WWPS Technology

Local Assessment Data in Aspen This blog post will explore the various facets of using Aspen to collect and analyze our local assessment data. This blog post will focus on the following concepts: How to access local help files for the assessment entry process. How to use the Local Assessment Names and Dates Google spreadsheet. How to enter local assessment data into Aspen. How to use the assessment history data in the Aspen school view. If you need any additional assistance you can try to jump into a Google Meeting to get just-in-time assistance. How to Enter Local Assessment Data in Aspen The process for entering local assessment data is an easy process as long as you have everything you need to enter the data. You'll need the local assessment name, the locally assigned date for the assessment, and your scores. We use the locally assigned date for filtering purposes during data entry. The locally assigned date will not correspond with the date when yo...

Using the Conduct & Bullying Referral Workflows in Aspen This blog post will focus on the following uses to guide conduct and student safety in Aspen. We'll explore the following: How to submit a conduct referral. How a conduct action is posted. How to fill-out a restraint form. How a bullying workflow is started. How a bullying workflow is processed. As always, if you need any assistance feel free to request a Google Hangout Meeting for just-in-time assistance. How to Submit a Conduct Referral in Aspen The short video clip below explains the process for filling out a conduct referral in the West Warwick Public Schools. The first form available to staff is the WWPS Conduct Referral form. This form should be completed by staff members and should only contain factual, evidenced-based statements.  If the student involved in the conduct referral was involved in a restraint the supervisory assistant, building level administrator or dean must post the conduc...

Using the 504 Plan in Aspen The West Warwick Public Schools uses Aspen for student 504 Ed Plans. The 504 Plan works a little differently than other tools such as the IEP Workflows or the MTSS Workflow. You can review the print directions that we've created for WWPS employees as well as review the additional videos illustrating the process. Getting to the 504 Plan via the Documents Side Tab The first step in getting to the 504 Ed Plan in Aspen is to work in the student details page. Once you've accessed a student's details page you can click on the Documents side tab. The Ed. Plans submenu is embedded within the Documents side tab menu. Review the two-minute video to see how to access and add a new 504 Ed Plan for a student. Create the Meeting Notices & Meeting Notes You can create multiple meeting notices and notes connected to the student's 504 Ed Plan in Aspen. Every time you meet regarding the 504 Plan there should be at the very least a meeting n...

Using the Journal Tool in Aspen The Journal Tool in Aspen is a great way to record interactions with guardians regarding their students. This tool allows us the opportunity to record specific details around the communication we've had with a guardian. We can also decide whether or not we want the interaction to remain as a private note or shared with other educators in our district. Review the video clip below on how to create a Journal record. You can also review the print-out directions.

How We Use Aspen to Help Us Reissue Our Student Chromebooks Each September & Collect Them In June Each September the technology department in our district is responsible to reissue approximately 3,800 Chromebooks to our students across 6 schools. Our district uses Aspen to assist us with our management of over 4,200 Chromebooks for students, and every staff member. This blog post will explain how we use Aspen's Assessment tool to manage communication between classroom teachers, and the help desk.  As you can well imagine it is a tremendous task to move each student's Chromebook from their previous year's classroom to their new classroom in time for the new school year. What makes it even more difficult is that in the last weeks of August it's not uncommon for student to be shuffled from classroom to classroom, and sometimes moved to another school within the district. Why Use the Assessment Definition All of this movement demands that we have an easy way for...

How to Get Around the Loss of Shift-Ctrl-P in Google Cloud Printing I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but Google has eliminated the Shift-Ctrl-P option with their latest update in Chrome  Version 40.0.2214.114 (64-bit). This isn't a big deal for 90% of what our teachers print for their students. However our teachers use PDF versions of Reading AtoZ books with their students. There are times when teachers for good purpose want to be able to print out a book, and give it to their students in a hard copy format. In the past they would use the Shift-Ctrl-P option to change the preferences of the printer. The picture below illustrates some of the preferences that can be changed using the Google Cloud Print beta options. These options are not available when you use the Ctrl-P process in Google Chrome or with your Chromebook. With the upgrade to ChromeOS 40 this functionality was lost. However there is a way to work around the problem with little or no fuss. You ca...

Just-in-Time Support: We often try to provide teachers, and staff members an opportunity for structured professional development. Although this serves a very important purpose in our district it also means that there are times in which someone doesn't get the help they need when they need it. We often talk about "just-in-time support" as being the most effective form of learning and engagement. We see this play out in the classroom when a teacher provides their student with the very next thing they need to support their learning. Sometimes we describe this phenomena as when the light bulb goes off. We have the tools to provide our educators, administrators and support staff with the same opportunity to provide the just-in-time resources to support their efforts. We can use Google Hangouts to support our "just-in-time" professional development opportunities.  Below you will find a series of short video clips explaining how to initiate a call, or answer a cal...

Aspen - Did You Know About the "Quick Chart Menu" Option? I thought I would use this space to provide additional information about some of the cool, less well known features of Aspen, our SIS, from Follett School Solutions. One of the hidden gems that I use all of the time, but few people use is the "Quick Chart Menu" tool. This tool allows you to take a quick look at the data in a visual manner. It amazes me that I get the same response whenever I'm sitting down with our teachers and administrators and I click on the Quick Chart menu. Whenever a beautiful bar chart, line chart or pie chart appears I get the following reaction. First they respond with, "Wait, what did you just do?" Inevitably their incredulity is followed by, "How did you get that?" Once I show them how simple it is to find and use the tool they all respond sheepishly that they can't believe such a powerful little tool was always sitting right under the nose. Users ca...