Bespoke School Management Software.
Today, software is essential for completing daily administrative tasks in schools. Educational institutions are also leveraging technology to help them better assess student progress, rather than relying solely on teachers’ judgments. This helps take education to the next level.
This guide will tell you everything you need to know to get started.
Here's what we'll cover:
What Is School Administration Software?
Common Functionality of School Administration Software.
Benefits of School Administration Software.
Market Trends to Understand.
Key Considerations.
What Is School Administration Software?
School administration software helps educational institutions by automating regular administrative tasks. Also known as “student information systems,” these offer a range of functionality for everything from applications to student performance monitoring.
Common capabilities of this software include: Admission Management, Class Subjects Management, Attendance & Student Tracking, Assignments & Notes, Daily Homework, Classwork, Continuous Assessment & Examination Management, Academic Management, Student Results Management, enrollment to attendance, calendar, timetable and growth tracking, billing and invoicing, Grading, Attendance, Admissions and Scheduling.
Some solutions also offer more advanced integrated functionality, such as:
- Integrated learning management systems (LMSs)
- Assessment Application for student CAs and Examination.
- Tools for administrators to evaluate teachers
- Parent portals for checking students’ attendance and grades
- Reporting and analytics capabilities
- Library management tools
- Point-of-sale (POS) functionality for managing cafeteria and other sales
- Fundraising capabilities
- Electronic health records (EHR) tools for onsite nurses and clinics
Note that some School Management Software offer integrated suites of software that feature several of the aforementioned applications, while other vendors offer standalone or “best-of-breed” individual applications. There are several advantages and disadvantages to each approach. In general, fully integrated suites of software will be able to cover most of your bases and you won’t have to worry about integrating certain applications with each other.
Common Functionality of School Administration Software
The following capabilities are common to most school administration systems:
Admissions: Helps users manage the admissions process, from accepting applications to enrolling students. Includes custom admission form creation and online application submission. Stores data on prospective and new students (e.g., admission status, demographics, contact information and communication logs).
Attendance: Users can record attendance in the system or through a mobile application; publish attendance records online for student, parent and teacher access; and use attendance data to build reports and letters.
Grading: Allows users to record grades; create and print transcripts and customized report cards (including narrative notes from teachers); and report on class rankings and distribution. Also includes automatic calculation of weighted grades, means, medians and averages.
Scheduling: Provides tools for scheduling classes based on student and teacher availability. Some applications come with automated schedulers, which match teacher schedules with student course requests.
Billing and invoicing: Allows users to create and send invoices and receive payments. Some vendors also provide an integrated accounting application.
Communication: Notification system keeps parents, students and teachers updated on school cancellations and delays, emergency alerts and events. These messages may be sent via email, text or voice message.
Benefits of School Administration Software
School administration systems bring many benefits to users, including:
Automation of routine tasks. Handling student information, payments and other administrative tasks manually can be overwhelming, especially for midsize and large educational institutions. School administration systems automate these mundane tasks, and can even reduce administrative staffing requirements.
Improved communication. Parents can easily interact with teachers and administrators and get their questions answered quickly. Schools can also provide regular updates to parents and students through the software’s notification system.
Better analysis of student performance. Several solutions on the market include analytics tools. Drawing from grade and attendance data, these tools provide in-depth analysis of students’ performance in academic, sports and extracurricular activities. This helps teachers take any necessary corrective actions in a timely manner.
Increased transparency. Communication tools and portals provide parents with regular updates on children’s attendance, grades and health (if the vendor offers EHR functionality). This allows them to intervene when they see performance suffer. Students can also access their own grade and attendance information whenever they need it.
Key Considerations
Here are some important points to keep in mind as you search for new school administration software:
Integration with other software. Make sure the system you choose can easily integrate with other software your educational institution is already using, such as email, spreadsheet or accounting applications.
Vendors’ market history. Several vendors have stopped offering school administration products over the past six years. Thus, buyers should ensure the vendor they choose has a strong history in the market (five to 10 years is a good benchmark).
Customization requirements. The larger the educational institution, the more complex the system configuration will be. Buyers from large institutions should look for solutions that offer high levels of customization. This allows the system to be configured to fit existing processes and workflows, rather than the other way around.