What is Student Information System (SIS) Software?
Software that manages student records is known as a Student Information System (SIS). These systems go by many names including Student Information Management System, School Management System and more.
With BRIM, our goal has been to do the best job possible in helping kids report bullying and helping school administrators track bullying incidents. Consequently, BRIM is not a complete SIS and would instead work alongside your existing Student Information System Software.
What does Student Information System (SIS) Software do?
SIS software comes in many different sizes that very in scope. To complicate things, many SIS software providers now provide modular systems where you start with a base system and select the additional modules your school needs.
An additional module provides additional functionality in addition to the base system. Examples of additional modules usually include Food Services Management, Discipline Tracking and more.
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_information_system), most Student Information Systems offer functionality along these lines:
- Handling inquiries from prospective students
- Handling the admissions process
- Enrolling new students and storing teaching option choices
- Automatically creating class & teacher schedules
- Handling records of examinations, assessments, marks, grades and academic progression
- Maintaining records of absences and attendance
- Recording communications with students
- Maintaining discipline records
- Providing statistical reports
- Maintenance boarding house details
- Communicating student details to parents through a parent portal
- Special Education / Individual Education Plan (IEP) services
- Human resources services
- Accounting and budgeting services
- Student health records
What Are Some Important Trends in the Student Information System Market
“Cloud” Hosting of SIS Software
Student information isn’t just becoming accessible from the web. It’s also moving to the web! More and more, SIS software is now being implemented via ‘Software as a Service’ models where the software and student records resides on the developer’s servers. This means that onsite Student Information System Software requirement specifications become non-existent.
The elimination of SIS Software Requirement Specifications means that schools no longer have to purchase and manage their own servers drastically reducing the cost and expertise needed to implement SIS software.
Our BRIM Anti-Bullying Software is an example of a “Software as a Service” Student Information System (SIS) since the software is hosted on a central service and delivered over the web to schools.
24/7 Web Access for Students and Parents
Many schools and districts are still using SIS software that dates back to the 1990s before the popularization of the world wide web. Consequently, an important trend in SIS software is expanding integration with the world wide web and providing students and parents the opportunity to interact with their student information online.
It’s not uncommon for students and parents to be able to login to their school’s SIS and view their child’s attendance and academic records.
Integration with District and State Systems
Increased accountability measures at the state and national levels now mean that schools are reporting not just to their districts but also to their state or national governments. In their widest implementation, state and provincial governments purchase SIS software for their entire region and consequently student information is accessible at all levels of government (vertical reporting to state, province and national levels.)