Tom Hays
Data Coordinator for Title I
(Name withheld) Public Schools
Remark Office OMR® v.6.0
Background:
Tom’s role is to collect and analyze student test data for Title I and intervention schools. He collects data from mathematics unit assessments, trimester mathematics assessments and quarterly reading/writing assessments for about 3000 grade 1 through grade 5 students. Test data is also collected from district-wide pre- and post- assessment data for 3000 kindergarten students, as well as data for several early childhood intervention programs for about 1600 students.The Challenge:
Tom says, “Title I trimester assessments required the six Title I teacher specialists to manually analyze the data by counting individual item scores to see any instructional trends. This took several days of intensive work and did not always yield meaningful results. Kindergarten data was collected at the school level, but never collected at the system level, making analysis impossible.”
He goes on to observe that prior to using Remark Office OMR®, “individual data collection and analysis could not be done with any consistency. Some teachers would manually analyze student data of some assessments but this would be ‘hit or miss’ across the system.”
The Solution:
Tom learned about Remark Office OMR at the ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum) Conference. “While attending an ASCD conference, I searched the vendor floor for any possible solution that would involve electronic collection of data.” Other solutions that he investigated were not viable due to prohibitive costs. “Remark's cost was very reasonable and affordable for providing the mechanism for data collection. Remark allowed me to design and create my own data collection forms that were user- friendly and efficient.”
He adds, “The scanner that I use enables me to scan any size paper from the half size 11 x 4.25 inch to 11 x 17 inch paper. The other very valuable feature of Remark is the ability to read barcodes. Barcodes are important for taking little space and collecting the all important student ID number.”
Tom is now able to provide classroom teachers with a 1 to 2 day turn-around of detailed reports to help them see areas of academic need for each individual student. He says, “This makes assessment an integral part of the instruction model by giving timely information that teachers can use to make meaningful instructional decisions that will immediately impact academic performance… Remark is a remarkable product that makes my job easier and more efficient.”
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