Ossining Performance Pathways Session Evaluation

Please take a moment to complete this Performance Pathways Evaluation. 

Launch of the Privacy Technical Assistance (TA) Center Website

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THIRTEEN launches new Regents Exam test prep video collection with REGENTS REVIEW 2.0

SWBOCES Awarded $700k Educational Grant to Benefit Local Schools

The New York State Education Department has named Southern Westchester BOCES and the Lower Hudson Regional Information Center the recipients of a competitive educational grant, which will be used to raise student performance in math and English Language Arts, and eliminate achievement gaps among middle school students in a number of local schools.

The Enhancing Education Through Technology award, which is close to $700,000, will benefit the Bedford, Brewster, Elmsford, Greenburgh Central 7, Haverstraw-Stony Point, Hawthorne Cedar Knolls, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Nyack, Peekskill, Port Chester-Rye, Ossining, Ramapo, Tarrytown, Tuckahoe, and White Plains school districts. St. Anne’s School, Ossining, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School, Elmsford, and Sacred Heart School in Mount Vernon are also recipients.

The initiative will help districts wade through the multitude of test results and other data that come out of state, district and classroom assessments, and it builds upon an initial grant that BOCES received two years ago to improve the academic performance of middle school students by using technology and formative assessment tools intended to enhance both teaching and learning.

Eight of the above districts were participants in the initial round of the grant. Support from the LHRIC Model Schools Program, particularly in the use of instructional technology to support classroom teaching, is also part of the grant.

Beginning this month, the latest grant recipients will receive all of the focused data team and leadership training opportunities that were made available to the original beneficiaries, including extensive training on the LHRIC data warehouse resources, coaching in the use of Data Mentor, a web-based student assessment tool, and support for the creation of data teams within middle schools.

Returning districts will also be offered workshops on formative assessments to enhance classroom instruction based on the work of Rick Stiggins, founder of the Educational Testing Services Assessment Training Institute, which provides professional development for teachers and school leaders.

The BOCES partnership with Sunguard-Performance Pathways, a provider of assessment software, and with Pearson Digital, the developers of the NovaNet and SuccessMaker software for classrooms, will also be available to schools.

Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy

Boston College has a work group, the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy, found at the link here:
 http://www.bc.edu/research/csteep/.

On this Center homepage you will find a second link to CTEST, the Consortium for Equity in Standards and Testing.  A direct link to the site is here: http://www.bc.edu/research/csteep/CTESTWEB/documents.html.  Both these sites have some interesting links to reports and background of interest to DATAG members.  In particular, off the CTEST site (second link), you will find a link to 'documents' which contains several reports.

I found the document called "What Is A Test" to be particularly useful as a primer on standardized testing--what tests are designed to measure (domains, constructs, for example), with some simple explanatory diagrams and definitions of terms.  It's an html document that puts definitions and illustrations of key terms into link from the initial pages. If you're not entirely comfortable with issues like reliability and validity, this is a good place to start.  I think it's a good introduction to the topics.



*This new resource can also be found on the Navigational bar at the top under the Resources drop-down menu.

New EETT Resource added - Pew Internet

The Pew Internet Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a non-profit fact tank that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pew Internet explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. The Project is nonpartisan and takes no position on policy issues.

Such articles include a study on the future of the Internet, referred to as Internet III which predicts the mobile device as the primary connection tool for the Internet in 2020. The full article can be found here

It's a fascinating site with lots of great data. It also lends itself to answer the question: "What is going to be happening in our schools related to this Internet III study?".
Check out the new Pew Internet resource on the Nav bar at the top under the Resources drop-down menu!

Technology Workshops Available!

As part of your participation in the EETT Grant, we encourage you to take advantage of the Professional Development opportunities offered through the LHRIC's Model Schools instructional technology program. Participants can sign up for face to face workshops, technology conferences or 1 hour webinars.

Login to eChalk!

Please login to eChalk and access your team pages. Your LHRIC/SWBOCES consultants will be adding pertinent information to your team pages. District team members can also contribute information, resources etc. Enjoy building your digital learning community. If you are experiencing any technical problems please contact James Murray at jmurray@lhric.org