LIVERMORE FALLS – SAD 36 educators will enter students’ scores from local assessments on a new system that is expected to help students meet state and federal requirements and improve their skills.
The district is the first in the state to make the Edmin.com Local Assessment System fully functional to track student scores on local assessments that are tied to SAD 36’s curriculum and Maine Learning Results and to improve student performance based on the data, SAD 36 Curriculum Coordinator Darren Akerman said Tuesday.
Akerman’s wife, Colleen, a technology integrator in the school system, entered all of the templates and information for the local assessments into the computer program that teachers will update with students’ scores.
Another part of the process is the district’s teachers use of GradeQuick, an electronic lesson plan program whereby teachers enter in their teaching plans and students’ scores. It has been in use since September 2004. Teachers enter what they’re going to teach and when, how they will teach the lesson, what they’ll use and how long it will take them. The lesson plans can be saved for the following year and be shared with other teachers.
“What we’re looking for is equity across the system for every student that goes through SAD 36,” Darren Akerman said.
The state will be able to access the local assessment data from a Web site.
Hopefully by next year, parents will also be able to log in with a special code for each student to check their children’s progress, Akerman said.
Once the data is entered on how the students are performing on local assessments, Akerman said, educators and administrators will be able to review it to see how students are doing, identify student weaknesses and improve instruction.
Every single local assessment has to be approved by a district committee and double scored for validity and reliability.
The assessments measure students’ ability to meet the Maine Learning Results through the district’s curriculum, Akerman said.
It would be unfair, he said, to say everything is fine.
Teachers do have concerns about the number of assessments, the time required and how to use the data effectively, he said.
“Probably the most important concerns are about the amount of time spent on assessments,” he said, and when do they have time to teach.
It’s an ongoing debate at the Legislature and with a number of stakeholders as school districts statewide try to meet state and federal mandates, he said.
For example, elementary school teachers generally teach seven subject areas, and if you’re required to give so many assessments per subject area, your instruction time is limited, he said.
The new technology SAD 36 is using will help the district meet yearly adequate progress, he said, and hopefully make it easier for teachers to deal with the mandates.
All school systems in Maine are expected to show adequate yearly progress.
In order to meet the requirements, schools need more efficient technology, he said.
Students don’t learn the same way older generations did, he said.
The millennium generation, kids growing up in the 21st century, actually require multimedia including the Internet, video streaming and instant feedback, he said.
“They want the answers immediately,” he said.
It’s been exciting being a pilot site, Colleen Akerman said Tuesday.
“Being first in the state to have this program up and running for teachers to use is going to be beneficial for students in the long run,” she said.
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