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E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y T h u r s d a y, F e b r u a r y 4 , 2 0 1 6 3 2 The SSS module offers a customiz- able platform in which districts can design and maintain desired program workflow in a wide variety of areas, including early identification, response to intervention and early warning tracking, section 504 eligibility, formal and infor- mal evaluations, individualized educa- tion plans, progress monitoring, event management, student caseload, cus- tomizable form builder technology and more. Educators and school-based profes- sionals have the ability to create and cus- tomize events under three main programs: Response to Intervention (RtI), Section 504 and Special Education (IEP, evalua- tions). The Focus SSS Student Event Management system allows districts to set requirements on each individual pro- gram event to help guide the end user through the special services process with ease. The system provides for users to receive Portal Alerts, an area for uploads Focus School Software (Cont'd. from p. 1) and like all Focus solutions, specific user profiles for secure program access. In addition, the included Form Builder is a user friendly tool that allows districts to build, customize and maintain all forms relevant to the special student services process. Once forms are created, districts will have the ability to link these forms to appropriate events and event steps through the SSS set-up menu. Through Form Builder technology, each district has the opportunity to utilize and store forms specific to their unique processes and desired workflow. The Focus SSS Form Builder valida- tion edit feature allows the district to set up validation logic for each individual form. Once validation logic is estab- lished, the interactive form will serve as a compliance guide for the end user. The Form Builder also includes features like form widgets, customizable headers and footers, built-in calendar and more. For more information, visit booth #235 or go to www.focusschoolsoftware.com. on student needs; and help administrators monitor writing performance and improve writing instruction. Following this successful pilot year, PEG Writing is being released to stu- dents in 6-12 grades in all districts throughout Texas through a Texas Education Agency grant to the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk and the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts in the University of Texas at Austin College of Education. During this process, the PEG Writing team is working closely with the Write for Texas teacher support program to ensure participating teachers and stu- dents get all of the resources they need to succeed in the program. PEG Writing (Cont'd. from p. 1) "We are deeply honored that the TEA has elected to double the potential impact of PEG Writing by extending it more schools and students," said Dr. Henry Scherich, President of Measurement Incorporated, the developer of the writing platform. "We are also delighted to be working more directly with the Meadows and Vaughn Gross Centers. Those associ- ations will help us better align our efforts with the complementary Write for Texas (W4T) professional development program and the Texas Literacy Initiative (TLI)." More than 100,000 students have already subscribed to this free program, but additional grades (3-12) and seats are available to Texas schools for a discount- ed rate. For more information, visit booth #2028. STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS NEED TO INTEROPERATE WITH OTHER EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS Over the years, districts have discussed the benefits of having an "all-in-one" stu- dent information system versus a "best- of-breed" student information system that has the ability to work with other educational systems. While an "all-in- one" student system can combine many aspects of school business, often these systems leave little room for flexibility to meet the custom needs of districts. It is not uncommon for an "all-in-one" solu- tion to handcuff certain districts to a sub- standard product. In fact, many student information systems will often purport to be a jack of all trades, but find them- selves lacking mastery of any one prod- uct in the product line. With the educa- tional marketplace continually growing, if schools choose to select multiple sys- tems to complete their educational man- agement system, student information sys- tems need to demonstrate the ability to coexist with other systems in the market- place. With the ever-changing marketplace, many school districts have opted to use multiple educational products to com- plete their full school digital ecosystem. Aeries, as a preferred SIS, is dedicated to interoperability with other systems. As the Aeries SIS is at the center of all stu- dent data management, Aeries believes it is important to focus on those core com- ponents, while making it simple and seamless for districts to inte- grate other products into their educational ecosystem. This allows schools to eliminate dual data entry while also allowing the strongest possible