Acting On Student Data With School Operation Systems. Understanding the whole K-12 data picture. 1) Integration: Integrating your SIS with a school operation system can help increase school security, save clerical time, save money and support teachers. 2) Analyzing Data: Administrators using an operations system can collect, automate, centralize and analyze their data. Improving student performance and increasing operational efficiencies. 3) Data Reports: Administrators can analyze this data using powerful, actionable reports, and make data-driven decisions that are quantifiable and justifiable.

1. “In fact, given the sheer amount of paper-
work, surveys and test scores generated,”
Vivek Murali, NewSchools Venture Fund, said:
Education has the potential to
be one of, if not, the most
data-driven sector in the U.S.
But overseeing this data is only one part of school
management. Now, with services provided by Scholar-
Chip, administrators can collect, automate, centralize
and analyze their back end data, too, and improve
student performance and increase operational efficien-
cies.
ScholarChip is the leading provider of smart ID cards in
K12. These cards are the key to collecting data and the
key to the services ScholarChip provides, like building,
classroom, event, and bus attendance; secure door
access; visitor management services; cafeteria POS; and
even behavior and discipline tracking.
In fact, no other company integrates SIS with back end
operational data like ScholarChip; their products and
services help schools increase school security, save
clerical time, save money and support teachers.
Administrators can analyze this data using ScholarChip’s
powerful, actionable reports, and make data-driven
decisions that are quantifiable and justifiable.
In its most basic form, data-driven decision
making includes:
• Collecting data
• Analyzing that data in meaningful ways
• Distributing reports into the hands of key
• decision-makers
• Using the data to increase operational efficiency
• Using the data as quantifiable backup to support
• administrative decisions
Collecting Data
How much time is spent taking attendance every day?
It’s possible to assume that when teachers count
students by hand and enter the information into a
computer program, they’re spending approximately
five minutes per class period. Most elementary school
teachers do that once a day; middle and high school
teachers up to six or eight times a day.
This is an incredibly huge amount of time wasted on
clerical tasks. This is time that could be better spent on
teaching.
Or imagine the number of hours spent weekly by office
staff gathering class-level attendance information;
importing it into spreadsheets; handing out visitor
passes; keeping tracking of how much time volunteers
are spending in school; knowing which students have
free or reduced lunch; who rode on which bus; who
was absent five times last month; who was suspended
twice in the past four months; which teachers are
always late…
The Power of
Data Driven
Decisions in K12
Automating student, teacher, and staff contact information, schedules,
grades, etc. into School Information Systems (SIS) like PowerSchool, Infinite
Campus, and Microsoft Active Directory has dramatically transformed the
technological landscape of K12 management. These databases contain an
enormous amount of data; they are the front end of a school’s operations.
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2. There are school districts that have recaptured that
important teaching and office time by implementing an
automated system like ScholarChip’s. The responsibility
for attendance is on the student, teacher or staff
member – he or she simply taps in when they enter the
building or classroom, which adds no appreciable time
to collecting this data, and administrators can find
detailed information in minutes.
Classroom attendance is just one area of data that is
collected. Imagine all the time spent on a field trip,
where teachers count students on the bus, off the bus, at
an event, etc., all by call-out and using paper check-
marks. How can a district keep track of a student who
goes to the bathroom seven times a day? Or how much
time is spent trying to find out which volunteer spent
time in each of three classrooms?
These tasks can be quickly and easily accomplished by
using smart ID cards and ScholarChip’s services. Teachers
get more instruction time, students get more seat time,
office staff gets more time for other tasks—the informa-
tion is more accurate, and it’s reported to administration
instantly. Automation creates a safer school environment
that is run more efficiently and more cost effectively.
Other segments of school operations include building
and bus attendance, teacher and staff timecards, secure
door access, cafeteria POS, visitor management, hallway
monitoring, and behavior incidents and referrals.
Analyzing Data
ScholarChip’s Management Portal provides access to
over 100 reports when a school has full program imple-
mentation. Many of these reports can be calculated by
student, teacher, school, time frame (daily, weekly,
monthly, annually), etc., in configurations that provide
information that is most important in any situation.
