Parent access to student data

[MsFrench]

Hello everyone Do any of your schools have set up for parental access to student data - attendnace, grades etc.. ? I hear that schools must have a system for on-line reporting for parents to view their child's data online.. Does anybody have one of these? If so, what and how is it going? How long have you had it in place? How much did it cost?

 

Thank you

[Sylv3r]

What MIS software do you run?

 

We use the SIMS webparts to give access to parents to view their son daughters data. Have a look here: SIMS Learning Gateway Demo - Capita Education Services

 

Secondary schools I think need to have this in place by September 2010 and Primary schools by September 2012.

[User3204]

We've recently installed SIMS Learning Gateway, so far we've not gotten anyone using it yet.

It's not cheap, but then nothing from Capita ever seems to be...

 

There is fortunately, something within the requirements, that says "... regularly updated..." or words to that effect, it does not mean you have make todays registers available... regular can mean once a term... or even once a year, everyone is assuming daily.

 

 

If I had the chance to go again, I would have the bi-annual reports that go out to the students exported as PDF, and then give the parents access to this (as the registration data is stored on this).

As this is gonna be a lot cheaper/easier than any other solution.

[danrhodes]

Hi,

 

Would there be any problems with having an external Broadband Link and letting staff in through there?

 

D

[FN-GM]

You will need to forward ports to the internal servers. You also would want to consider security, you don't want your sims server directly exposed to the internet, infact you dont want anything on the main network expossed.

[zag]

I agree the best way to do this is to have some kind of reporting system that exports electronically once a term.

 

Realtime data would be cool but its total overkill for Parents.

[PhilNeal]

The government's target for England is real time reporting - not three reports a year! It doesn't really matter what we think as we will be judged by this requirement.

 

One LA recently pointed out that as it took parents to court for the non-attendance of their children, it took the responsibility of letting parents know immediately that there was a problem.

[theriver]

 

Secondary schools I think need to have this in place by September 2010 and Primary schools by September 2012.

 

Hi

 

Does anyone have a reference for this requirement?

[PhilNeal]

Try this:

 

Becta Schools - Extending opportunities - Parental engagement

[Andie]

Aren't learning platforms supposed to be making this possible? Ours integrates with the school management software, generates usernames for parents from this and then we have been told that parents can log in and get their own children's attendance data, etc. I know that the pupils themselves get their own attendance data up when they log in.

[theriver]

Try this:

 

Becta Schools - Extending opportunities - Parental engagement

 

Thank you. One of the docs there confirms the timetable mentioned above (About Becta - Publications - Exploiting ICT to improve parental engagement, moving towards online reporting: An introduction for schools - Becta)

 

Best get cracking!

[kmount]

Aren't learning platforms supposed to be making this possible? Ours integrates with the school management software, generates usernames for parents from this and then we have been told that parents can log in and get their own children's attendance data, etc. I know that the pupils themselves get their own attendance data up when they log in.

 

Learning Platforms (not to be confused with VLEs) are supposed to be extended to provide this feature via SIMS Webparts / some other way.

 

We had a presentation on SLG yesterday and whilst expensive, it looks like it'll do the job.

[leco]

Learning Platforms (not to be confused with VLEs)

 

Can you explain please the difference then between a Learning Platform and a Virtual Learning Environment?

[Willzzz]

A VLE is a tool for sharing course content and tests.

A learning platform is an extension to a MIS to share data about students.

[GrumbleDook]

A Learning Platform is a container ... it holds access to MIS information, access to learning objects (sometimes directly using tools built into the platfor, eg SLK, but sometimes external objects or complete external VLEs eg Moodle) and access to areas for collaboration.

 

A VLE is a learning environment where structured, independant and/or personalised learning takes place. This may mirror the classroom situation but can be extended into may other areas. A VLE may be provsioned by an MIS or Learning Platform. VLEs range from Studywhiz, Moodle, FirstClass ... through to things such as SAM Learning, homework now, etc ... even Blogger could be considered a VLE if used in particular ways.

 

A learning object may range from a full SCORM object that allows for the completion of a unit of work, through to a pdf or movie that a learner has to review and then feedback on orally.

 

Lots of these things are labels and they get mixed around ... SLG does what it says on the tin but there are options to see how far you can stretch where it sits, how it is used and this is before you start to consider that before you start reporting to parents you need to think about *what* you want to report.

