In the paper, author Kimberly Fleming, Ph.D., discusses SLOs, infrastructure requirements, and recommendations to prepare for a full-scale SLO implementation. Fleming is president and founder of Core Education, LLC, an educational consulting firm focused on educator effectiveness.

“Most states and districts place a great deal of emphasis on the development of SLOs,” said Fleming. “However, little emphasis is typically given to building the technology infrastructure to support the SLO implementation, or to managing crucial tasks that must be accomplished for thousands or tens of thousands of SLOs to be implemented with fidelity. As more states turn to SLOs to measure student growth and use the results to calculate effectiveness ratings for educators, there is a rapidly growing need for technology tools that can help educators streamline the SLO process.”

One such tool is the new SLO Module from Performance Matters. The module is available as a stand-alone product, or may be integrated with the company’s web-based assessment and data management system or FASTe (Formative Action System for Teacher Effectiveness).

Using the SLO Module, districts can easily create, manage and monitor SLOs. Educators can build or select the SLO assessment, choose the growth algorithm, and set the target score for each student or group. Educators can then access the results from the pre- and post-assessments under each SLO. With the tool’s automatic calculations, they can easily see whether or not each student met the SLO, as well as the overall percentage of students achieving the SLO by class or by course. The SLO Module ensures accurate mathematical calculations, which can be used to group educators into the appropriate ratings category — such as Highly Effective, Effective, Developing, or Ineffective — on the SLO portion of their annual performance reviews.

“SLOs hold great promise for improving student achievement and focusing educator growth,” said Fleming. “They provide an opportunity for educators to participate in their own evaluations and for student growth to be incorporated into educator evaluations in non-tested grades and subjects. To support a successful SLO initiative, it is critical that state and district leaders develop a robust technology platform and data infrastructure that can support their information management needs while maximizing staff time and resources.”

To order a free copy of the white paper, visit https://www9.performancematters.com/?page_id=1308

About Performance Matters
Performance Matters helps K-12 school systems improve student learning by providing comprehensive, integrated solutions for assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness. Based in Winter Park, Fla., Performance Matters’ solutions are used by school districts across the country. For more information, visit www.performancematters.com or call 407-645-1800.

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Media Contact:

For Performance Matters
Leslie Eicher, APR
Eicher Communications Inc.
314-965-1776
Leslie@EicherCommunications.com

To help districts streamline the SLO process and ensure accurate calculations for effectiveness ratings, Performance Matters today announces the new SLO Module. The module is available as a stand-alone product, or may be integrated with the company’s award-winning Performance Matters assessment and data management system or FASTe (Formative Action System for Teacher Effectiveness).

“TCPS will be using Performance Matters for SLOs in order to have fast, reliable and consistent information on a teacher’s progress toward meeting his or her SLOs,” said Marnie Stockman, local accountability coordinator and K12 mathematics supervisor for Talbot County Schools in Maryland. “As SLOs are written by individual teachers, there are a number of different calculations that might be required to determine a teacher’s proficiency. This SLO module will allow districts the flexibility to view progress based on a percentage growth, a set rate of improvement, or a static achievement score, all within the same screen and without manually calculating each one. ”

Using the SLO Module, educators can access the target score and the results data from pre- and post-assessments for each student under each SLO. With the tool’s automatic calculations, they can easily see whether or not each student met the SLO, as well as the overall percentage of students achieving the SLO by class or by course.

“After principals review SLOs at the beginning of the year, the SLO goals will be entered into the system and will be updated any time an administrator wants to check progress,” said Stockman. “The flexibility of the system will allow teachers and principals together to make meaningful use of the data. Because the information is pulled from official student records, it will save time and reduce the potential for error. Having a consistent product such as this one will be a lifesaver for principals who will be addressing different targets for each teacher.”

About Performance Matters
Performance Matters helps K-12 school systems improve student learning by providing comprehensive, integrated solutions for assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness. Based in Winter Park, Fla., Performance Matters solutions are used by school districts across the country. For more information, visit www.performancematters.com or call (407) 645-1800.

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Media Contact:

Leslie Eicher, APR, Eicher Communications Inc.
(314) 965-1776
Leslie@EicherCommunications.com

One solution being adopted by a growing number of New Jersey districts is Performance Matters™, an integrated, web-based platform for student assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness. While districts like New Brunswick Public Schools and Nutley Public Schools have been using the Performance Matters assessment and data management system for
years, they are now adding the FASTe (Formative Action System for Teacher Effectiveness) platform to meet new rules for educator evaluation and professional development under the Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey (TEACHNJ) Act.

