New X2 System Groups Student Data, Lets Parents See How Kids Are Doing

Since December, the Montville school system has been storing all its information in a new system called X2, an information database owned by the Follette Software Company.

The X2 system stores everything from students’ grades and disciplinary records to health records and even information such as where to find student at a given time via “Student GPS.”

Soon, information such as a student’s grades on tests and the upcoming homework assignments will be available to parents at all times.

As Assistant Superintendent Brian Levesque explained, finding the new system has been a process. Last year, the Board of Education set up a tech committee, which investigated student information systems so that they would be able to consolidate costs and better organize data.

The system has only been in effect at the schools since December. Teachers had to do the learning as specialists from Aspen versed them in X2’s workings. Another part of the challenge of the transition has been putting in all of the old information from the different systems so that it is standard. “Your data is only as good as the data in the old system,” Levesque said.

“It’s been a lot of work,” Levesque said.

But he sees the system saving money already and making the job of administering students easier.

One of the most obvious ways that the system helps is by cutting down the amount of paper that the school uses—ie. printing reports and attendance letters.

More importantly, the system has grouped student information together into one place.

Features

The system will make it easier for the schools to send data about students to the state. Previously, Levesque said, each of the schools in the system had a separate database, making it far harder for the schools to standardize the information.

“It’s just really created some great efficiencies for us,” Levesque said.

The information stored in the database includes students’ grades, disciplinary  and health records, as well special education records — all of which had previously occupied separate systems. By putting all of these fields together, Levesque explained, the school saves money because it only has to pay one service.

The new system makes it easier for teachers to put in important information like grades. In the previous system, the information on the database was locked up in a network at the schools, meaning that teachers would have to enter grades at a specific terminal. Now, they can grade at home and enter the data from their home computers. Administrators will be able to use their smart-phones to access student data at any time. 

X2 also has a feature called Student GPS that allows administrators to know where students are — or should be — at a given time, based on their class schedules.

Other information includes alerts about food allergies or other medical issues as well as legal alerts about a student who might be picked up by a parent who didn’t have custody.

 Once stored, the information is in the database for good.

“It’ll never go away,” said Levesque, noting that students will be able to get their transcripts years after they graduate. The system is also updated twice daily so that there would be minimum information lost as a result of a fatal crash.

Parent Teacher Portal

It won’t just be teachers that get to use the new software.

“The ultimate vision for this product is a parent-student communication portal,” said Levesque. This new part of the system is set to go in at Leonard J. Tyl Middle School this spring and at all the other schools in the coming fall. Parents using the portal will be able to see a student’s homework assignments, upcoming tests and other scheduled activities in advance. Missing work or a flunked test need not escape notice.

“It gets the parents involved,” Levesque said. He hopes to see improvements in student performance as parents become more fully aware of how their children are doing in schools.

Administrators, for their part, will be able to track how often the parents use the software to see how involved they are. Coaches, like parents, will be able to look and see how well students on their teams are doing academically.

To test the portal, Levesque has created the fictional Bon Jovi family, posting information and logging in as a family member.

Though the system does hold a staggering amount of information, Levesque is careful to explain that access will be secure and regulated. This includes passwords for parents—who not be able to access any accounts other than their own child’s. Some information will stay with the relevant department; a nurse has access to some student medical records that will be off-limits to teachers.