I taught mathematics in New York City alternative high schools. Every year, I prepared “at-risk” students with a history of chronic absenteeism for a standardized math test. If my students didn’t pass this exam, it prevented them from graduating.
I didn’t believe in standardized testing then, nor do I now. However, our education system is designed to work against students, particularly those at-risk. The reality was: I could complain all I wanted about policy, but If my students didn’t pass, they didn’t graduate. And if they didn’t graduate, they were statistically cursed to end up poor, homeless, in prison, or worse.
The challenge of teachers is twofold: lessons must cover standardized content and engage students with relevant connections. When I taught, I made lessons and resources downloadable and supplemented this by linking web-based, standards-aligned content. This practice showed signs of success in engaging even students with attendance issues as they accessed the content from their phones. I didn’t realize I was biting off more than I could chew: I’d just signed up myself up to plan, deliver, grade, and evaluate work assigned online as well as in the classroom. Of course, none of the tools I was using synced with each other, and certainly not with my gradebook. The burden was on me to aggregate achievement data to figure out what to do next for each of my students. This was unsustainable.
Today’s teachers are constrained by archaic workflows and tools that are ineffective or redundant. It’s unfortunate how many of these tools are mandated. Teachers are inefficiently spending their precious time working around these constraints, expediting their own burnout.
At Kiddom, we believe if teachers could access tools that amplified their reach and expanded access to quality content, they could level the playing field for their students. Teachers might finally get the time they need to plan and design authentic learning experiences. These are the experiences that get students to passionately raise their respective voices in class and connect to the learning material.
Today, I’m proud to announce Kiddom’s content integrations.
Today, teachers on Kiddom can access a comprehensive bank of standards-aligned, third-party content from resources like Khan Academy, CK-12, and more to assign directly to students. When students complete the assigned work, Kiddom automatically pulls the achievement data into your gradebook. Teachers can now use a growing pool of open-educational resources to engage and evaluate students, without setup costs or time spent copying back grades from different platforms. Kiddom overlays this data with beautiful, actionable reports.
The days of dealing with ugly spreadsheets painted red, yellow, and green are over. Search, assign, and evaluate with ease. Forget reinventing the wheel. Use that time to design an engaging activity, debate, or project.
Onward,
– Abbas Manjee
Chief Academic Officer @ Kiddom
