What Is a Student Information System: Six Features of the System
Once upon a time, student information was stored on paper. This old-school approach has numerous disadvantages: it is time-consuming and inefficient to maintain and track information. It also involves a significant amount of time to transfer information about the student. In recent years, there has been an expansion in technology for the field of education, and currently, there is a plethora of software to help resolve numerous administrative issues, internal processes, and more.
A Student Information System (SIS) is one important type of software that is used to simplify the task of storing and sharing data with teachers, students, and parents. It also helps in supporting and promoting school-based activities.
An SIS includes SMS (Student Management System), SIMS (Student Information Management System), SRS (Student Records System), and much more. It eases the processes of grading, scheduling, taking attendance, and reporting activities.
The Need for a Student Information System
A Student Information System is a modern solution that enables schools and colleges to use technology for numerous purposes. The archaic method of recording data—that is on paper—was tedious. The digital process has eased the job by helping to collect data online and facilitate administrative tasks.
An SIS enables efficiency while managing student information. Parents, students, administrative employees, and teachers can access the data stored by the SIS to track test results, attendance, and individual anecdotes.
An SIS provides a self-service option for students that allows them access to all facilities from a single portal so that they don't have to ask multiple people their queries. They can just check the self-service portal. Furthermore, the workload of teachers and administrators is modernized because crucial information such as grades, attendance, and tasks are now automated.
This program functions as a repository for those who use the system, allowing users to access information from a single source rather than searching for it. This software standardizes and segregates the data according to need, unifies it, and presents it with clarity. These systems may be cloud-based and can be revamped from time to time with the growth of the institution.
Some of the Critical Attributes of an SIS (Student Information System)
Student Information Systems are used to store information that is beneficial to the users. The users can extract the consolidated information present in the SIS about grades, attendance, and other important information such as curriculum.
You can find plenty of companies promoting their SIS software. However, you should conduct thorough research before investing in any plan so that you can find one that meets the needs of your school. Common elements of a Student Information System may include:
Curriculum management
This refers to the process of managing the curriculum. The organization needs to provide a framework of the learning objectives and manage student progress toward mastery. This program creates a roadmap to be followed by the teachers and students for the course duration.
Program Management
This refers to the process of managing specialized settings to serve students’ academic needs such as special education, English language learners, gifted and talented students and more. This portion of the software will help track students’ progress in these special academic settings.
Student management
The program should be able to simplify the work of the administrative staff. The process of storing student information should be easy, preferably in student profiles/portals. It should be able to depict information like date of birth, contact details, and all the state and federal information about the student the district is required to report. It should also be able to provide personal login details for every student.
Schedule management
The scheduling functions should provide administrators the tools to manage courses, teachers and students. The schedule management module should also have tools for the creation of a master schedule.
Attendance management
Attendance management is a regular task that needs to be updated daily to the portal. Technology here enables much easier recordkeeping ensuring accuracy.
Management of grades
Student grades need to be managed and stored throughout any course. The system should manage assignments and calculate final grades.
Conclusion
A student information system has numerous benefits over the traditional methods of storing data. The advancement of technology in the realm of information storage is unquestionably beneficial. It has aided administrative departments in keeping track of data records and presenting them to all users whether they are instructors, pupils, or parents. Several aspects must be considered before purchasing any program.
