State: Texas | Number of Students: 1,989 |
School Type: Public School District | Free and Reduced Lunch: 73.5% |
Grade Level: PK-12 | English Language Learners: 14.7% |
School Context
This district is rolling out a pilot blended learning program in one of their schools. The school supports 585 students, 30% are English language learners and 88% qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch. This district is applying for an innovative blended learning grant and will use this school as a proof point for their district around what personalized blended learning looks like.
State of Technology
The district math students in 4th grade come in with skills ranging from 2nd grade math skills to 7th grade. They need a way to be able to close instructional gaps for students who are struggling and to help students excel when they need to be challenged.
Currently, the 4th grade classes are already using stations, but teachers are struggling to differentiate lessons on their own. They spend too much time creating different content and often they do not have time or accuracy to do the pre-assessments need to more accurately target skills at stations.
Tech Needs & Requirements
They need a tool that takes the differentiation off teachers so they can target each student's individual skill level so they are challenged when they need to be challenged, but also get remediation when they need it.
This tool will be used in a station rotation model as a supplement to the teacher's main instruction. Students will rotate between the teacher directed station, the project station and this digital tool. The tool needs to cover math skills in grades 1-8. It needs to adapt the content and assessments to student skill level. Ideally, this adaptivity is happening constantly or at the least amount on a weekly basis so students skills and gaps are accurately targeted and so their path changes as they progress based on what they need. All the content should align to the Texas State Standards (TEKS). Ideally, content has opportunities for visual and language support, as many students are English language learners. They would also like tools that are engaging students through game-based learning or incentive systems.
The district provides students with Chromebooks, 8-10 per class. Teachers will not be involved in facilitating or supervising the tool. However, they need to have the ability to monitor student progress and put restrictions on the path a student takes or the content they are reviewing as necessary.
The tool must align to the Texas State standards, be adaptive, cover math content from 1-8th grade and integrate with a single sign on. They need to look at student progress on each state standard so they can see how different groups of students are progressing through different strands of content. They would also like to see this data by demographic, but this is not a non-negotiable. CSV exports are preferred but not a deal breaker. Also, if there are any reports they can export or send to parents that would also be a bonus, but not a non-negotiable. The tool must provide Integration with Clever or Google Apps.