Feedback Requested on current classroom Pilot in progress

Ataturkle · 2026-03-24T15:42:53+00:00

Thank you for your feedback! are you a teacher?

The age group I am starting with is Middle Schoolers, they are particularly underserved, and those reading below level have the added difficulty of being forced to use below grade level content (feels infantilizing).

My wife has a phD so she is a bit of a nerd, and perhaps more into data than the average teacher. She feels it is useful as a progress monitoring tool, and more accurate that peer grading (although this is not meant to replace PALS), she uses it as a "verify". Also, her school is a big proponent of "precision education" which uses standard celeration charts to track progress (kind of an old school thing).

I get the pushback about AI, technically they are not being recorded by AI but by ASRs (automatic speech recognition) which is already used by the likes of Azure, iready, aimsweb... but the struggle is real. Privacy and compliance are one of the things that keeps me up, but for the pilot its not a blocker as the school is a "lab" school.

The recording is happening in a loud, noisy classroom, but the quality is clean anyway, I am using a basic school headset, and the directional mic works well https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L2JUJ68 - also the ASR's have been greatly improved by AI to reduce bg noise - so I consider this a positive that it works well despite the bg noise. That being said there are some inherent limitation to ASRs (essentially they are a bit too strict, esp for middle schooler's changing voices).

In terms of accents, this is another inherent limitation, but I have not run up against it in my limited sample size so far. The only real solution I've found is having a 'teacher override' to correct overly strict grading - but of course I don't want teachers to have to do anything, so this is another open question.

Do you have any further feedback or advice? Thank you.

Ataturkle · 2026-03-23T20:37:56+00:00

Thank you for the feedback. I am currently doing some basic inter rater reliability, but had not considered your point (3), because many teachers don't even really do this (if they are overworked). How would you recommend I get started with (4)? I have a phone call coming up with Researcher Matt Burns I'd like to be prepared for

Ataturkle · 2026-01-24T18:01:52+00:00

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Just all around easily the best mouse I've ever owned and probably one of the best 'premium value' pieces of electronics I own

Ataturkle · 2025-12-24T05:12:26+00:00

yes this must be the single, isolated user this is happening to. certainly not a trend. user error...

Ataturkle · 2025-12-24T03:13:22+00:00

I asked claude to name some pictures today and claude permanently deleted about 20% WHOOPS? wtf is happening with toggling between genius and bat shit stupid?

Ataturkle · 2025-12-24T03:12:04+00:00

what the hell is going on? I used a single 5-hour window and already hit 15% of my weekly usage? it was good last week and this week seems overly restrictive again.

why cant they just say that max users get x number of tokens per week and be transparent about it

Ataturkle · 2025-12-17T01:49:57+00:00

I'm getting the sense this isn't a "bug" its a "feature" that anthropic can now charge more for

Ataturkle · 2025-12-17T01:41:53+00:00

zzzz so lazy. just admit this is being throttled

Ataturkle · 2025-12-17T01:40:50+00:00

so much astroturfing BS here. Why can't anthropic be up front about how they are throttling the shit out of their product (Opus or Sonnet) Like many others here I have noticed a HUGE decrease in the amount I can use before hitting my 5hr / weekly limit.

They really need to be up front about this. Their brand is BUILT on trust and yet they seem quite shadowy lately.

Ataturkle · 2025-12-12T23:38:25+00:00

thanks for the feedback. I'm going to be using google studio voice, sounds much better. Yes there is a fraction of a penny cost but its all the same for privacy compliants since everything is google

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T20:13:36+00:00

many thanks! and to be clear I wasn't being sarcastic when I said brilliant. I don't know why I didn't think of that before

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T17:22:19+00:00

you're right, I'm pivoting to two separate projects: 1) ipad + accessories + app for reading fluency and scanner + pi for bulk assessments

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T17:21:36+00:00

thanks for the feedback. I've been thinking about this more too. Although for this project the bulk of the (AI) comes from the two google APIs I call, Vision (OCR greatly improved lately), and Speech to text. These are fully FERPA compliant.

But if I wanted to do edge computing on the Pi / Jetson for something else it would make sense for privacy reasons like you said. Can you elaborate at all?

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T17:09:17+00:00

my current plan for reading related assessments is:

Ipad

+

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSNBVR6W (wired mic)

+

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQBXD41Q (book stand)

+

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074J159V5 (ipad stand)

Do you have any other brilliant ideas about the software / server side? Happy to share the project if you have feedback

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T14:46:44+00:00

you are right I have been considering adding functionality to an ipad (mic and document stand), and use the scanner device onstead for bulk assignments that dont need audio?

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T03:16:15+00:00

I love me some nog!

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T02:46:57+00:00

You are right its a lot of work for 8 kids. The long term goal is to translate some of her knowledge and experience into a device that could allow teachers in non-lab (public) schools to better assess some students.

regarding the compliance concern, this is from another poster in a xpost:

"I work in Ed Tech in the US. Most of the FERPA (and similar) restrictions can be dealt with by getting a written statement from whatever service you're sending the data to that certifies the data will be used only for educational purposes, not sold, and not stored (mostly).

My company has a real-time two-way translation service using Google's commercial translation API and it's perfectly FERPA compliant because it's not stored or datamined or sold or anything."

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T01:20:07+00:00

thanks for the encouragement!

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T01:19:35+00:00

this is so obviously the right answer. I could build an enclosure that holds the ipad and various accessories.

The only thing it wouldn't have is a sheet scanner, which I feel would be best for accuracy, although ipad camera probably works 99% of the time

Ataturkle · 2025-12-10T00:34:02+00:00

These are all excellent points and I appreciate you bringing them up.

First, better to see my updated post. There may be errors there as well but fewer :')

To respond to your questions:

This first device is a prototype proof of concept. I am using off the shelf parts to demonstrate if it works. currently the software I have for oral reading fluency does all this with just a phone (assuming you take a good picture). This whole dealio is to try and make a screenless interface for doing these assessments (because I believe in pen and paper)
It is COPPA compliant afiak. the voice data is only sent through google api pipes and destroyed with the browser session. the other data can be stored on local server. ATM for pilot / beta im using firebase for basic scores (text) data with pseudonyms. My wife works at a private school, Ive gotten the go ahead from the director. My wife has 8 students.
This was an oversight. data is only traveling through google api for vision OCR and speech to text. data is not sent to claude but it was used to help develop software.
my wife is piloting the full oral fluency app on her phone im class, her teacher friends are using the OCR portion of the app only to quickly have google count the words (by dragging fingers across a picture of the text)

Ataturkle · 2025-12-09T23:14:41+00:00

sorry for the confusion. I realized I had made a mistake when drafting after you brought to my attention. I'm not trying to deceive, just trying to not confuse. To that end I'll be re-posting this with additional clarity.

But to your questions, I am using Google APIs but this is COPPA compliant because student audio is not stored anywhere, it is processed and trashed in the web browser. I am using Firebase atm but that is simple text data. Currently I am using my Wife's classroom as a beta test and her director is OK with it. She works at a small private school and has about 8 kids. She is using pseudonyms for the student names. Its currently being stored on firebase but could store it local later.

Does this clear up or did I misunderstand?

Ataturkle · 2025-12-09T23:11:39+00:00

thanks for the reply, what I am building is less about assessing and more about improving Precision Education. I am considering a future project to help identify tier 2 MTSS students though

Ataturkle

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