Understand Scoring Launched for Virginia

Well, I think we have gotten the kinks worked out on the Blog.

We had put in place policy for secure FTP that did not account for blogs!

Now that that is resolved, we should be able to post more regularly.

The newest news is we launched a site for VA. They have a version of Perspective with our new Understand Scoring module. We hope to provide more tools in the near future.

Their site has no family side, just the educator side which is interesting.

The press release just went out yesterday on it. It can be found here:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/07/prweb2688274.htm

Getting prepped for the MN assessment conference.
Should be good, with some informative sessions.

GRAD Loaded

We just completed loading the standards, content, and Learning Locator resouces for GRAD.

Also, we have a new batch of answer keys that went in.

Keep those survey responses coming! To date we have about 45 of them in.

The survey is located here:

http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/6bf3g3c203

Network difficulties today

One of our hosting providers, AT&T, is experiencing network-wide difficulties today.

Our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause, although thus far Perspective seems to be unaffected.


Remember, help is always available at:

SupportPerspective@Support.Pearson.com

More Pre-Built Assignment Sheets Deployed

Today we deployed a new batch of pre-built assignment sheets.

These assignment sheets are created by our in-house content experts. They provide suggested resources for low, on level, and high performing students.

Each assignment sheet addresses a specific grade, subject, and strand.

If you have not used the assignment sheets in the past, these are a great way to get started using them.

Once you become familiar with them you can create your own assignment sheets to address specific needs.

Access the pre-built assignment sheets here:

http://perspective.pearsonaccess.com/content/resources/teachingresources/teacherguides/mn_Prebuiltassignment.html

Do you have the widget?

Some time ago, we released a widget for users.

While it is not a true widget, it is a code snippet that allows you to put the Learning Locator/Assignment Sheet code entry box to your school, district, or teacher page.

This alows students to access Perspective directly through your site rather than having to navigate to http://www.perspectiveforfamilies.com/mn which, really is a bit much for some students to key.

It is very easy to add to your site, just copy the provided code and paste it into the html of your page.

You can get the widget here:

http://perspective.pearsonaccess.com/content/resources/teachingresources/teacherguides/mn_ll_widget.html

Back?

It seems we may have resolved the issues we have had with the blog.

Hopefully this will work!

So we have a bunch of new assignment sheets up and some more will be coming in the next buid tomorrow.

You may have noted some changes recently to the home page.
We worked with the MDE to create some handy one page info sheets on using the Learning Locators and Assignment Sheets.

We also put a link out to our survey. We are hoping you will take the time to complete it. Your input is important to us as we contiue to make improvements.

The survey is located here: http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/6bf3g3c203

Please take a moment (10 min or so) to complete it.

November December Update

Perspective™ - November/December Update

In November, a number of exciting new Science resources were launched; including many new professional development excerpts. November’s highlights include:

Allyn & Bacon / Merrill Science Resources
Our library of Science excerpts from popular Allyn & Bacon/Merrill titles has now grown to over 40 resources. View them here: http://perspective.pearsonaccess.com/content/resources/teachingresources/professionaldevelopment/mn_pd_abm.html

More science learning resources added
More science resources were added including 12 exciting new videos from NASA.

Use of the Learning Locator codes is increasing
In October a total of 10,915 Learning Locator codes from student score reports were entered by students, teachers, and families in the Minnesota sites
In November that number increased to 15,342; a 28.8% increase

Site usage continues to grow
The educator site had 9,919 new visitors in the last 30 days with an average of 320 new users a day.
The family site had 7,156 new users in the last 30 days with an average of 231 new users daily.
The educator site has logged over 82,000 unique visitors since launch, the family site has had over 72,000 visitors.

Don’t forget the flash tutorials!
The flash tutorials are a great way to introduce teachers and families to Perspective.
The teacher tutorial is located on the educator home page here: http://perspective.pearsonaccess.com/perspective/appmanager/mn/educator/?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=edu_home_page
The family tutorial is located on the family home page here: http://perspective.pearsonaccess.com/perspective/appmanager/mn/family/

In the upcoming months we will be adding more science resources, reading answer keys, and an exciting new web service feature that will facilitate Learning Locator code entry from district and school websites. For the most up-to-date information on Perspective, visit the blog APerspective at: http://www.pearsonperspective.com/blog/index.htm

Remember:
Encourage parents to visit http://www.perspectiveforfamilies.com/mn to access free supplemental materials for their children.

Educators can take advantage of our robust library of teacher supporting materials by visiting http://www.perspectiveforeducators.com/mn and clicking on the Teaching Resources tab.

From the Perspective Team: We are still seeking participants for a research study. Please consider circulating the following page among your colleagues.
Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season!


Help Improve Perspective

The Perspective Team is looking for educators to participate in a brief survey and/or interview about their experiences with Perspective.

The data collected in this study will be part of a larger scientific study of the technical qualities of assessments for learning. Your responses will also be used by the Perspective development team to further enhance Perspective to better meet the needs of educators, students and families.

Your Input is Important
By participating, you will have the opportunity to influence the development of Perspective so that it better meets your needs. The focus of our study is educators. We are not seeking input from students or parents at this time.

We Seek Your Opinion
We hope that you have found Perspective to be a valuable tool and can provide us with some insight in to how you use it. If your experience was a less than successful one and you are no longer using it, we would like to hear about that, too. Your input will help us understand how we can improve the current Perspective offering.

Won’t you please consider participating in this valuable research study?

If you would like to make sure your voice is heard, please send an e-mail with your contact information to:

Chris.shira@pearson.com

· In the subject line, please key: MN Study.
· In the body of the e-mail please indicate the grade and subject you teach or your role in the district/state.

Thank you, in advance, for participating in this research study and helping us improve Perspective.

The Perspective Team

Participation in this study is voluntary and limited to educators who currently use Perspective or have used Perspective in the past. In order to maintain the integrity of responses received, an honorarium is not offered to participants. Volunteers will be contacted at a later date and asked to complete the survey and/or interview. Your contact information will be used only for the purposes of this inquiry in accordance with Pearson’s Privacy Policy available here:
http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ19q