Council Rock-eSchoolPLUS-IEPPLUS-PerformancePLUS

K-12 Administrative Software Solutions
Council Rock School District Launches Student Achievement Initiatives with SunGard K-12 Solutions
The educators of Council Rock School District, Pa., understand
that change is constant in education. As they evaluated student
information and special education systems, they sought not only to
select best-in-class software but also to partner with a company that
would evolve its systems to meet their ever-changing needs.
Although the school district already used SunGard K-12 Education’s
PerformancePLUS™, Barry Desko, director of secondary education, says the
selection committee was committed to consider all options.
SCHOOL DISTRICT PROFILE
• P
ublic school district educating students in
Bucks County, a historic area in southeast
Pennsylvania. The district prides itself on
blending “the past with the present to meet
the challenge of the future.”
• A
pproximately 950 faculty and staff serve
approximately 11,700 students at 15
schools, including 10 elementary schools,
three middle schools, and two high schools.
• W
ith the goal of “supporting success
for every student, every day,” Council
Rock seeks to “empower students with
knowledge, habits, and attitudes to become
life-long learners and to lead and serve in a
diverse, global society.”
Challenge
To support its mission of empowering students,
Council Rock launched an effort to research
and select best-in-class systems for managing
student information and special education.
SOLUTION
Council Rock selected the SunGard K-12
Education PLUS 360® solution for supporting
student achievement.
“We involved 50 to 100 members
of our school community in the
conversation. As we considered
student information systems, we
really spent a great deal of time
researching our options. After we
finished that, the consensus certainly
landed us on eSchoolPLUS™,” he
explains. “And, when we considered
special education systems, we
did our research and landed on
IEPPLUS™. It just happened that in
both cases the best-in-class system
was also the integrated SunGard K-12
Education product.”
“SunGard K-12’s
customer support is
absolutely outstanding.
All of them are very
responsive and
thorough.”
CHARLES LAMBERT
Director of Special Services,
Council Rock School District, Pa.
eSchoolPLUS is a recognized, industry-leading student information
management system for K-12 schools. It has received Gartner’s highest
possible rating, was named to District Administration’s Top 100 products
list, and was a finalist in the CODiE Award Program. A cost-effective software
solution, eSchoolPLUS helps educators manage day-to-day student
administration, monitor student performance, and facilitate communications
between district staff, parents, and students.
IEPPLUS allows district staff to efficiently manage the entire special education
process—from referral, evaluation, and IEP development to maintaining
historical information and ensuring compliance with IDEA regulations. Intuitive
web-based forms increase the speed and ease of creating IEPs. The software
solution alleviates administrative burdens and helps improve the accuracy of
reporting with automated compliance validation and automated notifications
to alert district staff of critical information or actions needed.
eSchoolPLUS, IEPPLUS, and PerformancePLUS are part of SunGard K-12’s PLUS 360 suite, which is a single integrated software solution for the
management of student information, assessment and curriculum, special
K-12 Administrative Software Solutions
education, and financial and human
resources. With PLUS 360®, educators are
able to access information they need to
engage students, affect positive change,
and improve student achievement.
Ric Cargas, the district’s database and
information systems manager, says the
integration of the PLUS 360 products
boosts district efficiency and supports
educators with on-the-spot decision
making. “From the technology side, the
integration is really helping us. Previously,
we had to write that integration and
provide that data,” he explains. “It wasn’t
real time, so you were always a little
bit behind. Now, eSchoolPLUS™ is the
central point of input, and data flows out
from there. That integration eliminates
duplication of data entry. That’s a time
saver, and it really increases the quality of our data.”
As demands on school districts continue
to evolve, Cargas says partnering with
a vendor that is in tune with changing
regulatory requirements is invaluable.
“What SunGard K-12 has done for state
reporting is just phenomenal,” he says,
noting the company has a well-deserved
reputation for excellence. “That level of
support really speaks to SunGard K-12’s
dedication to its products. We can rest
easier because we know that SunGard K-12
will make things happen.”
Tools for Supporting the Success of Every Student
Desko says the PLUS 360 solutions have
become integral to the district’s student
achievement initiatives.
“The systems allow us to do much more
data gathering and analysis. Our principals
are doing grade analysis that never was
a simple task for them before we moved
to eSchoolPLUS. Now they can look at
marking period reports and student or
teacher grading analysis to get a sense
of what’s going on,” he explains. “Our
curriculum coordinators look at all of our
common assessments and do task analysis
to look at how well the assessments are
measuring what we want them to measure
and how well our students are performing.
It’s given us a lot of options to better
ensure that we are able to deliver on the
mission that we are committed to.”
Over the years, Desko has appreciated
how SunGard K-12 has evolved its systems
to make them even easier to use. “For
example, the new reporting engine in
PerformancePLUS™ is intuitive,” says Desko.
“Our folks are confident in the information
they’re getting. And, the training that came
along with the update was really helpful.”
For Charles Lambert, the district’s director
of special services, IEPPLUS™ is key to the
district’s success in its special education
program. “IEPPLUS is critically essential
to compliance,” says Lambert. “It gives us
the mechanism by which we complete
the paperwork and manage the state reporting that we are required to do.”
Launching Initiatives
Supported by best-in-class systems and
excellent customer support, Council Rock
is comfortable launching initiatives that
support student achievement.
Currently, Desko says the district
is re-writing its curriculum and
moving it to SunGard K-12’s online
curriculum management solution.
“CurriculumCONNECTOR™ gives us the
confidence that everybody is accessing
the same curriculum and offers ongoing
opportunities to review and revise our
curriculum. Being able to do that yearround and to have that K-12 look at our
curriculum will be a real advantage to us,”
he says. “Next year, all of our teachers
will be accessing their curriculum maps
through CurriculumCONNECTOR. Then,
they’ll learn to build their own diary maps
and lesson plans in the system. And, we’re
hoping that this will open up a whole new
era of sharing and collaboration online.”
In addition, the district is moving to an
online report card.
Like Desko, Lambert has seen SunGard
K-12’s commitment to continuous
improvement. “IEPPLUS’s new progress
monitoring module is even more
user friendly,” he says. “That progress
monitoring component is critical for IEP
development. So, I think making the new
module easier for teachers has certainly
helped in developing better IEPs.”
“We will deliver report cards, except for the final report, through Home Access
Center,” says Desko, noting that parents
who do not have computer access can
still request a paper copy. “In addition
to printing cost, it’s going to save us
turnaround time because our staff will
not have to spend as long doing all
the printing, sorting, coordination, and
distribution. It was a two-week process
for us—from the time the marking period
ended until we delivered report cards. We
should be able to cut that in half.”
When Lambert has a question, he is
confident he’ll get the help he needs.
“SunGard K-12’s customer support is
absolutely outstanding,” he says. “All of
them are very responsive and thorough.”
With the complete PLUS 360 student
solution, Council Rock is confident
launching initiatives like these that
empower all educational stakeholders to support student achievement.
Student Information Management | Assessment and Curriculum Management
Finance and Human Resources Management | Special Education Management
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