Date: February 20th, 2013 To: Michael Green From: Steve Rippl Subject: Tech Dept. Executive Summary
We did manage to get switched over to the new website and I must say I’m pleased with the result. The ESD’s design looks fresh and modern and in the background we’re on a modern platform that is now much easier to maintain and improve as needed. There were a few small bugs to fix initially but the transition was very smooth and we’ve had positive feedback about it. There is still functionality to port over from the old site but for the time being we’ve had to turn our attention back to some of the things that were ignored during the push to get the site up, we’ll return to it soon.
One of the things being ignored somewhat over the last couple of months was Sips, so there’s been a slight backlog of requests that we’re now diving into. The Middle School CAST process had highlighted a lack of data for the English department so they have now added an interim assessment that’s being processed through Sips, and the MS/HS math assessments continue to grow. There are also general ongoing refinements to the kinds of data and reports folks need as their processes evolve. LRA is looking for help with regard to their enrollment reporting so we’re looking to see if Sips is a good fit for their needs.
Finally, we’ve tested and packaged up the State’s MSP testing software and got their local caching server up and running (this acts as a failsafe in case there are network interruptions during the testing). It’s been deployed to staff computers already so that they can get an advanced look at it, it’ll be going out on to student computers soon.