PMA Ends December 2

The second Progress Monitoring Assessment ends December 2.

You have the ability to run a report on PMA for both the school and the classroom level.

Running the PMA Report at the School Level:

1. Use the school administrative login to access Stride Academy.
2. Click the "Reports" tab.
3. Click the blue "Generate Real-Time Reports" button.
4. Click "View Reports."
5. From the list of reports which appears, click "School PMA Report."
6. The defaults on the next screen should be OK as is.
7. Click the red "Apply" button.

You will notice that the graph is the first page of almost two-dozen pages of data. You can click through those graphs and tables to see data for each class and data for each grade level.

My recommendation would be to share with any given teacher the data for that teacher's class and the average for the grade level as a whole. That way, each teacher gets an idea where he or stands in relationship to the rest of the pack without ranking teachers. Richard Defoor addresses this point in his PLC seminars.



Running the PMA Report at the Classroom Level:

1. Use your KCC code and password to access Stride Academy.
2. Click the "Reports" tab.
3. Click the blue "Generate Real-Time Reports" button.
4. Click "View Reports."
5. From the list of reports which appears, click "Class PMA Report."
6. The defaults on the next screen should be OK as is.
7. Click the red "Apply" button.

The resulting graph will look much the same as the school graph displayed above. Clicking through the remaining pages will reveal data on each student.

How are You Using the Stride Shop?

At Pleasant Valley Elementary School, Jaden earned enough points in Stride to buy from the Stride Shop. He chose to read to his little brother's kindergarten class.

Jaden's choice demonstrates that incentives don't necessarily have to cost the school money. It also shows that an incentive doesn't always have to be tangible.

Our students are of different ages, come from different backgrounds and have different interests. We can offer a variety of incentives and let technology, such as the Stride Shop, handle the recordkeeping.

What incentives work for you? Feel free to share a comment. What works for you just may work for someone else.

Technology-Enhanced Items

Having viewed many webinars, I know first-hand they can range from from real yawners to true gems. The one from this past Thursday was the latter.

Stride Academy is rolling out "Technology Enhanced Items." These items go beyond A, B, C, D multiple-choice questions. You need to know about them because your students will be seeing them.

To learn more about the concept, you can view  short video and also download a PowerPoint presentation which provides an explanation and screen shots. To access these resources:

1. While you are logged into Stride, click on Help & Advice in the menu.
2. Click the link to "Log-in to customer support gallery." (Just below the link is the password you will need.)
3. Scroll down to the section marked "Quick-Start Guides" (section D).
4. Look for "Technology-Enhanced Item Types PowerPoint Presentation."

PMA Starts November 7

If you teach students in the K-8 range, the second Progress Monitoring Assessment begins November 7. When students log in, they automatically begin PMA questions just by clicking on the big coin. Each subject area requires around 30-45 minutes.

Don't worry if a student does not finish in one sitting. When the student logs in next time, PMA questions resume. Another good feature is that when students go home, PMA pauses. Students may use Stride Academy, but they receive the regular Stride Adaptive Engine questions. That way, students are under your supervision during PMA.

Your help is needed to be sure all students complete PMA by December 2.

First PMA Ends Friday

The Progress Monitoring Assessment period ends Friday. For many classes, you have completed PMA quite a while ago. Your students are benefitting from the Stride Adaptive Engine and you are able to use Quiz Builder.

If your class has not completed PMA, please schedule time to finish this week.

The next Progress Monitoring Assessment begins November 7th. It's always best to tackle PMA on the front end of the window,

11 New Email Subscribers. Are Your Colleagues Subscribed?

If you are seeing this post in your email, great!

When there is timely information about Stride, you won't be left out. In the last few days, 11 additional teachers signed up for these email updates.

But what about the many teachers who haven't signed up for these updates? You could help them out. Ask your colleagues if they got this blog post in their email.

If they say "no," ask them to go to MotivatedData.blogspot.com. In the sidebar, they will see a spot to add their email address.

