[tasc] Is PARS the best option for behavour management integrated with SIMs?

[ryoung]

Hi. Our school currently uses a paper based system for behaviour management. I am researching electronic alternatives but starting from a zero knowledge base. We are using SIMs and will stay with this MIS for at least the next two years. MIS systems get used most when they are simple and transparent to use. The SIMs process for behaviour management is a satisfactory way of logging an incident but looks rather limited eg there seems no way of 'pushing' out an update by email. What we really want is a SIMs add on that stores data within SIMs but emails the form tutor, head of year, or head of department to inform them of the incident. We want the ability for managers to generate behaviour reports based on key variables. The only package I can find that seems to fit the bill is PARs from TASC. Is there anyone on the forum who is using PARS and can give feedback? Or is there an alternative add on that can be recommended for behaviour management tracing within SIMs?

[Steven_Cleaver]

Hi

 

I have used PAR's in the last two schools and this is excellent and will do exactly what you require their is a whole set of pre-created reports for both Behaviour, Attendance etc PAR's has quite a few different features that you can use or just use the particular ones you require. As well as having prebuilt in reports that you can filter and run against class, form etc and just select the date range you can also easily create reports as it has a sort of create your own reports where you can just drop in fields you require to create your own report.

 

PAR's are also excellent with support and adding new features so if their is a specific report or feature you need added they will add this for you but to be honest with the Custom Report Feature we don't really ask for any new reports just create our own. We are also using Insight from Tasc Software for Parental Portal again excellent and because we use both Behaviour information as well as Attendance, Exams, Assessment is displayed to Parents as well as staff and Students being able to access this.

 

We are sort of doing what you are looking at doing various staff use reports from PAR's including Form Tutors, Heads of Year and SLT.

 

Feel free to ask any more questions or PM me

[Edu-IT]

We use PARS. If you have specific questions, feel free to ask. Personally I think PARS is a great product.

[Ephelyon]

I support PARS as a product as well. On balance, a lot of things many people will claim can "only be done in PARS" can in fact be done in SIMS... but it might be that you will end up paying more for them (i.e. adding modules like Lesson Monitor and InTouch to do what PARS will supply in a single product)... or it might be that you get the same functionality but it can be "clunkier" at times.

 

On the money side, the PARS purchase a couple of years ago was a no-brainer for us. We'd never bought Lesson Monitor, so I quoted up on this and was given a certain figure. When I then went to TASC for a quote on PARS, the figure was more or less exactly the same. Our decision was between a specific module of SIMS that only does so much, versus the same price for a product that does so much more. We went for PARS and haven't looked back, though we did suffer a few mishaps with the Grading features due to opting not to pay for the extra training days.

 

PARS training as (usually) provided by Ms Urey is exceptional. There is a day rate involved but if you scrimp on it, you'll find productivity and user experience both suffer in the long-term.

[number34]

Would agree with all the other positive comments about PARS. We are using the behavior more and more and will be introducing a 'points mean prizes' system next year using it. The nice thing is that it is all included in the basic product so that we can use all the funds allocated for the prizes.

[Ephelyon]

We're using points for prizes here too, using the Rule-Based Behaviours feature.

[Quackers]

We use PARS and highly recommend it. The support you will get is amazing too! Just get in contact with them you will not regret it.

[ryoung]

Bottom line: we are going with PARS Connect in the first instance for e-registration and e-behaviour management with a view to adding PARS Insight for parental engagement within 6 months

[Ephelyon]

They do work very well together. Was there a particular reason why didn't want to go for the full client package?

[ryoung]

We will be going for PARs Insight next. We just want to start simple and get e-registration and e-behaviour embedded before using PARs Insight for parental engagement sometime within the next six months and, importantly, into the next financial year

[Ephelyon]

I meant that PARS Connect is the web-based version of the client, but there is also a full application that can run on workstations if you have the .NET Framework deployed everywhere.

[ryoung]

Ignorance from a lack of familiarity. What is the right term for installing PARS as a client version?

[Ephelyon]

That's just PARS =]

[Kyle]

As Phil Neal said, lesson Monitor and InTouch from Sims. We are using both with the behaviour in Sims and have had great success.

[Ephelyon]

Some of this does come down to pricing in the end. We only implemented any form of electronic registration two years ago (don't ask!), and at that time we reviewed our options. Because we had never bought Lesson Monitor, the quote for that came in at £5.5K. When we asked TASC Software for a quote on PARS, interestingly enough this came in at exactly the same amount. The decision was a no-brainer for us: buy something that does X for Y money, or buy something that does X plus so much else for Y money. Through PARS, we are now in a position to save £1.8K on KeepKidsSafe as we no longer need this (PARS replicates all the functionality of KeepKidsSafe that we require), so there is an immediate cost saving.

[jenny_urey]

I support PARS as a product as well. On balance, a lot of things many people will claim can "only be done in PARS" can in fact be done in SIMS... but it might be that you will end up paying more for them (i.e. adding modules like Lesson Monitor and InTouch to do what PARS will supply in a single product)... or it might be that you get the same functionality but it can be "clunkier" at times.

 

On the money side, the PARS purchase a couple of years ago was a no-brainer for us. We'd never bought Lesson Monitor, so I quoted up on this and was given a certain figure. When I then went to TASC for a quote on PARS, the figure was more or less exactly the same. Our decision was between a specific module of SIMS that only does so much, versus the same price for a product that does so much more. We went for PARS and haven't looked back, though we did suffer a few mishaps with the Grading features due to opting not to pay for the extra training days.

 

PARS training as (usually) provided by Ms Urey is exceptional. There is a day rate involved but if you scrimp on it, you'll find productivity and user experience both suffer in the long-term.