Frontline Special Ed & Interventions (formerly Enrich) is a student management platform featuring a diverse range of functions, including EPM for tracking progress through state-specific or other kinds of organized learning plans (e.g. gifted learning), RtI for monitoring student progress through interventions, and beyond these the an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for tracking even more specialized programs.
N/A
Skyward Student Management System
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
Skyward, headquartered in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, offers the Skyward Student Management System, a k-12 student information system which provides classroom tools (e.g. gradebook, attendance tracking, etc), Family Engagement tools with portal, as well as admin and student services task management.
As described above, the RtI data can be reviewed by the special education team in order to see if regular education teachers need to gather more data before referring a student to special education. It is also well suited for using with transferred students from other schools or districts.
There is nothing specific that I would say sets it apart from any other LMS, but once you are used to the user interface and various features, it does everything that is needed and integrates well enough with other software to function. Probably isn't necessary in a smaller setting, but for multiple building districts, it is certainly robust enough to handle data collection and storage.
Enrich provides a step by step process helping the special education team to organize all necessary information that includes state and federal compliance laws specifically the legislation of the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) is entered correctly.
It is organized to provide the entire special education team with access to see the documentation of services and assessments.
It also has an ability to organize the process for RtI (Response to Intervention) which identifies the students who qualify for special education services. The special education team has access to see this information to determine if the teachers need to gather more information before referring the student for special education services.
There is a tremendous amount of repetition of data entry. For example, you press buttons to describe services i.e. direct or indirect services and how much service time a child will receive. THEN, you have to enter it again with a sentence i.e. " The child will receive (direct or indirect) speech and language (or reading or math) services for a such and such amount of time. " There are other examples of how the provider needs to repeat information that has already been gathered by the program.
Of course, entering all of the data is very time-consuming.
Training and access to consultants are needed in order to learn how to use the entire program.
Confusion when it comes to student grades- sometimes there are two different letter grades for a student for what is posted as "TR1" and "PR1." How does a teacher know which of these grades will be posted to a student's report card? How does a teacher know what the student's actual grade is for a particular course?
Switching between the Educator Access Plus and Student Management tabs can be complicated, especially for those new to the system. Why can't everything be in one place?
I recognize that Skyward logs out after a certain period of inactivity to preserve privacy of users, but is there a way to change those settings so that Skyward does not log out as frequently? It is difficult to keep having to log back in completely again.
These other programs (Tranquility and Clarity) were used for the same purposes before the district and state started to use Enrich. The previous programs were harder to use and much more time-consuming. There is no comparison between Enrich and these other programs. I'm sure that other special education providers would agree that Enrich is the best one when compared to the previous 2 programs used for data gathering.
I, personally, have not used other Student Management Systems, but having used Skyward, I do not necessarily feel any overwhelming desire to seek out the competitive software programs. Skyward does what it says it will and provides my school district with an easy and organized way to share and access all of the relevant student and family information we need. It serves it's purpose well and meets our needs.
Overall, there are more positives than negatives about using this program. Having a program that is used by the entire state has a positive impact because now the special education process is organized in the same manner
Overall, Skyward has had a positive impact. One way is the student information that is shared and available to see. If I need to know something about a student’s academic history, Skyward has it.
Another way it has impacted our district is the way it has streamlined all of our payroll information. I can see check histories, different parts of my salary, and the year-end totals all in one place.
Skyward has also made a big impact on our district by making it easier to communicate with parents. All the parents’ contact information is available and email is even included in the program.