Web app aims to help teachers act on classroom data
Education
The Kickboard web-based software helps teachers and school administrators “collect and analyze academic and behavioral performance efficiently and in real time so that they can make appropriate and timely interventions.”
There appears to be no limit to the many ways technology can help schools, and recently we came across a compelling example. Kickboard, a new web app from New Orleans-based Drop The Chalk, offers a fully customizable data-management solution for teachers.
The Kickboard web-based software helps teachers and school administrators “collect and analyze academic and behavioral performance efficiently and in real time so that they can make appropriate and timely interventions,” in the company’s own words. To begin using the software, teachers input scores to track students’ mastery of skills and lessons. Academic dashboards then pinpoint the skills and lessons that need to be retaught, as well as the students in need of tutoring; a schoolwide dashboard, meanwhile, provides a bird’s-eye view of classroom performance. Then there’s Kickboard’s integrated “discipline management system”, which keeps a log of all disciplinary incidents or examples of good behavior and awards points accordingly. The points can then be converted into punishments or rewards by the school. The software also comes with a “school culture analysis” tool, which lets teachers compare the frequency of disciplinary incidents and positive behaviors by grade-level or student group. Data can be easily imported from commonly used educational systems, and there’s no installation fees or annual contracts required. Monthly subscriptions start at just USD 15 per teacher. In the video below, Drop the Chalk founder Jennifer Schnidman explains the premise in more detail:
Kickboard is currently running in 15 New Orleans charter schools; a student/parent portal is currently in the works, according to an Inc. report from earlier this year. Education-minded entrepreneurs: one to get involved in?
Spotted by: Matthew Smith
14th November 2011
Email: kickboard@dropthechalk.com
Website: www.kickboardforteachers.com