Tips and Tricks of the TAM Hickory Public Schools June 16, 2009

Where are we now? ► Grades K-12 are using the spreadsheet for marks and grades. ► Grades K-12 are using NCWISE to complete attendance. ► Data managers have taken on more responsibility. ► Administrators and teachers have student information at their fingertips. ► Everyone feels more comfortable than we did a year ago.

TAM – What Is It? ► The TAM (Teacher Assistant Module) is the NCWISE portal used to: ► Gather attendance ► Collect grades for assignments ► Post grades to report cards ► View academic progress ► Provide contact information to teachers ► Generate useful reports for teachers

Teachers – It’s Designed For You ► Despite its name, the TAM is primarily designed for teachers ► Principals can be given rights to navigate to the TAM for any of their teachers ► Data managers can navigate to the TAM for any teacher in the school; however, they should not be entering grades/making changes in a teacher’s TAM ► No one can view a teacher’s prep except the teacher who set it up

Instructional Benefits of the TAM ► Teachers have immediate access to their student’s data  Demographics  Grades  Attendance  Test scores, if approp.  Grades from previous schools, if they were in a WISE school

Demographic Data ► The Old Way The NCWISE Way Basic information Parent/Guardian contact information Medical information and alerts Schedule of classes and location during the day

Classes = Courses assigned to the teacher Homerooms = For second semester, you must click second semester Team = Coaches, EC, LEP, etc. Current = Only currently enrolled & active students show up All = All the students who have been enrolled during the year show up Today’s Classes = Displays only the classes the teacher has on that day. When it is unchecked, all the teachers classes are displayed. S = Semester D = Day T = Term P = Period - Names do not appear on the right until you physically click on the class Main TAM Screen

Common Attendance Error ► Teachers who take attendance by homeroom forget to click on the correct semester

Teams Data managers set up and grant access to teams. Examples of teams - JV Football, Beta Club, ESL students, and EC caseload

Basic Demographic Screen Basic Info. Data manager has to enter this information

Parent/Emergency Contacts Scroll here to see all the contacts

Student Schedule The current homeroom is in yellow

School-Based Decision Teachers Can Monitor Student Achievement Across the Board ► Teachers have access to see student progress in other classes as well as their own ► This access would be for the students assigned to a teacher through class, homeroom, or a team

Academic Progress Must have a student selected before clicking on Academic Progress

A “D in this first space indicates a dropped course From Progress Reports This screen shows all the classes in the student’s schedule plus any that have been dropped. This is particularly useful if a student transfers from one NCWISE school to another because the receiving teacher can view grades if the teacher has chosen to share the gradebook. Assignments will not transfer into the receiving teacher’s gradebook, but the assignments can be viewed.

History Button Any assignments that have been in an NCWISE gradebook are archived for that student. Teachers can view and sort this data. Teachers can only print information for their own classes. *If it is a late transfer and the student comes in with a 75, put a 75 in every assignment up until that point. Caution: Please use in a professional manner. Please do not share any information with a parent for a course for which you have not taught the child.

View Attendance History

View School Mark Scale First Second Third School Mark Scale will be displayed

Allows teacher to re- alphabetize spreadsheet Allows you to select another attendance date Set-Up Options Allows you to connect to another gradebook if you serve more than one school

Features of the Gradebook ► The gradebook is color-coded ► Teachers can view grades by all at once or by assignment type ► Teachers can very quickly see any missing assignments

Pink = Failing Grade Green = Exempt Click here to see the color coding legend Grades can be entered directly on this screen or under Enter Marks/Comments or Condensed Mark Entry. We do not use the TAV.. column Can filter assignments to see only certain reporting terms, categories, and/or assignment types

Time Saver For Entering Assignments Into Spreadsheet If you teach the same class to more than one group of students, this will save you time. After adding an assignment, such as a journal entry, click save, and then just click on this button to add the same assignment to another class. This is probably more helpful at the middle and high school level.

Mark Entry Screen Comments entered here only show up on progress reports This button allows you to enter a mark for the first student on the list and copy it to all other students with one click. In order to use this you must have selected an assignment on the previous screen or it will be blank like the screen below. If you use exempt for an assignment it will not be counted in the average.

Reports ► Teachers have access to a variety of reports at the class level, homeroom level, and at the team level. ► The best way to learn about the reports and how they can be useful for you is to experiment with them. ► This is one of the biggest advantages to using NCWISE – having this reporting feature at your fingertips.

Great to use for substitute list and for keeping up with all the forms at the beginning of the year. Report will show allergies, etc. Reports shows students who have missing assignments if they were left blank in the spreadsheet. The ability to print mailing labels can be a wonderful thing. The best way to learn how to use it is to experiment on regular paper. Your data managers will know what kinds of labels to use and the settings for the labels. You may have to adjust the Adobe settings to get the labels lined up correctly (print as image, shrink to fit, page scaling are all areas you can adjust to make it work.

View of Class List Report Student names and NCWISE numbers are also displayed, but have been removed for confidentiality reasons.

Class Record View Student Names and NCWISE numbers will also be displayed on your report. You may have up to eleven column headings. When you click on the Class Record Button you will be prompted to enter the headings you want to create.

Failures Report View When you select the Failures Report Button, you will be prompted to select the class, students, and date range for which you want the report. This report displays the assignment name and the student name.

Sequencing Students In the TAM The spreadsheet automatically orders first by sequence number (everyone by default it zero) and then alphabetically. This teacher has assigned a number, beginning with one, to each student based on the order she wants the names displayed in the TAM. Once you have assigned the numbers you must click on Save Sequence.

Individual Student Reports ► Step One: Highlight a student’s name on the main TAM screen ► Step Two: Click on the Print Button ► Step Three: Select the report you want from the list that is displayed Please do not select the Student Transcript report or the Report Card report. They are unavailable at this time. A teacher can run an individual progress report, attendance summary report, failed assignments report, and a missing assignment report for the selected student.

View of Individual Student Report: Attendance Summary

Questions?