Silverback Learning Solutions
Measuring and Assessing Competencies

“If you measure it, it will improve.” This well-known saying from the engineering domain applies to the core of the education realm as well. If the educators could measure a student’s competence, they can change teachers’ instruction methodology and customize the school’s curriculum to help their pupils grow exponentially. Silverback Learning Solutions, a pioneer in the education industry, has converted this theoretical instance into actual practice with its suite of assessment tools. “We assess where the student is academically, where the teachers and schools are professionally, imparting innovation to the education system,” states Joe Wallace, CEO of Silverback.

With its array of digital assessment tools, Silverback engages students, teachers, and administrators in examining their progress. One of the elements in the array is edifyAssess, a comprehensive cloud-based enterprise platform that manages every aspect of a district or a school’s assessment program – from questionnaire creation to sophisticated data analytics of student responses. As the product is secure, scalable, and device-independent, it can be used for regular formative classroom assessments as well as for large-scale district-wide assessments.

Likewise, for the professional growth of the educators, Silverback offers Teacher Vitae, a professional evaluation and observation platform. It works with the existing framework of a district or school to make it reach instructional effectiveness. The cloud-based platform allows teachers and coaches to easily share effective instructional practices with fellow educators and the professional learning community (PLC) teams.

Mileposts - an analytical interface is the third product in the suite of Silverback’s solutions that helps stimulate students’-growth by collecting their insights and behavioral interventions, thus driving better decisions on student learning and placements. As a key-differentiating factor, the platform invites the parents to be part of their child’s educational journey, empowering them to view learning plans and assessment scores.

When it comes to implementing its solutions, Silverback provides hands-on training for navigation of the platform and relevant administration instructions specific to every school. This procedure is carried out within two-three days of installation of the company’s solution portfolio.

We assess where the student is academically, where the teachers and schools are professionally, imparting innovation to the education system

Owing to the current COVID-19 scenario, the students were away from school for around six months. This gap quite predictably created a log in their knowledge. To address this issue, Silverback introduced its Comeback Assessments to evaluate students based on their previous grade’s curriculum so that the educators could understand their proficiency, make them relearn, and then customize the curriculum further.

Recalling one of Silverback’s success stories, Wallace elaborates on how people were leaving the Blackfoot School District and trying to get their kids into other districts because they did not find their children growing, compared to those from other districts. To stop the residents from migrating, the district needed student achievement gains on state assessments. To achieve desired results, the Blackfoot District sought the assistance of Silverback. Based on data from Mileposts and edifyAssess, the teachers focused on higher-level standards of instruction, identified and addressed skill deficits. The outcomes, when they surfaced, were outstanding. On Idaho’s Reading Indicator (IRI), Kindergarten students’ results increased by 108 percent while 1st grade’s results increased by 100 percent. The students outpaced the state in 11 out of 14 areas of growth, and the district achieved its highest scores ever on the Math ISAT from 3rd to 7th grades.

After scripting numerous such success stories and equipping itself with a collaborative and open culture, Silverback is working on customizing its products based on client requests and industry changes to help the education domain deliver extraordinary outcomes. The company is also working with established partners in the education field to extend its reach and demonstrate its success. “Our vision is to expand assessment and apply it in the students’ journey,” concludes Wallace.