Last Updated on Thursday, March 08, 2012 at 10:00 AM
“The Continuous Instructional Improvement Technology System (CIITS) will connect standards, electronically stored instructional resources, curriculum, formative assessments, instruction, professional learning and evaluation of teachers and principals in one place, thereby improving instructional outcomes, teacher effectiveness and leadership.”
--Terry Holliday, Ph.D.
Kentucky Education Commissioner
on the vision for CIITS
The Continuous Instructional Improvement Technology System, or CIITS, is a multi-phase, multi-year project designed to provide Kentucky public school educators with the resources aligned to standards which support highly effective teaching and learning in every classroom in Kentucky. CIITS went live statewide on August 1, 2011.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has recognized Kentucky for its ability to integrate 21st-century skills into policy, practice and professional development, in part, for its work on CIITS. The use of technology to improve teaching and learning across the Commonwealth reinforces educators’ use of 21st century skills. The CIITS platform facilitates this type of professional engagement among Kentucky educators.
In CIITS, teachers are able access the Kentucky Core Academic Standards in English/language arts and mathematics, the corresponding deconstructed standards/learning targets, Program of Studies, Core Content for Assessment 4.1 and directly linked, aligned, high-quality, multi-media instructional resources from KET EncycloMedia: Discovery Education and SAS Curriculum Pathways. These classroom materials are designed to engage students in learning and reinforce the standards being taught.
The system also contains Kentucky Standard for World Language Proficiency, Early Childhood Standards, Kentucky Technology Standards, ISTE National Educational Technology Standards and AASL Library Standards.
CIITS gives teachers the ability to plan, design and schedule lessons using the characteristics of highly effective teaching and learning to help teachers facilitate standards-based learning in their classrooms.
Teachers can use a test item bank with more than 11,000 standards-based questions or use their own questions to easily create, schedule and administer classroom assessments aligned to particular standards. The test analysis feature not only allows teachers to quickly know how individual students are progressing toward mastery on a particular standard or concept, but also to see where learning gaps exist. They can then work with the student and design instructional experiences to meet the individual student’s needs and adjust their instruction in support of learning – the hallmarks of formative assessment.
Through CIITS, users may access Common Core 360 -- resources and professional learning opportunities on the common core standards to help educators increase student achievement and readiness.
As a 21st-century technology platform designed to support instructional improvement, CIITS will be a continuously evolving.
Upcoming plans call for:
- Additional instructional resources -- developed by Kentucky’s Leadership Networks and national vendors
- Additional student data elements from Infinite Campus
- PLAN, EXPLORE, ACT and summative End-of-Course and K-PREP state test data will be uploaded into the system as it is available
- Later phases of the project call for the addition of a module to support teacher and leader effectiveness and professional development
Kentucky educators have access CIITS 24-hours a day, seven days a week, through any Internet-connected computer configured with a modern browser. Access to CIITS is not available to the public. However, KET EncycloMedia: Discovery Education does offer a wide variety of free family resources that provide high- quality, relevant material including Homework Help, Motivation Station and Step-by-Step WebMATH. There are also free student resources available including interactive games, videos, contests, virtual labs and activities designed to help students dive deeper into a topic —and have fun too!
Students in grades 6-12 and parents can also access SAS Curriculum Pathways materials outside of CIITS. They will need a the student user name for their school which they can find by going to the SAS Curriculum Pathways subscription webpage, clicking the Subscribe Now button, selecting the parent/student option from the pull-down menu and entering the school name and state.
CIITS Fact Sheet
CIITS launch article– Kentucky Teacher (August 2011)