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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Aligned·By·Design Initiative?
The Aligned·By·Design Initiative was formed to promote awareness and adoption of the
Aligned·By·Design model. This model is innovative, knowledge-centric, and is based on principles of the proven quality model. The Initiative is the first step in forming an institute that organizes, develops and hosts a nationally shared knowledge library for all
A·B·D users to connect to for linking and reference. SundRy Education is committed to supporting the Initiative by providing the
Aligned·By·Design system for hosting and technical support. For more information, please visit www.AlignedByDesign.org
Will Aligned·By·Design work with the Common Core State Standards?
The Aligned·By·Design system will work with any content standards because it is a content-independent application. It provides the tools and library repositories and accepts any type of standard. And for Common Core State Standards,
Aligned·By·Design is highly suited to state level use where those new standards will need to be compared to existing standards and the exact differences determined. Following that comparison,
Aligned·By·Design supports the build-out of the new Common Core State Standards, which are estimated to represent
about 85% of the total needed.
Aligned·By·Design provides complete support for creating, editing, saving, versioning and distribution of standards – all with references to a common knowledge and skills library for use downstream for classroom curriculum development and assessment development.
Does Aligned·By·Design support the Race to the Top competition?
Aligned·By·Design totally
supports for the Race to the Top, and is a complete solution that qualifies
under all five (5) of the Race's criteria. That’s because
Aligned·By·Design is a complete end-to-end mission support system for education. It naturally covers the
Race to the Top criteria because they are integral components of the education system. Unlike other applications with narrow functional purpose, including applications and projects specifically defined to capture Race to the Top funding,
Aligned·By·Design covers the designated elements as part of an integrated system - the Race to the Top funding could have identified any area of the education mission process and
Aligned·By·Design would have been applicable. For more information on how Aligned·By·Design
supports Race to the Top criteria, click here: Race
to the Top
What equipment is needed to use Aligned·By·Design?
The Aligned·By·Design system is a web based application. Users only need a personal computer with a browser and Internet access to use all the system features. Any brand of PC with any operating system, and running a standards based browser will work.
Aligned·By·Design is an information rich application and for best viewing, a display screen 1280 pixels wide or higher is recommended.
Will my information be secure and private?
The Aligned·By·Design system is highly secure and protects both the personal information of users and their data. Access to the information requires secure authentication and all information is transferred to your screen using encryption just like the online banks use. Users decide who can see library files for review, collaboration or sharing. Selections can be made at the individual user level or for all members of a specific group. Each access selection includes specific access privileges like “read only”. The
Aligned·By·Design system protects your information while allowing users of your choice to work together and share information.
How much training is needed?
The Aligned·By·Design system was designed to be intuitive and uses familiar terminology for labeling. The use of difficult-to-interpret application-specific icons was completely avoided in favor of descriptive labels.
Hovering over an object will produce a tool tip for instant help, and there are no hidden action buttons to discover by “clicking around”. Each screen's
function is self evident. As with any well designed application, most users will be productive without formal classroom training. The system comes with an online User’s Guide, help functions, and tutorials.
Can I use Aligned·By·Design with my current Units and Lesson Plans?
Aligned·By·Design is purposely designed to
easily load your existing materials, which yields immediate benefits of
organizing, sharing, collaboration, updating, and tracking performance. Using your existing materials as a baseline,
Aligned·By·Design assists you in managing and improving them, and guides you in evolving them into perfect alignment with standards and assessments
by using knowledge and skill references.
Does it make sense to use Aligned·By·Design even if my State has not yet adopted it?
The Aligned·By·Design was specifically designed to support classroom activities – the teacher’s workplace. The system totally supports the teacher, from developing classroom curriculum with unit plans, lesson plans and activities, to tracking individual student progress, identifying student proficiencies,
and designing individual teaching plans. And when groups of teachers use the system, there
are efficiencies from sharing and synergies from collaboration. You can decide what to share and who can see your materials.
Aligned·By·Design fully supports the teacher in carrying out the education mission – the transfer of knowledge and skills to students.
If and when your school, district or state later adopts
Aligned·By·Design for common use, your work will already be in
Aligned·By·Design and you’ll be ahead of the field.
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