solutions for all their needs. The Aeries team encourages schools to choose solutions to meet their full busi- ness and academic goals. While Aeries does use traditional interoperability frameworks such as Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF), Aeries has also found that most educational systems do not comply with interoperability standards. Moreover, Aeries takes an immense amount of pride in its open data architecture and the Application Programming Interface (API) it provides to other school systems to push/pull information dynamically. Additionally, Aeries provides an SSO API providing seamless authentication for educators between systems, saving IT account management and increas- ing educator participation between systems. Ultimately, successful multi- ple system interoperability allows educators dynamic capability to push and pull student data with a single "click." In addition to digital data integration, advanced interoperability can provide single sign-on (SSO) that reduce IT (Help Desk) account manage- ment costs, improve compliance and security capabilities and improve teacher efficiency in the enhanced products. True interoperability, such as that provided by Aeries, will undoubtedly provide districts with the flexibility to select products capable of meeting its needs allowing for the creation of a powerful and productive educational ecosystem. For more information, visit booth #322, call 805.610.4823, email scott@aeries.com or go to www.aeries.com. NEED IN-SCHOOL TECH SUPPORT? Or does the IT manager at your school need cost-effective help with smaller, repetitive tasks like password resets, troubleshooting and device training? Then Best Buy ® Education has you covered. Importance of Classroom Up-Time As you know, every minute of class- room up-time is an opportunity for students to learn and teachers to teach. Both are disrupted when class- room technology isn't functioning properly, or when teachers and stu- dents don't know how to use a device or program. Solution: Geek Squad ® Tech Hub Best Buy Education understands these challenges, and it has a solution for them: Geek Squad Tech Hub (GSTH). With GSTH, schools across the nation now have access to affordable, in-school tech- nical support and training that's just down the hall. Key benefits include: cus- tomizable Agent staffing schedule; trou- bleshooting, account management and on-the-spot fixes; device application installation and set up; and personal training and group workshops. Your classrooms won't slow down because of password problems, connec- tivity issues or technical glitches. Your Geek Squad Tech Hub Agents will be ready to help when you need them. Edina High School Case Study Edina High School in Minnesota installed a GSTH as part of their eLearning2 initiative. The initiative also includes a Best Buy Education dual- funded BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program that has served students and teachers since 2012. Students and parents are able to choose the device that works best for their learning style (Chromebook or tablet), and the GSTH Agents make sure every device is classroom-ready every day. Watch the Serving Edina Public Schools video on BestBuy.com/Education to see it in action. Geek Squad Tech Hub at TCEA Want a closer look? Perfect. Best Buy Education brought a fully-functioning, fully-staffed Geek Squad Tech Hub to TCEA. Located out- side Exhibit Hall 2, you can bring your troubled devices by the hub and Agents will take a look at them for you free of charge. For more information, visit booth #129, go to www.bestbuy.com/education, call 800.373.3050 or go to www.twitter.com/bestbuyedu. through testing and assessments and cus- tomizing an experience that addresses the uniqueness. COMPREHEND online curriculum equips the educator with vital data and analytics based on the student's respons- es within the curriculum's daily work and internal during testing. Using the data and the tools within the curriculum, the educator monitors each student's progress, identifies deficiencies and develops a customized approach to con- duct an educational intervention. This approach is groundbreaking education, and truly personalized. Personalized Learning is education that is customized based on the individ- ual student. COMPREHEND offers both educator and students the ability to uniquely customize the educational COMPREHEND (Cont'd. from p. 19) experience. School branding, a variety of color schemes and themes and a stu- dent-entered profile are a few of the customizable features. Educators have the ability to edit and customize con- tent, add multimedia enhancements, uti- lize and assign links found in the inter- nal media library, as well as their favorite educational links to support the content. Through customization, COM- PREHEND students enjoy learning, which promotes academic discovery. Educational success is greatly enhanced when the student is appropriately chal- lenged, properly paced and enjoys the educational experience. To register for your free test drive, go to www.comprehend.education. For more information, email info@ COMPREHEND.education or call 917.954.3275, ext. 302.