Managing and Assessing Career Clusters Programs

Managing and Assessing Career Clusters Programs An Introduction to Web-based Tools TaskStream and Career Clusters Initiatives TaskStream is well-suited to support the States’ Career Clusters initiatives as they work to integrate academics and career preparation to produce well-rounded graduates ready for the opportunities of the world. Career Pathway Program Challenges  Developing and Managing Quality Pathway Programs  Establishing Program Effectiveness  Optimizing Student Learning Experiences Career and Technical Program Challenges  Developing and Managing Quality Pathway Programs – Demonstrating student attainment of academic, career and technical skills – Developing rigorous academic, career and technical curricula aligned with career pathways – Providing professional development for educators – Seamless P-16 coordination of academic, career and technical curricula, instruction, and learning opportunities Career and Technical Program Challenges  Establishing Program Effectiveness – Ongoing formative assessment of student performance – Collecting, analyzing and reporting assessment and program evaluation data to identify strengths and weaknesses and target areas for improvement Career and Technical Program Challenges  Optimizing Student Learning Experiences – Providing students with 21st century technology tools to demonstrate learning for employment, certification, higher education admission, scholarships, etc. – Promoting personalized learning experiences and student development of 21st century learning and career skills Electronic Curriculum and Assessment Tools to Address These Challenges Welcome to TaskStream TaskStream is a Web-based Learning Outcomes Management System designed to support the demonstration of learning through our unique combination of curriculum management and portfoliobased outcomes assessment tools. TaskStream Support for Career Clusters Implementation  Curriculum development and alignment  Implementing professional learning programs  Demonstrating student attainment of academic, career and technical skills  Accountability for student performance and program effectiveness Web-based Tools – Anytime Access TaskStream and Program Development  Curriculum tools support the development and alignment of standards-based instruction and assessment – Develop and align standards based rubrics, lesson, and units with career pathways – Share resources and instructional best practices TaskStream and Program Development  Develop and manage professional development programs – Provide collaborative, hands-on, jobembedded professional learning programs – Track and report on professional learning outcomes TaskStream & Program Management  TaskStream provides the Infrastructure and Support  Management tasks are minimized – All student work and assessment data are centrally warehoused at our state of the art security facility – One-time development of customized portfolio assessment programs standardizes processes and procedures to be implemented by all students and faculty – Reporting features allow for status monitoring and performance reporting from the program to the individual student level The Role of Portfolio-based Outcomes Assessment  Accountability in Education – Recognition that current high-stakes assessments provide important but limited amounts and kinds of information about what students know and can do – Need to demonstrate 21st century learning and thinking skills * • Information and communication skills • Thinking and problem-solving skills • Interpersonal and self-directional skills – Need for tools that support learner-centered assessment of authentic learning situations – Need to provide direct evidence of students skills as they progress from secondary to post-secondary to careers – Need to establish program effectiveness based on direct evidence of student skills * A framework for 21st Century Learning Workflow for Academic, Career & Technical Programs • Projects • Internships • Work-based learning • Presentation Reflection • Supporting Documents • More… Student Input Competency Performance Data Students Academic, Vocational, and Technical Requirements Evaluators Assess using Rubrics and Form-Based Instruments Centralized Data Warehouse Aggregated Reports and Competency Profiles TaskStream & Program Effectiveness TaskStream supports the continuous improvement of educational programs Program Effectiveness: Challenges and Solutions Challenge: Identify desired outcomes & define competency levels – What do we expect students to know and be able to do? – How will we know that students are proficient? Solution: Create rubrics to define and quantify areas of student achievement – Rubrics are portable across many areas of achievement – Well-defined criteria allow students and faculty to fully understand expectations and recognize ways to improve Program Effectiveness: Challenges and Solutions Challenge: Identify learning products and events – What evidence of learning will students be required to provide? – What learning opportunities will be provided to elicit this evidence? Solution: Unique portfolio demonstrations of learning – development of multimedia collections which reflect student creativity and individuality. – diverse collections of learning artifacts which reflect project-based and other authentic learning experiences. Program Effectiveness: Challenges and Solutions Challenge: Create an assessment program FOR and OF learning – What is the quality of student work and reflection? – What feedback, intervention or support is required? – To what degree does student work reflect competency levels of desired outcomes? Solution: The TaskStream evaluation cycle allows students to obtain progressive feedback from evaluators – Evaluators can comment on work in progress – Comments can be inserted directly in uploaded artifacts – Student work is scored according to defined standards Program Effectiveness: Challenges and Solutions Challenge: Analyze and report data and make decisions – What strengths and weaknesses are exemplified by student work? – How can we strengthen our program and promote the success of all students? Solution: Dynamic program and individual reports make it easy to target students who may not be meeting program goals – Custom aggregation allows faculty to create more accurate student and program profiles – Real-time program data can be immediately translated into organizational decisions TaskStream & Program Effectiveness TaskStream supports continuous improvement of educational programs TaskStream & the Student Learning Experience Experience with portfolios also enables students to demonstrate learning for other purposes, such as employment, higher education admission, scholarships, etc. Benefits of Web-based Learning Outcomes Management Systems  Persistent: Changes may be saved and tracked to demonstrate improvement over time. Portfolios cannot be lost or damaged.  Portable: Portfolios and assessment data follow students as they progress through the pathway system.  Scalable: New sections, collateral and resources can be easily inserted. Portfolios can be copied multiple times.  Global: Multiple reviewers and evaluators need not meet students face-to-face to provide feedback. Portfolios can be widely shared.  Modern: Electronic portfolios allow inclusion of multimedia content and provide students with vital technical experience.  Centralized: Student assessment and program evaluation data in a centrally located database for ease of reporting and decision-making TaskStream  Experience – TaskStream is currently working with more than 350 colleges, universities and K-12 schools and districts across the country to strengthen curriculum and assessment initiatives  Highly supported – Consulting and support services are unmatched in the industry  Stable and easy to use – State of the art, secure platform – User-friendly, intuitive design Additional Considerations     Flexible program tools for custom applications User-friendly and intuitive features Zero burden to IT infrastructure/support Unlimited high quality mentoring services and consulting  Experienced educators working side-by-side with organizations ensure successful implementation  Affordable TaskStream’s Mission TaskStream is a mission-driven company of highly skilled education, technical, and business professionals, all of whom are committed to the development and implementation of high quality, innovative technologies that improve the effectiveness of educational institutions around the globe. www.taskstream.com/pub/careerclusters learnmore@taskstream.com