Mobile Computing | News

WillowTree Launches Platform for School Apps, Sites

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 02/18/14

WillowTree Apps has launched the Apps for Education Platform, a tool designed to help schools develop and deploy customized apps and HTML5 Web sites.

"The platform also allows parents to access important school information in one convenient location through single sign-on," according to a WillowTree news release. "App users can access information like school news, calendars, maps, lunch menus, as well as arts and sports information."

Other features of the platform include:

• Password-protected areas that allow users to see grades, progress reports, attendance records, homework assignments and more;
• The ability to send push notifications for emergencies, severe weather, school closings, unexcused absences and tardiness; and
• Integration with a "wide variety" of IT systems.

McKinney Independent School District (MISD) in Texas has used the platform to deploy the misdGO app for iOS, Android and HTML5.

"We wanted to give our parents a comprehensive and efficient way to access what they want when they want — and we also wanted to find a way to save money in the process," said Cody Cunningham, chief communications officer at MISD, in a prepared statement. "The Apps for Education Platform allowed us to create our misdGO app quickly and efficiently without having to invest in whole new systems — and we were even able to make it easy for our parents by letting them use their current Web site logins. All of this allowed us to reduce our printed newsletter efforts, resulting in net savings."

Other districts that have used the platform include Alief ISD, Duncanville ISD and Highland Park ISD.