FASTe provides a turnkey system for evaluating educator effectiveness, with an easy-to-implement framework that can be customized for each school system. Accessible year-round, the online platform enables educators to “progress monitor” their performance against the multiple measures that make up their annual evaluations and link to relevant, timely professional development resources. At the end of the year, FASTe produces multi-measure summative rating reports based on the school system’s criteria.

“FASTe will help streamline the evaluation process and help us become even more accountable for what goes on in the classroom,” said Richard M. Kaplan, superintendent of New Brunswick Public Schools. “A key benefit of FASTe is that it will raise the bar in terms of the level of data we can collect to improve teacher effectiveness. It will provide us with a practical way to make a greater impact in each of our curricular areas, particularly as we move toward the Common Core State Standards. It all comes back to what the system is about, which is enhancing educator effectiveness. With FASTe, we can better connect student outcomes to teacher actions, and connect teachers with the resources they need to improve their practice.”

According to districts, a key benefit of FASTe is that it can be used with any of the state-approved teacher practice evaluation frameworks or any other framework or tool used to collect and review evidence of teacher practice.

“We’ve been using Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching, which is one of the New Jersey Department of Education’s approved teaching practice evaluation instruments. We added FASTe because we wanted to provide our principals and teachers with the ability to conduct evaluations electronically and, more important, to use the evaluations for self-reflection,” said Andrew Levine, director of instructional technology and communication for Nutley Public Schools. “Teachers see FASTe as a unique tool that will enhance their individual professional growth. From the data analysis side of things, I have not seen anything like it.”

Based in Winter Park, Fla., Performance Matters’ solutions are used by school districts across the country. For more information, visit www.performancematters.com or call 407-645-1800.

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Media Contacts:
For Performance Matters
Leslie Eicher, APR
Eicher Communications Inc.
314-965-1776
Leslie@EicherCommunications.com

“With its proven track record and as a designated partner of all Florida consortia, Performance Matters is the leader in using data to monitor and improve student achievement, teacher effectiveness, and overall district performance”

To date, more than 50 percent of Florida school districts use the Performance Matters system, which helps educators improve student learning by providing an integrated solution for data-driven decision making, from the individual student level to the district level. Using intuitive, interactive dashboards and color-coded reports, educators can easily slice and dice data to monitor student performance and growth in real time, evaluate instructional impact, and analyze policies and programs.

A key component of the partnership is the connection of the Performance Matters platform to NEFEC’s extensive library of professional development resources. “The ‘single sign-on integration’ of our two systems will provide NEFEC members with a seamless way to measure the impact teachers are having on student learning, and then connect them to differentiated professional development resources to hone their craft and improve their performance,” said Woody Dillaha, co-founder and CEO of Performance Matters. “In addition to helping meet the LIIS requirements, this tighter integration of our two systems will enhance service levels and reduce the total cost of ownership for NEFEC’s member districts.”

“With its proven track record and as a designated partner of all Florida consortia, Performance Matters is the leader in using data to monitor and improve student achievement, teacher effectiveness, and overall district performance,” said Dr. Jim Surrency, NEFEC Executive Director. “Its FASTe platform in particular is an incredibly useful tool because it will link teachers directly to our extensive library of professional development resources, and point them to those that specifically relate to what needs to be addressed. It really does get to the heart of the LIIS requirement, and then some.”

About North East Florida Educational Consortium

NEFEC is a regional, non-profit, educational service agency established to provide cooperative services to member districts. With some 15 member districts, NEFEC helps members cooperatively meet their educational goals and objectives by providing programs and services that individual districts would not be able to provide as effectively or as economically when acting alone.

About Performance Matters

Performance Matters helps K-12 school systems improve student learning by providing comprehensive, integrated solutions for assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness. Performance Matters’ solutions are used by school districts across the country. For more information, visit www.performancematters.com or call 407-645-1800.

Read more at BusinessWire

Contacts

For Performance Matters
Eicher Communications Inc.
Leslie Eicher, APR, 314-965-1776
Leslie@EicherCommunications.com

Winter Park, Fla. — Jan. 23, 2013 — In an effort to improve the quality of education, an increasing number of states — including Florida — are passing laws that tie educator evaluations to student achievement. At the 2013 Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) next week in Orlando, a panel of education leaders will come together to discuss this hot topic and offer their insights into how districts are using multi-measure systems for teacher effectiveness to improve data-driven decision making and maximize their impact on student learning.

