eSchoolPLUS Plus PowerSchool
Pros
- The user interface is spectacular. By being able to access grades and all student data in one place, it really makes parent-teacher meetings easy and quick. Most parents come into meeting with teachers already seeing all the progress of the students. This increases engagement definitely within the district.
- Working with school operations is important. Most schools have multiple platforms for every single aspect of education. Having the payroll portal accessible with the same login for your school and student information makes it easy for us teachers. I guess the strength would be how they have streamlined a lot of the day to day tasks of all departments affiliated with schools, and they made it accessible in one web platform.
- Tracking your own professional development courses can be lengthy. Inputting and tracking them via the website makes it easier and less paperwork.
- Naturally, the most important strength is the mobile capability of the platform. Being able to be mobile so teachers, parents, students, and admin can access any and all documentation is important. Websites are difficult to navigate, so having a web platform helps greatly.
Cons
- One area with room for improvement would be in the ability to message counselors within the platform. Sending emails is lengthy. Some platforms allow for you to text/chat message other logged in users in real time. This would be a great help to quickly reach out to specific teachers, admin or counselors. Communication is important and that feature would improve usage.
- The experts at Power School are very supportive. The tech team makes it easy to use with professional development, but I think teachers need easier literature on how to access all the functions and features of the platform. Maybe an online version where when you click your interest it will direct you to how to access certain parts of the portal and what they do. With such a vast platform it is pretty cumbersome.
- I would love to be able to download the charts and graphs that come up with students in the student portal. The key student performance indicators are great to follow, but downloading them as image files would be great to use for presentations and sharing with other people within the school.
Return on Investment
- Negatives I mentioned are that there is no texting function. Being able to "chat" on the platform with other users that are logged in would be a huge help As a result, this has a negative impact because it takes a longer time to message and wait for responses via email and direct messaging emails.
- A positive impact would be that this investment does make it easier for educators. If educators are cared for and their jobs are made easier, they can focus more on the students than on paperwork or grades and performance assessments.
- On overall objectives for the school, it does help to increase graduation rates. Counselors can track student progress from K-12, meaning that it is easier for interventions. Catching student needs at an earlier age help increase the likelihood of all students graduating on time. It also impacts drop out rates and students who stay enrolled in college. Being able to help students at a young age helps them to appreciate education more.
Other Software Used
Apple iCloud, Google Charts, Google Authenticator
