In April 2018, McGraw-Hill Education (the owners of Engrade) notified DSST that Engrade will no longer be available after June 30, 2019. As a result, we have begun the process to identify a replacement to Engrade and implement it by the start of the 2019-2020 school year.
We expect Engrade to continue to function normally through June 30, 2019. Tri 3 IAs/Finals this year and all IAs/Finals for the 18-19 school year will continue in Engrade as planned. Teachers will be able to use Engrade for everything they use it for now through the entirety of next school year, including classroom assessments. The Home Office will continue to fully support Engrade throughout the next school year. We expect Engrade to continue to address bugs and reliability issues, but we do not expect them to implement any new features from now until its end-of-life.
It is critical that teachers' and school leaders' voices are a central part of the selection of a replacement for Engrade. For that reason, we're convening a Selection Committee to guide the selection process. The Committee will play a key role in evaluating available options and ensuring that the new tool is the best option in terms of meeting the needs of teachers, students, and school leaders. Time commitments will be minimal, and participants will have the opportunity to begin a pilot with the new tool during Trimester 2 of the 18-19 school year. If you are interested in participating, please review this brief document with additional information, and fill out this quick interest form by EoD 5/18/18.
We’re excited by the opportunities this transition may bring, but understand that change on this scale is rarely easy, particularly with a tool that is so central to our day-to-day work. Thank you for your flexibility and understanding throughout this process. We know that there are many questions to be answered and have started to record answers in this FAQ document. You can already find answers to questions such as, “Will Polaris Dashboards work with the new tool?” and, “How will I get my tests out of Engrade?” As new questions come in, we will continue to update this FAQ document. If you have any additional questions or concerns please email blake.gould@scienceandtech.org.
