Student Information Systems

Dawson County School District Deploys SPED Case Management and Online Registration

• By Leila Meyer
• 07/18/16

Dawson County School District in Georgia has integrated special education case management and online registration into its student information system (SIS), reducing paper-based processes and redundant data entry.

The district's previous special education case management system "required a lot of importing and exporting of data that ultimately took time away from instruction," said Roman Gaddis, executive director of technology for the school district, in a news release. Dawson County is now using PowerSchool Special Education to manage individualized education plans (IEPs) and 504 plans. "The IEP component of the solution allows us to develop and manage plans that ensure specialized instruction is given to students with specific learning and behavioral needs," added Gaddis. "The ability to create 504 plans for our students with specific disabilities helps us provide appropriate accommodations to facilitate their academic success."

At the same time, the district has implemented PowerSchool Registration to replace its paper-based enrollment and registration processes. Families with more than one child in the school district can now use the system to copy data between student records, so they don't have to re-enter the same information for each child. Once parents have entered their student data, the district staff can review it and submit it to the PowerSchool SIS.

In addition to student data, the district will also use PowerSchool Registration to supports its personalized learning initiative with mobile devices. The online registration form will include a questionnaire to help determine which families have broadband Internet access at home.