FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
About SP SnapShot™
^Top- What is SP SnapShot™?
- Why is data analysis important?
- What makes SP SnapShot™ user friendly?
- Can SP SnapShot™ be used as a staff development tool? How?
- Why use SP SnapShot™ when Sunshine Connections is free and provided by the state?
- For what types of users is SP SnapShot™ designed?
- How will SP SnapShot™ lighten the workload?
- How can SP SnapShot™ complement my district's data tool?
- Can SP SnapShot™ help me find the lowest 25% of students in each grade?
- How can SP SnapShot™ help me to determine weaknesses in FCAT subtests?
- How can SP SnapShot™ help me analyze my AYP sub-groups further?
- How can SP SnapShot™ help me follow trends in my school grade data over time?
- Can SP SnapShot™ help me find student learning gains sorted by each teacher in my school?
- How does SP SnapShot™ help teachers analyze individual students?
What is SP SnapShot™?
SP SnapShot™ is an online data analysis tool for the in-depth data analysis of student demographic and test data. SP SnapShot™ provides teachers with analyzed, organized, aggregated and disaggregated demographic and test data for each student in every class taught by the teacher. Data are available for the current school year’s class rosters and test results, and for up to five years of historical data. SP SnapShot™ also provides access to counselors, school administrators and district personnel, giving them unique views and reports relevant to their specific roles.
Why is data analysis important?
Decisions based on facts stand a better chance of succeeding than when they are made based on gut feelings, personal opinion and the way the wind is blowing on a particular day. It’s the collection and analysis of data, i.e. the facts, that is the foundation of data-driven decision-making. In the school system, collecting and analyzing test data allows educators to make informed decisions for their students and their schools. It takes the guesswork out of identifying what each child needs to work on to learn and grow.
What makes SP SnapShot™ user friendly?
There are four main reasons why SP SnapShot™ is user friendly:
- SP SnapShot™ is online, which means a user can analyze their data where and when they want to.
- SP SnapShot™ is designed to make navigation logical and convenient and terminology is written in plain English
- There are powerful pre-set reports and graphs that allow users to display common queries with ease
- SP SnapShot™ provides responsive customer support and multiple ways to obtain cost-free training to ensure all users can get up to speed quickly
Can SP SnapShot™ be used as a staff development tool? How?
Because SP SnapShot™ provides incredibly flexible custom queries, it can be used to analyze all sorts of course-specific, class-specific, teacher-specific and subtest results. It can incorporate historical data in these analyses, thereby revealing trends that might otherwise be missed. From this information, administrators can identify areas to focus on for curriculum and professional development.
Why use SP SnapShot™ when Sunshine Connections is free and provided by the state?
There are powerful analysis and administrative tools unique to SP SnapShot™ that are not available in any other system, including Sunshine Connections. For example, SP SnapShot™ grants access to many levels of educator including teachers, counselors, school administrators and district personnel, giving each a view of the data that is relevant to their roles. SP SnapShot™ can also draw on multiple years of data to formulate reports and graphs. Sunshine Connections only allows access by the classroom teacher, and only looks at one year of data.
For what types of users is SP SnapShot™ designed?
SP SnapShot™ provides unique views and access to teachers, counselors, school administrators and district personnel. When used by a teacher, SP SnapShot™ provides classroom and individual student analysis. When used by an administrator and/or school improvement team, SP SnapShot™ provides grade level and student analysis. When used by a district administrator, SP SnapShot™ provides in-depth school analysis. SP SnapShot™ is designed for the educator who is passionate about improving student achievement but does not have the time to spend learning a complicated program or making their own spreadsheets.
How will SP SnapShot™ lighten the workload?
By viewing student data in easy-to-produce and easy-to-understand reports and graphs, teachers can get a more immediate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their class and their individual students. Using this information, they can tailor their program for optimal success. Administrators will love the reports and custom queries features for viewing school assessment data and determining where their school needs to focus its improvement efforts. SP SnapShot™ aggregates the data and creates easy-to-understand graphs in seconds, compared to the hours it takes to do this work by hand or using Excel.
How can SP SnapShot™complement my district’s data tool?
Even though your district may provide some level of data display, it may not be as comprehensive as SP SnapShot™’s . SP SnapShot™ excels at the analysis of student performance data, which is the process of turning the raw numbers into meaningful information that educators can act on. Moreover, SP SnapShot™ is priced to give great value, which may well make it cost effective to employ in addition to your district’s offering.
Compare what you know about your current system with what SP SnapShot™ has to offer by reviewing the information found on this website or by phoning one of our account representatives. We’ll be happy to discuss the benefits of SP SnapShot™ with you.
Can SP SnapShot™ help me find the lowest 25% of students in each grade?
Yes. SP SnapShot™ makes it easy to identify the lowest students in each grade. You can then further analyze these students with special features such as custom queries to disaggregate groups, with scatterplots to determine student expectations and with learning gains summary bar graphs to provide even greater detail.
