About the Project
Classical Technology is a set of learning tools built by and for a Career & Technical Education technology program. It started as one thing — a digital version of a daily KenKen "Do Now" — and has grown into a small suite: adaptive KenKen and SAT practice, visual course skill maps, and a system for grading real work students do in the program's school-based enterprise. Everything is tied together by school-account sign-in so progress follows the student.
The KenKen app began because our team was making the puzzles by hand: creating them, converting to PDFs, printing, cutting, and grading 100+ a day — over 6,000 in a single year. After reviewing the results (below), we built this online version to generate and score puzzles automatically and serve them at each student's level.
The KenKen puzzle engine is a fork of the WebKenKen project by msakuta. Special thanks to Sid Challa for helping set up the Google Cloud application.
Project Objectives
- Students log in with their school accounts for verification and tracking
- A score is earned upon completing a puzzle that measures guesses, time, and difficulty
- Student scores are stored in a server-side database identified by student email
- Puzzles are served based on student ability (rank)
- Scores determine a grade relative to puzzle difficulty
What's on the Site
Everything below lives at one address and shares a single sign-in.
KenKen Puzzles
Number-logic puzzles that grow with you — the grid gets bigger and the hints fewer as your average score climbs.
Test PrepSAT English
Official-style Reading & Writing questions that adjust to the skills you're still working on.
Test PrepSAT Math
Algebra, advanced math, data analysis, and geometry — matched to your level in each area.
MeasurementRuler Game
Find a length on a ruler, fast. Eight tiers take you from whole inches with labeled marks to 1/32″ with no labels at all.
Technical DrawingProjections
Read an isometric drawing of an object built from cubes and draw its front, right side and top views — up to hidden lines and drafting alignment.
Course ToolsSkill Maps
Interactive maps of what each CTE course teaches and how those skills connect to careers.
For StudentsMy Progress
Your scores, your daily practice goals, and your progress toward course micro-credentials in one place.
For StaffTeacher Portal
Rosters, daily-practice settings, score tables, and the full Work-Based Learning assessment tools.
Research & Results
The following compares overall 9th grade PSAT growth against students in the course that used KenKen puzzles (ECS):
| Group | Overall Growth | Math Growth | Reading Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9th Grade (overall) | 25.8 | 12.6 | 13.3 |
| ECS Students | 31.9 | 16.5 | 15.4 |
The same data separated by average daily KenKen puzzle grade:
| Daily Puzzle Grade | Overall Growth | Math Growth | Reading Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| >80% | 41.7 | 20.6 | 21.1 |
| 60%–79% | 22.2 | 2.2 | 20.0 |
| <60% | 7.7 | 7.7 | 0.0 |
This data informed our student learning objectives for the 22–23 school year.
Signing In & Adapting to You
- You sign in once with your school Google account. That keeps you signed in on this device, and links your work to you so your progress is saved.
- Each practice app looks at how you've been doing recently and picks what to serve next — a KenKen puzzle at your level, an SAT question in a skill you're still building, or a Ruler Game tier with finer marks once you're fast and accurate on the current one.
- Every result is saved with the date. Your teacher sees your scores in the Teacher Portal; you see your own on the My Progress page.
- You can also use the practice apps without an account by choosing "Play Locally" — nothing is saved in that mode.
If you're in more than one class, a menu at the top of each practice app lets you choose which class you're working for, so you can complete each class's Do Now separately. Only accounts on the school's domain can save data — see the Privacy Policy below.
Full Documentation
Detailed guides — how each part of the platform works, how grading is calculated, and how to set up classes — live in the project wiki.
For teachers
- Quick Start — signing in and setting up your first class, step by step
- How Grading Works — completion and no-submission scores, absences, enrollment dates, days a section didn't meet, with worked examples
- Managing Classes & Rosters and Daily Practice & Assignments
- Work-Based Learning Guide and Importing Micro-Credentials
- The DobbsCore Extension — installing it, and pushing grades / pulling attendance
Technical
- Architecture, Database Schema, API Reference
- SAT Question Pipeline and Grading Algorithms (KenKen score, rank, activity-grade formulas)
- Work-Based Learning Internals and Deployment & Auth
Privacy Policy
Thank you for using Classical KenKen. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information. This app complies with the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Information We Collect
We request access to the following Google API scope:
- userinfo.email — to identify and track your progress using your email address
Sign-in is handled by Google Identity Services (OAuth 2.0 implicit token flow).
The Google access token is verified server-side using the Google OAuth2 tokeninfo API
(googleapis.com/oauth2/v1/tokeninfo). We never receive your Google password.
How We Use Your Information
We collect and use your Google Account email address solely for:
- Providing personalized experiences in our logic puzzle and SAT practice application
- Storing your scores and progress in our server-side database, keyed to your email address
- Scaling the difficulty of puzzles and questions based on your performance
Data Storage and Retention
- Your email address and scores are stored in a SQLite database hosted on our application server
- A session token (a random UUID) is issued upon sign-in and stored in your browser's
localStorageto keep you signed in; it is never shared with third parties - Only users signing in from an authorized school domain (
hartfordschools.org) are permitted to store data - Data may be removed upon request — contact us at the address below
Third-Party Disclosure
We do not disclose your information to any third party. Your data is strictly confidential and used only for the purposes stated above.
Data Security
We implement security measures including encryption and access controls to protect the confidentiality and integrity of your data.
User Controls
You have the right to:
- Access the data associated with your account
- Request correction of any inaccuracies in your information
- Revoke the application's access to your Google Account at any time
Updates to This Policy
This policy may be updated occasionally. We will notify you of any changes by updating the date at the top of this page.
Contact
Questions or concerns? Contact us at dobbb001@hartfordschools.org.