SchoolNet
© 2001 SchoolNet
SchoolNet's mission is to help school districts take all of their data they've collected for years (compliance, test scores, attendance, etc.) and use it strategically to make sound educational decisions— from the superintendent level on down to the classroom level. They offer three core products: Account, Align and Outreach. Account is their product that essentially builds a "data warehouse". Working with the district, School Net finds where and how all the district data is stored, and puts it into a usable format for data analysis and planning. Principals, for instance, can then easily see how their school did compared to others on a particular standardized test or they can track the performance of a particular demographic group. Teachers can see how they've been doing from year to year (as per their students performance on tests) or look at the scores and demographics of an incoming class to know in advance their strengths and weaknesses. Align takes this data one step further and assists the school in instructional and classroom management. The focus here is more on the teacher. He or she can compare or align original lesson plans to state standards, or access pre-correlated plans. Data analysis from the Account product is examined closely in Align to see for instance, how well a particular class or student's work is correlating with standards, even teasing out areas of strengths and weaknesses. Teachers can use an electronic lesson planner here that makes everything simple, once you get the hang of things. The third product, Outreach, is a proprietary web portal where districts can place group calendars, forums, etc., schools and classrooms can post web pages, and so on. Different users (admin, parents, teachers, students, etc.) can have different levels of access. The three products can be purchased separately; each costs approximately $5 per student per year. Included in that fee is the initial district set-up work and the training of the district technology coordinator. The products are content "agnostic", meaning that SchoolNet does not supply content; they partner with LearningStation and The Princeton Review Homeroom.com if actual content or assessment devices are asked for. Currently, SchoolNet's competition includes EdMin, NetSchools, and NCS. The SchoolNet products are (as of Nov. 5, 2001) being used in 8 school districts, including the Philadelphia Public Schools.
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