How can SP SnapShot™help me to determine weaknesses in FCAT subtests?
You can use SP SnapShot™ to determine weakness by status reports, trend reports and custom queries.
How can SP SnapShot™help me analyze my AYP sub-groups further?
SP SnapShot™ now provides Trend Reports and Status Reports that will automatically generate AYP sub-group information. Using the Custom Queries feature in SP SnapShot™, an administrator can put any of the AYP sub-groups through the same analysis that are available for grade levels, teachers or the entire school.
How can SP SnapShot™ help me follow trends in my school grade data over time?
The Trend Reports allow administrators to view reports on the percent of students making proficiency, percent of students making learning gains, achievement level distribution, and average subtest scores. Each of these reports is generated by grade level or by AYP demographic groups and can be accessed for reading or math. They show the three-year trend for the report built by the user.
Can SP SnapShot™ TM help me find student learning gains sorted by each teacher in my school?
The Status Reports allow administrators to create a list of all teachers in the school showing the percent of their students making learning gains for the previous school year. These reports include the percent of all students making learning gains, and are also broken down to show the percent of students in each AYP sub-group, and by gender, who made learning gains.
How does SP SnapShot™ help teachers analyze individual students?
SP SnapShot™’s individual student data page allows teachers to view a student’s data over a five-year period. This page also has links to a student developmental scale score line graph that shows the student’s DSS score over the five year period, with the achievement levels highlighted for a better understanding of where the student’s score fell in relation to the achievement level cut points.
Implementation
^Top- How do I get access to SP SnapShot™?
- How does SP SnapShot™ get my school’s data?
- Can I purchase SP SnapShot™ if my district has provided another tool for me to use?
- How do I purchase SP SnapShot™?
- How do I pay for SP SnapShot™?
- For how long is my subscription active?
- Do I have to buy SP SnapShot™ for the whole district?
- What kind of data does SP SnapShot™ need from us to get started?
- How will personal information about students, teachers and others be safeguarded in accordance with various privacy and protection regulations and statutes?
- How do I get upgrades to the SP SnapShot™ system?
- What about student mobility (especially between schools)?
- What about next year's data integration?
- How often is data updated?
- Is there a maintenance fee?
- Is there any manual data entry involved in the integration process?
- What are the main advantages of integrating my SIS data with SP SnapShot™?
- How does SP SnapShot™ ensure that my school's data is up-to-date in the system?
How do I get access to SP SnapShot™?
You can log into SP SnapShot™ any time from any computer with an up-to-date browser and an Internet connection.
How does SP SnapShot™ get my school’s data?
Generally, we get the data from the district MIS office. Occasionally, we get data directly from the school.
Can I purchase SP SnapShot™ if my district has provided another tool for me to use?
Yes. If you can arrange for us to get your school’s data, we can set you up in SP SnapShot™ . There are a number of schools that see the value that SP SnapShot™ can provide over and above their district-provided tool and use SP SnapShot™ as well.
How do I purchase SP SnapShot™?
Schools license SP SnapShot™ on an annual subscription basis. Once you order SP SnapShot™ , make payment and arrange to have your data provided to us, we import your data and generate user accounts. Your school will then be ready to use SP SnapShot™ .
How do I pay for SP SnapShot™?
You can pay for SP SnapShot™ by purchase order, directly from school funds. In the case of a district purchase individual schools will not be billed at all.
For how long is my subscription active?
Schools license SP SnapShot™ on an annual subscription basis. You have one year to use SP SnapShot™ from the time your order goes through before you need to renew your subscription.
Do I have to buy SP SnapShot™ for the whole district?
No. District purchases have the advantage of speeding data import and getting schools up and running on SP SnapShot™ faster. Also, district purchases make it easier to keep student data intact when students transfer between schools within the district. It is also more convenient for your MIS department to send data for entire district all at once.
What kind of data does SP SnapShot™ need from us to get started?
We need roster, test, teacher and student information. That is, we need demographic information about the specific students, we need to know what classes those students are in, we need to know which teachers teach those classes, and we need student test results.
How will personal information about students, teachers and others be safeguarded in accordance with various privacy and protection regulations and statutes?
SP SnapShot™ respects the Privacy Rule and Standards addressed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and requires minimal health information. SP SnapShot™ complies withThe Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), protecting the privacy of student education records.
Confidentiality of data: All data transfers shall be encrypted according to the security provisions established for SP SnapShot™ . Other security features provided include password-protected access, and district and school administrator control of access. Periodic password changes can be made if so requested.
Etraffic Solutions Inc, the provider of Student Performance SnapShot™ , shall not disclose nor provide confidential information to any third party and shall take reasonable measures to prevent any unauthorized disclosure by its employees, agents, contractors or consultants during the term of the license and thereafter, including the execution of appropriate individual nondisclosure agreements. It expressly includes, but is not limited to, all school, teacher, and student records bound by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
How do I get upgrades to the SP SnapShot™ system?
