An arthroscope is simply a tool for viewing inside a joint. It consists of a fibreoptic channel for viewing, a light source to light up the inside if the joint and a channel to allow fluid to be pumped into the joint. It can be used to simply look around a joint to help make a diagnosis, or (more commonly) to enable arthroscopic surgery to be performed. During such procedures specialised long thin instruments are inserted into the joint via other portals and surgery is performed by viewing the instruments and the joint through the arthroscope.
Many joints are suitable for arthroscopic surgery, but none more so than the knee. The scope allows much better visualisation of most of the nooks and crannies within the knee than could be obtained even by opening the knee. However not all procedures can be performed in this manner. Common procedures include:
Former Superintendent of Houston Independent School District, Terry Grier, to Advise K-12 Analytics Firm.
San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2018 - Education data management and analytics platform, BrightBytes, today published its second annual Technology and Learning Insights Report which is authored by Dr. Ryan S. Baker, Director of the Penn Center for Learning Analytics, and examines the cost, usage, and impact of education apps, leveraging data captured by the firm’s Learning Outcomes module.
About BrightBytes: From complex integrations to actionable analysis, BrightBytes is the leading end-to-end data solution for education organizations. The BrightBytes platforms efficiently unify education data and combine top research and advanced analytics, delivered across easy-to-understand, intuitive dashboards, so educators can turn big data into big benefits for students.
The Philomath School District plans to issue surveys to teachers, students and parents from Oct. 10-24 to try to create a complete picture of technology use for learning both in the classroom and at home.
Rob Singleton, the district’s director of instructional technology, said the surveys will be for teachers, students and parents in grades 3-12. The school district will analyze the results to provide targeted services, programs and professional development based on identified needs.
“We need to be able to prepare our students with 21st-century skills that can prepare them for college, training or work because that’s what the future is,” Singleton said. “We need to be able to be more strategic about how we go about that. By that, I mean we need to know where our strengths are and where the gaps are in both our teachers’ understanding and our students’ understanding of where their skills are — not just want they think they know but what they really need to know to be proficient and savvy and safe with all of these tools that we can provide and we use and what they might use.”
The district is conducting the surveys through BrightBytes Technology and Learning, a company that specializes in gathering targeted information through the use of what it identifies as its CASE framework. CASE is an acronym for four areas of evaluation — classroom, access, skills and environment.
“We’re trying to get an idea of what kind of access they have to the internet,” he said. “We think that we might know that all of our kids carry around this little mini computer (cellphone) but that may not be the case and we might be sending digital homework and expecting all of our students to be able to do it through online access or even interfacing with their teacher online … Some of them may not be able to do so; we really don’t have a sense, we haven’t measured that in the community.”
“We really want our parents to be part of the solution that we’re trying to come up with and be able to give us feedback about internet usage, access to a device, all of the things that they might need to have access to be successful,” Singleton said.
The teaching component is a big part of the information-gathering effort as Singleton and instructional support staff Jennifer Kessel learn about what they need to focus on to help support educators.
“It’s not like we’re putting a computer down and walking way — not that they did that before, but Jennifer and I throughout this year are going to be meeting with teachers about what are your goals for this lesson and what kind of support can we provide you in the classroom as you try a new technology tool for your kids that might enhance the learning that goes on?” Singleton said. “It doesn’t replace good teaching and the lessons and all of that, but it can add more differentiation so some students will be working at different paces with different content and we want to be in the classroom and supporting those teachers as they’re trying new things with technology.”
Singleton said the surveys all tie into three pillars that the district is focused on — RTI (Response to Intervention), AVID (Achievement Via Individual Determination) and social-emotional learning.
Memphis -- October 2, 2018 -- Shelby County Schools (SCS) and BrightBytes, an education data solution organization, today, announced a three-year partnership to support the District’s efforts to leverage data to prepare all students for success in learning, leadership, and life. The partnership brings together the industry’s only end-to-end data management through analytics solution, and a large District with a vision to provide educators with high-quality actionable data to inform student learning and drive educator’s instructional and support decisions.
