Dive Brief:

• Education technology company Alma Technologies Inc. has released the Standards Tracker, a student performance tool for teachers to use in their classroom.
• The Standards Tracker follows student progress on a variety of academic markers and provides teachers with tools for planning lessons based on information about where students are at in their understanding.
• The tool will be part of Alma’s education software suite, which is intended to give administrators and teachers a comprehensive tool to track student learning and manage the work that goes into running a classroom or school.

Dive Insight:

The Standards Tracker is part of a growing trend toward standards-based grading and teaching. The concept has gained traction with the rollout of Common Core and other state-level standards and associated tests. The company says its tool will help teachers with the new style of grading, which does away with the traditional letter grade system and replaces it with a so-called “stoplight” system that focuses instead on how proficient in the required material students actually are. Green, for example, indicates mastery, and red the lack thereof or the start of the learning process.

Districts have begun to create their own standards based grading systems to use digitally as a resource for parents and teachers. Alma’s tool represents a holistic approach to school and performance management that streamlines not only the new grading style, but also student report cards and records.