When added together, the number of reports that show
identifiable, actionable information can go into the
thousands.
Attendance reports provide real-time data; administra-
tors know who is in school or not, or who is in a particu-
lar classroom or not, at any given moment. But the detail
captured provides a host of information that can be
analyzed and used to improve student performance as
well as administrative effectiveness.
Below are sample report titles that show how
powerful ScholarChip’s data analysis can be:
For School Safety - Attendance
In the event of an emergency or school lockdown, it is
imperative for administrators to know who is in their
buildings (students, teachers, visitors), who is marked
“skipped”and who is absent. With an automated system
by ScholarChip, this information is accurate and immedi-
ate, and can be provided to law enforcement within
minutes, which might mean the difference between
protection or disaster, between life or death:
• Open Campus Report: provides a list of entry/exit data
• for students in a particular school
• Absent, Late, Suspended, Early Dismissal Reports
• Cardless Entry: shows students in a building that do
• not have their smart ID cards
• Re-entry Log: shows students who have attempted
• to re-enter the building
• Present/Absent/Late Staff, including time of arrival
For School Safety – Visitor Management
Creating a safe environment for learning is paramount
for any school district, and one of the most vital aspects
of safety is knowing who is in your school at any given
time. These reports also make it easy to analyze volun-
teer time spent, or prepare for future scheduling:
• Visitors by Date/Reason/Location/Time Clock
• Visitors by Entry/Exit Door
• Visitors by Person/Office Visited

3. •
•students are actually spending in class, in minutes
• Present/Absent/Late Staff and Staff Arrival
• Time Reports
For Discipline
Tracking student disciplinary incidents is another
important way to see trends for early intervention and to
provide hard evidence when parents have questions
about their children or teachers’and administrators’
decisions:
• Suspension History
• Discipline and Suspension Report: available in
• detail and in summary
• Discipline Events by Infraction
Starting in late 2016, ScholarChip will integrate with ABE
Systems, its software-based behavior management
system, that focuses on each part of the corrective
process as well as integrates with the whole, over a
student’s entire school career. These reports will be
particularly vital to demonstrating when students need
extra help like psychiatric support, or when discussing
and/or implementing an IEP (Individualized Education
Plan).
Student Accounts and ID Cards
Keeping track of students’ID cards and parking permits
can be a frustrating, time consuming clerical task for
office staff. ScholarChip’s reports make it easy, which
saves time and money:
• Cards Issued: shows all students and staff who
• have a card
• Frequently Cardless: shows which students routinely
• come to school without their cards, which may
• require intervention
• Parking Data: shows which students have permits,
• car license plates, parking spots, etc.
For Cafeteria Point-of-Sale
School operations include managing the cafeteria. From
ordering food, trays and paper supplies to keeping track
of who gets free or reduced meals, administrators are
responsible for an area of the schoolday they may not
have learned about in college.
However, ScholarChip’s smart ID card makes it easy to
gather detailed information on a host of activities to
make cafeteria management and menu planning easier
and more cost-effective:
• Items Sold: displays all menu items sold within a
• particular date range
• Free/Reduced Eligible Students
• Missing Free/Reduced Applications: shows which
• students haven’t processed their paperwork
• Student and Staff POS Account Summary and Detail
• Prepayments by Students and Staff
• Daily Register and Cash Reconciliation
• Daily Transaction Summary
For Early Intervention
The only way to see if a student is at-risk for attendance
issues, including class cuts, is by seeing their record over
time. Often, it takes weeks—sometimes months—to
gather classroom-level data, create reports, and analyze
them to see who needs extra support. By then, it might
already be too late.
ScholarChip’s reports provide vital information on a daily
basis—data that could be used for early intervention or
for identifying at-risk students more quickly. Notifica-
tions can also be set up so that teachers, administrators,
school psychologists, and/or parents can be alerted
when a student reaches a particular threshold, which
also helps for early intervention:
• Detailed Top Absent/Tardy Student: provides in
• descending order the list of students and
• detailed attendance for a selected number of
• absences or tardies
• Attendance Level: displays all students with more than
• a certain number of absences
• Class Cuts: shows which student is skipping
• which classes
Attendance data can also be used to determine which
teachers or other staff members may need extra
support:
• Teacher Attendance Book: provides building
• attendance as well as class present, tardy and
• cut data for a specific teacher
• Full Year Attendance: shows students’class attendance
• and class cuts by teacher
• Unmarked Class Attendance: shows all periods and
• teachers that did not process class attendance.