The largest District in Tennessee, Shelby County Schools stands out for its commitment to improving the quality of public education for over 100,000 students. In 2015, the District launched their extensive Destination 2025 plan with ambitious goals to have 80% of seniors on track to learn in a postsecondary classroom or enter the workforce straight out of high school; 90% of students earn their high school diploma on time; and every student enroll in a postsecondary opportunity college or career-ready by 2025. In Spring 2018, SCS leaders looked to BrightBytes to provide a data-driven approach to ensure that all efforts and resources support the goals outlined in Destination 2025.
Shelby County Schools will employ the full BrightBytes product suite. The comprehensive adoption includes the organization’s data integration platform, DataSense, an IPaaS solution that will capture, clean, and translate all siloed, incommunicable data and house it within a secure centralized location for bidirectional flows for reporting and analysis. Chris Graves, the District’s Senior Manager for Decision Analytics and Information Management, believes that by providing accessible data in a single location, educators will be able to solve a number of previous data challenges, brought on by the number and complexity of the systems within the District. In the past, educators had to rely on data from multiple, disparate sources, and spent vast amounts of time compiling information rather than focusing on student learning. Centralized high-quality data will help educators track student data easily and ensure each student is on a continued path toward success. “The reason we’re attempting to integrate our data, make it easy for end-users to understand, and providing support on continuous improvement processes is so that every educator in our system is better meeting the needs of our students. Our hope is that by making these investments, our students are much more ready to compete for jobs and much better prepared to be active citizens in our republic,” said Bradley Leon, Shelby County Schools Chief of Strategy and Performance Management.
The District also has adopted the BrightBytes Clarity data analytics platform to translate complex data into fast actions that improve student learning. The widespread buy-in of both the BrightBytes’ 21st Century Learning suite and the Early Insights suite will allow educators to leverage advanced data analytics, such as predictive analytics, machine learning, and psychometrics, to support work around specific areas, like ensuring students graduate on time and are prepared for the rigors of postsecondary environments, and to inform technology initiatives that drive student learning safely. This analysis is delivered across easy-to-understand visualizations and intuitive dashboards so educators can take a proactive approach to creating a positive student trajectory. “This new platform will provide real-time data on the performance of our students allowing teachers, principals, and administrators to be more prescriptive at identifying the necessary supports. This will correlate directly to increased student achievement of every scholar in our care at SCS. This type of knowledge is a game changer for our entire community as we produce successful and responsible citizens to help Shelby County thrive in the future,” said Brian Stockton, Shelby County Schools Chief of Staff.
Over the last several weeks, BrightBytes and SCS have been collaborating during training sessions, engagement activities, and professional learning opportunities to ensure implementation is seamless for the upcoming school year. The engagement approach is very interactive, and focuses on going into each school, and providing guidance to teachers and administrators to ensure they have critical information at their fingertips. To date, the training teams have delivered nearly 60 sessions to approximately 2,000 school personnel over the course of July and August, with many more scheduled in the coming months. Traci Burgess, CEO of BrightBytes, said, “It’s inspiring to see a district as large and diverse as Shelby County Schools have so much buy in across the entire organization, especially for such a wide product offering. We believe that by collaboratively addressing everything from data integration to analytics, SCS will be able to successfully use data to drive learning and leverage quantifiable metrics to support initiatives for improved student outcomes. The District is setting an incredible example for other large districts to follow.”
About Shelby County Schools: Shelby County Schools (SCS) is the largest district in Tennessee and one of the 25 largest public school systems in America. We serve over 100,000 students across 160+ schools and are the second largest employer in the Memphis area with nearly 12,000 employees. We are committed to improving the quality of public education in our community and equipping our students to succeed in college and careers. By 2025, 80 percent of seniors will be on track to learn in a postsecondary classroom or enter the workforce straight out of high school; 90 percent of students will earn their high school diploma on time; and every student will enroll in a postsecondary opportunity college or career-ready.
About BrightBytes: BrightBytes, the leading end-to-end data management solution for education organizations, provides educators with the power to turn big data into big benefits for students. With the data integration platform, DataSense,™ BrightBytes enables educators to cleanse, integrate, and bi-directionally manage complex data from multiple systems. The decision support platform, Clarity®, then analyzes and organizes meaningful data across research-based frameworks to deliver visualized, actionable information that drives student learning.
