Value Added

SPACE adds value to the work of students and teachers in a number of ways. For example, the system allows teachers to structure student activities and make expectations for student work explicit. It creates opportunities for students to review and assess each other's work. It provides easy-to-access data on student work for teachers in making instructional decisions.

Common Framework of Planning, Investigating, Synthesizing, and Publishing
SPACE offers an instructional framework of Planning, Investigating, Synthesizing, and Publishing (PISP) for teachers who practice project-based work in their classrooms. This common structure of inquiry allows teachers and students to focus on higher learning processes.

Structured Framework of Setting Expectations and Providing Feedback
Teachers using SPACE break down projects into a number of discrete milestones. These milestones are linked to student-comprehensible benchmarks, standards, rubrics and exemplars. Students can view these rubrics and exemplars and reflect on the expectations required for each step. Misconceptions about expectations can be corrected before the final assessment because students receive frequent and on time feedback from peers, mentors and teachers.

Digitized Access to Student Data Allows for Greater Student Collaboration
SPACE fundamentally changes the work practices of students, teachers, and school leaders by eliminating the latencies and paper shuffling required when collecting and responding to student work. SPACE stores all student work and feedback in a centralized database where teachers and students have immediate access. As a result, teachers have greater supervision over the progress of student work. This frequent access to information helps teachers guide their instructional practices and facilitate greater student collaboration.

Windows into the Classroom for Instructional Leaders
SPACE records all revisions of student work and feedback. These records, along with the specifications and rubrics for the assignments completed, form a detailed portrait of instruction inside the classroom. This portrait can be a powerful data-set for leaders to draw upon when giving teachers feedback on instructional practices and for teachers to come to mutual understandings of assessment practices and expectations.