Randa Solutions announces an agreement with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching to make the TEAM rubric available in a scripting application on its TOWER (Teacher Observation, Walkthrough, Evaluation, and Reporting) System and TOWER Mobile. This agreement stands to help manage the increasing requirements for Tennessee’s schools as a consequence of the state’s Race to the Top funding.
“We are thrilled to make TOWER Mobile useful to administrators-- particularly in Tennessee because TOWER was essentially built around pilot programs initiated throughout Tennessee,” says Adam Engle, Randa’s COO.
This year, Tennessee selected and is implementing a classroom observation rubric as part of its new statewide teacher evaluation system. TOWER Mobile brings the rubric to evaluators’ iPads, whether or not the site of observation has wireless Internet coverage—synchronizing with the TOWER System.
Features notable for educators include:
- Paperless observations save time and resulting data is immediately usable.
- Mobile iPad and Android apps sync to TOWER System – observations can be performed without Wi-Fi coverage.
- Clients provide their own rubrics and walkthrough forms
Although TOWER education systems can bring their own rubrics to TOWER, it was specifically designed to be customized beyond mere rubrics to adapt to the business rules of the client.
“The TOWER System continues to remain ‘rubric-agnostic,” Engle adds. “Our clients determine the rubrics and reports they need. Agreements like these simply make it easier for our clients to use third-party content.”
