A New Tool to Uncover Curricular Shortcomings

Abstract: Monona Grove School District has created a software tool, Ascent, to simplify measuring the academic progress of student groups. Using national growth norms as a reference point, Ascent enables quick comparison of the growth of student groups as selected by the user, so that data indicating weak group growth can be uncovered, underlying causes can be investigated, and curricular and instructional responses can be designed and implemented. The development of Ascent was funded by a federal ARRA grant. Ascent is licensed as open source and is freely available.

Keywords: Continuous Improvement - Primary and Secondary Education Brief