The SPARCC office offers a wide range of services to school districts in Ohio. Included below is a listing of some of the areas of support provided:
- Did you know that SPARCC serves over 85,000 students in 23 Local School Districts, 8 City School Districts, 3 Exempted Village School Districts, 2 Education Service Centers, 7 Charter Schools and 15 Non-Public Schools?
- Did you know that SPARCC changed its status in 2001 under the E-Rate program enabling member districts to receive greater discounts on Internet Services fees? Since 2001 until the present, the member districts have received more than $7,000,000 in discounts.
- Did you know that SPARCC has an employee designated as a Value Added Leader in the state of Ohio? The SPARCC office assists school districts in the interpretation of the value added data which is used extensively in teacher and principal evaluations and school report cards.
- Did you know that SPARCC has an employee who has knowledge and experience with Geographical Information Systems? The SPARCC office assists school districts with the analysis of the GIS data which in turn helps school districts understand district boundaries, voter analysis, bus routing options and other related areas.
- Did you know that SPARCC offers software which enables teachers and school administrators to analyze results of over 200 different assessments and link these assessments to different intervention strategies? The TestingWerks software is hosted in the SPARCC office and contains data from a myriad of tests. This assessment data can be used to evaluate the value of various intervention strategies.
- Did you know that SPARCC receives voter data from various county agencies and assists districts with the analysis of this data? SPARCC receives voter information from Portage and Stark County government offices and assists school districts in analyzing this data so that they can make informed decisions.
- Did you know that SPARCC employees work with Student Tracker to provide information to school districts regarding college enrollment? The information returned to the district provides them valuable information about college readiness and student success after graduation.
- Did you know that SPARCC has a Google Certified Teacher and Google Apps Trainer on staff? This certification illustrates our ability to provide support for a resource that a growing number of school districts are using. Training in Google Sites, Google+, Google Apps, Google Docs and Google Forms has been and will continue to be offered to the member districts.
- Did you know that a SPARCC employee serves on the Board of Directors of the Ohio Association of Certified EMIS Professionals? This agency serves as the focal point of discussion regarding EMIS reporting requirements.
- Did you know that a SPARCC employee serves on the Board of Directors of the INFOhio office? The INFOhio office is a recognized leader in the state for the delivery of electronic resources and library automation support.
- Did you know that SPARCC has a data repository which contains student data from the past 8 years? This data repository is unique in the Ohio Computer Network and was created and is maintained by SPARCC employees.
- Did you know that SPARCC has a technology integration team which works with teachers and school administrators to improve instruction through the use of technology? A highlight of their efforts is the annual Education Technology Conference which brings hundreds of educators together to share strategies and solutions.
- Did you know that SPARCC offers an online safety and violence prevention course which enables teachers and school administrators to meet professional development requirements? This course has been offered for 5 years and thousands of educators have participated in this free professional development opportunity.
- Did you know that SPARCC supports online and blended learning initiatives in multiple school districts?
- Did you know that SPARCC offers a VoIP telephony service to member school districts? Approximately 850 telephones are supported by this service in 3 school districts and 2 Education Service Centers. A centralized Call Manager software system is used to manage the system enabling district employees to maintain their phones with the support of SPARCC employees.
- Did you know that SPARCC offers a wireless access point management service to member school districts? Approximately 500 wireless access points are supported by this service in 3 school districts and 1 Education Service Center. A centralized software system is used to manage the system enabling district employees to maintain their wireless networks with the support of SPARCC employees.
- Did you know that SPARCC offers a document management service to member school districts? Currently, 10 school districts and 1 Education Service Center store documents in a secure server hosted by the SPARCC office.
- Did you know that SPARCC offers extended EMIS Coordination service to member school districts? Currently, SPARCC employees serve as EMIS Coordinators for 4 member school districts.
- Did you know that SPARCC offers extended technology support service to member school districts? Currently, a team of SPARCC employees provides technology support in 7 member school districts.
- Did you know that SPARCC offers remote backup service to member school districts? This service enables the school districts to securely transfer their valuable files to a remote data center. The remote data center archives the files and makes them available for restoration to the districts on demand.
- Did you know that SPARCC offers support for two different gradebook software packages? SPARCC supports both the Pinnacle Gradebook and ProgressBook Gradebook software products. This enables the school district to select the package that best meets their needs.
- Did you know that SPARCC trains classroom teachers and other educators to use INFOhio resources effectively and helps them to integrate these resources into their classrooms? This free service is provided by SPARCC employees with financial support provided by the INFOhio office.
- Did you know that SPARCC arranges group purchases enabling its member districts to purchase more materials and resources at a lower cost? A wide range of products and services have been purchased resulting in discounts up to 70% off the usual and customary price.
- Did you know that SPARCC trains classroom teachers and other educators to evaluate online courses and provides training to become an online instructor? The SPARCC office was the lead in a Quality Matters grant which trained teachers to evaluate online educational material. In addition, SPARCC offers a free online course to teachers so that they can become online instructors.