A group of educators from across the United States gathered in Lincoln this week for a summit to discuss a computer program developed by the Academic Development Institute of Lincoln. The program, called Indistar, helps guide teachers and administrators with ways to achieve their educational goals.
The program is a web-based system used by a state education office, school district or charter schools to help keep everyone informed on the activities of those using the program. The goal of the program is to provide a continuous cycle of assessment, planning and progress tracking while keeping a synchronized effort on responsibilities and assignments.
Sam Redding co-authored the book, “Handbook on Statewide Systems of Support” that provides a list of indicators of best practices to become a successful educator. While attending an educational conference, he had an epiphany with the words of a colleague. An educator from Virginia told him she thought the concepts were wonderful and only wished they could be found on the Internet.
Redding, who heads the institute, came back to Lincoln and started working on the concept by hiring Bob Goodrich of Lincoln, who is a computer programmer. Goodrich’s job was to create a web-based application that would be user friendly and something that would put Redding’s theories into a workable concept.
“It’s great to hear the feedback from the users because normally they tell us what they want to do and then I create it to make it functional,” said Goodrich.
Janis Langdon, of Lincoln, who serves as the director of information systems and website for the institute, said the uniqueness of the program is why educators like it.
“It gives complete instructions and tells the users what needs to be done to accomplish their goals,” said Langdon.
More than 4,000 schools have started using the program. Representatives from more than 10 states along with a Bureau of Indian Education representative came to Lincoln to share their experiences.
Dr. Lisa Kinnaman who serves as director of the Statewide Improvement Program in Idaho, has used the program for the past three years.
“What I like about this is that it is based on indicators that get specific that drills down to the classroom level,” said Kinnaman.
The program, she said, asks questions of the educators that help measure results.
“We have seen results by using this program and I feel it provided better communication between the school and the district and it is making an impact in the classroom, said Kinnaman.”
Source:http://www.lincolncourier.com/features/x128158147/Software-program-draws-educators-to-Lincoln-summit
