Bering Strait School District extends along the coast of the Bering Sea, close to the border between Alaska and Russia. The district consists of 16 schools spread out over a series of small villages, and educates approximately 2000 students from three Eskimo subgroups. The district manages the unique data–management challenges of this environment with GradeWrite, a flexible classroom information tool based on FileMaker Pro.

Business Challenge

The remote location and diverse student body create unique challenges for Bering Strait School. "Although we're geographically about the size of Minnesota, the population is sparse," explains Educational Technology Coordinator John Concilus. "Our student population is 99 percent native, representing the Upaiq, Yupik, and Siberian Yupik Eskimo cultures."

Meeting federal and state requirements while at the same time recognizing the cultural distinctiveness of the student body requires a unique educational philosophy. "Our programs are standards–based rather than standards–referenced," John continues. "We don't use traditional A–B–C–D grading, and our students are not classified by grade levels. Rather, we assess student progress through a rubric–based system, classifying them as Advanced or Proficient or Developing. We also don't have traditional subjects—instead, our students are taught in various 'Content Areas', some of which may be traditional and some of which may focus on non–traditional topics."

While these unconventional strategies are effective, the district must also adhere to state and federal requirements mandating tracking and testing students using traditional grade–level systems. And it must also follow established guidelines for reporting on its compliance with Special Education requirements, and monitoring student progress on IEP objectives.

Successful Solution

Translating the district's own specialized reporting system into a more conventional form for state and federal purposes requires specialized tools. "No existing off–the–shelf system had the flexibility we needed to prepare the needed reports," says John. "We've been using another product, but it didn't have the power or flexibility we needed to handle what we were asking of it."

The district turned to FileMaker Pro developer Robert Joseph of Vizmotion for help in creating a solution. "We contracted with Vizmotion to create a FileMaker Pro product that would work with our unique standards–driven reporting requirements, and would allow our teachers to easily create standards–driven requirements," John relates. Working in conjunction with the Math Learning Institute, Vizmotion created GradeWrite—and within a year, more than half the district's teachers signed up to use the new application.

Our teachers aren't statisticians, but using this FileMaker Pro–based system allows them to create reports that use detailed statistical techniques to assess student progress, while also retaining the ability to generate reports according to more conventional grading systems.

— John Concilus, coordinator of Educational Technology, Bering Strait School District