I would like to introduce you to a wonderful technological advance of the century – err, make that last century. Introducing: the computer. You see, on every first day of school, children come home with the same paperwork that needs to be filled out by their parents. Usually parents are writing down the same information on the forms as they did last year. If there is more than one child attending school, the work involved in filling out paperwork is multiplied. Now, writing down the information is not itself hard at all, but it is a time consuming and tedious process. This is especially true when multiple forms want the same information.

I’ve been to your offices at the schools. I see computers in there. I can only assume that every year, the forms are returned with each child and hand entered into your “system.” Is the information not saved at the end of the school year? It seems that everything is purged when school is out of session only to be re-populated come next August? Though it seems that some information is kept as class lists are created and they know which grades they go to. With the onset of the twenty-first century, I would like to suggest that the district embrace technology and streamline its processes in the realm of student records.

Suggestions that may be helpful:

• Update, not Re-enter: Record the information and keep it in the system via a well-structured relational database. Every year for returning students, send a hardcopy home with the student’s information on it. The form would ask to update the information if it’s not accurate (i.e. address/phone changes, new doctors, etc). There really shouldn’t be any need to record the same information every year, just the data that changes. Then the records could be updated when the form is returned. When the child leaves the school district or graduates, make the record available to the next district or the family in some way.
• Cross-Reference: Some forms that are given at the beginning of the year ask for the same information. Heck, some forms that are given throughout the year (i.e. field trips, extracurricular activities) ask for information that was supplied already. Why do we need to reiterate? Just look at the main record with this data instead or placing it in multiple places where it could be subject to inconsistency or outdatedness.
• Accessibility: Go a step further and make the forms available online to cut back on the time needed for staff to update the system manually and allow for easier/faster submission of forms with common information. Security of childrens’ privacy is probably one hot button for people but seriously, we trust other information over the Internet (banks, insurance, credit) so this is hardly anything different. Security can be implemented that should satisfy the toughest critics. Traditional paper forms should also be available for those without Internet access or choose to submit paperwork the old fashioned way.
• Homework too: While we’re on the subject of using the Internet, allow for some homework to be submittable over the Internet. It could just be via e-mail but also consider using a workflow system. The student submits the homework and the parent certifies the homework (verifying that it’s not plagiarized or someone else’s work). The homework is sent to the teacher for review/grading. Optionally a grade could be available for viewing online. Even an online progress report could be dynamically generated so students can see how they are doing without waiting for interims to be passed out. This would also allow parents to be more informed of what their child is doing in class. I realize that younger children (ages K to 5th) probably have work that isn’t submittable in this fashion. I think that’s fine.

The above suggestions may seem insane and I can understand it may not be feasible at first glance. We use technology in a lot of areas in our lives so why can’t we leverage it for our schools in some way? Let’s save some trees, clutter, and potential headaches from parents. I know it’s not realistic to expect too much change in how our schools are run. An overhaul in the record system shouldn’t be taken lightly and would cost a bunch to implement, but we can’t expect to keep using the same record keeping procedures forever. If I have a misguided view on the current process, please, someone enlighten me. I do realize I have an outsider perspective on how school recordkeeping works, but from where I’m standing it doesn’t seem very optimal.