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A task that once took weeks can now be done in a few seconds thanks to new technology in place in the Moffat County School District.

Alpine Achievement stores information teachers can use to hone in on student needs in the classroom.

“This is just a wonderful piece to make our work more effective and more efficient on a day-to-day basis,” assistant superintendent Brent Curtice said.

The system, which the district rolled out this fall and costs about $16,000, allows teachers to see results from multiple tests, including the Colorado Student Assessment Program, the state’s standardized test, and MAP tests, which teachers can use to gauge student progress.

Getting that type of data wasn’t easy in the past.

“Before, we would have multiple sources that we would have to pull from, and (it would) take weeks and weeks to pull it all together,” said Marlene Knez, the school district’s technology director. “And then when teachers would look at it and ask questions, we weren’t able to quickly get them the answers to their questions.”

Now teachers can access that information instantaneously.

So far, feedback from teachers has been positive, Knez said.

Amber Clark, a Moffat County High School science teacher, has used the program quite a bit and for the first time, she can get an array of student information in one place.

“For any of the kids in my classroom right now, I can look them up through the system and I can have a really good idea of their reading level, their writing level, their math skills,” she said.

Getting that kind of information about students is important in identifying which students are on track and which ones are falling behind. And, if a student is struggling, it can help teachers understand why. If a student in Clark’s class has trouble reading, then that student will have difficulty completing reading assignments and worksheets, she said.

Gathering data is important, especially now, Curtice said.

“We live in a world today where we are accountable for growth — growth of each student,” he said. “So, if we can first have a starting point of looking at data with a multitude of assessments, we can begin to better plan our work and then work our plan.”

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