Duncanville ISD Deploys New SIS
Duncanville Independent School District in Texas has implemented a new student information system (SIS) that is fully integrated with its business management suite.
The
district had been using another student information system for 15
years, but product issues, lack of support and frequent software
updates were creating problems for district operations. The district's
legacy SIS also charged separate fees for features such as mobile app
access or administrative applications for staff members. "Over time, as
with many products, we had to make internal adaptations to issues
within the software," said Kyle Berger, CTO of Duncanville ISD, in a
prepared statement. "As we started to look to the future in regards to
more robust offerings and interoperability, we began to see issues
emerge."
A committee of more than 60 staff members and parents evaluated options for a replacement SIS before the district selected the Student Management Suite from Skyward, a provider of K-12 school administrative software.
The district had previously implemented Skyward's School Business Suite in January 2015. Staff at Duncanville ISD were happy with the project
management, communication and training they received from the company
with that deployment. During the SIS evaluation process, district
administrators said they were impressed that Skyward's core package contained all
of the features they wanted in a single package, rather than separate
fees for add-on features, and that Skyward's SIS could integrate fully
with the School Business Suite.
The district completed its
implementation of Skyward Student Management Suite in January 2016. The
suite includes a wide variety of tools for office and administration,
classroom management, family engagement and student services, including
resource tracking, scheduling, report cards, curriculum management,
enrollment and fee management, lesson planning, attendance and behavior
tracking, messaging, response to intervention and a variety of other
tools.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].