Why Skyward?
Certified and focused on school success
For many years, Alvarado Independent School District used a combination of manual processes and limited automation to manage student information across various systems. The administrative staff realized they needed to find a less time-consuming and more cost-effective way to accomplish tasks. After careful review, administrators and technology leaders agreed the Skyward Student Management Suite was the right choice.
The solution would bring the district up to date with a cutting-edge student information system aligned with the Student Interoperability Framework (SIF), a data-sharing open specification for K–12 academic institutions. SIF, which enables diverse applications to interact and share data, is an industry initiative composed of two parts: an XML specification for modeling educational data and a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) specification for sharing that data between institutions.
By choosing the SIF-certified Student Management Suite, the district would eliminate redundant data entry, increase efficiency, and enhance compatibility among systems. Kevin Berger, executive director of technology for the district, explained why the Skyward Student Management Suite was such a good fit.
“A student management system by itself is just another database out on your network to manage. But a student management system with SIF interoperability is the powerhouse that can run your whole network for you,” Berger stressed.
SIF compliance is important, but Skyward’s sole focus on schools played a big role in the IT team’s decision. “Schools are Skyward’s only business,” Berger said. “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 lots of different areas. At Skyward, schools are their business and that’s it.”
A single, powerful SIS database
At first, Alvarado ISD was initially looking for a way to blend existing processes within their old systems. Berger recognized Skyward would offer a new and better answer: a single database to run all of the district applications.
Berger realized Skyward had more intrinsic capabilities than he could ever have gotten out of their old system. “These were just critically important things that I couldn’t get out of my old application and still today can’t get out of that application. But right out of the box I had that with Skyward.”
The single database powered by SIF operability was key. “There is no better source of authority for a school district than your student management system. With Skyward, I have one source of authority for my HR information, payroll, accounting, and student information. I have one spot to change it and one spot to add it, and I know that all of my information is good everywhere on the network.
Flexible, user-friendly, and cost effective
Berger is pleased with the flexibility Skyward offers his team—more than any other system he’s seen. “Skyward has a SIF interface already built in that’s very advanced and user friendly. We can just go in and select our elements and be done,” he explained. “And it has continued to evolve as the program grows and advances with SIF.”
Thanks to this advanced configuration, Alvarado ISD can distribute data from their SIS to all other applications on the network. This cross-platform efficiency has resulted in streamlining processes including scheduling, grading, attendance, and health information.
In fact, the district has saved numerous hours in personnel time thanks to the implementation of the Skyward Student Management Suite into their SIF-based infrastructure. Berger said the district completes record-keeping tasks in dramatically reduced time—tasks which used to take up to five days now take as little as six seconds.
All this time saved adds up to cost savings, too. “Our first year alone with SIF, just on a network account basis managing students, we saved more than $16,000 in personnel time,” Berger said. “And that as a one-to-one application. Every time we add another application, that figure just starts to double.”
In addition, when calculating time spent by staff related to their daily compensation rate, Alvarado ISD estimates $5 in savings every time a student enrolls and $2 when a student withdraws. During the summer the district saves $1,400 when preparing for students to move from one campus to another. When students graduate, Skyward saves the district $400 in comparison to the previous system.
More time = better academic progress
Berger says that his department is now able to add more value to the district thanks to the SIF implementation with Skyward. “We have a lot of new applications that we are doing now that we wouldn’t have been able to do in the past because of the time constraints of our day-to-day processes. To do what we are doing now without SIF would require more staffing just because of the automation that it has done for us.”
Thanks to the streamlined processes from Skyward and SIF, Alvarado ISD staff have been able to focus more on their mission. “This has allowed us to open doors to other opportunities in our district and focus more on educating our kids,” Berger explained.
In addition, Berger points out that the district has been able to put greater focus on technology integration in the classroom since staff members are no longer tied up with data entry tasks. This change has allowed students to gain an additional 5 days of computer instruction each year.
Skyward Technology + Support = A Winning Formula
Looking back, Berger said it was a very easy decision to choose Skyward’s student management system. “Skyward’s interface and technology were hands-down way beyond anything else that was out there.”
Berger also said that Skyward’s customer relations and support have been the best of any product or of any kind of student management system that he has ever worked with in education. “I get instant feedback if I make a call or place an online work ticket. And Skyward continually gives us SIF updates and software updates.”
Berger is confident that Alvarado ISD’s decision to use Skyward was the right choice to make. “I’ve been very pleased with Skyward...and their dedication to schools is a very important thing.”
SIF is a registered trademark of the Schools Interoperability Framework Association.
