While it might be fun to fantasize about every student toting a laptop or iPad to and from school, the future of printed bubble sheets in many schools is safe and secure with GradeCam. CSO and Co-Founder Rich Porter shared GradeCam at Launch Education & Kids Conference.
While optical mark readers (OMR) have certainly been around for quite some time in education, they require special pre-printed forms ($) and specialized scanners ($). Both of which are costly for schools and have limited integration with various third-party classroom or school-wide gradebook software. What CEO and Co-Founder Rob Porter did with his patented technology is eliminate the need to purchase forms or specialized scanners. Teachers can design and print answer sheets on plain paper using any printer, scan the student answer sheets with any web cam, document or laptop camera, and with a click of a button, student scores are entered immediately into any electronic gradebook.
While the GradeCam team understands that “learning is driven by what teachers and pupils do in classrooms” NOT by standardized state assessments; teachers, schools and entire districts can link questions to state standards generating standards-based reports to monitor student progress. Their technology aims to save teachers and students time, reduce assessment stress, and help improve the quality of day-to-day instruction. They turn Scantron®-like bubble answer sheets into giant QR codes for grading kids in class. Faster, easier, cheaper.
NOTE: “Scantron” is a federally-registered trademark related to computer software used for scoring tests, survey and data collection, etc. No affiliation is implied with GradeCam. However, many times the term “scantron” is generically used to refer to any scannable bubble-sheet in education. Scantron, headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota, has more than 1,100 employees located across six U.S. facilities. Scantron also has a world presence through more than 100 distributors in 70 countries. Reportedly, 15 different Ministries of Education around the world use Scantron scanning solutions for their national assessment programs. Well, at least until they convert to GradeCam.
FYI: Scantron is a subsidiary of Harland Clarke Holdings Corp., which is wholly owned by M & F Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: MFW).
UPDATE: In December of 2019, Transom Capital Group (“Transom”), an operations-focused middle market private equity firm, today announced it has acquired Scantron Corporation.
