Learn More About K-12 Student Information Systems
K-12 Student Information Systems Features
Admissions — Administrators can communicate with prospective students, accept applications, make admissions decisions, and eventually enroll students in classes using admissions functions in SIS platforms.
Student data management — At the heart of every K-12 SIS is its ability to gather and manage large amounts of student data, such as demographic information, home addresses, emergency contact numbers, standardized test scores, special education accommodations, and medical history.
Attendance — Teachers can electronically record which students are present, tardy, and absent, allowing parents to view that information remotely and get automated alerts if their child is marked absent.
Behavior management and discipline — For students who run afoul of the school’s code of conduct, administrators and disciplinarians can record details about the incident, which can be communicated to parents or saved for future reference.
Scheduling — Creating a master schedule is a complex endeavor involving thousands of potential combinations of classes, teachers, and students. Built-in scheduling tools automate that process, helping administrators avoid double-booking rooms or teachers and ensuring students take the classes that meet their needs and interests. Administrators can customize class names, set graduation requirements, and modify grade scales.
Gradebook — Recording student grades is an essential function of an SIS. Gradebook tools allow teachers to create assignments, enter scores, and print a variety of reports. In addition to gradebooks that offer the traditional A-F grading scale, some SIS products offer standards-based grading, in which students are assessed on their proficiency on certain target skills rather than assigned letter grades or percentages. Some gradebooks also have a database of state or national standards that educators can attach to certain assignments or assessments to make it easier to analyze results or report scores to education agencies.
Curriculum management — Sharing lesson plans or entire course curriculums is possible in SIS systems with built-in curriculum management features. These tools are also found in stand-alone curriculum managmentsoftware.
Learning Management System — Some SIS products have an integrated LMS, giving teachers the ability to send digital assignments and assessments to students. Using an LMS, teachers can track student activity and communicate with students about the assignments.
Student and parent portals — K-12 Student Information Systems provide online portals where students can log in to check their grades, review attendance records, message their teachers, or get other information. Parents have a similar portal that allows them to keep tabs on their child’s performance at school.
Fee management — To make paying student fees easier, many SIS products have built-in tools that automate billing and allow parents or students to pay those fees online.
Mobile apps — An app built for an SIS allows students and parents to more easily accomplish tasks they would otherwise be able to do in a web browser via the SIS portal, such as check grades or message a teacher.
Report generation — Because SIS systems manage large volumes of student data, the ability to run reports on a variety of indicators is a crucial function. Some of the most common data pulls administrators use are generating progress reports, report cards, or transcripts to communicate the grades that a student earned in a given term. Teachers or administrators can pull up assessment results and compare student performance across different time periods, demographics, or classes. School districts are required to report certain information about students and their performance to local, state, and federal education agencies, so having the ability to automatically generate reports that meet those compliance requirements can be a huge time-saver.
Assessment — Built-in assessment features allow teachers to create customized quizzes or tests, administer them digitally to students, and analyze the results.
Mass notifications — SIS systems often have integrated mass notification features, allowing administrators to quickly contact students or parents via email or text message.
Student services modules — Some non-academic staff members of schools, such as the school nurse or food service workers, use SIS software modules that specifically assist with those job functions. Integrating these functions helps ensure that student data is accurate and saves staff from having to enter the same information multiple times into different systems, reducing the potential for errors.
