courses that were selected by their teacher.

Is there special pricing for schools or organizations?

Special pricing largely depends upon the size of a group. For inquiries, e-mail sales@solaro.com.

Can my school/organization get a trial account to see how SOLARO works?

Please contact sales@solaro.com to inquire about how to register for a SOLARO at School account.

It is recommended that anyone interested in getting a SOLARO at School trial account first attend a SOLARO Q&A webinar.

The webinar will provide a full demonstration of all SOLARO features for school administrators, teachers, and students to better understand how the website works prior to accessing a trial account.

How can I register my school for SOLARO?

Please contact sales@solaro.com to inquire about how to register for a SOLARO at School account.

Can I get a list of all the student passwords in my classes?

It is not possible to display any user password. All passwords in SOLARO are encrypted in such a way that even the SOLARO administrators cannot retrieve a password.

However, SOLARO teachers and school administrators have the ability to reset a student’s password. If you need to reset the password for a student in your class, click on the “Reset Password” button available on the My Classes page.

What is the class label?

The “Class Label” field is a place for you to enter a label or name for the class that you are creating. This is to help you keep track of your classes as you can create multiple classes for the same subject and grade level. You would use this label to tell them apart. You can enter anything into this field that helps you recognize the class.

What types of assessments are available in SOLARO?

Here is a quick overview of the different assessment types. Please note some of these test/quizzes can only be viewed from the student account. They may not be accessible from a teacher profile.

1) Practice Quizzes (student account only - quiz generated by solaro):

A quiz generated by the SOLARO system which has a maximum of 6 questions that is designed to cover a small set of lessons in a subtopic/subchapter.

When the student is viewing the list of lessons in SOLARO they will see that each topic/unit has been divided into "subtopics" or "subunit". Each of these sub-topics has their own "practice quiz" button.

SOLARO will randomly select 6 practice questions that cover the various lessons seen above for that subtopic. If the student needs more practice questions after they finish a quiz they can click on the same practice quiz button again and SOLARO will try to provide them with new questions they have not seen as well as re-incorporate them with some that they have seen before.

Since the questions are picked by SOLARO this type of quiz will have different set of questions or in a different order every time they click the practice quiz button. As a teacher you can see the student's scores for these quizzes (in the reports section) but you cannot view the actual quiz in your teacher profile.

2) Practice Test/Unit Tests: (student account only - test generated by solaro)

A test generated by the SOLARO system which has a maximum of 20 questions that will cover the lessons for an entire Topic/Unit.

The test is built in the same fashion as the practice quizzes above but covers more concepts (SOLARO will randomly select 20 practice questions that cover the various lessons seen in that unit/topic) and the test will have a different set of questions in a different order every time the student takes the practice test. Because the quiz is created on the spot by SOLARO it cannot be viewed from the teacher account but you can see their score in the reports section of your teacher account.

The practice test button is found at the bottom of the topic page in the student account.

3) Pre+Post test (a.k.a. Year End Tests) - Pre-built by SOLARO team - available in both student account and teacher account:

These tests have been pre-built by our SOLARO curriculum team where they have specially selected the questions and placed them in a particular order for the test. These tests are designed to act like year-end tests to prepare for final exams (post test) or to review the previous year's content (pre-test). This is a 40-60 questions test that covers the entire course. A student can retake the pre&post test as often as needed but since it's a pre-built test the questions and order of the questions will not change.

The student can access these tests from their course dashboard page in their SOLARO accounts.

As a teacher you can also view the exact same test by clicking on the Pre&Post test link on your my classes page. You will have access to see both the questions and solutions. While the student will only see the solutions once they have completed the test and gotten their score.

4) Customized Assignments created by the teacher

In your teacher account you have the ability to create your own assessment where you select exactly which concepts you want to cover and pre-select the questions from the pool of items available in SOLARO. This allows you to really create an assignment that is specific to the needs of your student(s).

Because there are quite a few steps involved with creating an assignment it is a little too long to describe in email. Instead here is a link to a tutorial video that walks through the steps.

Introduction to assignments: https://www.solaro.com/support/teacher/intro-to-assignments

Creating an assignment: https://www.solaro.com/support/teacher/creating-assignments

You have two options for how you can give the assignment to the student (We also have a tutorial video to cover this as well)

Option 1: assign it to their student account: the student will see the assignment in the todo list of their SOLARO student account and will take the test directly in SOLARO. You will see the results immediately in your teacher account

Option 2: print the pdf version of the assignment and give it to the student on paper. SOLARO allows you to download a pdf of the assignment and you will be provided with the answer key. Is useful if you prefer they take the assignment on paper.

I’ve created a custom assignment, but the students in my class cannot see it?

In order for an assignment to be visible to the student it must first be activated. On the assignments page, click the “Activate” button to trigger the assignment for the students.

The activate feature allows a teacher the ability to prepare assignments in advance but they get to decide when they want the student(s) in the class to see the assignment.

How can my student(s) take an assignment after it’s been deactivated?

An assignment cannot be reopened once it is deactivated. Instead you can use the clone option to create a new copy of the assignment to activate for your class(es).

Can I share my assignment with another teacher?

Unfortunately, we do not currently have the ability to share assignments between teacher accounts. The only option available would be to provide the pdf version of that assignment to the other teacher for them to have the students take on paper or via email.

Can I see a student’s practice quiz or practice test from the teacher account?

The assessments automatically created by SOLARO (practice quizzes, practice tests, reading practice) can only be viewed from the student account. The teacher is able to see the student’s score from the progress reports but cannot view the actual quiz/test.

SOLARO will randomly select practice questions that cover the various lessons seen above for that subtopic/topic. If the student needs more practice questions after they finish a quiz they can click on the same practice quiz button again and SOLARO will try to provide them with new questions they have not seen as well as re-incorporate them with some that they have seen before. Therefore each quiz is unique to that student’s account and will be different than quizzes for another student.

The only exception is the Pre&Post (aka year end) tests. These tests have been pre-built by our SOLARO curriculum team where they have specially selected the questions and placed them in a particular order for the test. You can view these tests from both the student and teacher accounts.

What does the “Show Results” for assignments do?

Please note, by default SOLARO will not show the student the score when they complete an assignment (this was designed to allow for classrooms, so that students who finish an assignment first can't share the correct answers with others in the class). If you want the student to see their score immediately after completing their assignment, make sure to click the Show Results check box before activating the assignment.

Can a teacher create a student account?

No, only the school administrator is able to create new student accounts

What is the Media Library?

Media Library is a feature available for all SOLARO teachers. The Media Library allows a teacher to supplement an existing SOLARO lesson with additional content they have either stored or found online (e.g., PDF documents saved in online storage, video links, other website urls). The teacher can essentially add content to the existing SOLARO lesson and share that information with the students in his or her class.

How do I access the Student activity and Progress Reports?

Login to your SOLARO teacher account, click on the students name from your class list to access the Student Profile page. Next click on the “Reports” tab to access all the progress reports available in SOLARO.

Other

I forgot to cancel my monthly recurring subscription, can I get a refund for the months when I did not login?

We cannot offer any refunds for time where a student chose not to access SOLARO. It is important to cancel your monthly subscription when it is no longer required in order to avoid unwanted charges. We do not monitor accounts or cancel subscriptions based on inactivity or the end of the school year.

How can I report an error in the content?

If you believe you found an error in a lesson or question you can use the tech support form on the website or email support@solaro.com. Please describe the problem and provide a screenshot if possible. Although they are rare mistakes can occur and we appreciate any feedback.

What are the rules for using SOLARO?

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