Vol. 5, Issue 6
June, 2010

North Carolina Dept.
of Public Instruction

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.

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

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.

ClassScape in the News: Extra Instruction Aids Colerain Students

For available assessments click here

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Monthly Educational Article
Differentiation of Instruction in the Elementary Grades
- Carol Ann Tomlinson

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From the Teacher's Perspective: Performance vs. Progress
- Kelly Cave, Gentry Middle School

It’s the time we’ve all been waiting for! Did I say waiting? I mean anticipating… No, I mean dreading… No, no, no, I mean PREPARING. Yes, preparation is the key. When the school year first begins, the ominous days set aside for End-of-Grade Tests seems so far away. Now that testing is upon us, I hear folks throughout the building ask, “Where did the year go?” To wrap up the school year, I have decided to use a couple of different ClassScape reports to reassure my students (and myself) they are ready to demonstrate just how far they have come.

Performance vs Progress

First, I prepared a “Class Performance Report.” Performance is defined as “the execution or accomplishment of work.” Certainly, the students have worked. Some have worked harder than others, but each kid has worked. But, have they accomplished anything? Can they execute?

The “Class Performance Report” provides a broad picture of the entire curriculum. Once I present the big picture, I will narrow the focus by looking at each goal individually within the “Class Performance Report.” Each objective is broken down to clearly illustrate both strengths and weaknesses within each goal. Obviously, I will focus on the strengths at this point.

Performance is also defined as “the manner in which, or the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended purpose.” The intended purpose is proficiency. The “Class Performance Report” will help me to reassure my students they are indeed ready to fulfill this purpose.

The most compelling data is evident in the “Class Progress Report.” Again, I will present each goal individually with a bright and beautifully-colored bar graph which compares the percentage of correct responses monthly throughout the school year. Progress can be defined as “growth or development with continuous improvement.” Nothing is more convincing than a continuous upward trend over an entire year. Progress can also be defined as “a movement toward a goal, or to a further or higher stage.” The goal is growth and the higher stage is the 2010-2011 school year.

Whether I create a performance report or a progress report, right now it is all about the kids. The data is just sitting there waiting to be extrapolated, exported, and analyzed. I cannot think of a better way to use all this data than to build up the self esteem of our students. These young minds must believe in themselves. So, from this teacher’s perspective, I will close by simply stating that I am grateful for the opportunity to teach CHILDREN, not a test.

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Video Tutorials

The following video tutorials are currently available for both Elementary and Middle School and High School teachers. You can find them by clicking Help > Tutorials once you’re logged in to ClassScape:

Overview of the ClassScape System
 - Getting Started with ClassScape
 - Adding Classes in ClassScape
 - Viewing Class Rosters
 - Scheduling Assessments
 - Managing Scheduled Assessments
 - Creating Custom Assessments
 - Saving a Custom Assessments as a Drafts
 - Managing Finalized Custom Assessments
 - Generating a Basic Report
 - Generating a Student Assessment Report
 - Generating a Common Assessment Report
 - Generating a Class Performance Report
 - Generating a Class Progress Report
 - Generating a Pre/Post Assessment Report
 - Generating a Student Objective Report
 - Generating a Student Progress Report
 - Generating a Student Performance Report
 - The ClassScape Student Interface (Tutorial for Teachers)
 - The ClassScape Student Interface (Tutorial for Students)
 - Allowing Pop-up Windows from the ClassScape website
 - Adding a Student Roster to ClassScape
 - Scheduling Assessments
 - Assessment Results


We've also begun a tutorial series specifically for Test Administrators. The following tutorials are currently available:

- Creating and Managing User Accounts
- Creating and Managing Classes
- Getting Help with ClassScape
- Creating Custom Assessments
- Student Assessment Worksheet



Upcoming tutorials include:

- Introduction to Benchmark Assessment Reports
- Assessment by Grade/Subject Report
- Assessment by School Report
- Teacher Results by Teacher
- Class Results by Teacher

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Features currently in development:

• Support for local ClassScape servers in some districts for next school year.
• Integration of ClassScape with Turning Points and Promethean “clickers”.

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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!

CPS Clickers!  

In addition to SMART clickers, we have successfully integrated eInstruction’s CPS Clickers with ClassScape. Teachers are now able to use their CPS clickers to seamlessly capture student responses from ClassScape assessments and upload their data into the ClassScape Basic Report. This is a wonderful alternative to bringing your students into a computer lab for testing. Now you can assess your students within the classroom setting as a natural part of the teaching and learning process.

We hope that you will take advantage of this new tool. If you would like to try it out with your CPS clickers, please read the instruction document for step by step instructions which can be found on our website upon login under the Help menu under the title “CPS Clicker Data Upload Instructions.”

If you have any questions, please fill out and submit a help desk ticket and we will get back to you ASAP.

Attention DLA’s! You can now order Custom Benchmark Building Services Online!

Our ClassScape team is dedicated to meeting the needs of our North Carolina schools. One need that has surfaced over the last year is assistance with building district benchmarks. We would like to help you with this step in the benchmark process. For an additional fee of $200 per assessment, our ClassScape content specialists will carefully select test items to create high quality, balanced assessments that are tailored to your district-specific pacing guides.

If you are interested in taking advantage of this service, please go to our website at www.classscape.org, login as a District Level Administrator, and click on Resources, then District Benchmark Order Form. Fill out and submit the new online District Benchmark Order Form and we will get to work!

If you have any questions or comments about this new feature, please email Trish Martin at trish_martin@ncsu.edu 

Status Report ( August 1, 2009 through May 28, 2010):  

• 2, 975,743 assessment starts
• 504,332 students enrolled
• 63,000 items in our database
• 1,010 schools enrolled
• 96 districts enrolled
• 54 districts enrolled district-wide
• 43districts using the benchmark tool

2009-2010 Participating School Systems

Look Who Is Using ClassScape!

Congrats Corner

Top 10 District Usage in North Carolina

Top 10 School Usage in North Carolina

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Current version: 2.0
ClassScape Help Desk — (919) 515-1320

ClassScape is a service provided by the
Center for Urban Affairs & Community Services of