Likelihood to Recommend Hero is a great time saver for any busy school administrator. Students are able to use technology to earn positive points and also track and manage their own discipline. It is user-friendly and adaptable to the specific needs of the school. I love writing my own tracking codes and setting the action thresholds.
Read full review 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.
Read full review Pros Allows ALL students to earn points at the push of a button. Connects with infinite Campus so student schedules and info are always accurate on the Hero site. Allows teachers to create their own groups for after school programs or even small groups in their classrooms. Read full review Flexibility. This multitude of fields available makes it easy to capture data the way we want or need to. Quick response to trouble tickets. The company strives to reach out to the customer within an hour and start the process of resolution. User focused. Improvements to the system always look at how the end user experience can be enhanced. Read full review Cons Hero had the Hero Homeroom where teachers could collaborate and receive rewards but that was discontinued. I think that a similar reward system for those who are supposed to be inputting information would be helpful, where consistency for the required input is rewarded. For example: teachers were to be recording points for all their students every period every day - if they received points for completing their input & could then choose to spend those points on rewards that would help encourage participation to make it more successful overall. Too hands-off in making sure that implementation is as successful as possible. Too techie for non-tech savvy people. Read full review 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. Read full review Likelihood to Renew It is a great product
Read full review It is the system I am most comfortable with, so having to learn a new system outweighs any problems I have with Skyward.
Read full review Usability again. for the day to day usage, adding points is a bit of a chore but I keep doing it because the students respond
Read full review It takes some time to get used to navigating the features and layers, but once you know your way around it, it's pretty good.
Read full review Support Rating Someone is always available. I like being able to call, chat, or email as needed. There are also a lot of tutorials and webinars provided. Hero does a good job of providing tools for onboarding new users and customers as well. It is easy to find whatever information you are looking for.
Read full review Overall great job, issues were taken care of. People in support do care.
Read full review Implementation Rating Yes, I was part of the implementation team.
Read full review Alternatives Considered We used a tardy tracking system a couple years ago but it wasn't as efficient as Hero. It did not keep track of any positive behaviors. I don't remember the name of the system but I know it only focused on the negative behaviors and giving out consequences for those negative behaviors.
Read full review 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.
Read full review Return on Investment Definitely worth the money. The kids are happy, they're using the program as often as they can, and they appreciate the opportunity to be rewarded for their good behavior. We've been able to sustain a store, and that's super awesome. I know we wouldn't be able to without the help of Hero and the ways in which we keep the hype. I think I need more help with teacher adoption. We have a lot of initiatives at our school, so we're trying to take on a little more than we can chew at this point. We're getting there though! Read full review 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. Read full review ScreenShots