The website, https://coloradok12financialtransparency.com, was created in response to legislation that required the state to present financial information for every school district, BOCES and most schools in Colorado. Lawmakers sought a way to provide the public with a deeper understanding of how education dollars are spent in schools, districts and BOCES.
BrightBytes' Early Insights suite and Learning Outcomes module were among the winners, and will be featured in the August issue of Tech & Learning.
San Francisco, Calif. June 11, 2018 BrightBytes, today, announced it has been named a finalist in the 2018 Microsoft Education Partner of the Year Award. The company was honored among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology.
“We are honored to be recognized as finalists for the Microsoft Education Partner of the Year Award. The BrightBytes DataSense integration platform provides an easy way for school systems to unify and utilize all purposeful data among software applications. With DataSense driving Azure Consumption, our aligned efforts drive a powerful solution that embeds our K-12 education expertise into Microsoft technologies, and creates innovative solutions that significantly impact the successful outcomes for students. For more than three years, Microsoft has been instrumental in many of our largest co-sell opportunities, and we look forward to continuing to work together to deliver effective solutions to improve the way the world learns.” Said Traci Burgess, CEO of BrightBytes.
Awards were presented in several categories, with winners chosen from a set of more than 2,600 entrants from 115 countries worldwide. BrightBytes was recognized for providing outstanding solutions and services in Education.
“Our ecosystem of partners is crucial to delivering transformative solutions, and this year’s winners have proven to be some of the finest among their peers,” said Gavriella Schuster corporate vice president, One Commercial Partner, Microsoft Corp. “We are pleased to recognize BrightBytes for being selected as Finalist of the 2018 Microsoft Education Partner of the Year award.”
About BrightBytes: BrightBytes®, the leading end-to-end data management through analytics solution for education organizations, provides educators with the power to turn big data into big benefits for students. With the data integration platform, DataSense™, BrightBytes enables educators to cleanse, integrate, and bi-directionally manage complex data from multiple systems. The decision support platform, Clarity®, then employs advanced analytics, including machine learning, psychometrics, and predictive analytics to organize and visualize actionable data across research-based frameworks to drive student learning.
San Francisco, Calif. May 8, 2018 BrightBytes, a research-based, end-to-end data solution that provides education organizations with comprehensive data management, from integration to analysis, today announced that their integration platform, DataSense, was named a 2018 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the Best Enterprise Application Integration Solution category. Finalists represent applications, products and services from developers of educational software, digital content, online learning services and related technologies across the PreK-20 sector.
With ever growing access and availability to data, it can be challenging to effectively integrate, store, and manage data easily. The BrightBytes data integration platform, DataSense, provides education organizations with one central, online platform to unify all data. With DataSense, organizations can achieve data interoperability in days instead of months.
The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries and have been recognizing product excellence for over 30 years. The awards offer 91 categories that are organized by industry focus of education technology and business technology. DataSense was honored as one of 152 finalists across the 39 education technology categories.
“I am impressed by the level of innovation and creativity demonstrated by the 2018 CODiE award finalists. These products are opening doors for learners of all ages by developing and utilizing new technologies to respond to student and educator needs.” said Ken Wasch, President of SIIA. “We know that education data is often disparate and very complex. We also know that if data isn’t integrated effectively, it can’t be leveraged to inform decisions. DataSense makes interoperability across hundreds of systems seamless and safe, so educators can easily access and provision powerful data to drive learning.” said Traci Burgess, CEO of BrightBytes.
About the SIIA CODiE™ Awards: The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technology’s finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit siia.net/CODiE.
BrightBytes®, with American Institutes for Research® (AIR® ), expands their predictive analytics solution for dropout prevention to now provide insight into postsecondary readiness
San Francisco, Calif., February 15, 2018 --BrightBytes, the leading end-to-end data management solution for education organizations, today, announced the rollout of the Student Success module, an expanded offering of their award-winning Early Warning module.
The BrightBytes predictive analytics solution (formerly known as the Early Warning module), which uses historical data and predictive analytics to individualize graduation risk analysis for students as early as first grade, will now provide insight into students’ readiness along the entire K-20 continuum in a new offering, the Student Success module. Developed in partnership with American Institutes for Research, one of the nation's largest behavioral and social science research and evaluation organizations, this robust solution will utilize two predictive models: one which identifies students at risk of not graduating from high school, and one that predicts students at risk of being unprepared for the challenges of postsecondary education.
