Class Composer: The Best Solution for Student Placement

At the conclusion of every school year, elementary teachers are tasked with compiling all of the data they have on their students to compose class lists for the next grade level’s teachers. Grade level teams confer to discuss student needs, academic and behavior ratings, and numerous other factors in an attempt to expertly craft balanced rosters for the upcoming school year.  Where students are placed can have a profound impact on student achievement, behavior, and overall class dynamics. A meticulous process that can be considered an art form!

At Class Composer, we understand that teachers are the most essential educational resource. They end each year with a wealth of knowledge and insight into each and every student they’ve spent countless hours with.  We created Class Composer as a class creator alternative designed to help elementary school teachers streamline all of their data and insight into one easy-to-use resource to enable better student placement decisions.

We know you have other options when deciding on student placement software.  We thought it would be helpful to show you how our features stack up against other student placement software tools you might be considering.

Class Composer

What is Class Composer?

Class Composer is a student placement software tool designed to create equitable classes in less time. The creation of class lists for the next grade level can have a significant impact on student achievement and the overall classroom culture. Our easy-to-use online software allows teachers to streamline their data to create equitable classes that will appropriately meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of each student. In addition to providing an efficient way to manage your student distribution for the upcoming school year, Class Composer also serves as a powerful tool for day-to-day needs in the classroom, including ongoing progress monitoring, flexible grouping capabilities, and readily accessible historical data on students.

Features of Class Composer

Student Card

All student data is entered on the Student Card, which has a paper-like look and feel, a feature teachers are definitely familiar with!  Beyond just the student name and gender identification (including an option for non-binary students), the Class Composer Student Card has entries for extensive data to assist in creating equitable class distributions. When it comes to academics, there are spots for specific academic ratings, custom assessment data fields, and progress monitoring data.  There are also spots for behavior and work skills ratings, custom identifiers (such as IEP, 504, ELL, etc.), and general notes. The “Placement Request” section allows teachers to weigh in on: who the student should NOT be placed with, students they should be kept with, and recommendations to keep with a certain teacher.  All of these entries allow for better overall placement to adequately meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of all students.

Student Cell

The information on the Student Card translates into the smaller Student Cell, which helps assist in creating balanced classrooms during the overall class creation process. The Student Cell provides useful information at a glance. The color-coded cells indicate the overall academic level of each student (high, average, low, etc.), their behavior ratings, identified labels such as whether the student is an English Language Learner, and placement requests. This allows teachers to have an overall quick view of how the students have been placed when viewing an entire grade level on the Digital Data Wall to ensure equitable balancing of class lists.  This feature makes the complex process of class list creation easier than ever!

Digital Data Wall

The Class Composer Digital Data Wall is a key resource for guiding discussions when creating class placement lists. Once all the student data has been entered on the Student Cards, our algorithm automatically creates balanced class lists that are displayed on the Digital Data Wall.  From here students can be dragged and dropped into other classes to fine-tune student placement.  The intuitive data table, along with the color-coded Student Cells, makes it easy to visualize the distribution of students across multiple factors at a glance. When a student is moved the data table instantly updates.

Class List Comparison Checklist

When looking at other student placement software programs it’s helpful to consider the following questions:

• Can you get a holistic view of all the data associated with one student or are data silos being created? 
• Is it intuitive for your teachers to get started without extensive training?
• If they have a student cell like feature how much information can you gather at a glance?
• On the screen where classes are formed is it easy to compare all the classes in a grade level at a glance?
• Is the data table intuitive when trying to see if any criteria is out of balance?
• Can you use the data entered throughout the school year – not just at class creation time?
• Do they charge extra for support?
• Are they based in the United States with familiarity with the US school system?

Year-Round Value For Schools

While our goal was providing educators with a class creation alternative and simplifying the class list creation process, we are proud to offer more day-to-day value after class lists are finalized that can be beneficial during your Professional Learning Communities. Our online software includes a virtual whiteboard, student grouping capabilities, progress monitoring, and quick access to historical student records.

Class Composer: The Solution to Student Placement Your School Needs

If you’re interested in learning more about how Class Composer can help your school make better student placement decisions and provide ongoing day-to-day value in the classroom, don’t hesitate to contact us. We also offer free trials and our Sandbox allows for a quick hands-on experience in a test school with pre-filled demo student data.  Plus, at Class Composer, we don’t charge extra for support; all the technical support educators need is included.  See for yourself how simple it is to use!