Greendale SD Implements Web-based Formative Assessments District-wide

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Greendale School District in Wisconsin is revamping its student data and testing systems with the deployment of Pearson Benchmark, a Web-based testing and reporting system designed to monitor student progress and provide analytics to help "manage and maximize student achievement."

Through Pearson Benchmark, the district will gather student performance results and monitor progress to help address deficiencies and provide individualized instruction. The result, according to Kim Amidzich, Greendale's director of assessment and learning, will be less time spent "crunching the data by hand ... and more time to analyzing the data to inform their work with students."

"We were struggling to pull together and condense data," Amidzich said in a statement released this week. "We have interventions in place, but we needed more frequent data checks in a way that would make it easier to manage and manipulate them. Benchmark lets us use assessments we had already compiled, which is one of the reasons we chose it. This is the tool our teachers needed. We continually look for best practices, and we aren't making a production out of this for the students. They'll see the difference when we use the assessment data to individualize instruction."

"At Greendale School District, our main focus is academic achievement for our students," said William H. Hughes, superintendent, also in a statement released this week. "We are excited about the ways that the data from Pearson Benchmark will help our teachers to quickly and effectively intervene where necessary and take our record of success to the next level."

Greendale, located near Milwaukee, serves some 2,600 K-12 students in one high school, one middle school, and three elementary schools.

About the Author

David Nagel is the former editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal, STEAM Universe, and Spaces4Learning. A 30-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art, marketing, media, and business publications.

He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrnagel/ .


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