Traci Burgess, CEO of BrightBytes, explains, “Each student’s education journey begins before Kindergarten, and continues beyond graduation. The Student Success module not only identifies at-risk students as early as first grade in their academic career, but it also provides educators with the necessary tools to impact student trajectories in their postsecondary career as well. By preparing students to achieve after graduation, educators are developing a generation of individuals able to participate in a global economy and achieve greater equity in attainment gaps between socio-economic groups.”
AIR conducts and applies the best behavioral and social science research and evaluation towards improving people's lives, with a special emphasis on the disadvantaged. As the Student Success module was built, AIR provided valuable technical guidance in indicator definitions for the module’s expanded framework, and the team has worked closely to review the predictive models developed by analysts and researchers at BrightBytes. This partnership is instrumental to support BrightBytes’ mission to use research-based analysis to turn big data into big benefits for students.
“In order to help all students be college and career ready, educators and administrators need accurate, timely information that they can use to guide their decision making and instruction," said Susan Therriault, Managing Researcher at AIR. "We are excited about this partnership, which will allow us to scale the work we have done to help educators across the country prepare students for postsecondary success.”
About BrightBytes: BrightBytes, the leading end-to-end data management solution for education organizations, provides educators with the power to turn big data into big benefits for students. With the data integration platform, DataSense™, BrightBytes enables educators to cleanse, integrate, and bi-directionally manage complex data from multiple systems. The decision support platform, Clarity®, then analyzes and organizes meaningful data across research-based frameworks to deliver visualized, actionable information that drives student learning.
About AIR: Established in 1946, American Institutes for Research (AIR) is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research on important social issues and delivers technical assistance, both domestically and internationally, in the areas of education, health, and workforce productivity.
Georgia’s Ninth Largest District will utilize BrightBytes’ Clarity Platform to evaluate and quantify outcomes of personalized learning investments, empowering educators with actionable insights to inform teaching and learning
ATLANTA -- February 8, 2018 -- Henry County Board of Education (HCBOE) and K-12 analytics platform BrightBytes, today, announced the expansion of a multi-year partnership in support of the district’s efforts to scale high-quality, personalized learning through an eight-year initiative that will utilize 36,000 devices to create a 1:1 computing environment across grades 3-12.
The field of education has progressed far beyond the class testing and grading on the curve of past traditions. With the advance of technology, the goal is now to better understand the individual, how he or she learns best, what context works best, what are her individual challenges and needs, and how will she do in the future.
It's all about personal measurement and analytics that lead, not only to academic performance improvement but also behavioral support, risk identification, intervention and counseling where appropriate.
The use of technology facilitates a personalized learning environment where individual analytics create a model of predictive success or failure. And that environment includes teachers, content, materials, and delivery methods.
It also includes schools, support staff, educational publishers, course designers and anyone else affecting the learning landscape. Analytics are being developed so educational organizations and educators can more effectively design and implement the courses, tools and engagement practices that optimize learning for each student.
Here are some of the learning analytics startups that are using technology to help improve student learning outcomes through advanced data collection and analysis.
Founded in 2011 by Charles Thornburgh and Mark Milliron, and based in Austin, Texas, Civitas Learning offers a cloud-based, predictive analytics platform that delivers insights to the frontlines of education.
The goal of Civitas Learning is to help college students graduate by analyzing course loads and by supplying innovative interventions like nudge emails and improved advisory techniques.
The company’s learning platform uses predictive modeling to identify students at risk. It focuses on student engagement, persistence and completion to improve college attendance, retention, and graduation rates.
Founded in 2012 by Rob Mancabelli and Hisham Anwar, BrightBytes provides a SaaS-based data analytics platform to build a modern learning environment, focusing on four basic frameworks that measure the effects of technology in a school.
The company’s analytics model includes classroom evaluation of how teachers and students use technology for learning. It studies the availability of devices and Internet access throughout the school and at home. It measures the skill levels of teachers and students with multimedia. And it evaluates the school culture, professional development, and technology needs across the organization.
BrightBytes customers say it improves the development of multimedia professionals and creates a better learning environment for their students.
