New Year: New committee members were welcomed and encouraged to familiarize themselves with the meeting minutes from last year (available on this blog) and the new District Educational Technology Plan available on the committee's website. One of the primary goals of the committee this year will be to continue reviewing gradebook programs and develop a recommendation for districtwide adoption.

Gradebook Program Review - Easy Grade Pro: Brent Copeland, teacher at Kucera, demonstrated how he uses Easy Grade Pro for standards-based grading. The following provides a brief synopsis of the functionality. More details and a demo version can be downloaded from the company website.

• Standards-based Grading: In addition to traditional point/percentage grading, EGP supports grading by standard. An assignment can be identified with one or more standards and the score for each of these standards can be entered. The resulting student report shows each standard, the assignments that addressed that standard, the score for each assignment, the overall score on the standard, and the overall score across all standards. Key standards can be weighted within the overall score for the class.
• Management: the student roster can be copied from one class to another; a student and his/her grades can be moved from one class to another (in the case of a student changing periods); teacher can hide/show dropped students; an assignment can be copied from one class to another
• Reports: a variety of reports are available with many options to customize each of them. The list includes a student progress report by standard, missing assignments, roster sheet, and more.
• Compatability: does have the ability to interface with student information system (eSchool) to auto-enroll students; can import from assessment software (DataDirector, student response systems); can export traditional grades (not standards-based grades) into eChalk. 
• Additional Features: includes seating chart, attendance tracking, behavioral notes. Has an optional web-publishing subscription to provide parent access to grades; also has a web-based version of the gradebook program (with yearly subscription fee) that allows teachers to enter scores from any computer.

Committee members suggested also reviewing GradeQuick and SnapGrades.

Cyberbullying: All certificated staff will be expected to complete the online Cyberbullying course in the Keenan SafeSchools program. This course was selected by the committee last year to address the need to train staff in how to identify and address cyberbullying. The course takes 25 minutes to complete and can be done through any Internet-connected computer. Committee members recommended principals set aside time during a staff meeting to allow their staff to complete the course; a completion date of 1/1/2010 was agreed upon. An announcement via email will provide directions on how to access the training.

eChalk Expectations: All teachers, counselors, and administrators need to activate their eChalk account so they are listed in the Faculty & Staff directory on the school homepage. As part of the activation process, they need to verify the email settings are configured to forward mail to Outlook. Teachers are also strongly encouraged to establish a class page with a copy of their parent letter/syllabus; this class page can then be used to support technology integration and parental involvement. Schools are also expected to post their school events on the school calendar which will be used to automatically generate a districtwide calendar of school events. Each site has an eChalk site manager to assist staff in achieving these goals.

Next Meeting: October 1^st, 3:30-4:30, District Registration Center Conference Room