Back in the days when few teachers had personal computers, I
was using a great electronic grade book called Making the Grade
(later renamed, due to trademark conflicts, the Grenville Grader).
In 1990 I phoned the Canadian creator, Rick Pedley, and asked
him to add a special feature I needed for my Texas classroom:
I wanted the ability to type in a single grade for an assignment
and hit a single key to insert that same grade for every student.
Rick was more than happy to add that feature and several more
I needed.
Rick never created a Windows version, so the Grenville Grader
hasn't grown the way it might have. With the popularity of e-mail
and web pages, educators are asking for more features in grade
books -- so many features that electronic grade books have turned
into what's now known as classroom-management software.
This is a quickly evolving and highly unsettled class of software.
Some packages are enormously complicated, while others are bare-bones
simple. Most are available for Mac and Windows alike, but many
also have online versions that allow parents and students to
access information. Check their web sites for details.
Classroom Planner
Schepp
Turner Productions. (765) 286-2111. Schepp Turner is the
brainchild of Sharon L. Schepp, a 27-year educator whose specialty
is teaching hearing-impaired children, and Nicki C. Turner,
a critical care physician in central Indiana. These two have
tried to make their software easy for educators to understand
and use. In my opinion, they've succeeded.
What really catches my eye (and probably should catch the eyes
of their competitors) is the layout of Classroom Planner's web
screens. They're logical and clean-cut, making it simple for
teachers to navigate and enter data.
This is a private Internet page for a school or an individual
teacher, and provides no access for parents. Omitting student
and parental access might not be a good idea in the long run,
but it might be the most expedient solution for 2001, when teachers
and schools are still getting their feet wet in the business
of organizing classroom data on the web.
Classroom Windows 5.0
 Sid
and Linda Broudy. (800) 999-2734. Years ago, many teachers
who had a talent for spreadsheet software developed simple grade-book
programs and then shared them with colleagues. Classroom Windows,
developed by New York City teachers Sid and Linda Broudy, grew
out of those early pioneer efforts and developed over time into
a quite elegant electronic grade book. Version 5.0 allows the
user to expand the class size to 120, which is useful for teachers
of choir, band, and physical education. 
The Broudys have remained a no-frills and virtually no-budget
software company. Users can download a fully functional freeware
version or spend just $20 to get the full-blown Pro Edition.
If you opt for the free version, you'll miss out on a few choice
enhancements, such as the ability to view and print color graphs
of student performance. What's really nice is that you can download
and run the shareware version of the Pro edition for 30 days.
If at the end of that time you don't want to buy the extra features,
your data will still be saved in a reversion to the freeware
program.
There's no web component to the program, but this clear-cut
and easy-to-use electronic grade book might be a good start
for any teacher interested in beginning a digital grade book.
The price is definitely right. In my book, Classroom Windows
deserves a Best Bet.
FastTracker
Calico Educational
Software Inc. (303) 666-8214. At first glance, FastTracker
looks like many other inexpensive classroom-management programs.
But FastTracker is a little more than a typical grade-book program,
thanks to its wizards, its seating charts, and its e-mail notification
buttons. Clicking one button allows teachers to e-mail grades
to all parents and students. Another click conveys class announcements.
A very nice wizard leads teachers through the initial setup
of classes, importing text files with the names of students
while creating the roster. The Curve Wizard makes it easy to
curve any numeric grade on a particular assignment, and the
Seating Chart Wizard quickly sets up specific seating arrangements
-- although I wish the seating chart itself allowed pictures
and had a visible link on the main menu bar.
Other problems: The online help in FastTracker is very skimpy
and doesn't even mention the seating chart. A 40-page spiral-bound
manual contains seating chart information, but it is rudimentary
and lacks an index.
FastTracker Express includes most FastTracker features -- such
as help with weighted grades, bell-curve adjustments, and attendance
records -- but misses some key features, such as the module
for lesson plans. Despite these shortcomings, either program
might fit the needs of districts and teachers who don't need
more advanced online components such as web access for parents
and students.
Gradebook2 and Pinnacle
Excelsior
Software, Inc. (800) 473-4572. Excelsior has been the leading
developer of grade-book programs for teachers over the past
15 years, and these two programs show why.
Available to teachers as part of an integrated networked package
or as a $50 stand-alone product for innovative teachers, Gradebook2
boasts a wide array of powerful features, such as modules for
lesson plans, discipline notes, digital pictures of students,
attendance reports, and other custom reports.
I particularly like the ability to convert grade-book modules
into HTML files. This feature allows parents and students to
access confidential information online. The seating charts,
with optional digital student pictures, are a big help for substitute
teachers and teachers learning their students' names at the
beginning of the year. A teacher can just click on the picture
to enter attendance data.
Gradebook2 is included in Pinnacle, which also has all the
things a big, integrated management program is supposed to have:
master class schedules, attendance, grades, rosters, and progress
reports. The Pinnacle interface allows feedback to students
and parents directly in the form of real-time report cards and
class progress reports over the telephone, via the web, or from
the school's local-area network.
I especially like the Pinnacle feature that automatically generates
letters to parents when their children reach a predetermined
performance level. When wireless networked laptops begin to
enter the American classroom as the teacher's primary computer,
we'll really see the value of programs such as Excelsior's.
GradeQuick 5.0
Jackson
Software, Inc. (800) 850-1777. At $70 for an individual
license, GradeQuick is a little more expensive than most of
its competitors, but I give it credit for offering a decent
array of features in a clean-cut interface. The software easily
performs all the usual cool modern electronic grade-book stuff:
attendance, seating charts with photos, student discipline notes,
and so on.
