Free MIS system recommendation which also does academic reporting

[scholarpack]

Every one that I have worked in (due to my obsession with things like this!) and working with now and since. No module purchased is under used and is thoroughly investigated and utilised before installing.

 

Strange you say this because Sivadam and co are always saying 'if only people knew that SIMS did this'! or 'MIS does this, it's just people don't know about it'

[GREED]

Strange you say this because Sivadam and co are always saying 'if only people knew that SIMS did this'! or 'MIS does this, it's just people don't know about it'

 

You misunderstand. Since I have gone in and worked with these schools their usage has improved. Of course there are sections underused, due to different requirements, styles and levels of staff knowledge, but my work involves ensuring these are tied up where possible and efficiency is increased, and ROI is as good as it can be.

[scholarpack]

Oh, well maybe Sivadam can take some tips from you then

[GREED]

Oh, well maybe Sivadam can take some tips from you then

 

I would never presume to tell Sivadam anything about SIMS and I could guarentee he has been there done that and bought several thousand tee-shirts! My only advantage is I have time to analyse and develop and put change and procedures in place in schools, something most IT/MIS guys don't get much opportunity for.

[Sivadam]

Phil -

This is not an assumption, just our experience at the moment and we are aware that extra work will be necessary to move other data, although to say 'huge' amount may be an over-estimation. It would be interesting to know the proportion of schools that utilise their MIS to the full though?

Maybe you would like to pay a visit and see how much this school uses it's SIMS?

We are one of the Partnership Schools and are used to hosting visitors for this purpose.

It would be no good coming with a sales hat on though!

 

 

Oh, well maybe Sivadam can take some tips from you then

Undoubtedly I can!!

GREED has much more knowledge than I in certain aspects of SIMS - certainly the Technical side of things. I am just a 'mere' User (and, obviously, the SYSMAN!)

One of my advantages is that I spend qute a bit of time testing the SIMS Software against our dataset as part of UAT. This gives me a great insight into the new functionality in advance of it's delievery. The school can then be set up and prepared to use that new software the moment it is available!

 

 

.....having spoken to several reps for 3rd party apps they have very rarely seen an assessment module of any sort being used inside the classroom...

Watch out for the brochure 'Freedom to Focus' coming out from Capitaes next term. There will be a quote in there from Ofsted re. use of assessment data in this school! You might also want to conveniently ignore what it will probably say on the front cover, but it's perfectly true!

Edited December 16, 2010 by Sivadam

[RichH]

Watch out for the brochure 'Freedom to Focus' coming out from Capitaes next term. There will be a quote in there from Ofsted re. use of assessment data in this school! You might also want to conveniently ignore what it will probably say on the front cover, but it's perfectly true!

 

I've read an Ofsted report regarding your school, quoting 'A rigorous system to track students' progress over time has enabled senior leaders to target strategies and tackle a legacy of underachievement. Consequently, gaps in students' learning are closing and students make satisfactory progress relative to their starting points'. Suffice to say this improvement and the system its referring to has been your use of your MIS, however can you say that SIMS is solely able to provide this noticeable change? Surely the effective use of any MIS on the market is going to achieve similar results in schools.

[Sivadam]

......... Surely the effective use of any MIS on the market is going to achieve similar results in schools.

It certainly ought to be!

However, I cannot comment on other MIS Systems that I do not use as to their ability to do this.

 

One wonders how many more employees from this company will join this thread to make comments specifically to myself ........

Isn't one enough?

Good luck in your new job, Richard, but don't bother trying to pursuade me to adopt anything but SIMS. I apologise for not adding you to my Twitter Account either!

Talking of Twitter, @spschools ain't got many followers has it?

Edited December 28, 2010 by Sivadam

[RichH]

Im not trying to persuade anyone into doing anything, i just hope that people viewing this threat keep an open mind. Any bias aside, all i implied is that although yes the impact of assessment data and the use of an MIS is measurable, (and favourable i might add), you cannot attribute this to SIMS. If all MIS software are more or less able to replicate similar functions as one another, then surely any other properly maintained MIS can do the same.

 

Thankyou for the kind words, im looking forward to delving into the challenges of the industry, and feel free to add me on twitter if you wish, unfortunately its not high on my list of priorities so i rarely use it!

[john]

It certainly ought to be!

However, I cannot comment on other MIS Systems that I do not use as to their ability to do this.

 

To answer your point Sivadam, I am a very happy and long time Serco customer, 6 years of using it now, and in our recent Ofsted we were praised about our tracking and progress systems and using it to develop intervention strategy to improve those failing so RichH's point is valid, any MIS if well setup and managed can do those features its all down to how the school uses it and works with it and reliant on quality data in to get quality data out.

[Sivadam]

... all i implied is that although yes the impact of assessment data and the use of an MIS is measurable, (and favourable i might add), you cannot attribute this to SIMS.i

As if I would ever devalue the work of my colleagues by just attributing our success to a piece of software! That would be a great insult to them! The brochure headlines the contribution that SIMS makes, however. Look out for its release if you have access to it; you have already publicised the Ofsted quote.

 

 

 

... If all MIS software are more or less able to replicate similar functions as one another, then surely any other properly maintained MIS can do the same.

I cannot say whether other MIS systems can or cannot! Others will have to comment on that - as John has done above for another MIS, although extrapolating that to all MISs is a little beyond my conception! However, some of your new colleagues seem to imply that none can, which is obviously not the case for at least two MIS Systems!

Edited December 28, 2010 by Sivadam

[garrysaddington]

Look out for its release if you have access to it; you have already publicised the Ofsted quote.

 

Sivadam, Ofsted reports are in the public domain and freely available, please don't imply any wrong doing here.

I really fail to understand why you must resort to personal attacks when every one else is trying to have a reasoned argument.

 

some of your new colleagues seem to imply that none can

 

I don't think so. I think the point was to initiate the above mentioned reasoned argument about the state of assessment monitoring in the classroom, which again you take as an attack on SIMS, which it clearly is not.

 

In a previous life I too was a science teacher and during that time a symbol like != would have probably confused me, but apparently it's common place now.

[Sivadam]

... I really fail to understand why you must resort to personal attacks when every one else is trying to have a reasoned argument.

 

... which again you take as an attack on SIMS, which it clearly is not.

 

 

Why have you again mis-interpreted my words? I have inferred that the Quote on the impending SIMS Brochure has been publicised - hence the use of the semi-colon! It is obvious that anybody can browse the Ofsted Reports and my school name is readily available to users of these Forums!

I have also only intimated what SIMS can do and have in no way interpreted this as an attack on SIMS. I just responded to a reasonable question by a new user of this Forum, by actually agreeing with him!

 

I have made no attack on anybody!

 

Please read my posts as they are written and not how you wish to interpret them!

Edited December 29, 2010 by Sivadam