Backed by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and its research on cognitive and learning science, Acrobatiq is a learning optimization company that develops Open Learning Initiative courseware helping higher education students, faculty and organizations deliver measurable improvements in learning outcomes.
Insights developed from student learning data gives educators detailed information on which learners need help and what kind of help.
Learning analytics capture and model both behavioral data (i.e. page views, logins, etc.) and learning data from students’ performances to generate real-time predictive learning estimates for each student.
As technology continues to evolve and become an integral part of our everyday lives, it’s only natural that we utilize the technology to improve education as well. One aspect of technology that promises to make this a reality is the use of analytics in the classroom to help refine the learning experience for students.
We recently completed edX’s course ‘Analytics for the Classroom Teacher’, which offered many insights into the intricacies of using technology and analyzing the data to fine-tune the teaching and learning experience. There are two main categories of analytics used for educational purposes. Teaching analytics analyzes the teaching design by looking at the your lesson plans and reflecting on how effective that is for the student learning experience. Learning analytics collects and measures student data and analyzes how the you can refine the learning experience to make it more effective for the student.
By utilizing learning analytics in particular, you are able to better understand the learning level and ability of each student and can then tailor the learning experience for each student. Essentially, this allows you to identify particular needs of each student and make quick, data-driven decisions about how to foster student learning in the most effective way.
Here, we focus on the three main frameworks within Learning Analytics. Each of these different frameworks collects student data in order to help you adapt your teaching style in a way that increases student engagement and understanding.
1. Descriptive Analytics - This framework takes the student’s past and aims to analyze the student data to find patterns in the student’s learning progress. Simply put, descriptive analytics describe what has happened and the way things are, allowing you to make strategic decisions on the best teaching style for each student. For example, you can use Descriptive Analytics to find out how much your class knows about the lesson. After analyzing the data, you might find that implementing scaffolding strategies or differentiated learning processes into your lessons may be an effective way to reach more students. Some universities and districts have descriptive analytics tools built right into the teacher’s management system.
Quick Tip: Go Pollock is also a great tool to use for Descriptive Analytics. It allows you to export a PDF Insights Report for each Session your class completes in the app. Create a Session surrounding your lesson, motivate and engage your students, then export the Insights Report to see how you can make your lessons more effective.
2. Predictive Analytics - As the name suggests, Predictive Analytics offer insights into future trends in your students’ understanding of the material. This framework uses the student’s past data and current data to determine what is likely to happen next. This is a great analytics framework to use to identify students who may soon be ‘low-performing’ or ‘low-engaging’. This can allow you to implement methods specifically meant to help those at-risk students get back on track and reach their full potential. For example, Sam, a middle school math teacher from Oregon, tells us:
“We use the Early Warning tool in our BrightBytes Clarity management system to help determine which students are at risk. It tracks the students throughout their academic career so we can see how they grow over the years. That way, if we see a student, or group of students, that are falling particularly far behind, we are able to intervene and correct the issue before it becomes a roadblock in the student’s learning path.”
3. Prescriptive Analytics - This framework not only provides teachers with data you can then use to make actionable decisions, but it provides alternative suggestions to make your teaching more effective. Based on the student data collected, the analytics tool generates suggestions on different educational resources and tools to utilize in order to make a greater impact with students. McGraw Hill created the LearnSmart Teaching Technology to provide schools and teachers with insights into student understanding and adaptive instructional techniques based on student performance.
While there are many ways to analyze student data, it’s important to make sure you’re taking the right steps to keep your students’ personal information safe. What’s even more important to remember is that the data itself is not what influences the student’s learning experience. It’s the receptiveness of the teacher and willingness to adapt their teaching style to better meet the needs of the students that makes the real difference. How do you use analytics to improve your students’ learning experience?
In the second full year of its 1:1 student technology initiative, Oak Park and River Forest High School says more than half of its teachers are now using devices in the classroom.
Under the 1:1 initiative, all OPRF students are provided with a school-owned Chromebook laptop to use in the classroom and to take home. The full 1:1 program began during the 2016-17 school year, though OPRF had launched smaller pilot rollouts in prior years.
During the Jan. 16 school board meeting, administrators revealed results of a Brightbytes survey, which used data collected in the fall of 2017. According to administrators, 841 out of 3,300 students and 216 of 268 OPRF teachers responded to the survey, with 77 percent of teachers reporting they feel confident in managing a classroom where students are using more technology.
