Skyward Education Management Software Suite Podcast

This is a podcast over the key features of the Skyward Education Management Software Suite.





 RSS FEED

School Management Software

How do we establish a better line of communication between parents, students, faculty, and schools within the district in an organized manner?   This is the question that many school districts have been trying to find a solution to since their existence.  The solution has only become attainable since they started applying technology to the school and district administration.  School management software has become the key to obtaining management results in an organized manner that can be easily accessed and utilized. Skyward has become one of the leading school management software suites due to the centralized database it creates, the numerous features offered, and the efficiency and savings the district experiences when using the program.

Skyward allows for all student management, grading, discipline, scheduling, attendance and demographics to all be integrated in one location that parents, students, and faculty each access in a personalized manner (Skyward, 1999 - 2012). Unlike most other programs, Skyward also provides school business software which helps administration run smoother for the district (Stevens Point, 2009). Some districts enjoy the centralized database so much that they have opted out of the free state-sponsored student software and have chosen to pay for the Skyward program.  The Superintendent, Dr. Timothy M. Mitchell, for Rapid City Area School District of South Dakota explained why he feels that Skyward is a better solution than the state-sponsored student software by saying “I was a very active user of the state-sponsored student management system at my previous district, so I know firsthand the difference between the two products. Skyward provides us with a mature, comprehensive and multifaceted solution that truly serves as a one-stop shop for our district. Unlike the state-sponsored system that essentially manages only the student portion of a district’s needs, our Skyward system supports every aspect of our business.” (Stevens Point, WI (PRWEB), 2011)  While a centralized database for all student and business needs in the district is key, it is also important that the features that are offered are also useful and user-friendly for the district that has implemented the Skyward program.

Skyward’s numerous features make it easy to open the line of communication between the students, teachers, parents, and administration. Using Skyward, teachers are able to send out e-mails to all of their students’ parents at once or pick and choose which parents to send the message to. This is useful when reminding students and parents of any school events, homework, make-up work, missing work, and corrections. Parents are also able to view their child’s grades as soon as the teacher enters them and set up alerts to what they want to personally check on their student for such as, zeros or if they make a 70 or below on any assignments.  The teacher is also able to create on-line assignments for student to do at home or school which is graded and put in the grade book as soon as students have completed their work.  The Skyward’s school business suite allows administration to keep up with accounts payable, insurance, employee time-off, substitute tracking, inventory, budget management, and several other useful tools for keeping the business organized (Skyward, 1999 - 2012). Even with all the features that Skyward offers, the recent budget cuts for school districts has made it harder for them to pay for special programs, but the Skyward software has actually helped save money for the districts.

Since Skyward is able to offer a centralized database instead of using several different programs to accomplish the same result, districts have been able to cut spending by minimizing the number of program specialists. When they had six different programs doing the same as the one Skyward program, they would have to have a specialist for each program, but now there is only need for one program specialist.  Also, the numerous features that Skyward offers has given districts the ability to offer parents to have online advanced registration by creating a paper free enrollment process. This saves parents and districts both time and money that usually goes into school registration on paper cost, staff, and long lines. On-line registration will also cuts back on the amount of human error that happens due to handwriting mistakes (Registration Gateway). The amount of postage and paper for a whole district to mail out reports is costly but, Skyward gives the districts the option to e-mail the reports to parents. When a district is on a budget it is important to make sure that what you spend your money on is most useful to the district as a whole.

Skyward’s ability to offer a centralized database for students and schools, it’s unique time saving features, and the efficiency and savings it offers to the school districts is a great example of how applying technology to the schools and district administration has only made life easier for all the people involved in the school district. With updates on software and new technological advances, the education field will only increase their chances of reaching their goal to create a better line of communication between parents, students, faculty, and schools within the district in an organized manner.

Skyward powerpoint

Works Cited

Registration Gateway. (n.d.). Skyward Partners with SRC Solutions to Develop Paper-Free K-12 Enrollment Solution. Retrieved January 30, 2012, from Registration Gateway by SRC Solutions, Inc.: http://registrationgateway.com/news/skyward-partners-with-src-solutions-to-develop-paper-free-k-12-enrollment-solution/

Skyward. (1999 - 2012). School Business Suite. Retrieved January 30, 2012, from Skyward: http://www.skyward.com/Page.ashx/Products/School-Business-Suite

Stevens Point, W. (. (2009, February 12). Skyward Announces Latest Version of School Management System™. Retrieved January 30, 2012, from PRWeb: http://www.prweb.com/releases/Skyward/School-Management-System/prweb2039844.htm

Stevens Point, WI (PRWEB). (2011, August 16). Rapid City Area Schools (RCAS) Selects Skyward Over State-Sponsored Student Management System. Retrieved January 30, 2012, from PRWeb: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/8/prweb8723598.htm