Guest Posted March 21, 2013 Posted March 21, 2013 Hi, I am an early years teacher and my school are thinking of purchasing the target tracker software for early years. Does anyone use it already? If so, how do you find it? Thanks :-)
SueFinanceManager Posted March 21, 2013 Posted March 21, 2013 Hi Welcome to the forum and congrats on making your first post So that you can get a wider audience and so hopefully a broader range of feedback I have moved your post into the national forum area. Best wishes, Sue Admin Team
AnonyMouse_3307 Posted March 21, 2013 Posted March 21, 2013 I know that you have to click EVERY SINGLE DEVELOPMENT MATTERS STATEMENT before it will allow you to make a judgement. I rather feel that in this instance the machine makes the judgement not the practitioner. teachers who I know have to use it generally say it is time consuming.
Guest Posted March 21, 2013 Posted March 21, 2013 Our DH and assessment coordinator did some research last year and found that two companies offered what we were looking for. I believe that Target Tracker was one (the cheaper of the two) and School Pupil Tracker Online (SPTO) was another. We went with the SPTO and I love it - it tells us so much - you may be able to trial it. Would be best to see what is around to meet your needs.
AnonyMouse_44055 Posted March 21, 2013 Posted March 21, 2013 We use it in our school from Nursery to year 2 (we are an infant school) We use it to track as we can then produce the sorts of data \ graphs etc... that can be useful to illustrate progress \ attainment etc... to Mr O. I use Early Years Target Tracker which is more time consuming than the KS1 version however once you get used to using it I find it a useful tool. We do not use the "Evidence" functions, we keep our LJs as paper copies and see no need to upload things to target tracker, instead we input data three times a year which then gives me the opportunity to pull off information for my cohort in one relatively simple step to show how much progress has been made between terms either for individual children or groups of children. I can use the planner section to view any given statement and view which children have not begun to work on it, which children are secure and (if you were to use the Working on function which I don't) which children were in the middle of working on it. Handy if you are planning specific activities and want to know who you have listed as being secure at what. Obviously I have that info in their individual assessments and all the key people know their children well but I personally like that at the touch of a button I can recall that information. It isn't quick to do but there are short cuts. Catma mentions having to click on each statement - there is a function to set all statements in a particular age band as secure, or all statements up to a specific age band. As for having to click them all before you make a judgement - I don't make a judgement on there - I use my observations to identify DM statements which they are secure on and this will naturally show where they are as a best fit. Overall, although any programme that involves data input can be time consuming I do really value it as a tool for dealing with difficult to please inspectors and more importantly it makes my life easier when I am planning or identifying some priority areas which we need to focus on. Mel x
AnonyMouse_5664 Posted March 21, 2013 Posted March 21, 2013 In addition, the new updated target tracker has lots more useful reports. It records progress withing an age and stage in a report, as well as showing you children working below, at and above age related in all the areas. Given that we have to do something, as you said, once you get used to it, it really is ok. And you can use it to pull off data reports to keep the ofsted wolves from your door!
AnonyMouse_13789 Posted March 22, 2013 Posted March 22, 2013 I currently use target tracker and it's fine. I think all electronic assessment tools are time consuming but you have to weigh up the pros and cons and in a school setting graphs and tables are what we need to show and its great for that. However I am currently looking into 2build a profile by 2simple software. Want to cut down paper work and electronic learning journeys seems a good way forward. If 2build a profile does graphs and data analysis too then it's a no brainier, I'm moving to it cos what I've seen looks fab
Guest Posted March 23, 2013 Posted March 23, 2013 Welcome to the forum! i currently use Target Tracker and think it's fantastic! i use it to store all my evidence, the photographs upload straight to the DM statement. you can put comments/observations on it; It also produces reports of chn. i find that it cuts down on so much paper work!! I've also seen the 2build a profile by 2simple and think that also looks really good! The only issue i have with target tracker is that there is not currently a 'cloud' system. so you have to save your data on to a memory stick and put it on to each computer you use. but it is in the development stages of producing a 'cloud' so it will automatically update any computer that has your class on it (if that makes sense...) J
Guest Posted March 28, 2013 Posted March 28, 2013 Target tracker was being used from ks1 onwards in my school so at the start of the year when things seemed so up in the air it was an easy decision to buy in EYFS target tracker. I went to the training and thought it was going to be amazing but I have to say having just updated the data both me and my head ( formally from Essex where target tracker is used extensively and she loves it) have said that we aren't particularly impressed so far. It has been very time consuming to keep it up to date and I cannot seem to get the info I want easily and neither can she. I always used to show parents at parents evening an a3 highlighted sheet showing the 6 areas and profile points and talk through their progress so far and next steps. This year I hoped target tracker could give me a similar thing ie a summary of each child 1 child per page but we couldnt find anything. I would have had to print 7 pages per child and that would have over faced many of our parents. county are now saying that if they had the choice that schools should be using iprofile as it is the best system they have seen but at the start of the year it wasn't ready yet. I don't use target tracker for storing evidence, I honestly would be spending the whole day on target tracker uploading evidence rather than teaching! Deb
AnonyMouse_5169 Posted March 30, 2013 Posted March 30, 2013 As a school we use target tracker and have used the EYFS in our reception classes. Using the new version now and getting used to it. I dont find it any more time consuming than other methods and it is good to be able to produce graphs, charts and reports easily for SMT, asessment co-ordinator, governors etc. Also the parent reports have been great in the past and seem just as good now. i dont input evidence and photos as we use the 2Simple - build a profile on ipads which has been a very valuable addition to our assessment and evidence, its brilliant.
AnonyMouse_13789 Posted March 30, 2013 Posted March 30, 2013 As a school we use target tracker and have used the EYFS in our reception classes. Using the new version now and getting used to it. I dont find it any more time consuming than other methods and it is good to be able to produce graphs, charts and reports easily for SMT, asessment co-ordinator, governors etc. Also the parent reports have been great in the past and seem just as good now. i dont input evidence and photos as we use the 2Simple - build a profile on ipads which has been a very valuable addition to our assessment and evidence, its brilliant. Does 2build a profile have any assessment/analysis stuff like target tracker?
AnonyMouse_2821 Posted March 31, 2013 Posted March 31, 2013 How does school pupil tracker and target tracker compare to what this site have developed?
Guest Posted April 5, 2013 Posted April 5, 2013 Thanks for all of your replies :-) I have also looked at the 2Simple software and I personally think it sounds better than Target Tracker. However, I am concerned that the programme will be making a judgement rather than myself!
AnonyMouse_13789 Posted April 6, 2013 Posted April 6, 2013 I've got the 30 day trial of 2simple. It's good but some vital parts are missing for me and the way my EYFS works. However from what I can make out, the program doesn't make the decision for you, it just tallies up all the evidence against each statement, you still make the decision whether a child has got it or not.
Guest Posted April 8, 2013 Posted April 8, 2013 Maybe I'll look into getting the free trial. Thank you Forum Inhabitant!
Guest Posted April 15, 2013 Posted April 15, 2013 Has anyone tried ORBIT? If so, would you recommend?
SueFinanceManager Posted April 16, 2013 Posted April 16, 2013 Just to muddy the waters.....don't forget we have a couple of resources available PRAMS - free to download PRAMS forum area Tapestry - Online learning journals which costs £30 plus VAT up to 60 children and £50 plus VAT up to 120 children. Tapestry forum area
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