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ClassScape Newsletter
ClassScape is an online classroom assessment system that facilitates learning by focusing on curricular objectives. ClassScape enables teachers to monitor student performance on North Carolina Standard Course of Study academic indicators. The system also allows North Carolina teachers to build customized tests or use tests prepared by ClassScape.
ClassScape assists teachers in self-assessment of instructional strategies, and monitoring student progress on an ongoing basis. Teachers can select specific objectives to assess throughout the school year and access real-time instructional feedback reports.
"If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people."
–Chinese proverb
In This Issue:
ClassScape in the News
Available Assessments
Monthly Educational Article
ClassScape From the Teacher's Perspective
Video Tutorials
Coming AtTECHtions
Where in the World is ClassScape Now?
Contacts
"Harvesting Success Through ClassScape Assessment System"
We are excited to announce our very first ClassScape Assessment System Conference. The conference will take place on October 6, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at Centennial Campus Middle School. The conference will feature principals, teachers, and content specialists targeting key components of assessment. Some of the featured sessions include:
Basic User Training
District-Level Training
Developing Assessments Using Pacing Guides
How to Utilize ClassScape for Science
Success with Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
How School Administrators can use ClassScape to improve teaching and learning
Taking ClassScape Assessments with Clickers
Registration information should be available by August 16 on our website: www.classscape.org. Registration cost will be $100 and will include snacks and lunch for the day.
Enrollment for the 2010-11 School Year
ClassScape is now accepting enrollments for the 2010-11 school year! Click on the link here to view pricing information for 2010-11. To enroll a school or district, just click on the Join tab and submit the online enrollment form.
For more information about enrolling in ClassScape, please visit our website at www.classscape.org or contact Trish Martin, Program Manager, at trish_martin@ncsu.edu or (919) 515-1313.
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ClassScape in the News: Bertie Prep: 9 + 10 Equals Success
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For available assessments click here
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Monthly Educational Article
Many States Adopt National Standards for Their Schools
- Tamar Lewin, The New York Times
Race to the Top Update: North Carolina named among 18 states and the District of Columbia to top Round 2 Finalists
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From the Teacher's Perspective
- Kelly Cave, Gentry Middle School
Anyone who knows me knows that I share a love of three things in my life: my family, my students, and my cats. Not necessarily in that order, sometimes. (Insert smiley face here, of course!). I’m the proud owner of three gorgeous tabbies- Buddy, Shasta, and Bear. Animal owners reading this know all too well how each animal develops different personalities, and as owners how we have to adjust our care for them in correlation to their quirks and foibles. Curriculum facilitators would describe this care as differentiation for animals, I’m sure. Most animal owners know we’ve been differentiating for years, right?
Buddy is my oldest cat and the undisputed ruler of our house. He usually reminds us regularly in his regal manner that we are his subjects. Buddy was the first animal I have owned as an adult, so caring for him was a learning experience, to say the least. When to let him out, when to let him in, when to feed him, when to get his shots, where to put a litter box, what kind of food to feed him, dry food or wet food, dry food AND wet food, upstairs or downstairs- I had NO idea that owning a simple cat involved so many daily decisions. Even non-animal owners see the classroom comparison here, correct?
Then Shasta and Bear (Buddy’s half-brothers) came along as kittens, introducing another myriad of issues. Cat owners here should nod in agreement if they’ve ever brought kittens into the house of an established cat. With this new-found set of issues came some comfort, however. What I learned the hard way with Buddy came more easily with the kittens. I had a frame of reference on which to fall back that was a comfort for me with our new additions. All the data I’d collected with Buddy made me feel like a better cat owner.
Yes, this is about ClassScape of course. Some of you reading this article are finished with your first full year of data-driven instruction. Some readers here have used ClassScape for a couple of years, but this year you felt comfortable enough to REALLY use it and you have all kinds of information to incorporate into planning lessons next year. There was a method to my “animal madness” above. If we head into the 2010-2011 school year and fail to rely strongly on past data, then we simply won’t be as effective as we can be in the classroom. As a pet owner, if I ignored the hard lessons learned with Buddy when caring for the kittens, I would have made both my life and their lives so much more difficult. Using that past data made for better cats and a better owner. Our goal this year is to use ClassScape instructional information from the previous year(s) to enable our students to become better students, and for us to excel as teachers.
If our students only came with litter boxes and could only meow, life would be so much easier… Have a great 2010-2011 school year, everyone!
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Video Tutorials
Currently we are re-producing our tutorial modules to reflect the new look of ClassScape 3.0. We will start off the new series of videos with the tutorial for Test Administrators. Please check our site frequently for updated versions of instructional videos.
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Coming AtTECHtions
- The ClassScape Programmers
Audio (read-aloud) files for district
benchmark items.
Release of district benchmark data by
school.
Addition of Physical Science and EXTEND
2 MATH.
New reading passages for pre-packaged
quizzes.
Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Twitter pages for the latest information on new features and other ClassScape news.
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Where in the World is ClassScape Now?
"Trish-bits"
Welcome to ClassScape 3.0!
Here is a list of a few new features in our new system:
Students
- Students can now log into an individual portfolio to view assessment results and a list of assessments scheduled for them by each teacher.
Class/Student Management
- A single class can take assessments in multiple subjects. Teachers no longer need a separate class for Math and Reading if the students are the same in both groups.
- It is now possible to add a group of students to a class using check boxes
- The assessment read-aloud feature can be managed by individual student rather than entire class.
Assessments
- Test Administrators and Super Test Administrators have been provided with an “Assign Assessments” feature to assign owner to assessments created by teachers/test admins in “old” ClassScape 2.0.
- All assessments can be used with “Clickers” and uploaded without designation in the Schedule Assessment process.
User Management/Administrators
- Teachers no longer need to log-out or switch between Grade Level/Subject. They may access all subjects/grades designated to them from the main screen.
- A new “Super Test Administrator” role has been created to enable shared administrators or facilitators to manage multiple schools without multiple ClassScape accounts
- Districts and Schools can post announcements for teachers to view.
Reports
- Assessment Results (report) has a “hide student names” feature to make sharing data with the class easier and more secure.
- Assessment Results (report) has a new Status - N/A - to indicate a student who took the quiz in a different class.
The teacher, class, and date of the quiz can also be viewed.
- The Student Performance Report and Class Performance Report have been combined. They now have filtering options to drill down within the data.
- The Student Progress Report and Class Progress Report have also been combined. They, too, have filtering options to drill down within the data.
Benchmark Assessment Reports simplified to three main areas: Performance Data, Subgroup Data, and Objective Data. All three have filters to drill down by school, teacher, and even student.
Enrollment for 2010-11
In May, information packets were mailed out to all principals, directors and superintendents regarding ClassScape enrollment, pricing and new system features for next school year. We also sent custom quotes for each district to our contact person via email for use in acquiring a PO for the enrollment form. Please contact Trish Martin at trish_martin@ncsu.edu if you need printed information mailed to you or if you need an electronic quote sent via email.
We are excited to see that many of our districts have already completed their enrollment forms! We also want to welcome several new comers to the program!
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