Texas Districts Turn to SIS To Keep Up with Changing Reporting Requirements -- THE Journal

Texas Districts Turn to SIS To Keep Up with Changing Reporting Requirements

By Joshua Bolkan
07/03/13

Two school districts in Texas have recently gone public with their decision to adopt a new student information system in an effort to ensure compliance with state reporting requirements.

Royal Independent School District (ISD) deployed the Skyward Student Management Suite in 2012 for its "real-time monitoring of critical student data such as grades, scheduling and attendance, and to facilitate school-to-home communication," according to information released by the district.

Ore City ISD adopted the solution in 2008, before the Texas Education Agency (TEA) named it a state-sponsored student information system provider in 2011, then switched to the TEA-sponsored version later.

"Ore City ISD wanted a system that was robust, yet easy for the staff to use," said Lynn Heflin, superintendent of Ore City ISD, in a prepared statement. "We were very pleased when TEA named Skyward as a preferred vendor, because our student system was already implemented and would now be fully supported by the state. Skyward has proved time and again that it can meet the growing needs of our district, as well as hundreds of other districts throughout Texas."

Skyward automatically notifies districts when changes are made to reporting standards, which can affect district funding. Previously, Royal ISD manually edited code for reporting changes.

"Our district is saving so much time on the programming end of student data reporting since implementing Skyward," said Leal Hardman, director of special services at Royal, in a prepared statement. "Whereas before we spent quite a bit of time scrubbing data to prepare it for shipment to the state, Skyward takes care of the entire process. They are also proactive in keeping our district well informed of any changes to state reporting requirements. I am quite impressed with the comprehensive service and attention to detail Skyward provides."

More information about Royal ISD is available at royal-isd.com. Go to ocisd.net to learn more about Ore City ISD.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

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