The panel session, titled “Tips and Tools for Taking Teacher Evaluations into the 21st Century,” will take place January 30 from 1:00 to 1:40 p.m. in Room S320G. The panel will include Marilyn Underwood, executive director of staff development for Marion County Public Schools, Fla.; Richard Kaplan, superintendent of schools for New Brunswick Public Schools, N.J.; Jack Smith, superintendent of schools for Calvert County Public Schools, Md.; Christopher Colwell, associate professor of education and director of undergraduate teacher education at Stetson University, Fla.; and Betty Molina Morgan, chief education advisor for America’s Promise Alliance, Washington, D.C.

Sharing lessons learned in school districts, the panelists will describe how educators are shifting from paper-based to technology-based evaluation tools to continuously monitor and improve their impact in key areas throughout the year. Participants will learn how districts are using guiding questions and self-assessments to empower educators to improve their craft, and implement policy and programs aligned to current needs. Participants will also gain insight into how educators are using new tools and technologies, such as the FASTe (Formative Action System for Teacher Effectiveness) online platform from Performance Matters, to progress monitor their performance against the multiple measures that make up their evaluations and link to relevant, timely professional development resources.

“Starting with the Race to the Top initiative in 2010, the push for stronger teacher evaluation programs has moved from recommendation to mandate, with nearly half of all states now requiring that teacher evaluations be linked to student performance data,” said Woody Dillaha, co-founder and CEO of Performance Matters. “It is critical, then, for K-12 administrators to be informed and learn from their colleagues about the methods and tools that will help them put into place systems that are fair to all and that comply with their state’s requirements. This session is a must-see for everyone.”

About Performance Matters
Performance Matters helps K-12 school systems improve student learning by providing comprehensive, integrated solutions for assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness. Based in Winter Park, Fla., Performance Matters’ solutions are used by school districts across the country. For more information, visit www.performancematters.com or call 407-645-1800.
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Media Contacts:

For Performance Matters
Leslie Eicher, APR
Eicher Communications Inc.
314-965-1776
Leslie@EicherCommunications.com

Winter Park, Fla. — Jan. 7, 2013 — Dr. John W. Hodge, a renowned motivational speaker and expert in helping schools plan for continuous improvement, and Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs, an internationally recognized expert in curriculum and instruction, will lead keynote presentations at the Performance Matters™ 2013 National User Group Conference. The conference will take place Jan. 16-18 in Orlando, Fla.

During the three-day event, educators from school districts across the country will gather to explore today’s hottest topics in K-12 education, including the Common Core State Standards and teacher effectiveness. In addition, participants will attend workshop sessions on timely issues such as student learning objectives, professional learning communities, Response to Intervention (RtI), and state testing.

The National User Group Conference will kick off Jan. 16 with a keynote presentation by Hodge, who is president and co-founder of the Urban Learning and Leadership Center (ULLC), an organization focused on student achievement and reduction of the achievement gap. In his presentation, titled “The Miracle Starts Here,” Hodge will discuss the power of collaboration to create excellent schools, and work to inspire participants to reflect on the true purpose of education and their role in ensuring that all children reach their fullest potential. Hodge, who is known as a master teacher and staff developer, has served as a teacher, assistant principal, AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) teacher, and associate director of AVID Center Eastern Division. He helps educators in elementary, middle and high schools make the necessary changes to help all children meet and exceed rigorous academic standards.

On Jan. 17, Jacobs will discuss how to transform schools and classrooms into 21st century learning environments in her keynote presentation titled, “Mapping to the Core: An Opportunity to Upgrade Curriculum for the 21st Century Learner.” Jacobs, the executive director of the Curriculum Mapping Institute and president of Curriculum Designers Inc., will share her “Four Phase Model,” which not only aligns and integrates the Common Core State Standards, but upgrades curriculum and assessments with contemporary alternatives, including 21st century media projects and web 2.0 resources. The presentation is based on Jacobs’ latest e-book, “Mapping to the Core: Integrating the CCSS Into Your Local School Curriculum (SINET),” which is being used across the country to assist in systemic implementation.

“Last year, we received a tremendous response to our first-ever National User Group Conference. This year we will raise the bar even higher with an outstanding conference line-up, highlighted by exciting presentations by our two keynote speakers and by a variety of workshops geared toward different educator levels,” said Woody Dillaha, co-founder and CEO of Performance Matters. “With the move to the Common Core standards and the push for student performance-focused evaluation systems for teachers, it’s vital that educators have the opportunity to learn from their colleagues about the methods and tools they’re using to meet these needs and comply with state requirements. Here at our conference, educators will have the opportunity to explore these topics and more.”

