New Brunswick Public Schools is the first school district in the state to purchase Performance Matters' FASTe (Formative Action System for Teacher Effectiveness) platform.
Performance Matters™ is a web-based solution that provides an integrated platform for student assessment, data management and teacher effectiveness.
Teacher effectiveness
FASTe provides a turnkey system for evaluating educator effectiveness, with a framework that can be customized for each school system. 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.
"After doing teacher evaluations the old-fashioned way with pen and paper, I firmly believe that incorporating technology into the process will help us work smarter and faster," said Richard M. Kaplan, superintendent of New Brunswick Public Schools. "A key benefit of FASTe is that it raises the bar in terms of the level of data we can collect to improve teacher effectiveness. With FASTe, we will be able to better connect student outcomes to teacher actions, and connect teachers with the resources they need to improve their practice."
Assessment and data management
Since 2006, New Brunswick Public Schools has implemented the Performance Matters assessment and data management system, which is rapidly expanding throughout the state. Among the most recent New Jersey districts to purchase Performance Matters are the South Brunswick School District in southern Middlesex County and the Nutley Public School district in Essex County.
Operating on a single, web-based platform, the Performance Matters assessment and data management system provides integrated solutions for data-driven decision making, from the individual student level to the district level. Using interactive dashboards and color-coded reports, educators can 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.
