Spring 2023 JumpRope launch at Beacon
Remarks by Principal Brady:
Starting in the Spring Term (January 31, 2023) Beacon will begin using JumpRope for attendance and as an optional gradebook for teachers.
WHAT IS IT? The online grading and attendance platform will provide accurate (and real-time) period-by-period attendance for all students, which will be accessible by all staff and by parents/guardians through the JumpRope parent portal. Teachers are receiving training on JumpRope in mid-January and we will provide account activation information to parents/guardians shortly.
In addition to being able to view a student’s attendance for every class, JumpRope has a notification system that will notify parents/guardians of attendance issues. I am confident that this tool will strengthen communication between school and home and, together with the ability for school staff to see schedules and attendance at a glance on phones and other devices, will significantly reduce attendance issues at Beacon.
WHY: JumpRope is designed to support mastery-based grading, but the version Beacon is adopting also supports more traditional assignment-based grading and a hybrid version. Teachers will select the approach that they prefer and be able to use JumpRope in addition to Google Classroom to maintain and communicate grades.
HOW: As with any new system, there will be a transition period but we expect to use JumpRope to provide Progress Reports at the end of Quarter 3 on March 24th. Final Term Grades in June will still be submitted through the official DOE system STARS in order to show up on transcripts.
Beacon will continue to monitor the DOE Grades, Attendance and Messaging system in NYCSA and should it provide the functionality the school seek by summer, we may return to it. But JumpRope will remain an option gong forward.
And since most teachers serve approximately 140 students in academic classes and Advisory (some more, some less), it has been very challenging for teachers to maintain frequent specific communication about each student’s attendance and academic progress, JumpRope will allow students and families to check as needed.
WHEN: Beacon will open the JumpRope portal for use by students and families on Tuesday, January 31st, 202—the first day of spring classes. Please note:
• Students will receive an invitation email to activate their JumpRope account and should see the latest version of their Spring 2023 schedule on JumpRope.
• Parents/Guardians will receive an invitation email to set up their JumpRope accounts as well and can begin monitoring period attendance in real-time through JumpRope.
• The Family Portal is browser-based and there is no JumpRope app. Parents/guardians log in from the JumpRope login page and can view JumpRope on any device. If the parent/guardian email used to activate the JumpRope account is Gmail, parents/guardians can use the ‘Sign In with Google’ option.
• Beacon will be syncing JumpRope frequently in the first weeks of the Spring term to ensure the most recent data is visible, so if your student is awaiting a schedule change, for example, continue to check JumpRope as it gets updated.
JAN. 29, 2023 UPDATE FROM PRINCIPAL BRADY
Parent/Guardian JumpRope accounts must be set up using the verified email in NYCSA. Over 700 Beacon families do not have a verified email in NYCSA so those emails must be verified before we can set up a parent/guardian JumpRope account.
If you DO NOT get an invite on Jan. 30 to activate a JumpRope Parent Portal account, you either do not yet have a NYCSA account or your email in NYCSA is not yet verified.
Please follow the step-by-step directions HERE to ensure your NYCSA account is active and to verify it’s using your preferred email address. Beacon will send another round of invites to those who verify their NYCSA emails later this week!
Teachers are expected to use JumpRope for period attendance right away so parents/guardians will be able to see student attendance in every class every day in real time.
FEB. 5, 2023 UPDATE FROM PRINCIPAL BRADY
Students have received welcome emails to their Beacon emails to activate their JumpRope accounts. Some have had difficulty logging in and it seems the likely cause is that they are trying to log in on a device that is connected to a non-Beacon email. If a student gets an error message, they likely have to change the gmail on their phone, tablet or laptop to the Beacon email to activate their account.
Some families also did not receive a welcome email and one of the reasons is that parents/guardians with students in more than one school that uses JumpRope cannot use the same email for both the Beacon JumpRope and the other school’s JumpRope account. If this is the case for you, please email me with a different email that we can use to set up your Beacon JumpRope Family Portal account and include your student’s name and OSIS#.
Attendance in JumpRope is taken by classroom teachers in real time, so if a parent/guardian sends an email excusing an absence, it may take a few days to correct absences in JumpRope to excused. Students who are absent for any reason are still responsible for the school work, so they are expected to complete and submit the work. Grades are not based on attendance.
FEB. 12, 2023 UPDATE FROM PRINCIPAL BRADY
We continue to expand the use of JumpRope at Beacon. It is in use for class attendance and each period is visible in real-time to students, staff and parents/guardians.
It is not required that teachers use it for posting grades as they maintain their own gradebooks which is their contractual obligation, but we are supporting teachers in increasingly adopting JumpRope as a gradebook and grade communication tool. Many teachers continue to use Google Classroom and provide access for parents/guardians to view gradebook info. And while we encourage families to log in as needed to view attendance and grade information, we also continue to expect teachers to use the Tuesday Parent Engagement time to conduct outreach with families.
Questions from parents/guardians:
Q: Is JumpRope a standards-based grade book based on the Common Core Standards?
A: The version of JumpRope that we adopted mid-year this year is a hybrid version that allows for Standards-Based Grading, traditional assignment-based grading, and a hybrid version. Teachers select the version they want to use for the Spring Term.
Q: Does Beacon, a consortium school, follow Common Core Standards? A: Not necessarily. Some content areas use Common Core standards, some use other identified standards and some use teacher-designed standards aligned to the PBA rubric.
Q: Will JumpRope reflect IEP students’ daily or weekly progress? i.e. what element of the unit does my student not understand?
A: JumpRope has that capacity, yes. Teachers are adopting JumpRope as a grade tool voluntarily this spring.
Q: Will the Special Education teachers be aware of student progress so parents can support their students by getting information on the unit being taught and details on exactly what a student is struggling with and what particular element in the unit is challenging?
A: Co-teachers and case managers have access to that information whether it is on JumpRope, Google Classroom or via indirect SETSS conversations.
Q: Who do we contact if we are having problems activating JumpRope? A: • If you are a student who is having trouble activating your JumpRope account, make sure your device is using your Beacon email. Phone settings identify a primary email that may not be your Beacon email. You’ll need to switch to your Beacon email to activate JumpRope.
• If you are a parent/guardian who is having trouble activating your JumpRope account, or if you did not receive a welcome email, reach out to me (bsmith@beaconschool.org) or Ms. Greene (egreene@beaconschool.org) for assistance.
MARCH 19, 2023 UPDATE FROM PRINCIPAL BRADY
A reminder that all students must show their JumpRope schedule to exit the building for early dismissal. According to our wonderful lobby staff, most of the students agree to show their JumpRope schedule, but some students get upset and refuse to do it. This is an expectation for all students who want to exercise the privilege of early dismissal, an attendance issue as we need to confirm that any student exiting has a free period, and an issue of respect for all community members. Please show your JumpRope schedule when asked and with respect.
Also, I re-sent JumpRope Welcome emails on Thursday 3/16 to all JumpRope Family accounts that have not yet been activated!
Attendance note: Official DOE Student Attendance is recorded on the DOE system ATS. Unfortunately, ATS and JumpRope do not sync. So while excused absences are noted by our Attendance Team and reflected in ATS, they may not show as excused in JumpRope. We have worked out a system whereby absences excused with a note brought to the Main Office or a parent/guardian email sent to attendance@beaconschool.org will be verified and both ATS and JumpRope will show excused absences, though it may take a few days for JumpRope to be updated to show excused absences.
