The New York State Education Department’s accountability system distorts school performance in absurd ways and with perverse results.
SchoolBenchmarker™, an innovative school comparison tool
SchoolBenchmarker? is an innovative school comparison tool. It allows any school in New York State to find similar schools performing at higher levels. Prism has recently updated SchoolBenchmarker? for Cornell’s New York State Center for Rural Schools.
Strategic planning has big payoff for school districts
School superintendents are faced with difficult resource allocation decisions. Where will I get the biggest bump in performance per dollar spent, they wonder. In this post are examples from four very different school districts. Impressive performance gains at each demonstrate why wise school superintendents invest in strategic planning as part of their continuous improvement efforts.
Binghamton now using CohortTracker™?
The Binghamton City School District is now using CohortTracker™. CohortTracker™ is an early warning system that allows school districts to track the real-time status of each active high school cohort (and every sub-group and individual within that cohort) vis-a-vis graduation – from the moment of their enrollment. School district personnel using CohortTracker™ always have at their […]
The critical importance of target setting
In a recent local appearance, Olympic gold medalist Shannon Miller touched on the critical importance of target setting: “Are you training for a 5K? Set your goals. Are you working toward a promotion? Set your goals. Battling cancer? Set your goals, see them through.” At Prism, we couldn’t agree more: goal setting must be a […]
Benchmarking as an improvement tool
Race to the Top has school improvement teams working especially hard to improve performance. With the the New York State Center for Rural School’s official release of the innovative SchoolBenchmarker™ it’s a perfect time to ask: How can I use benchmarking as a school improvement tool? Read on at http://prismdecision.com/benchmarking-as-an-improvement-tool
CohortTracker™ deployed by the Central New York Regional Information Center
The Central New York Regional Information Center (CNYRIC) has now deployed CohortTracker™ to help their schools identify students who are at risk of not graduating.
CNYRIC serves 50 school districts and four Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) across eight counties in the central region of New York State.
NoDropouts.org features CohortTracker™
In a post titled Early identification getting easier ? but must come with compassion and hard work, the folks at NoDropouts.org capture the essence of CohortTracker™ and the roll it plays in promoting successful, on-time graduation.
CohortTracker™ early warning system goes live in New York
The Greater Tier Southern Tier Board of Cooperative Education Services (GST BOCES) has implemented CohortTracker™ in fourteen school districts in its region. CohortTracker™ is an early warning web application that allows schools to monitor students’ progress towards graduation. Educators can identify students getting off track and intervene before it is too late. The app is licensed by Prism Decision Systems, LLC and will be available to other BOCES Regional Information Centers across the state before the end of this school year
Screen cast introduces CohortTracker™
View our screen cast introducing CohortTracker™, an early warning web application that allows schools to monitor students? progress towards graduation. Educators can identify students getting off track and intervene before it is too late. The app is designed to be a general-purpose student achievement tracking system that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of any education department.