Design Partners

A multidisciplinary team of professionals at the Center for Urban School Improvement at the University of Chicago designed CCMS. This team collaboration includes a clinical psychologist, a learning scientist, a visualization designer, and an external computer programmer. The design of CCMS is grounded in the problems of practice of school professionals. Its core features are based on extended participatory observations of social support activities in schools, as well as interviews with school staff. We released the initial version of the system to two University of Chicago charter schools in the fall of 2005 to better understand its use within the school context. This field test has been coupled with extensive professional development and technical support for the end-user. Our team is continuing to monitor this piloting process so that the knowledge we gain can assist us in future tool refinement.

Contact
, Center for Urban School Improvement, University of Chicago.