STI Intros School Improvement Program, New Mobile App for SIS -- THE Journal

Administrative and Business

STI Intros School Improvement Program, New Mobile App for SIS

By Scott Aronowitz
06/29/10

At the ISTE 2010 conference in Denver this week, STI, maker of the Web-based student information system (SIS) InformationNOW, launched Ready, Set, Go! (RSG!), a customized professional development program aimed at aiding overall school improvement. The program specializes in educating administrators and teachers on how to make decisions concerning instruction methods, teacher-student interaction, and innovation that will lead to improvements in teacher effectiveness and student achievement.

Offered by the Achievement Services (AS) division of STI, the RSG! program includes a detailed consultation process through which the company's AS team, made up of veteran educators who are experts in data analysis, instructional design, and school reform, determines the client school's immediate and long-term needs and helps the school develop a data-driven instructional improvement program.

The STI team evaluates a school's existing programs and the related data and then, working with administrators, develops a long-term improvement plan that includes: creating an instructional framework aligned both to standards and to student needs; developing an effective formative assessment program; and training teachers at effective instructional strategies. Following the consultation period, team members continue to work with clients online, mentoring and monitoring the progress of educators on an ongoing basis, and helping to build a school community that communicates openly and constructively with regard to best practices.

The company also introduced an application that allows parents to access relevant data about their children and the schools they attend using an iPhone. Schools that use the InformationNOW SIS can offer this feature to parents of their students at no additional charge.

With the mobile application, parents can log into the special portal on their school's InformationNOW SIS via an iPhone and have instant access to their own children's educational and logistical school data, including homework assignments, grades, progress reports, attendance and disciplinary records, and general school announcements.

The mobile version of Parent Portal for InformationNOW is available to all parents who already use or have access to the desktop version.

About the Author

Scott Aronowitz is a freelance writer based in Las Vegas. He has covered the technology, advertising, and entertainment sectors for seven years. He can be reached here.

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