"That is pretty significant, since we were only in our second year of the 1:1," instructional technology coordinator Earliana McLaurin said. "The top four responses of what teachers are doing are all things we want, productivity skills and completing assignments, viewing videos, doing research and typing."
McLaurin also said more than half of OPRF teachers are now using technology in the classroom on a daily basis.
"Not only are they using it, but they're using it more frequently," McLaurin said. "It's trending up."
With the numbers showing more teachers using the Chromebooks in the classrooms, administrators said they will now focus more on how that technology is used and how it can improve the skills students will need when they graduate.
"Now that we have more teachers utilizing technology in the classroom, we can focus on promoting technology that moves beyond those productivity tasks and to those 21st century skills we want our students to leave OPRF with," McLaurin said.
Chief information officer Mike Carioscio said administrators will also use Brightbytes data to set new goals and targets they hope to achieve in the coming years.
"We have been content, until this point, since we've been focused on the delivery of the 1:1," Carioscio said. "The real goal is for us to continue to improve. The main impact to the students is for teachers to really use that technology. If you're not using it on a regular basis, you're not having that kind of transformation."
Though technology use is increasing at OPRF, administrators said how and when that technology is used remains an ongoing discussion.
"One of the things we want to do is differentiate as much as possible," McLaurin said. "That means having conversations with each teacher about what their students need. If their students need to write with a pen and paper, then that's what we'll utilize. It's a collaboration between our team and the teachers, focused on them knowing their students and knowing what they want to accomplish."
Administrators said 539 parents participated in the survey, which is about 100 more than took the same survey last year.
"Eighty-four percent of parents felt confident they had some of the necessary skills to support a tech-enabled student," McLaurin said. "Only 41 percent of parents said they were aware of safety concerns, specifically. This rightfully is an area of concern we addressed this year, and will address moving forward."
According to BrightBytes data rankings, OPRF now rates as "advanced" in its use of classroom technology, just below its highest rating of "exemplary."
BUCKHANNON — A local school recently gave their Local School Improvement Council and Faculty Senate reports to the Upshur County Board of Education.
“We wanted our school to score a 45 or higher student growth percentile in math according to the STAR benchmark in second through fifth grade,” she said. “As a school, we were able to meet that average.
“We also met the same goal for reading, language arts and early literacy and once again we were able to meet that average.”
The school’s third goal was to have 95 percent or more students in medium to low risk as measured by Bright Bytes, a program provided by the state.
“We were very excited when we ended our year with 96 percent in that,” she said. “We had a very successful year with meeting our goals.”
LSIC chair and kindergarten teacher Taylor Tenney discussed what the school has been doing regarding academics.
“With academics, we implement a variety of strategies and use a variety of resources to differentiate instruction for the students and meet them on their level,” she said.
All grades use Investigations as the adopted curriculum for math but also supplement that with Eureka Math.
Kindergarten through fourth grade teachers use mathematic assessments to figure out where the math gaps are with the students.
“In grades Kindergarten through fifth grade, Lucy Calkins Units of Study is sued to develop and expand student’s writing skills,” she said.
“Collaboration between Title 1 and our general education teachers is really prevalent in this area,” she said.
“This is a research based program that emphasizes phonetic awareness, phonics, high frequency words, reading fluency, vocabulary comprehension, strategies, handwriting and spelling,” she said. “We have noticed phenomenal gains in our students by using this.”
“Our Title 1 teacher implements Level Literacy Learning, a program for struggling readers,” she said.
Phillips said that a recent test by the first-grade class showed 67 percent of students were at or above mastery.
Leandra Morlan, faculty senate chair, told the board of education Hodgesville is working to become a Positive Behavior Intervention School.
“Over the past few months we have been going to trainings to become a PBIS school and over the course of the next year, we will be implementing that into our school,” she said.
The school has also been using a communication log to go home to parents or guardians that shows if the students are ‘great,’ ‘OK,’ or ‘needs to improve’ with different aspects of their day.
“We decided for the nine weeks that if they got 10 or less needs to improve checks and four or less days signed then they get to attend a reward,” she said.
