While charter schools and traditional public schools operate side by side in many school districts, there hasn’t been a notable history of sharing among them. That may be about to change in Arizona
The Arizona Charter Schools Association (the Association) has entered into a partnership which will allow public schools across the state – both charter and district – to access the Association’s “Success Center Online,” a “one-stop shop” for educators, administrators, students and parents.
Through the partnership and Success Center Online, K-12 public schools will have access to research-driven curricula, assessments and best practices. The package includes data-driven decision making features, state standard-aligned assessments, and access to a professional learning community that will provide professional development and support to educators and administrators state-wide.
The Association’s partner, Spiral Universe, focuses on modernizing classrooms with user-friendly design following the Web 2.0 paradigm.
“Our products adapt to the way schools do things; we don’t expect schools to adapt to our way of doing things,” says Reuben Kerben, CEO and founder of Spiral Universe, which has customers in 44 countries.
The school management suite includes intuitive data analysis tools, integrated student and parent communication features, a reporting engine with support for state and federal standards, teacher grade books and schedules, a framework for remediation, and detailed medical records.
“We are thrilled to be working alongside a company that keeps each individual school’s needs at the forefront,” says Eileen Sigmund, CEO of the Arizona Charter Schools Association. “It is our sincere hope that every public school in the state will take advantage of this invaluable resource.”
The most unusual feature to the Success Center Online will be access to individual student-level growth charts (www.azcharters.org/growthpercentile). With the charts, teachers will be able to administer an interim assessment aligned to state standards and assess interim growth percentile scores, allowing quick response to students’ needs - instead of having to wait months for the results of standardized tests.
