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Grades2Go™ Teacher's Data and Communications Manager
Teacher’s Data and Communications Manager
Available April 2010!
No matter what the business sector, the ability to demonstrate accountability is the new litmus test separating run-of-the-mill professionals from exceptional ones. In the teaching profession, the accountability challenge is formidable. Imagine teaching 5 sections a term in a typical high school, each with 20 students, for 4 terms and with 25 assignments and assessments per term. That’s 10,000 grades to enter per year, many with attached comments. Add another 18,000 entries for attendance (5 x 20 x 180 days), again with possible comments. Now add the data required to track the progress of special needs students, part of any teacher’s job these days, and the total easily reaches 30,000 entries! Besides gathering this huge amount of information accurately and efficiently, the challenge also includes synthesizing it into a meaningful form and communicating it effectively to students, parents, and administrators – and doing it often enough that at-risk students can get be helped before it’s too late.
With the tremendous time and energy this data challenge requires, little time can be spent on important quality control issues like assessing the effectiveness of assignments and tests. That problem is made even greater by today’s widespread adoption of online grade keeping, which increasingly takes historical classroom data away from a teacher’s direct control. Data is locked away on offsite servers that require internet connections to access, and from which it can be extremely difficult to retrieve necessary information.
With Grades2Go™, Mindspark introduces the first data management platform designed specifically for teachers. Consisting of Grades2Go™ Desktop for Windows PCs and an optional Grades2Go™ Mobile smartphone/PDA app, it’s loaded with powerful features. Here’s just a partial list:
- Wizards for easy setup of teacher, school, year data
- Section dashboards for quick access to term tasks, term grades, term attendance, term calculation scheme, non-term tasks, year grades, year attendance, student information, and communications management
- Automatic task archiving for easy pick-list assigning; auto task usage/performance logging
- Task linking to master documents
- A selection of grading algorithms: weights only, weights within categories, points within categories
- Grade recording as percent, letter, points, or pass/fail, for any grade
- Commenting possible for any grade or attendance mark
- Quick EP (Education Plan) progress logging
- Comprehensive, customizable PDF report generation and electronic distribution, within just a few clicks
- Access 2000 database standard (.mdb files), enabling viewing on many third-party applications
- School/student info databases can be server-hosted, with local edits uploadable for further processing by the IT department
- One Desktop can support multiple teachers (each with own Activation Code)
- Mobile makes most Desktop data available/editable from pocket or purse (currently available for PalmOS only)
- Routine operation not dependent on an internet connection
The best way to experience the power of Grades2Go™ is to try it. Download and install Desktop and Mobile for free, and explore their features (some will be limited) for as long as you want. When ready, purchase an Activation Code for full operation.
We’re sure you’ll agree that Grades2Go™ puts control of classroom data back where it belongs – in the hands of the teacher!
– puts control of classroom data back where it belongs: in the hands of the teacher!