Bev Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 Does anyone use a package or website to track data? We currently use SIMS officially, but in reality we are using a myriad of excel spreadsheets which are all out of sync. I know the common answer on here will be to use SIMS but for various reasons that's not going to work for us. I've looked at PupilAsset, and DCPro, and am also considering building a system in Access but would prefer something online as a lot of staff like to work at home. PupilAsset looks great but it has too many bugs in it, I can't sell this to SLT if there are mistakes in the data. DCPro also looks promising but I'm having trouble getting access to a trial login. We are a middle school, so specific primary or secondary solutions don't work, we need something that covers KS2 and KS3.
timetableman Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 For KS3: We use SISRA and 4Matrix, I can't recommend either highly enough. SIMS is great but for regular day-to-day use Discover isn't currently up-to where we are with SISRA and 4Matrix already - both are in use with Teachers, Curriculum Leaders and SLT on a daily basis. With you being a middle school I can understand you're in between two stools as far as software companies in designing and targeting their software.
pingleby Posted January 19, 2014 Posted January 19, 2014 We were using SISRA but there were things it just didn't do so now we use it in conjunction with a system I developed myself, MAP Learners. I'm visiting a middle school later this month to discuss their needs. I am hoping to come out of that meeting knowing what to change to make it more suited to middle schools. If you drop me an email then you can have an input into that process too. [email protected]
Seb1780 Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 We use Go4Schools, which is currently a Secondary / Sixth Form package but they are now rolling out a Primary package too. It integrates very well with SIMS and is highly configurable. New additions to the system mean it is now easier than ever to see progress. Regards Steve
Bev Posted January 21, 2014 Posted January 21, 2014 Just to follow on from this, I ended up trialing PupilAsset, DCPro and PPit. PupilAsset did have a couple of mistakes in it, as we were doing things slightly differently to most schools due to being a Middle School, however, they have very quickly corrected them. DCPro and PPit both looked ok, but I was particularly impressed with the response of PupilAsset so I am pretty sure we are going to go with them.
jmcq555 Posted January 21, 2014 Posted January 21, 2014 We use Go4Schools (which is online) for staff to record data. For reporting, SLT have quite specific requirements so I export the data into excel and have my own spreadsheet templates.
Steven_Cleaver Posted January 25, 2014 Posted January 25, 2014 We use SISRA and this works well for high level Analysis so great for SLT and MIS staff and staff that understand data but Teachers, TA's, Support Staff etc were struggling with it a bit and it didn't quite give us everything we wanted so looked at our own system started with doing a fair bit in SIM's exporting to Excel then an App front end to link it all together, this gave us the model for the data we needed. Staff loved this but was time consuming and wasn't live, so have now developed this into a web based system, Staff enter data in SIM's (PAR's), exports data we need every night into our own database, some software we have developed with external company then Analyses the Data then sort of Exports to a web front end for staff to access we have also added intervention to this so we can also enter, track and analyse what Intervention is taking place and if has it been successful. So trying to link Progress and if not Progressing Intervention takes place and is analysed if this has been successful or not, this is working brilliantly as it is easy for Staff to use and saves time we are looking at developing this with one of our feeder schools and hopefully all four eventually and are also in discussions with a sort of Academy Trust in using this and another single Academy. Took a bit of time and effort and a lot of us working together including Head, Assistant Heads, MIS Officer (who is excellent) and is working brilliantly now. Which is great as I had spent a fair bit of time on this and also cleared some funding for Software Developer to give us a hand where needed.
JamesDM Posted January 27, 2014 Posted January 27, 2014 Steven, that sounds like the kind of thing a lot of schools would love to have, I find none of the 3rd party software (or SIMS) ticks every box. I spend a week every half term exporting data into spread sheets which then anlayse the data in a useful way. I'm also in the process of trying to find a clever and user-friendly way of analysing the impact of interventions/provisions for our pupil premium students.
BKGarry Posted January 28, 2014 Author Posted January 28, 2014 Wow Steven, that sounds great, I wished I had the time (and most of the skill) necessary to do what you have done, at the moment, we have 2 members of the SLT that seem to love using excel a little bit too much, so I am looking for a package to help them out, discover doesn't do what we do, but some of the progress grids in SIMS (which I have recently discovered) has taken a large chunk out, but still think a good bit of software to do most, if not all, of it would be worth it's weight in gold, would love to see your solution sometime and get inspiration for our own
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