For years, a combination of manual process and limited automation is used by Alvarado Independent School District (AISD) to update and manage student information across various systems. And then, the AISD staff of administration realized one thing that they had to find a way which is less time consuming and more effective in cost to accomplish these tasks. Then, they decided to use Skyward.
Accessing Alvarado ISD Student Records in Skyward
To be able to access Alvarado ISD Student Records, you have to access this link here and then you have to login by entering your Login ID and password. After entering Login ID and password, you have to hit the Sign In button.
About Skyward in AISD
As explained on Skyward website that the department of administrators and technology at Alvarado ISD did a careful review of some different systems and vendors and after that they were in agreement that the Skyward Student Management Suite was the right option. With Skyward, they were set to use the system where it would increase efficiency and make the district up to date with a cutting edge student information system.
The staff of Alvarado ISD understood that their system would have to straighten with the Student Interoperability Framework (SIF). SIF is a data sharing open specification for K-12 academic institutions. SIF allows diverse applications to be able to interact and share data. It is an industry initiative and not an independent product. SIF has two parts and those are an XML specification for modeling educational data and a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) specification for sharing that data between institutions.
With SIF-certified Student Management Suite, Alvarado district would get a lot of benefits including increasing efficiency, the ability to eliminate redundant and enhance software compatibility among its systems.
Berger says that a student management system by itself is just another database out on your network to manage. In addition, he also says that a student management system with SIF interoperability is the powerhouse that can run your whole network for you.
The sole focus of Skyward on schools played a role in the decision making process of the district. Berger then says that Schools are Skyward’s only business. He also says that a lot of times when you look at student management systems out there, they are a subset of a bigger company that does all of these other things and that have their hands in a lot of different areas. He adds that at Skyward, schools are their business and that’s it.
At the time of the Alvarado ISD started to analyze and discuss ways to improve its systems, the administrators were initially looking for a better way to mix existing process in the old system. Berger recognized that Skyward provided a new and better answer namely a single database to run all of the applications which would leave the district with one source to work with.
Berger also notes that in Skyward, there were more intrinsic capabilities than he could have gotten out of the old system. He says that these were just critically important things that he could not get out of his old application and still today can’t get out of that application, but right out of the box he had that with Skyward.
For him and Alvarado ISD, the point is having SIF operability with the Skyward Student Management System. He says that there is no better source of authority for a school district than your student management system. In addition, he also says that with Skyward, he has one source of authority for his HR information, payroll, accounting, and student information. He has one spot to change it and one spot to add it and he knows that all of his information is good everywhere on the network.
The Reasons of Using Skywards at Alvarado ISD
There are some reasons why Alvaredo ISD uses Skyward. Here they are.
- Skyward has a user-friendly system.
As explained on Skyward website that Berger is sure that Skyward is set apart from other SIF vendors and it is due to the quality of the company’s programming. He says that Skyward has an SIF interface which is built in and it is very advanced and user friendly. It is very easy to use and it permits us to bring in applications ourselves.
- Skyward has greater flexibility and streamlined processes.
Berger also states that in the the interface of Skyward, it has more flexibility than any other interface in any other system he has ever seen. With the Skyward’s advanced SIF configuration, the Alvarado ISD can distribute data from the student information system to all other applications on the network so that it increases its cross-platform efficiencies. He says that the configuration has permitted them to streamline a lot of their business processes such as grading, scheduling, attendance and health information.
- Skyward has quantifiable savings in time and cost.
Because applying the Skyward Student Management Suite into a SIF-based infrastructure, the Alvarado ISD has saved a number of hours in personnel time. He said that the district has shortened the time needed to d record-keeping tasks such as file updates when students move from one campus to another. Also, the cost savings from applying the Skyward Student Management Suite have also been significant. Berger says that they saved more than $16,000 in personnel time just on a network account basis managing students. He also says that during the summer, the district can save $1,400 when they prepare for students to move one campus to another and then when students graduate, Skyward is able to save the district $400 compared to the previous system.
- With Skyward, increased efficiency puts focus back on academics.
Berger says that his department can add more value to the district because of the SIF implementation with Skyward. The implementation of SIF with Skyward has also given the benefits to the Alvarado ISD by permitting it to streamline a number of process and as a result it can free up more employee time. He believes that this change has enabled the district to focus on its mission. He says that it has permitted them to open doors to other chances in their district and to focus more on educating their kids.