Important Summer News

Included here is information on the annual "archive." Please let your students know that coins do not roll over from year to year. Encourage them to spent their coins this summer playing games.Their same login will work all summer long. Your school will not want to opt out of the archive. Notice that Stride will not be available for several days: August 5-8 (Friday-Monday). Your school system will be able to put students into their classes once that archive has been completed. This means it will likely be at least several days in to the school year before the you will have students showing in your classes.  STRIDE DATA ARCHIVE MOVED TO AUG. 5-8, 2016  Schools who wish to keep this year's data intact MUST opt out by July 29.

To better serve our customers, we are rescheduling our annual data archive for ONE WEEK LATER than originally planned. Last Friday, you received an email stating the archive would take place on July 29-Aug. 1, 2016. We have moved the archive to Aug. 5-8, 2016.  If you have already completed your opt-out request, no further action is needed on your part. You are successfully opted out of the archive. Please make note of the amended dates in your calendar, as Stride will be unavailable during Aug. 5-8, 2016. If you have NOT completed your opt-out request and wish to do so, continue reading for instructions.

Our annual data archive has been scheduled for this summer. Effective July 29, we plan to archive your Stride data from the 2015-16 school year, providing a clean slate in your account for the fall. We perform this archive annually for many reasons. Why archive your student data? Here are a few benefits of archiving: Accurate Stride assessments for the 2016-17 school year – will NOT include data from the previous year. Accurate Stride reports for the 2016-17 school year – will NOT include data from the previous year. Once data is safely archived, you can still add and remove students from your Stride classes in the Fall, using the Archive Tool. Your class login codes and passwords will remain the same.   We will host weekly webinars in August to show you how to move students to the next grade or class.  Archiving only happens once a year during the annual archive, so make the most of this opportunity! When does this start? The annual archive will take place on Aug. 5 (beginning at 5 p.m. CST) and last through Aug. 8, 2016. A message will be posted on all Stride websites letting you know that the system is unavailable during those dates.    Want to opt out? If you would prefer to NOT take part in the annual archive and preserve your Stride data, here is some information you will need to know: The archive impacts an entire school or club, not just one class.  Only individuals with administrator level access can request to opt out of the archive.  The KCS Code and Password for your school or club is required to submit this request. You will need to click on the button below to fill out the form to opt out of the annual archive.  You must opt out no later than July 29, 2016 at 4:00 pm CST.  By opting out of the annual archive, you ensure all of your 2015-16 classes, student rosters, assessment and student performance data remains untouched.  Our Boys & Girls Club and YMCA customers will NOT be included in the archive. Rest assured that your Boys & Girls Club and YMCA Member data will remain intact. However, Stride will still be unavailable from July 31 - August 3.

Summer Use of Stride

One question often asked is, "Can students use Stride during the summer?" The answer is, "Yes." 

Students may use the program through July 31. The data will be recorded under the classes the students have been enrolled in during the 2015-16 school year. Teacher and principals will be able to run reports just as they have been during the school year.

New Stride Games!

Have your students tried out the new Stride games yet?  We’ve added three new games available for all grade levels!

1-3-9

As the numbers 1, 3 and 9 appear in the queue, decide where to place them next to matching numbers. Three in a row (or more) of a number will cause them to add up to a larger number! …1+1+1=3, 3+3+3=9, 9+9+9=27, and so on! As you play, learn to become more strategic about where you place numbers, so you can add up to larger numbers and boost your score!  Available for all grades.

Crowded Tower

Climb the Crowded Tower to the very top floor — but beware of dangerous obstacles and creepy things that go bump in the night! Tap 1 time for a short jump. Tap 2 times for a high jump. See how high you can  make it up the Crowded Tower! Available for all grades.

Quad 

Catch the falling blocks before they hit the floor — but you must catch them with a diamond of the same color! Click and hold to move all of the the colored diamonds horizontally at the same time. Release to move them back to their starting places on the sidelines. How many falling blocks can you “catch” to rack up points and move to the next level? Available for all grades.