• Class Time by Student: shows the amount of time

4. Certainly, student-level information can be used to help
at-risk students reach their attendance goals, however,
other school analyses can improve operational goals and
increase overall district success:
• Administrators can discover if a particular teacher’s
• class is consistently cut, which could prompt
• investigation.
• Human resources can determine which staff member
• comes to work late or leaves early.
• Cafeteria personnel can more easily discover which
• foods are consumed more or less often, which makes
• menu planning easier and more efficient.
Using the Data as Quantifiable Backup and to
Support Administrative Decisions
Sometimes parents make accusations against teachers,
other students and administrators, and it’s important to
have quantifiable data available to show why decisions
are made about a particular student or teacher. This hard
data can also be used for state auditing support or in
legal actions.
Here are a few scenarios where data can help foster a
conversation:
• A school psychologist can show parents a list of
• disciplinary actions given to a particular student over
• time, sometimes years of data, which may prompt
• additional psychiatric help or IEP support.
• A teacher can show how many times a student cut his
• or her class and discuss patterns.
• An administrator can show how many days a student
• cut school.
Big Data, Powerful Data, Actionable Data
Automated data gathered from ScholarChip’s smart ID
cards can help K12 school districts target areas of
improvement and increase efficiency by using the data
gathered and analyzed to make decisions. The process
starts with each student and staff member using their
smart ID card for attendance, door access, timeclocks,
cafeteria POS, etc., and then it resides in the power of
ScholarChip’s plethora of reports.
Nurse’s Office, Clubs, After School Events
ScholarChip’s SALA (Student Ad-Hoc Location App) is a
tablet-based tracking service that allows any staff
member to track student ID cards and indicate they are
in non-classroom locations like the hallway, nurse’s
office, guidance office, or in special interest clubs.
Reports generated can show trends of which students
go where and for what reason; who is reporting to which
club, etc. which helps administrators keep track of
out-of-classroom activities.
Distributing Reports
Administrators routinely submit attendance information
to state and federal education offices; with ScholarChip’s
automated system, the process is quick, timely, and
accurate.
When taking attendance by hand, creating reports can
be cumbersome and time consuming to run, so it can be
very difficult to notice trends over time. Often, school
districts look at data in three-month windows, and by
that time, a student can already be at risk for losing even
more school or dropping out completely.
With ScholarChip, one of the most powerful results of
automated attendance is early intervention. Because the
process is computerized, notifications can be set up so
that administrators, guidance counselors, school
psychologists and parents can be alerted spontaneously
when a student reaches a particular threshold. The data
is reported in real time, so trends are reported earlier,
action can be taken, and students can be helped more
effectively.
Automated reporting also makes it easy to distribute
information to any decision-maker. For example:
• The director of school security could receive door
• access information every week, and he can determine
• if an entrance should be more closely monitored.
• The cafeteria manager can receive inventory reports
• to make reordering easier and more efficient.
• The nurse can keep track of how often a particular
• student comes to her office and can spot trends that
• can help discover issues.
• The Superintendent of Schools could receive a daily
• report on the number of students who are in school,
• absent, tardy, or excused so that she can budget state
• monies appropriately.
Using Data to Increase Operational Efficiencies
It can be difficult for administrators to see problematic
operational issues, but when quantifiable data is
analyzed from different perspectives, it may emphasize
root problems that wouldn’t otherwise have been
noticed.
With ScholarChip’s wide range of real-time reports
available at a few clicks of a button, results can help
administrators run schools more efficiently and show
areas that need improvement. And when new decisions
are put into place, the data helps to track success or
failure quickly.
More importantly, data-driven
back end operations can help
improve student achievement,
increase efficiencies, save time
and save money, which benefits
district-wide constituents and
the community at large.
Questions: info@scholarchip.com