Sonoma County Office of Education

Blog: Technology for Learners: Nine local districts use Illuminate to guide CCSS transition

Nine local districts use Illuminate to guide CCSS transition

Author: Rick Phelan
Published: 11.07.13

Illuminate EducationSonoma County’s districts are working to implement the Common Core State Standards in different ways. Nine districts are using a data and assessment tool called Illuminate Education to guide elements of their work. These districts are using Illuminate to quickly access student information reports, analyze trends, and use formative feedback mid-lesson to guide next steps.

A driving question among this group of educators is, “How do we gauge progress among our students with the Common Core State Standards?”

On November 6, the districts came together for a mini-conference at the Mary Agatha Furth Center in Windsor to share insights, discuss issues, and collaborate on solutions. Districts considered a range of topics:

  • Formative Assessment | Using formative assessment and student data to drive instruction in the classroom
  • Gradebook and Parent Portal | Use of Illuminate’s GradeBook for tracking student progress and increasing home-school communication through the system’s parent portal
  • Data Teams | How school teams use Illuminate to analyze student achievement and target future instruction
  • Transitioning to Computer-Delivered Assessments | Making the switch from scanned assessments to computer-based assessments using SBAC-like questions
  • Electronic Report Cards | Report categories, staff agreements, formatting, and translation options
  • Activate Instruction | Using Illuminate’s digital toolbox for follow-up and differentiation
  • Custom Reports | Strategies for effective and efficient monitoring of students with Illuminate custom reports

Resources and materials from the Sonoma County Illuminate mini-conference are available on the SCOE website at www.scoe.org/illuminate. Sonoma County districts using Illuminate Education include:

Alexander Valley
Cloverdale Unified
Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified
Forestville Union
Old Adobe Union
Rincon Valley Union
Sonoma Valley Unified
Twin Hills Union
Wright


Blog: Technology for Learners

Leilan, Student
"I like Amarosa because there's a much smaller student count and so teachers can be one-on-one with you. They can actually help you and be one-on-one with you while the class is doing something else. I feel like that's a huge game-changer." - Leilan, Student