Special Education

Colorado Districts Opt for Software To Help With Special Needs Compliance, Recordkeeping

• By Michael Hart
• 03/13/15

As new statewide initiatives are enacted, three Colorado school districts have purchased a new software platform intended to help with compliance and keep up with reporting requirements on special needs students.

The Boulder Valley, Cherry Creek and Poudre school districts all have implemented Excent's Enrich Web-based special needs software to manage a number of special student populations ranging from those in special education and English language acquisition programs to those in gifted and talented programs.

The Enrich software has embedded compliance validations that can help teachers make sure they avoid errors as they manage the progress of students with disabilities. It also helps with more report-building features and data-sharing capabilities than many similar programs, according to Excent officials.

The Enrich Individual Education Plan program is designed to streamline and organize case management processes like diagnostic assessment results, transportation scheduling, discipline records and state child-count reporting. There is also a built-in, interactive calendar-based dashboard that helps users keep track of meetings, deadlines and communication with parents and providers.

"It was important for us to choose a system that would be easy for teachers to use and that would allow us to put all of our student plans in one place," said Debbie Van Scoyk, a student plan application specialist with Cherry Creek Schools. "We believe that by eliminating all of the silos of information across our district, we can help everyone move toward the same goal, which is excellence in achievement for all our students."