For more information about the Performance Matters National User Group Conference, visit www.performancematters.com.

About Performance Matters
Performance Matters helps K-12 school systems improve student learning by providing comprehensive, integrated solutions for assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness. Based in Winter Park, Fla., Performance Matters solutions are used by school districts across the country. For more information, visit www.performancematters.com or call (407) 645-1800.
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Media Contact:

Leslie Eicher, APR, Eicher Communications Inc.
(314) 965-1776
Leslie@EicherCommunications.com

Winter Park, Fla. — Dec. xx, 2012 — With the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, New Jersey has established rigorous new curriculum and assessment requirements for the state’s lowest-performing “Priority Schools.” To meet these requirements and bolster efforts to close achievement gaps, Paterson Public School District has formed an innovative partnership with Performance Matters™ to help all 54 of its schools — including six Priority Schools and 16 Focus Schools — monitor progress toward student learning objectives (SLOs) and give teachers the timely, accurate data they need to drive their instruction.

New Jersey now requires Priority Schools to use a state-approved curriculum or the state’s own model curriculum in English language arts and mathematics to help students meet the CCSS and New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards. The model curriculum includes grade-level content standards organized into five units of study, each with targeted SLOs. At the end of each six-week unit, Priority Schools must administer formative assessments to measure how well students have met the targets and what students still need to master.

“We have been using Performance Matters to manage all of our district and state assessment data for the past three years,” said Lauren Kazmark, Ed.D., interim director of assessment, planning and evaluation for Paterson Public Schools. “Although the state requires that we use the new unit assessments in our Priority Schools only, we have been pleased with these assessments and decided they would be beneficial for all 54 schools in our district. The NJDOE also permitted us to use Performance Matters to manage data from the new unit assessments.”

Using Performance Matters, educators can print out bubble sheets, administer the six-week formative assessments, and scan in the bubble sheets when they are complete. Performance Matters immediately scores and grades the student tests, and makes the data available for use in the classroom and at the school and district levels.

“We conducted our first assessment in October in grades K-12. With Performance Matters, our schools are able get immediate feedback without having to wait for the district to analyze the results,” said Kazmark. “The Item Analysis report is especially helpful, because it gives teachers the data they need to differentiate their instruction and interventions to meet students’ needs.”

In addition, Performance Matters combines the results from the six-week formative assessments with all other relevant student data into color-coded reports and dashboards. Using these tools, educators can instantly disaggregate and analyze the data for any student or group, track progress toward SLOs, and make informed instructional decisions.

“Performance Matters provides us with a comprehensive view of student performance and growth. We can compare performance across our state and local assessments from the individual student level to the district level,” said Kazmark. “Performance Matters is also user friendly. It saves us time in pulling together information and creating reports, which frees us up to analyze the data and make recommendations.”

Paterson Public Schools plans to transition to online scoring using the Performance Matters system in 2013. “This will eliminate the need to scan the assessments, which will save even more time,” said Kazmark. “Performance Matters has been a tremendous help to our district and our relationship has been a true partnership.”

About Paterson Public Schools
The Paterson Public School District is a diverse urban school district located in northern New Jersey. As the third largest school district in New Jersey, the district enrolls approximately 29,000 students in 54 schools to accommodate students in Pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The school district’s strategic plan focuses on four priorities: Effective Academic Programs; Safe, Caring & Orderly Schools; Family & Community Engagement; and Efficient & Responsive Operations. For more information, visit www.paterson.k12.nj.us.

Winter Park, Fla. — Dec. 6, 2012 —Performance Matters™, a web-based solution that provides an integrated platform for student assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness, has been named a 2012 District Administration Readers’ Choice Top 100 Product. With more than 1,000 nominations, a new record, the winners were selected by the editors of District Administration, and were based upon both the quantity of nominations and the quality of reader descriptions.

The annual District Administration Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products award recognizes leaders in the education industry, and provides superintendents and other senior school district leaders with the opportunity to learn what products their colleagues around the country are using, and how these products contribute to the success of their districts.

“The record number of nominations we received this year was astonishing,” said Odvard Egil Dyrli, District Administration’s executive editor. “There were so many excellent recommendations from school administrators who shared how the products made significant differences in their districts, and choosing the Top 100 proved to be challenging and difficult. We are delighted to announce the honorees for 2012 and trust that the list will be a valuable resource for our readers.”