“It helps us teachers be able to communicate with parents on a daily basis about things going on in the classroom, with behavior and so on.
“We feel that is most important because not only does it show the kids respect but it allows them to save face and keep their dignity whenever they have consequences occur,” Morlan said.
“Another thing we saw with our kiddos is they were tattling a lot. We created a Mindful Monday and a Thoughtful Thursday on morning announcements where we present them a problem and use teachers as an example,” she said.
The students then talk about the scenarios with their classroom teachers and analyze whether it was a big deal or a little deal and what they should do.
“We implemented attendance incentives because we saw that we have habitual attendance issues with some of our kids and we have been really successful with that,” she said.
“We have a monthly activity and at the end of the year, we will have a really big overall incentive if they have five or less absences,” she said.
“Last year, we implemented something called Zero Heroes,” she said. “If they got zero check marks for lunch and recess, then they got to attend an activity on Friday that the teachers created and put on. That was very successful so we were able to go from weekly to bi-monthly and hopefully we will go to monthly.”
Although schools in rural areas traditionally hit roadblocks when it comes to securing technology tools and high-speed internet access in classrooms and student homes, a new study suggests students in those schools actually outperform their urban and suburban peers in access at school.
The data comes from data management and learning analytics firm BrightBytes, which analyzed more than 180 million data points collected via a national survey gauging educational technology access, use and effectiveness across 8,558 U.S. schools.
The study compares characteristics of the top 5 percent and bottom 5 percent of schools and looks at factors that impact technology access and use. And according to that data, rural schools outpace urban and suburban schools when it comes to providing technology to students and teachers.
“The report provides district and school leaders with insights into what works to improve student outcomes,” said Teela Watson, Director of Digital Learning at Education Service Center Region 11 in Fort Worth, Texas. “The information has allowed us, for the first time, to accurately and clearly communicate the effectiveness of our technology initiatives.”
Using the CASE framework, which evaluates technology implementations across four domains (Classroom, Access, Skills, and Environment) in order to help school and district leaders develop a more holistic perspective on technology, the BrightBytes Insights Report considered:
However, the data, which show low scores for the 3Ps in populations with high free or reduced price lunch rates, suggest that teachers are having difficulty transferring new skills and strategies to the classroom due to the impact of administrative decisions on technology integration.
“Drawing on millions of data points from schools around the country, this report provides critical insights into the relationship between school characteristics, such as geographical setting, and successful implementation of technology. It provides a way forward for schools–whether they are rural, urban, or suburban–to adopt the technologies necessary for building a stronger future for their students,” said former North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue, who authored the foreword to the new report.
BrightBytes analysis of over 180 million data points offers new insight into access and equity gaps, teacher perspectives on preparation for and use of education technology
San Francisco -- November 14, 2017 -- Data management and learning analytics firm BrightBytes, today, published an analysis of over 180 million data points, collected using a national survey designed to gauge educational technology access, utilization, and effectiveness across 8,558 schools throughout the United States.
The data suggest that students in rural schools, while facing difficulty obtaining devices and internet connectivity at home, actually outscore their urban and suburban peers in access at school. By comparing the characteristics of the top 5% of schools and bottom 5% of schools, evaluated on a unique technology framework, the BrightBytes Insights Report explores the factors that affect technology access and utilization.
“The Report provides district and school leaders with insights into what works to improve student outcomes,” said Teela Watson, Director of Digital Learning at Education Service Center Region 11 in Fort Worth, Texas. “The information we are able to get from our work with BrightBytes has allowed us, for the first time, to accurately and clearly communicate the effectiveness of our technology initiatives.”
According to BrightBytes’ analysis, rural schools are outpacing urban and suburban schools in providing technology to their students and teachers. Rural schools were disproportionately represented among schools scoring in the top 5% for access at school, while suburban schools were disproportionately represented in the bottom 5%. Conversely, suburban schools were disproportionately represented in the top 5% of schools for access at home, suggesting that suburban students, who are more likely to have devices of their own, could benefit from policies that allow them to bring their devices to school.
“Drawing on millions of data points from schools around the country, this report provides critical insights into the relationship between school characteristics, such as geographical setting, and successful implementation of technology. It provides a way forward for schools – whether they are rural, urban, or suburban – to adopt the technologies necessary for building a stronger future for their students,” said former North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue, who authored the foreword to the new report.
