COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 290

November 21, 2008

INFORMATIONAL

TO:	Division Superintendents
FROM:	Patricia I. Wright Superintendent of Public Instruction
SUBJECT:	CanDo Pilot Project

 

Local school divisions, regional technical centers and academies are invited to participate in a pilot project that will test the functionality and capabilities of the CanDo electronic student competency recordkeeping system for career and technical education courses. This project will be funded and administered by the Office of Career and Technical Education, Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).

 

There will be one pilot site per superintendent's region. The Office of Career and Technical Education will award eight grants of $5,000. Funds will be reimbursed to the school divisions upon the completion of the pilot project and submission of all requested reports.

 

School divisions interested in participating must meet the following requirements:

         Each pilot site must include at least one school with two or more teachers involved in each school.

         Each participating school division must agree to the use of student testing numbers and last name/first name.

         The sites must use Firefox as the internet browser.

         The sites must be able to export student data so that CanDo can import it into the new state system.

         The selected pilot sites must participate in a 2-day training session in January. All participating teachers must attend. All travel expenses for this training session and substitute teacher pay will be reimbursed separately from the grant award and will be covered by the Office of Career and Technical Education, VDOE.

         All participating teachers must use CanDo to track competency performance for all of their students for the second semester of the 2008-09 school year.

         The pilot site teachers must participate in all feedback activities, including surveys, evaluations, and any meetings, calls, and conferences that are scheduled by the Office of Career and Technical Education, VDOE and the CTE Resource Center. All travel expenses will be covered by the Office of Career and Technical Education, VDOE.

 

For those school divisions, regional centers, and academies that are interested in participating, the following information will be of interest to your IT personnel.

 

       Arlington Public Schools, developer of CanDo, will create the eight specific instances of CanDo for the pilot sites, complete with all imported student data.

       The CTE Resource Center will hold a full instance of the software and all participating teachers' data; the teachers will have access only to the parts of the software needed to provide the competency information.

       All data will be stored at the CTE Resource Center on a secured server separate from Center operations.

       The CTE Resource Center will provide day-to-day support of the system to the pilot sites.

       Students will be able to log on to the system and access only their personal information.

 

The grant application package is available at the following website: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/CTE/CanDo111408.doc. Completed applications must be received by the Department of Education by 5 p.m. on December 19, 2008, at the following address: Elizabeth M. Russell, Virginia Department of Education, James Monroe Building, P.O. Box 2120, Richmond, Virginia, 23218-2120. Faxed copies will not be accepted. Grant recipients will be selected and notified by January 9, 2009.

 

For additional information, please contact Elizabeth M. Russell, director, Office of Career and Technical Education at Elizabeth.Russell@doe.virginia.gov or via telephone at (804) 225-2847.

 

PIW/EMR/sgj