Performance Matters’ integrated product line correlates and analyzes performance data from multiple sources, and turns that data into actionable information to improve instruction and student learning. It offers schools a unique capability to combine historical data such as state test scores with current data such as benchmark, district and classroom assessments. Using interactive dashboards and color-coded reports, educators can instantly disaggregate and analyze the data for any student or group. By combining past performance with current data, districts and schools can objectively determine what’s working and what’s not to maximize their resources and make informed decisions about the best way to improve student performance.

“District Administration is a leading source of information about smart management solutions for K-12 school and district administrators,” said Woody Dillaha, co-founder and CEO of Performance Matters. “With Performance Matters’ timely actionable data, districts can differentiate instruction and professional development, identify and share best practices, and invest their resources where they have been proven to have the greatest impact. We’re honored that the readers of this respected publication have identified Performance Matters as a solution that’s making a positive difference in their school districts.”

Performance Matters, along with the complete list of winners, is featured in the December issue of District Administration magazine.

About Performance Matters
Performance Matters helps K-12 school systems improve student learning by providing comprehensive, integrated solutions for assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness. Based in Winter Park, Fla., Performance Matters solutions are used by school districts across the country. For more information, visit www.performancematters.com or call (407) 645-1800.
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Media Contact:

Leslie Eicher, APR, Eicher Communications Inc.
(314) 965-1776
Leslie@EicherCommunications.com

Winter Park, Fla. — Nov. 29, 2012 — Grappling with decreased local and state revenue and new, more rigorous learning standards for math and English language arts, Illinois school districts are seeking innovative ways to increase their efficiency as they strive to improve student performance. One system that is making it easier to meet rigorous requirements while saving time for school and district staff is Performance Matters™. Performance Matters is a web-based solution that provides an integrated platform for student assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness.

United Township High School District #30 in East Moline is the first district in Illinois to purchase and implement the Performance Matters assessment and data management system.

“We have a large amount of student data, but getting it into teachers’ hands was difficult. Most of our data analysis was done by hand, so the only way to get the information to teachers was through paper copies,” said Terri VandeWiele, Ed.D., assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for United Township High School District #30. “We were looking for a data system that would increase our efficiency and give teachers the data they need to make instructional decisions in a timely manner. That’s why we decided to partner with Performance Matters.”

Operating on a single, web-based platform, Performance Matters helps school systems improve student learning by providing integrated solutions for data-driven decision making, from the individual student level to the district level. Using intuitive, interactive dashboards and color-coded reports, educators can easily slice and dice data to monitor student performance and growth in real time, evaluate instructional impact, and analyze policies and programs. With timely, actionable data, districts can differentiate instruction and professional development, identify and share best practices, and invest their resources where they have been proven to have the greatest impact.

“Performance Matters will allow us to review and analyze data more effectively, which will enable us to make better decisions,” said VandeWiele. “This information will not only help us make placement decisions when students enter our schools, but it will provide teachers with a more complete picture of what’s going on with each student. The color-coded reports will allow teachers to quickly see if their students are mastering the skills they’re expected to learn, and if they’re making adequate growth and progress. We will also be able to disaggregate student data to more quickly identify areas of concern or to identify students who need extra assistance.”

With Performance Matters, educators can instantly analyze historical performance on state tests, track current progress on local assessments for any student or group, and continuously monitor and predict Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) outcomes.

“A key benefit of Performance Matters is that it gives teachers a snapshot of students’ performance against our standards,” said VandeWiele. “We particularly like the ability of system’s Scan Engine to provide us with instant feedback. This will allow us to administer assessments, run them through the scan engine, immediately analyze the results, and then act on the information the very next day. We also appreciate the willingness of the Performance Matters staff to work with us as partners. They’ve been extremely responsive to our needs.”

United Township High School District #30 serves students from Barstow, Carbon Cliff, Colona, East Moline, Hampton, Silvis, portions of Moline and upper Rock Island County. Five elementary school districts and two private schools send students to further their education at United Township High School.