Interestingly, schools with high rates of students receiving free or reduced price lunch scored lower across all domains analyzed except professional learning, indicating that teachers have the freedom to influence their own professional development regardless of their school characteristics. However, the data, which show low scores for the 3Ps in populations with high FRPL rates, suggest that teachers are having difficulty transferring new skills and strategies to the classroom due to the impact of administrative decisions on technology integration.
“The aggregate data from our research confirms that there are a number of characteristics that hinder or enable the success of high-performing and low-performing schools,” said Genevieve Hartman, Ph.D, Vice President of Research at BrightBytes. “Looking across factors such as access at home and at school, policies, procedures, practices, and professional development needs, we have been able to uncover insights that can equip educators and policymakers with specific, data-driven recommendations on how to tailor ed tech plans to the needs of individual schools.”
About BrightBytes: BrightBytes provides the leading end-to-end data management solution for education organizations. Our platforms integrate, analyze, and organize complex data from multiple systems across research-based frameworks to deliver educative, engaging, and actionable visualized results that drive student learning.
SAN FRANCISCO -- November 2, 2017 -- The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and BrightBytes, a leading K-12 learning analytics platform, today announced a new collaboration aimed at helping school and district leaders better understand and monitor progress around putting the ISTE Standards into practice.
About ISTE The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is a nonprofit organization that works with the global education community to accelerate the use of technology to solve tough problems and inspire innovation. Our worldwide network believes in the potential technology holds to transform teaching and learning. ISTE sets a bold vision for education transformation through the ISTE Standards, a framework for students, educators, administrators, coaches, and computer science educators to rethink education and create innovative learning environments. ISTE hosts the annual ISTE Conference & Expo, one of the world’s most influential edtech events. The organization’s professional learning offerings include online courses, professional networks, year-round academies, peer-reviewed journals, and other publications. ISTE is also the leading publisher of books focused on technology in education. For more information or to become an ISTE member, visit iste.org. Subscribe to ISTE’s YouTube channel and connect with ISTE on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
About BrightBytes BrightBytes, the leading end-to-end data management solution for education organizations, provides educators with the power to turn big data into big benefits for students. With the data integration platform, DataSense,™ BrightBytes enables educators to cleanse, integrate, and bi-directionally manage complex data from multiple systems. The decision support platform, Clarity, then analyzes and organizes meaningful data across research-based frameworks to deliver visualized, actionable information that drives student learning.
Brighton & Hove Albion defender Bernardo hopes that his move to England will aid his international aspirations.
The Brazilian full-back completed his move from Red Bull Leipzig last Thursday and hopes that the prospect of playing Premier League football can put him back into contention for a place in the squad.
He said, “For sure it helps. I saw that, for example, when I was in Germany playing for Leipzig. It’s a small club but it reached second place in the Bundesliga and I was not even on the radar.
"I was a player that played many matches, but my name was not even being speculated. Richarlison from Watford, he is playing for a good club but not in the top six.
“Everyone is now talking about Richarlison, so the Premier League brings you to another level, because everyone is watching it.
"The staff from the national team and all my friends wake up and put on the Premier League. In the Premier League you just have to do your thing, because people are watching you.”
Bernardo admits there is more pressure to perform due to his nationality, but admits his style is different to the flair you would normally associate with the South American nation.
"There is a lot of expectation when you say you are Brazilian. People think you are going to be like Ronaldinho, get the ball, do tricks, dribble around everyone and score.
The 25-year-old will battle it out with Markus Sutter and Gaetan Bong for a regular left-back starting berth, and Bernardo highlighted what he wants to bring to the team.
“Talking specifically about left-back, I think many people nowadays see left-back as more offensive than defensive, but your first job is to defend and then if possible to attack.
"That is what I want to bring, to make the defence line even stronger, to bring more stability, to win duels, to do whatever a defender has to do and bring something positive to my team."
Containers have proven to be useful tools for application development and operations teams, playing a key role in facilitating important transformational change, and touching everything from application architecture and infrastructure choices to business process and operational models. Join us as we explore popular use cases for containerization, and take a look at the SUSE CaaS Platform, on which you can build, deliver, and manage containerized workloads.