Since moving to New York I have - of course - noticed some differences in my life. But, for the purposes of this blog I will likely focus posts like these on professional differences. So far I've officially been working for four days and have already noticed some pretty big changes in how I will have to do things. Item 1: Attendance.
Philadelphia schoolteachers use a system known as ScholarChip to officially track attendance every day. Students are required to swipe ID cards in front of digital readers so that teachers know if and when students enter the building. This is useful because a) there is a more objective assessment of tardiness and b) it means everything is digital and easily searched.
On the classroom level, that means teachers spend about 1 minute of their time seeing who is in the room, who is late, and inputting absences if need be. Counselors and/or secretaries analyze this data to determine necessary interventions.
In contrast, thus far I have not seen any student of my school swipe any ID in front of any reader; additionally, I have had to bubble in attendance on sheets that are to be returned to the office at a specific time where they are - I assume - digitally transferred to a database of some kind. The only reason I assume this is that on the attendance sheet I received today there was data from yesterday already bubbled in.
Also, when our academic classes begin in earnest (right now we are doing a week of orientation in our "crews" or homerooms/advisories for others to understand) we will be given bubble sheets to fill in daily and return weekly. This seems odd to me because then the data is analyzed more slowly. How does a centralized person know if a student has been absent four days in a row? It puts more burden on the teacher (especially with class sizes ballooning).
I cannot speak for all New York public schools but I am confused why there is not centralized system in use at all schools across the city. I would love to learn more about this.
On the classroom level, that means teachers spend about 1 minute of their time seeing who is in the room, who is late, and inputting absences if need be. Counselors and/or secretaries analyze this data to determine necessary interventions.
In contrast, thus far I have not seen any student of my school swipe any ID in front of any reader; additionally, I have had to bubble in attendance on sheets that are to be returned to the office at a specific time where they are - I assume - digitally transferred to a database of some kind. The only reason I assume this is that on the attendance sheet I received today there was data from yesterday already bubbled in.
Also, when our academic classes begin in earnest (right now we are doing a week of orientation in our "crews" or homerooms/advisories for others to understand) we will be given bubble sheets to fill in daily and return weekly. This seems odd to me because then the data is analyzed more slowly. How does a centralized person know if a student has been absent four days in a row? It puts more burden on the teacher (especially with class sizes ballooning).
I cannot speak for all New York public schools but I am confused why there is not centralized system in use at all schools across the city. I would love to learn more about this.
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