PowerSchool? Power cool!
March 21, 2018
PowerSchool? Power cool!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with PowerSchool Student Information System
PowerSchool Student Information System is being used by my entire organization in one way or another. It is solving a myriad of problems/issues for my organization. With PowerSchool, my school is able to take and access attendance records, record grades by using the grade book feature, create progress reports along with report cards, enter and look at demographics school-wide and per student/class, enter comments into the progress and report cards, create seating arrangements for each class we teach, enter in assignments into the grade book and have them weighted by category or by curriculum standards. PowerSchool is taking many different separate items that both teachers and administrators have to complete or deal with on a daily basis, and puts them in one place, making things easy and accessible to everyone, including parents and students as well.
- It allows teachers to add in formative and sumative assignments into their grade book with ease
- It allows for easy attendance taking
- It allows for quick reference of students performance not only in your class, but in others as well.
- The function to enter in comments on report cards could be easier to access.
- I think there should be a function to re-use weights for categories ( e.g. classwork, homework, quizzes. etc.) that you have previously used for classes.
- After assigning the same assignment for multiple classes, if you have taken the shortcut to create them by simply filling out the information on the assignment form and then clicking on multiple classes grade books for it to be added to, if you then decide not to give said assignment to one of the classes you chose, you cannot only delete the assignment from that class, the system will delete the assignments from every class!
- It has created shortcuts for all staff members, saving us time.
- In creating shortcuts and combining many different systems into one, it is saving our school money.
- It has created a safety net for teachers because grades and student information is stored electronically, which means teachers not having to worry about losing or misplacing their grade books.
- Student Data Syste
PowerSchool blows the other Student Information System that my school used out of the water. The other Student Information System was a glorified grade book/report creator, and had no other function. PowerSchool has so many functions and elements inside of one program that it is literally one of the only programs that my school needs for staff to keep records for grades, attendance, and demographics all in one place.
Evaluating PowerSchool Student Information System and Competitors
Yes - PowerSchool replaced the Student Data System for our organization. The reason that PowerSchool replaced the Student Data System, was because the Student Data System was a glorified grade book and report creator. It wasn't really practical for taking attendance or seeing at a quick glance at how specific students were doing in multiple classes throughout the year. PowerSchool offered these options to us, so we chose PowerSchool over the Student Data System.
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
The single most important factor in the decision to change from Student Data System to PowerSchool was the amount of functions and elements that PowerSchool included in its system that the Student Data System did not. This in turn would make things easier and quicker to access saving teachers and staff time, and in the long run, saving our school money by not having to employ the use of multiple types of software to achieve the same goal.
If we had to do it again, I'm not sure that we would change our evaluation and selection process. Our school tried to find the program that included the most features, with the most ease of use, and chose that program to have our staff use. This selection process kept the staff and school in mind, while thinking of what would be fastest and easiest to use, and most economically efficient for our organization.