As you know, it’s definitely a busy time for school administrators. Many of you are busy preparing for the 2007-08 school year and all across Florida, there are a lot of administrators that are using SnapShot to help with their planning. The good news in today’s bulletin is that SnapShot will continue to make life easier for you with a new feature that will help you gain an insight into students doing retakes. We also have a school’s success story to help inspire you and news about how a SnapShot principal could win $10,000.00.
SnapShot users can now access retake data in SnapShot for the Spring 2007 Math and Reading FCAT exams. This is a great way to gain insights into those students writing retakes. By running a simply query, you will be able to see how close students are to their graduation target and identify their individual needs in specific content areas. You can see how well each student progressed and be able to create instructional plans to boost performance. Here’s an activity that will give you some ideas of how to take advantage of this feature.
Let’s look at the Spring 2007 retakes and see which students scored under 300.
The result of the query is a list of all of the students that didn't pass the retake tests this spring.
If you display these students’ subscores, you can see how each student performed on certain sections of the exam. For example, if you run a query on FCAT SSS Reading Content Subscores, you could see how a student scores on Word Phrases, Main Ideas, Comparisons, and References.
Remember that schools can get bonus points through retakes to boost their school grade. If 50% of students writing retakes reach the graduation target, you can receive the bonus.
LEARN MORE ABOUT RETAKES AT OUR UPCOMING WEBINAR
AUGUST 15th at 12:00 PM EST/ 11 AM CST
We hear so many amazing stories from SnapShot users across the state of Florida. A great one has been from Oliver Hoover Elementary—thanks to some hard working teachers and their ability to successfully incorporate technology throughout the school. In 2006-07, they began to implement SnapShot.
"Technology plays a major role in our success," said Joan Cortez, Technology Coordinator for Oliver Hoover Elementary. "Our teachers infuse technology in their classroom. Our school has over 320 computers on two campuses. Our expert onsite computer technician keeps everything working on two campuses. We utilize the expertise of our staff and highly motivating technology." At Oliver Hoover, they work hard to maintain their "A" status for the past eight years and improve FCAT scores. In addition to this, there are the demands of an ever changing school population including a large number of ESOL, ESE and gifted students.
"SnapShot will identify our areas of strength and weakness so that we can continue to refine our needs throughout the school year rather than waiting until the following school year," said Joan.
"We needed to run reports that provided the level of our students for each class using FCAT scores," she said. "We also needed to determine the students that were in need of tutoring. Other than that, we really had no idea about the power of this program."
"We focus on our students' needs and look for educational programs that appeal to students with varied learning styles," said Cortez on the types of technology that they employ. "Our school has been working towards developing curriculum that is data driven and addresses concerns outlined in our School Improvement Plan." Enter SnapShot. After receiving initial training last October, they used SnapShot to create reports throughout the school year. Now, they are looking to explore the full power of the tool.
"Studying the test results each year provides a window to each student's learning profile," continued Cortez. "We hope to capitalize on these reports and train our teachers to run reports to become more proficient in developing curriculum that addresses their (students') individual needs."
Joan also found another technological aid midway through the school year. In January, she purchased teacher licenses for StudyBUZZ, a new product from SnapShot parent company Etraffic Solutions. The teachers projected each individual test from StudyBUZZ, explained why the wrong answers were not appropriate and class discussions would take place. According to Joan, the "student participation was off the charts" for this FCAT Science test preparation tool. It took a great effort from their fifth grade teachers to make StudyBUZZ work in a compressed time period before the FCAT. She is looking forward to using this product again over the course of the 2007-08 school year. This year, each individual student will utilize the program to identify their strengths and weaknesses in each subtest.
Joan recognizes her fifth grade teachers played a crucial role in their success in science: "Preparing for the FCAT science test fell on their shoulders and the results were clear that our school improved (our) score in science from 293 to 325. These teachers created their own materials throughout the year, planned cooperatively, emphasized vocabulary, increased hands-on experiences then culminated the year with an outstanding science fair. Credit must be given to their effort and teamwork. Our staff will continue to find ways to provide the most productive learning environment for our students and explore new ways to make learning exciting for every child."
For Oliver Hoover Elementary, there are many factors to their success. We would like to recognize the efforts of their staff and their pioneering of technology. It’s great to hear their enthusiasm for SnapShot and StudyBUZZ, and to see that they are getting the results.
Every month we would like to recognize a school in the SnapShot bulletin. Have your story featured and we will give your staff three free Teacher Essentials lesson modules. Contact us at 1-866-479-7627 to share your story.
How would you like $10,000.00 for your personal use? Alright, if anyone didn’t say yes to that question … you are in trouble. The Council for Educational Change is recognizing superior school leadership and that’s the prize for winning the Leonard Miller Award. The award recognizes a Principal who has increased student achievement, empowered staff, and formed and sustained effective partnerships. This award is open to anyone whose school uses Student Performance SnapShot. Please take a look at the application form to learn more information about the full criteria for this award. Please get your application in before August 31st.
Need help learning SnapShot? Consult our online training resources at www.studentperformance.com/training.html and check out www.studentperformance.com/using.html for tips on how to enhance your SnapShot experience. Remember that on-site and web-based training is available to your school. Call 1.866.479.7627 to learn more information.
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