You don’t have to worry about upgrades. Upgrades are taken care of on the server and are included as part of your subscription.
What about student mobility (especially between schools)?
Student mobility is taken into account when data refreshes are done for the schools, typically monthly.
What about next year's data integration?
New data integration is taken care of automatically by the regular data refreshes.
How often is data updated?
The SP SnapShot™ database provides for the storage and retrieval of up to five years of data for each element described in the system and for any additional fields added by the user.
While SP SnapShot™ can be refreshed daily, clients rarely require this frequency. Therefore, data is usually refreshed on a monthly basis.
Is there a maintenance fee?
No, there is no maintenance fee.
Is there any manual data entry involved in the integration process?
No. All data entry is done by our data people once it is received from your MIS department.
What are the main advantages of integrating my SIS data with SP SnapShot™?
Tying SnapShot™ into your school’s SIS will allow for more frequent and more accurate data refreshes, with very little work on the part of your district MIS department.
How does SP SnapShot™ ensure that my school's data is up-to-date in the system?
Data refreshes are how data accuracy and timeliness are assured. The greater the degree of cooperation from the MIS, and the higher the degree of integration with the district SIS system, the more seamlessly the data can be refreshed, and so the more accurate and up to date it will be.
System Requirements
^Top- What is the System Preparation Configuration for SP SnapShot™ ?
- Where are the servers and data hosted?
- How can I be sure my data is secure?
- What happens if the SP SnapShot™ database goes down?
- How scalable is the SP SnapShot™ system?
What is the System Preparation Configuration for SP SnapShot™ ?
Speed and Performance
The speed and performance of SP SnapShot™ will vary according to many factors including:
Bandwidth
recommended DSL or higher
CPU
recommended 500 MHz or higher
Memory
recommended 128 MB
Optimal System Configuration
The optimal system configuration for using SP SnapShot™ is:
- PC - Internet Explorer 6.0 or newer on a PC with Windows 98 Second Edition or newer (i.e., Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP). Operating system and memory information can be found by right clicking on the “My Computer” icon, on your desktop, and left clicking on “Properties”.
- Mac – Safari and OSX.
System Requirements
To ensure that you get optimum use of SP SnapShot™ it is essential that you have the necessary version of web browser. Some early versions of popular web browsers do not have the proper requirements to accurately display SP SnapShot™ . Below are the minimum requirements for the best possible use of SP SnapShot™ :
Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) – version 6.0 or higher. To check the browser version you’re using, click on Help above the address bar and click About Internet Explorer.
To download the latest version go, to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx
Mozilla Firefox – all current versions. To check the browser version you’re using, click on Help above the address bar and click About Mozilla Firefox.
To download the latest version, go to http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/upgrade-2.html
Netscape – Version 7.1 or higher. To check the browser version you’re using, click on Help above the address bar and click About Netscape.
To download the latest version, go to http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/
For Macintosh computers please use Safari. To check the browser version you’re using, choose Safari Help from the Help menu.
To download the latest version, go to http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/safari.html
Where are the servers and data hosted?
It is recommended for cost reasons that the application be hosted remotely with SP SnapShot™. Other options are available in order to comply with regional and federal information regulations, if requested by the client.
How can I be sure my data is secure?
SP SnapShot™ requires users to provide a username and password to obtain access. The username and password identify the user and determine his or her level of access. In addition, all data is secured using 128-bit SSL encryption.
When SP SnapShot™ users connect to the secure SP SnapShot™ web servers, those SP SnapShot™ servers must first authenticate themselves to the web browser with a digital certificate before a secure connection between the SP SnapShot™ user’s computer and the SP SnapShot™ server is established. Data files up to 8MB in size can be uploaded to a special web page, with the ability to increase this size upon request. This page can be used to upload multiple files, and access is restricted by name and password to ensure security
What happens if the SP SnapShot™ database goes down?
System back-up capability:
The hard drives are configured using RAID and are installed in hot swap carriers to provide data redundancy and easy maintenance in the case of drive failure. In a clustered environment, all systems are redundant.
Back-up procedures include exporting the database to a file and compressing it and all the required configuration files and other web site related data to a single file and backing it up to an external device, CD, DVD or DLT, LTO tape (media required will depend on data size).
How scalable is the SP SnapShot™ system?
The core application will be installed on a single server but it has been designed to be scalable into a clustered web server environment.
Hardware memory capabilities can be expanded up to a maximum of 8 G of RAM. Multiple servers can be arranged in a cluster if more CPU power is required.
"There are enough challenges in education without having to unravel reams of data to get a picture of student performance. SP SnapShot™ takes the mystery and misery out of data-driven decision-making."