 

Do you have a regular reporting structure? Do the grades make sense and is it part of your MIS rather than a separate system? Behaviour? It is not just about recording who has been bad, but if you use your MIS to record behaviour it merely needs to be part of the whole school approach to behaviour. Why record it if you are not going to use it to make a difference (the ongoing arguement about recording incidents of bullying. It goes on so you should record it, but you need to use the information to make a difference!)

 

I'm presently looking at the options within the county learning platform for reporting and it is an eye opener ... There are a lot more options availble that I previously thought ... but as with everything else, time and money dictate what is reasonable!

[leco]

Thanks both. The LEA has bought licences for SLG for all schools, so that comes online soon. The LEA has procured a VLE for all primary schools (Fronter) which is already online we just have to figure out how we are going to use it.

 

More work but it keeps me off the streets.

[Tonyoung]

Hi Tony - really helpful post. Could you take the definitions one step further and include Learning Gateway and show how VLES and LP fit ?

[GrumbleDook]

Heck .. next you will be asking where eportfolios fit into it all, where standards such as the Schools Interoperability Framework fit in, the most logical use and connection for SSO under Shibboleth, what the difference is between eLearning and online learning ...

 

There are a number of good docs out there that outline all this stuff ... Russ can probably dig them out a lot more quickly than me, but articles by Drew Buddie, Miles Berry, Ian Usher and Leon Cych are good places to start.

[carbon_cath]

Hey Leco, which part of West Yorkshire does that apply to?

[chris-bromcom]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading into your threads and it seems some of you are looking for a solutions to meet the DCSF 2010 requirement for Parental Access.

Has anyone looked at www.MyChildAtSchool.com which is a solution Bromcom Developed back in 2000?

MyChildAtSchool is a portal for parents that enables them to view their child's performance at school in real-time via a web browser. The facility allows the child's attendance, grades and behaviour to all be accessed whenever the parent/carer wants. As well as pupil performance data, the portal also provides general information about school, such as the school calendar and any important announcements.

 

MyChildAtSchool is able to link in with Sims.net and other MIS suppliers, without the need to be using any of Bromcom’s products in your School.

For more information please logon to the Bromcom Website at Bromcom Computers Plc | Management Information Systems for Schools & Colleges

 

 

Thanks

 

Chris

[Mcshammer_dj]

I really hope that Chris gets a bonus for new customers as he is really work hard to get the name of bromcom on the map

[mpe]

Try this:

 

Becta Schools - Extending opportunities - Parental engagement

 

Probably you'd also to check out the becta advice on securing data and anything the Information Commisioner's might have put out on the subject.

[jenny_urey]

Hello everyone,

I have been reading into your threads and it seems some of you are looking for a solutions to meet the DCSF 2010 requirement for Parental Access.

Has anyone looked at www.MyChildAtSchool.com which is a solution Bromcom Developed back in 2000?

MyChildAtSchool is a portal for parents that enables them to view their child's performance at school in real-time via a web browser. The facility allows the child's attendance, grades and behaviour to all be accessed whenever the parent/carer wants. As well as pupil performance data, the portal also provides general information about school, such as the school calendar and any important announcements.

 

MyChildAtSchool is able to link in with Sims.net and other MIS suppliers, without the need to be using any of Bromcom’s products in your School.

For more information please logon to the Bromcom Website at Bromcom Computers Plc | Management Information Systems for Schools & Colleges

 

 

Thanks

 

Chris

 

 

Can I at this stage mention INSIGHT if thats ok Chris .. and no - I dont get paid commission Tony PARS from TASC software, pupil management working seamlessly with SIMS.net

[chris-bromcom]

Hi Jenny,

Thanks for your input but was wondering and by looking at your website it seems that you only interface with Capita Sims.net, how about other MIS systems on the market like Serco or RM to name a few?

I’m also interested in how parents view the schools data?

I could not see a login for parents from your website so assume it would be a login attached to a schools website?

 

Does the school or college have to be using PARS software for attendance or behaviour to enable parent or carers to view this type of information?

 

 

Many Thanks

 

Chris

[Tonyoung]

hi Chris - on the question of interfacing how come my lesson data in the Bromcom system isn't written back to SIMS where i can then use it for reports to parents and governors ?