ActiveGrade has been a favorite among practitioners of Standards-Based Assessment. It's intuitive interface and elegant data displays helped teachers, students, and parents have meaningful conversations about student progress and assessment. For as little as $60.00 a year, teachers could tap into this powerful intructional tool. Much to the dismay of ActiveGrade's loyal customer base, it was announced the program they loved would be phased out - as ActiveGrade was acquired by Haiku Learning. Many of my colleagues were distressed over the changes being made to their beloved gradebook. I was less invested in the change because I had not been and ActiveGrade subscriber. This summer I decided to investigate what the program had to offer. The first thing I was shocked to find was that Haiku was making the Standards-Based gradebook (essentially the ActiveGrade program) free to teachers for up to five classes. (Pricing for teachers with up to seven classes is $4.95/month). While the SBG gradebook features are slightly different than the ActiveGrade program, it is still a great option for those of us searching for a way to transition from traditional grading. Aside from the gradebook feature, Haiku is a beautuiful Learning Management System. I can easily organize files, links, and disseminate information for my classes. Haiku is completely customiziable and responsive. I can choose from prexisting themes or create my own. My students can access the page from a laptop or mobile device and it looks great across all platforms.
I'm very excited to learn the ins and outs of Haiku this school year. Is anyone currently using Haiku or ActiveGrade? What are you thoughts?
Learn more about Haiku at www.haikulearning.com.