Where GradeQuick really outshines competitors is in its customizable
reports. Teachers can send out progress reports in a myriad
of styles, formats, and colors. Full-color pie and bar graphs
provide an elegant visual backdrop for student performance data.
Jackson Software has also seen the future and hastened to add
a web component, for which Microsoft's Explorer is the recommended
viewing browser. Visitors can use Netscape, but graphics and
features are not guaranteed to work properly. This might not
sit well with many educators who have embraced the Netscape
browser for the past seven years against the inexorable growth
of the Microsoft browser.
I wish even unregistered users had the option to get instant
(albeit temporary) web access so they could see how the system
works on the web. ThinkWave allows this, but GradeQuick relies
on a slower and more complicated sign-up procedure involving
e-mail to support personnel.
GradeQuick provides single-button access to publish data to
the web. However, I was unable to access an account on the web
due to the sign-up procedure, so I can't vouch for the web modules.
I wish GradeQuick and other grade-book vendors would put a full
sample class in their demos and software so teachers (and reviewers)
could easily check out all the report features. (This feature
should be a no-brainer, vendors, so take note.)
Another new Jackson offering, Schoolcom, is designed to implement
class management software on a school-wide basis, combining
with GradeQuick to create a networked student information system.
TaskStream
TaskStream.
(800) 311-5656. TaskStream is an online collection of educational
tools for professional development, teacher mentoring, and curriculum
management. A lot of innovative thinking and design have gone
into the TaskStream tools, and it shows.
TaskStream has assembled a team of mentors who are tops in
their field for innovative educational use of the Internet.
These mentors are available online to assist teachers in getting
the greatest benefit from the TaskStream curriculum tools. In
the staff-development module, for instance, mentors help teachers
create, test, and implement activities; evaluate projects and
obtain peer review; and finally edit and publish projects on
the web site for other TaskStream teachers to use. 
A key component in the TaskStream web site is the use of communication
tools. A message center allows teachers to send e-mail to a
colleague or mentor. A discussion board allows them to post
discussion topics, reply to comments, and watch a discussion
develop over time. TaskStream Announcements notify users about
upcoming events, and TaskStream Messenger allows users to communicate
instantly with online colleagues. An online calendar facilitates
scheduling and planning.
Another neat feature is the Cybrary, where TaskStream has assembled
a large collection of resources, including a database of lessons,
teacher-friendly web sites, software, standards, and tutorials
that help teachers learn, at their own pace, how to use PowerPoint,
Inspiration, FrontPage, Hyperstudio, and other popular software
programs.
But by far the most useful components I found at TaskStream
were the Curriculum Tools, including a comprehensive Lesson
Builder that allows teachers to create and publish curriculum
on the web. This feature connects directly to the Standards
Wizard, allowing teachers to place relevant state standards
and objectives directly in lesson plans. All of this -- and
a Rubric Wizard that allows teachers to create original online
rubrics for authentic assessments -- comes with an easy-to-search
database and little typing involved.
TaskStream does have some negatives: Among the biggest is that
the service doesn't include a grading-management program --
a logical complement that would draw teachers to the site. I
also see some growing pains in the lessons databases. When I
pulled up social studies lessons, for instance, I looked at
20 entries on the first page and then clicked Next to view the
remaining 14. But instead of more lesson entries, I got an error
message.
And the many typos in lesson plans indicate that TaskStream
needs a professional proofreader to polish teacher submissions.
Web sites that use teachers' contributions should understand
that they are serving as publishing companies for teachers and
should provide editors and proofreaders. Some teachers are great
instructors but lousy spellers. Let's give them the help they
need.
Despite these drawbacks, I find TaskStream has so many more
positives than negatives that I give it a Best Bet.
ThinkWave Educator 2.2
ThinkWave,
Inc. (415) 339-2900. ThinkWave is a formerly free web service
that has now gone commercial. The grade-book program (ThinkWave
Educator 2.2) can be used as a stand-alone grading program or
can be combined with ThinkWave Web Educator to manage and web-publish
grades, assignments, lessons, calendars, and attendance. 
This information can be made available on the company's web
site, where students and parents can log on to their private
accounts to track grades, attendance records, and upcoming assignments,
as well as communicate with the teacher. The online security
is excellent, and the ability to keep synchronized records online
and at a personal computer makes for virtually failsafe backup
of important records.
I really like the ThinkWave system, but it's not brain-dead
simple -- which I think a web grade book should be. True, it's
easy to publish the teacher pages with a single click of the
button. But the online interface for parents is not so simple.
Even as an advanced computer user, I found myself confused at
various menus and options. And if I'm confused, then I know
parents will have problems navigating the site.
Considering the rising popularity of web grade books, I expect
somebody is soon going to build an enormously popular web site,
but I don't think that somebody will be ThinkWave unless the
company makes major changes.
Looking ahead
The classroom-management software market has the potential
to become a multimillion-dollar industry. The question is, when
will a company come out with a killer program? The must-have
program will be online with offline capabilities, and it will
take care of attendance, grades, lesson plans, and curriculum
development. It will have a catchy Internet domain name, a very
simple and understandable menu system for parents and students
to access, a super-simple design for the educator who creates
the data, and a proofreader to catch any bloopers in teacher-designed
lesson plans.
I think it's interesting that Classroom Connect has already
registered http://www.grades.com, which suggests the
company might have some grading project in the works. I am also
sure such huge software companies as Knowledge Adventure and
Sunburst are eyeing this market. Their big research-and-development
teams could turn classroom-management software into the next
Golden Egg for vendors.
Russell
Smith is an educational technology
consultant in Abilene, Texas.
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