District Administration - May 2011 - (Page 59)

ADVERTISEMENT A powerful tool that makes curriculum development and teacher evaluation easier OnCourse Lesson Planner helps a Florida district meet rising education standards and content goals A lachua County Public Schools has been using and makes sure standards are met. In addition to ensuring that all lesson plans are consisOnCourse Lesson Planner for several years to speed planning and improve its curriculum, but tent and complete, OnCourse Lesson Planner enables every the Web-based product has become more valu- teacher to easily create and maintain a Web page for posting able than ever now that Florida is one of 10 states eligible to assignments and class news. Those Web pages are updated participate in the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the automatically from the lesson plans, and teachers can post additional information to keep parents up-to-date. Top initiative. Freeman said the district also has realized the product One of the goals of the federal program is to improve is not just a boon for teachers, but for teacher quality, and OnCourse Lesprincipals, too. School administrators son Planner’s analytics give school can run analytics for Title I initiative administrators a set of powerful tools reports and pull up lesson plans for to evaluate how teachers incorporate review. They can comment any time state standards and content goals into from any Internet-enabled computer– classroom instruction, according to even to mobile devices such as a smartChauncey Freeman, a district technolphone or iPad. That makes it easy for ogy coordinator. principals to check firsthand how a Alachua began piloting OnCourse teacher’s in-class instruction aligns with Lesson Planner in the 2004-2005 school the school’s curricular guidelines. year, and offered it districtwide the folIn addition, administrators can lowing year. It quickly gained favor flag selected state standards with high among teachers. Freeman, a teacher at importance, so teachers get a recurring the time, was already putting his lesreminder to address those so-called son plans on Google Pages, so he didn’t “power standards” in their weekly lesexplore OnCourse until he was named son plans. a technology coach two years later. Freeman said he was impressed with “After training myself, I said, ‘I “They have an open ear OnCourse’s technology, but another should have used this when I had the important selling point for the comopportunity’,” Freeman said. toward what’s working, pany was its approach to the education The OnCourse Lesson Planner, what’s not working and what market. It is obvious that the compapart of a suite of products developed by New Jersey-based OnCourse Syswe can do to make it better.” ny’s product designers have classroom experience, he said, and that they really tems for Education, allows teachers to strive to improve the product. create, share and manage lesson plans “I did not expect that,” Freeman online. Users are guided through automated steps, and the software is preloaded with state cur- said. “It’s an unexpected relationship that has been awericulum standards to ensure plans are aligned with teach- some. They have an open ear toward what’s working, what’s ing mandates. Teachers still have leeway for individual flair not working and what we can do to make it better.” in instruction, but OnCourse Lesson Planner encourages a To find out more about OnCourse Lesson Planner and the commore collaborative approach and uniform goals. “Teachers were spending hours and hours developing pany’s other products, visit www.OnCourseSystems.com or call 1.800.899.7204, Ext. 100. weekly lesson plans,” Freeman said. “We had the state come in and do observations. One thing they mentioned in feedback was they’d like teachers to use a template.” OnCourse Lesson Planner makes templates easy to set up systems for education and disseminate, which saves time, reduces repetitive typing www.DistrictAdministration.com May 2011 59 http://www.OnCourseSystems.com http://www.OnCourseSystems.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - May 2011

District Administration - May 2011
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Conversations
Administrator Profile
District Profile
The Cradle-to-Career Solution
Turnaround Principals
Starving for Recess
Army Strong, Superintendent Savvy
Budgeting Based on Student Needs
Research Center
Books
Product Focus
Products
Superintendent's Insights
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Professional Opinion

District Administration - May 2011

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