If you’re like most of the school administrators we work with, you’re probably frustrated by the clunky, outdated way your school tracks student data (if you’re not, stop reading and get back to your dreamy software setup!). Instead of having a single, integrated system that captures a whole student lifecycle, most schools are stuck on multiple platforms that don’t get along. The result is a cumbersome process of manual uploading and cross-referencing that practically guarantees information will fall through the cracks.
An integrative Student Information System (SIS) brings all your key metrics into one place. From admission and course registration to grades and daily attendance, an integrative SIS lets you easily track performance and success for individual students and the student body as a whole.
Connect the Dots
Good data highlights what’s working, what’s not, and how to move forward. If data is not insightful and actionable, it’s just figures on a spreadsheet. Digitized data from across the school can connect the dots across disparate systems — and ensure key stakeholders have the most up-to-date information about each student. This 360° view makes it easy to identify trends and patterns — and to implement changes that will help your students succeed.
It also saves time. Many of the educators we work with are forced to enter the same information over and over, year after year. We feel pretty strongly that no one should have to do that (it is 2021, after all), so LookThink CognoSIS is designed to make data easy to report and seamless to integrate.
Data From Every Part of the Student Life Cycle — at Your Fingertips
Enrollment & Admissions
Enrollment is the first point of entry at any school — and a digitized enrollment and admissions solution is foundational to building out a robust, connected system. An intuitive platform will instill confidence and excitement in students and parents — and set the tone for future interactions with your school’s digital systems.
Security is a necessary and critical component of an integrative SIS; using a solution like Salesforce comes with enterprise-level security and peace of mind. Enrollment and admissions solutions can collect data from multiple sources that inform each student’s profile — such as general administrative information, financial and aid data, and relevant health records — all securely maintained and protected by permissioning.
Registration & Academic Operations
With up-to-date enrollment data, administrators can streamline registration by ensuring students have the prerequisites they need to register for specific classes. They can also track exactly where students are coming from through their grade and attendance histories — and via additional, impactful profile information. When student, term, and class data all speak to each other, you reduce scheduling errors, avoid approval roadblocks, and opt-out of time-consuming manual scheduling.
Gradebook
Student success is more than gradework — but having insight into real-time academic performance allows educators to see student health across the board. When teachers and administrators can track academic performance — along with attendance history, course history, and personal information — they get a fully fleshed-out picture of each student’s experience. The result? Effective, on-time interventions for students who need support.
Attendance
One of the first indicators that a student may need additional support is their attendance record. Smart “tardiness alert systems” give administrators a heads-up when students are absent — and give them time to intervene before a pattern becomes a problem. Teachers have the option to record “Present,” “Absent,” and “Absent Excused,” and students can provide documentation to teachers about extenuating circumstances. Teachers can upload and attach files directly to each student's record so educators and administrators throughout the school are on the same page.
Ready to Make the SIS Upgrade?
If you’re not sure if your school is ready to make the switch to a fully integrative SIS system, here are four questions to ask yourself about your current experience:
- Does your staff constantly complain about data strewn across disparate systems?
- Do you talk to your fellow teachers and administrators about silos more than most farmers do?
- Have you changed technology vendors two-plus times in the last year?
- Do you switch between more digital and paper systems than you can count on one hand?
If you answered yes to any of the above, it might be time to take the leap and upgrade your student information system. We’d love to chat with you about how you can create an integrative SIS solution that’s perfectly tailored to your school.