By Claire Sachse
Kindergarten through eighth grade students in Polk County will soon log on to Classworks, a new online platform that allows for individualized assessment, instruction, and enrichment. The licenses for five schools will cost $74,975 yearly. The purchase was approved at the board of education meeting Aug. 11.
This new platform will replace a variety of educational licenses, including Study Island and Reading Eggs, that Polk’s schools have been using for a number of years. The school system will combine the money it had spent on multiple program licenses into the purchase of this single platform.
Director of Curriculum, Aaron Greene, is excited about what this transition means for students and teachers this year in Polk’s four elementary schools and the middle school.
“Classworks centralizes all types of educational products,” said Greene. “It allows for individualized lesson plans. Kids can access it from home. It allows for the flipped classroom model of learning. Kids can do homework online, and they can track their progress,” he added.
What is unique and desirable about this platform, said Greene, is that it has diagnostic capabilities as well as remedial and enrichment opportunities.
According to Greene, the program will allow a typical class with abilities that range from underperforming to gifted, and every thing in between, to pursue specifically tailored educational goals, at their own pace.
“Kids can take ownership of their learning,” said Greene about Classworks, which offers digital merit badges and trophies for accomplishments. “They can even share their progress on Facebook,” he added.
Greene emphasized that Classworks will not replace the relationship between teachers and students. Students will log on to Classworks in the computer lab, during after school programs, during wheel time, or from home.
“Classworks does not replace a teacher,” said Greene, “and learning does not occur unless you have that relationship between teacher and child.”
This type of platform would not be possible without the Chromebooks already in place in Polk’s schools, according to Superintendent of Education, Bill Miller.
Classworks will also allow for greater measurement of mastery and progress, according to Greene. “It provides us with data that we can use to make decisions about each child,” he said, “but ultimate judgment is in the teacher’s hands.