New student data program to be rolled out from K-10 as teachers voice concerns

THE controversial new tool teachers say constantly crashes and takes “endless hours” will be rolled out across for students in NSW between kindergarten and Year 10 by next year.

A NEW literacy tool teachers claim is so arduous it is forcing them out of the classroom to do data entry will be rolled out across NSW for all students between kindergarten and Year 10 by next year, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

It comes as frontline teachers slam the program for taking “endless hours” to complete, constantly crashing and being totally unreliable.

The PLAN2 program asks teachers to rate each of their students on more than 1000 criteria called “learning progressions” in an online questionnaire.

A screen grab from PLAN2 software shows detail on the ALAN program.

Teachers mark if a student has met, not met or is “working towards” each progression.

The system is already in use in 661 schools for K-2 students and teachers are being told to fill out the questionnaire every five weeks.

But educators say entering the data takes so much time they are being forced to cut back on classroom teaching time.

The NSW Education Department website says by Term 1, 2019, “all schools are encouraged to start using the learning progressions and PLAN2” from kindergarten to Year 10.

But teachers already using the PLAN2 have panned it.

“We are experiencing difficulties with the program as it keeps freezing and entered work has not saved,” Yagoona Public School principal Meaghan Wilson wrote in the school newsletter last term.

Yagoona Public School principal Meaghan Wilson said the program had not saved work and kept freezing.

One teacher posted: “The doe data system that manages this (PLAN2) doesn’t work properly (and sometimes not at all); unreliable, won’t save, forgets to update, can’t handle student mobility ... all schools mandated before the end of the year, supposedly.”

Another said: “It is so tedious!!! It’s hard not to make it a checklist … there are so many points to cover ... It’s really time consuming as well. Entering the PLAN2 data takes DAYS.”

Another teacher added: “The struggle of entering #PLAN2 data for endless hours and logging back in to find NOTHING was saved!”

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The Daily Telegraph was told this week that at least one school has hired relief teachers so staff could catch up on data entry.

The “learning progressions” teachers are asked to rank students on include “uses appropriate personal greetings” and “expresses feelings and needs” as well literacy and numeracy indicators.

NSW Primary Principals Association president Phil Seymour said it supported the move to the progressions but added: “Initial schools have identified the need for additional time for teachers to get accustomed to the modified PLAN2 software and to develop strategies and procedures for easier usage.”

An Education Department spokesman defended the program­.

“The department is investing $65 million annually in Instructional Leaders in schools who lead and support staff in professional learning and the effective use of data to inform teaching,” he said.