5 reasons SIS platforms are the cornerstone of modern education

A student information system (SIS) is more than just a background tool that makes things easier. In digital education, it’s often the catalyst for school districts looking to transition to a data-driven culture.

SIS platforms today are the cornerstone of the modern learning experience, providing staff and students alike with a powerful solution that directly addresses many of education’s biggest challenges head on. 

Why is this? A robust SIS provides a wealth of information that can lead to actionable insights, along with the tools needed to support various education-related activities, from the day-to-day routines to long-term trends.

The right SIS platform provides tangible benefits to teachers, administrators, and students. Teachers spend less time worrying about administrative tasks and are freed up to focus on providing the best learning environment possible, creating new lesson plans, and staying connected with parents. Administrators are equipped with tools that simplify accessing key information, leading to enhanced productivity, while students have everything they need to stay organized and focused on their education.

Today, we’re going to examine why a SIS platform is the cornerstone of learning for any modern school. It’s time to break down the many ways that a quality SIS can support teachers, students, and administrators.

1. Attract and Retail Employees

Recruiting and retaining top talent is a constant struggle for most schools. Having a modern SIS can help you stand out from other schools when it comes to attracting new teachers and administrators who are tech-savvy. 

Think about it like this. Using a SIS solution means fewer administrative tasks for teachers, allowing them to focus on educating. For administrators, it means their jobs will be more straightforward and they won’t have to learn dozens of different systems.

The right SIS can help track the effectiveness of learning plans and recognize staff that perform beyond expectations. 

Simply put: teachers and administrators want to work in schools that make use of a SIS solution that supports modern pedagogical approaches as it will allow them more time to focus on their core role instead of searching for data between different solutions the school uses.

2. Vital Attendance Reports

Attendance has been digitized for years, but has it been fully integrated with the rest of your systems? A SIS can integrate attendance tracking with the rest of the vital information that teachers and administrators require. 

Instead of having attendance reports in an isolated silo, they can be combined with other data to form a well-rounded idea of how the student, teacher, school, and district is performing. All of this data can be put to work to help enhance student success and the effectiveness of programs. 

The right SIS solution goes far beyond simple attendance as it allows any teacher or administrator to quickly check a student’s class schedule. This will help them quickly understand where a student is supposed to be if they are found in the halls or mistakenly attend the wrong class.

3. Monitor Student Wellbeing

A quality SIS does much more than provide information about grades and attendance. Instead, it can help team members notice behavioral trends, which can be negative or positive, to help address any issues that seem to be developing. Oftentimes, a trend of negative behavior can coincide with a drop in grades, signaling that some form of intervention is required.

Armed with plenty of data, a concerned teacher can meet with the parents of a struggling student to help determine the root of the issue. The host of data at the teacher’s disposal will all help form an image of how the child is performing at school, going well beyond grades and attendance.

To take this even further, nursing staff can use your SIS to track medications, procedures, allergies, and any other medical intervention that a student may receive. Keeping all of this information together and accessible by those who need it will greatly increase the care provided to children.

4. Data Mining for All Schools

Some look at a SIS solution and think of it as a nice way to store data. While this is true, the capabilities of an SIS go far beyond storage. An ideal solution will empower teachers to quickly access any data about students that they require. Furthermore, administrators can use detailed reports to highlight trends and discover room for improvement. Districts can measure student, parent, and teacher engagement, and adjust their approach accordingly. 

School districts that embrace a modern SIS solution will have a wealth of information available within a few clicks. Superintendents can quickly understand which schools require more attention, and which ones can serve as an example. Procedures that help one school can be quickly implemented at another school since all schools will be using the same system.

5. Improved Communication

Parents want to be more involved with their child’s education than ever before. An ideal SIS serves as a bridge between schools and families due to its included communication capabilities. School and classroom news is easily shared, students and parents are notified about homework and can quickly notify their school incase of an absence, allowing them to get quicker responses than the traditional route—all without the teacher having to provide their personal mobile number. 

Communication between teachers and parents is vital. Streamlining communications between teachers and parents will help parents become more involved in their child’s education. It can also serve as an effective way for teachers to report behavior issues, or positive behavior, to parents.

Is Your School Ready for a Modern SIS Platform?

A modern SIS platform is designed to centralize many of modern education’s key activities and data flows. Plus, with the push for integration-first approaches, it’s clear a SIS is the cornerstone of learning. 

Not only does it enable teachers to focus on the curriculum instead of admin tasks, it creates in-depth student reporting, and allows for specialized reports when needed.

Using a quality SIS solution can streamline operations, increase communication, and help attract top talent. 

Are you ready to embrace a quality SIS solution? Book a demo with one of our SIS specialists today to learn more.