A continually developing technology portal is allowing Denver Public Schools teachers to cater to their students without having to spend hours tracking data and resources.
“If we could let a tool be the one doing the reading of information, highlighting what students do well in, in an easy and logical way, then the real kicker is what happens next,” said Jason Martinez, director of Assessment Technology and Accountability for DPS.
The new DPS-designed technology, The Digital Door Project, funded in part by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and bond funds, was launched for administrators in January 2009, and for teachers a year later.
The teacher portal includes data about each student’s past CSAP scores, including an item-by-item breakdown of the student’s answers, more than 40,000 files of curriculum resources, and a general comparison to students in other schools in the neighborhood.
The technology was designed to give teachers and administrators key information to help them raise student test scores. District education-reform plans place high emphasis on rapid and significant improvement.
Previously, many teachers carried loads of files and books home over the weekends to help them create lesson plans. Now they can access all of it through the Web portal.
Martinez said developers estimate teachers will save at least 90 minutes a week in planning, saving $9.3 million per year.
The program can also use the data to chart student progress against state academic standards. Teachers can also group students based on how much they have learned, or what they still need help on.
“We’re able to target specific needs,” said Adrean Rivers, a sixth- grade teacher at Trevista at Horace Mann Middle School.
She said being able to look at the data motivates her to try new techniques to teach her students.
“It can set off an alarm,” she said. “I can look at a student’s data and see, last year this student was struggling with the same thing, so I look at how can I support them in another way.”
Through the administrator portal, principals have access to classroom progress reports for comparison, current-day attendance and relevant lesson plans to download in case a teacher has to miss work on short notice.
“We’re still testing some of how it is used,” Trevista principal Veronica Benavidez said. “But when you know where a kid is, it’s a whole lot easier taking them where you want them to be.”
Acting on user suggestions, new features or upgrades will be provided twice a year.
This month, a new tool debuted that allows teachers to create quizzes to test students on each unit of curriculum. They will then be able to input the scores to track student progress.
The program has been trademarked, and school districts around the country have asked about purchasing it or creating similar programs.
Martinez and other project leaders have done presentations and webinars for district leaders in Philadelphia, Wyoming and other places, Martinez said.
“The intent was never for it to be a product,” Martinez said. “It’s about giving teachers the ability to go deeper with planning so they can be better about how they deliver their curriculum.”
Two more portals, providing information for parents and students, are expected to be launched sometime next year.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or yrobles@denverpost.com
