Challenge
- No clean way to get intervention data
- Difficult to create custom reports
- No single sign-on (SSO)
Products & Solutions
Results
- Faster, more meaningful interventions
- Simple data dissemination
- Ad-hoc reports that visualize data
- Integration and SSO across PowerSchool products
Westfield Public Schools needed a better way to identify students at risk and intervene earlier. But they didn’t have access to a comprehensive view of student performance.
They needed to bring all their data into a single, visual dashboard—so they could flag early warning signs and understand data in context.
Westfield added PowerSchool Performance Matters to PowerSchool SIS and got a clearer view of student performance that helps them make better learning decisions.
“Once you build your core with PowerSchool SIS,” says Mark Vocca, Data & Assessment Specialist at Westfield, “Performance Matters is where the glitz is and where the data becomes more powerful. Our sales rep set up a demo of Performance Matters, and I was sold in 30 seconds.”
A Clearer View of Student Performance
With their previously disjointed edtech systems, Westfield couldn’t get a well-rounded view of each student’s performance. They needed integrated systems that could help them bring together multiple types of student data— including assessment, demographic, ESL, attendance, academic, and behavior information.
Westfield also needed a vendor who could offer single sign-on capabilities, so they wouldn’t have to waste time logging in and out of systems. They needed all their student data in one secure spot, through one credential.
They used PowerSchool SIS to collect and secure their student data. Then they integrated the SIS with Performance Matters to bring all their student data together for a comprehensive, holistic perspective of student performance. With all this data now flowing between systems, Westfield can make more informed decisions in and out of the classroom—from one location.
Simple, Visual Reporting
Vocca’s favorite part of Performance Matters is how it can transform and compile student data into visual reports that anyone can understand, making it easier for educators to identify which students are struggling in which areas.
“The key performance indicators allow you to visualize the data, and that’s really important in data dissemination,” says Vocca. “When you see the reds, yellows, greens, and blues within the Baseball Card tool, you’re able to filter and do things that allow you to see the kids that are at risk right away.”
And Vocca says his teachers are loving how intuitive Performance Matters is to use. “We released Performance Matters in the middle of the year,” he recalls. “I did a 10-page quick-start guide. And within an hour of going live, I was receiving emails about ‘Wow, this is really clear!’ and ‘I was in there right away and building things’. I offered training, but the tool is so intuitive that with just a little guidance on paper, these folks are in and using it.”
Westfield educators can quickly and easily build their own custom reports or simply use the reports that come with Performance Matters. Either way, more insights are available to more educators.
More Personalized Learning
The state of Massachusetts recently passed legislation requiring schools and districts to create personalized learning plans for students with English as a second language. With 14% of Westfield’s students falling into that subgroup, they used key insights and flagging tools available in Performance Matters to help them stay compliant.
“We were able to create individualized learning plans for EL students and template those,” Vocca says. “We can get the scores and see where the kids lie…and augment that with other data and articulate that in a learning plan and with learning objectives.”
Performance Matters empowers Westfield to take a targeted approach to student growth, so they can deliver a more personalized experience to every learner.
More Meaningful Interventions
Westfield can further personalize learning with the early warning system available in Performance Matters. Now, they can flag for a variety of factors—including ESL, attendance, grades, retention, mobility, failures, and behavior.
Westfield now uses this early warning system to initiate interventions sooner. And with so much student data available in Performance Matters, educators can now have more impactful conversations and remediations—so students at risk don’t slip through the cracks. The data helps teachers understand exactly how to make a positive impact on each student. “We’re able to know which data we’ll use in the RTI,” he says. “We’re able to contextualize the data through that visual process, and then set up that intervention system with those indicators.”
Conclusion
The powerful integration between PowerSchool SIS and Performance Matters brought Westfield Public Schools a complete view of student growth that helps them make data-informed learning decisions and take a targeted approach to drive student success.