Buffalo teachers will soon be able to find out everything about their students as school records and Say Yes to Education records are combined in a new computerized Student Management System. The school system has vast information about students scattered through the system and often on paper. This new system will be all online for the teacher and potentially for families.
SMS will tell teachers which students may have personal or family problems, which students are getting after-school help, even which students have missed classes because they have been behind bars.
"It identifies issues and problems, built on data, and shows what academic interventions are available for that individual child. So whether that's tutoring or mentoring, the needs to have access to more arts or music or science," says Say Yes Executive Director David Rust.
A lot of these kids are discovering talent, this is certainly not polished talent at that age. It identifies with that data and allows caring adults to get the right resources in place for each child."
Rust says the goal is to help each student have academic success and move on to the scholarship help available through Say Yes to achieve life success.
The SMS should be available within days. There are concerns about the data and how it will be guarded from misuse or even hacking of the system. District and Say Yes leaders say it is secure and all privacy laws apply to any disclosures.
