All Of Your Data, In One Place

What sorts of data do you have about your students? How do you get it? Do you have a tool that helps?
Probably for more than 100 years, teachers have been taking attendance by hand as the students walk in the door. They keep a handwritten homework log. They keep a grade book on paper, in excel, or with an online service. Is there one place you can go to find out all of the information you have on a student? Can you look at the student’s grades, homework completion, attendance, class participation, and behavior in one place? If such a tool exists, I’d love to be in possession of it. For most teachers all of this data exists in 20 different places, and sometimes in places where they don’t even have access to it!

Tons of people are trying to keep track of student data:

There are a plethora of different software companies that sell enterprise solutions for looking at students’ standardized test scores from year to year, looking at individual skills and a student’s strengths/weaknesses. This data is of critical importance (though I wish it wasn’t so reliant on standardized tests).

There are school-wide management programs that keep attendance, keep track of grades and parent contact information. They print out report cards to mail to parents and incident reports for bad behavior.

There are digital grade books for your classroom where you input the grades and all of the calculations are done for you. Teachers no longer have to take out their calculator at the end of the quarter to work out each kid’s grades. Students can often access their grades as well so then keep up with how well they are doing.

Why aren’t all of these things in the same place? Why can’t I find out all of the information on a particular student? I’m ready for the data to be integrated, available, and easy to work with.
I’m not an experienced programmer, but I’ve just started development on a solution. Next year, there’ll be bar code scanner at the door; students will scan in when they enter and leave class and when they go to the bathroom. Attendance will be automatic. I’ll have the time in the beginning of the period to set up for class. Bathroom frequency will be recorded, and students will be denied if they go every day…automatically. I’ll keep a homework log using the same digital system. Students who are missing assignments will receive automated text messages reminding them to get it done. And I will be able to sit down at my desk at the end of the day, and look at patterns and trends….

A lot of kids from Physics A were absent today…
John Smith just missed 3 homework assignments….
Dave has been going to the bathroom every day for a week….

The program will report on these issues, and automatically respond in pre-designated ways. And I’ll get a complete view of all of the data I take on each student.
I’m excited to remove the secretarial work from my job, and focus on teaching and learning. Sound interesting? What features might you include? Let me know in the comments.