About Performance Matters
Performance Matters helps K-12 school systems improve student learning by providing comprehensive, integrated solutions for assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness. Based in Winter Park, Fla., Performance Matters’ solutions are used by school districts across the country. For more information, visit www.performancematters.com or call 407-645-1800.
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Media Contacts:

For Performance Matters
Leslie Eicher, APR
Eicher Communications Inc.
314-965-1776
Leslie@EicherCommunications.com

Winter Park, Fla. — Oct. 3, 2012 — One of Florida’s Race to the Top initiatives is that all districts will implement a local instructional improvement system (LIIS) to provide teachers and administrators with the information and resources they need to improve their instructional practices, decision-making, and overall effectiveness. To systematically manage continuous instructional improvement, regional educational consortia across the state are turning to Performance Matters™, a web-based solution that provides an integrated platform for student assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness.

The Panhandle Area Educational Consortium (PAEC) and the Heartland Educational Consortium (HEC) are the most recent consortia to make the Performance Matters assessment and data management system and the FASTe (Formative Action System for Teacher Effectiveness) platform available to their member districts.

To date, all six HEC districts and 11 of 13 PAEC member districts, as well as two PAEC participating districts, have purchased the Performance Matters assessment and data management system. The web-based system, which is currently in use in 47 percent of Florida school districts, helps educators improve student learning by providing an integrated solution for data-driven decision making, from the individual student level to the district level. Using intuitive, interactive dashboards and color-coded reports, educators can easily slice and dice data to monitor student performance and growth in real time, evaluate instructional impact, and analyze policies and programs.

The districts also purchased FASTe, a turnkey system for evaluating educator effectiveness, with an easy-to-implement framework that can be customized for each school district. Accessible year-round, the FASTe online platform enables educators to “progress monitor” their performance against the multiple measures that make up their annual evaluations and link to relevant, timely professional development resources. At the end of the year, educators can then produce summative rating reports, based on the school system’s criteria.

Heartland Educational Consortium
In HEC in central rural Florida, the DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, and Okeechobee county school districts began using the Performance Matters assessment and data management system during the 2011-12 school year, and plan to launch FASTe in 2012-13.

“Heartland Educational Consortium’s partnership with Performance Matters could be summed up as one of the most effective and pleasant business relationships I’ve ever been involved with,” said Tom Conner, executive director of HEC. “Early on when Hardee County Schools began using Performance Matters, we took at look at the consortium level and everyone decided this was direction they’d go. That’s not that ordinary — to have six school districts find a single solution that’s viable for each of them. What sold our districts is that the interface is very teacher-friendly. It allows teachers to easily drill down and look at data from our state assessments and from the formative assessments developed individually in each district and collectively within HEC, so they can adjust their instruction throughout the year. Overall, it’s made the use of data in our districts much more streamlined and effective. And, the feedback I’ve received is that it’s one of most user-friendly software applications we’ve ever had, which is a nice change from other systems we’ve used in the past.”

Panhandle Area Educational Consortium
Since its creation in 1967, PAEC — Florida’s oldest regional educational consortium — has been a leader in multi-district initiatives incorporating leading-edge technology, such as the FloridaLearns Academy professional development center and the Florida Education Channel. After reviewing several LIISs, PAEC selected Performance Matters as a preferred provider for its member districts. To date, member districts including Calhoun, Gadsden, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Liberty, Madison, Taylor, Wakulla, Walton, and Washington county school districts, as well as participating districts including Florida State University (FSU) Schools and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) Developmental Research School, have purchased the Performance Matters assessment and data management system and FASTe. They plan to fully launch the systems at the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.

“Of the different systems our districts reviewed, Performance Matters was the one solution that met their needs and at a cost they could afford,” said Sharon Mitchell, administrator of instructional services for PAEC. “The data analytics functionality is very important to our districts, and Performance Matters makes it easy to access and view data in several different ways, from the teacher level to the principal level to the district level. Our districts also anticipate using the FASTe platform to make it easier to conduct evaluations and connect teachers to differentiated professional development resources.”

“Our districts tell us they have a very positive relationship with Performance Matters,” said Patrick McDaniel, executive director of PAEC. “They say their implementations have gone smoothly and their communication with the company has been great. We believe the Performance Matters and FASTe systems will be very beneficial for our teachers and students, and will tie in nicely with our professional development efforts.”

About Performance Matters
Performance Matters helps K-12 school systems improve student learning by providing comprehensive, integrated solutions for assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness. Based in Winter Park, Fla., Performance Matters’ solutions are used by school districts across the country. For more information, visit www.performancematters.com or call 407-645-1800.
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Media Contacts:

For Performance Matters
Leslie Eicher, APR
Eicher Communications Inc.
314-965-1776
Leslie@EicherCommunications.com