Mac Makes The Grade Easy For Teachers.

As a teacher I look for tools that help me handle class management and increase efficiency and productivity of non-classroom time.

In my school Easy Grade Pro is the gradebook of choice for teachers using Mac and Windows.

My choice for daily use and teaching is the Mac. Why? Mac users will sing a similar song. Mac OS X doesn’t get in the way. It works.

The same isn’t always the case for Windows, which often requires more administration, hand-holding, maintenance, and plenty of time to “figure it out.”

Our school is multi-platform, and that’s the way it should be. We have plenty of Macs, many PCs running Windows, and a few Linux servers here and there.

Most teachers prefer using the Mac for all the reasons above and more. Another reason is the rich list of applications, Mac specific, and cross platform, which help us do our job.

One such is Easy Grade Pro. It’s a gradebook that stores student information and gives teachers a bundle of tools that help us save time.

There are basic aspects of a teacher’s day-to-day job that are the same; classroom time is most valuable, processing time needs to be efficient, fast, productive.

Easy Grade Pro is one of a number of tools we use to reduce processing time, yet add quality and detail to the process.

First on the list is the Gradebook. Classes and subjects and charts: score, attendance, seating, student, assignment, and more.

Student Features contains information for as many as 1,000 students in a class, and holds records for each; name, ID, gender, language, email, and user defined fields.

Grading Features allow as many as 1,000 assignments and grade scales with letters, words, numbers, and score categories, including weighted and unweighted.

Most of us need reports from all the data we enter into our applications, and Easy Grade Pro makes that part of life a pleasant surprise. Information can be pulleed from multiple classes, different teachers, differing subjects, and printed in English, Spanish and so on.

Gradebook documents can be placed on a network server and opened by a teacher using the application on another computer, Mac or Windows.

No 21st century application is fully complete without eye candy. Easy Grade Pro provides different levels of charts for select data, with over 100 standards for each class, and up to 10 standards linked to any single assignment.

Efficiency? Yes. Reports can be emailed to students, parents, guardians, and school administrators. A log keeps track of what was sent and to whom.

Student reports can be placed online as HTML web site reports, either via the school’s server or an ISP’s server.

As a private school, we have access to a number of online applications and desktop utilities that reduce processing time while enhancing the overall capability of information collected.

Easy Grade Pro is one of many teaching utilities that I use and recommend.

That’s the view from a teacher. How about tools for your kids in school? Check out this review on a good way for kids to manage their homework in the 21st century.

Do you kids have special tools that they use in school? Share your knowledge and experience in the Comments section below.