It's a bit complicated but the short version is; Mrs Swoop is head of maths at a British school and, a while back, came up with a paper based system to test and track all of the objectives from the British National Primary Numeracy Framework (the gov directives on how maths must be taught in schools). I got fed up with her coming home with half a rain forest of paperwork and computerised it.
MAPS (Mathematics And Problem Solving) is designed as an assessment tool to accurately track each individual student's understanding of the key objectives from each level of the numeracy framework and display the information to teachers in quick and easy to read formats, thus enabling teachers to quickly identify gaps in knowledge, where extension is needed and aid lesson planning. It'll also automatically print out personalised homework sheets, choosing only the tests for the next objective each student needs to study next in order to progress. Tests are also randomised so that, even if two students are on exactly the same objectives, their homework will be different. It also comes with an @Home version which will get updates from the school version (in the form of a code printed on the bottom of homework sheets) so that parents can see exactly what progress little Johnny is making and what principle of mathematics they need to help him with next.
As I say, it's designed around the British education system but I was wondering if it could be of use in other education systems around the world. During the pilot we've found that just 15 minutes a week in the IT suite is enough to get an accurate picture of a class's abilities and understanding.
Maths in British schools is split up into what they refer to as 'strands'. The 3 number strands (counting, calculating and number facts) make up 66% of a child's overall level. You've also got shapes, measuring, data handling and using & applying. Each strand is split up into levels (primary education is levels 1 to 5) and each level is split into 3 sub levels (a, b & c), each of which have a number of objectives a child must be able to demonstrate understanding of in order to be graded at that level in that strand.
MAPS tracks every single objective for all 3 number strands and, some time later this year, there will be an addon with tests for the other strands as well.
Unlike web based applications (like Mathletics), MAPS data is held solely on the school's IT system, which means that sensitive data can be stored and sorted on. eg, in England we have what's referred to as "special educational needs" children with different codes for different types of SEN. MAPS can sort and compare this data whereas web based apps can't. Dunno what it's like in the USA but in Britain the data protection laws governing storage of school data like this simply do not allow that sort of information to be held outside the school.
And the best part is the school will make money from running the software as every copy of the @home version sold to a parent of a child in a school running the full version will come with a kickback for the school.
There's a downloadable demo available but I don't wanna post the link to it here, webcrawlers and such to contend with. Shoot me a PM if you want it.
