STATS - Student Timetable Absence Tracking System
4th April 2005
To Whom it may concern
Golden Grove High School is a large secondary school of 1200 students located in the North Eastern suburbs of Adelaide in South Australia. Ours is a school in a middle class suburb. Educationally, common sense tells us that students who attend lessons regularly, are far more likely to succeed. Senior students have quite flexible timetables and Pathway options result in many students integrating schooling with Work Placements, TAFE courses and Apprenticeships.
Clearly, accuracy of attendance was in need of a major overhaul within a contemporary view of secondary education.
For a number of years, I have conducted extensive research to ascertain a model that would effectively and efficiently monitor student attendance. One conclusion that I came to early on was that lesson absence was the one accurate measure of attendance in a secondary school context. This conclusion led to an extensive evaluation of a range of products available. None I found met our needs and many required far too much compromise or were simply too expensive to implement.
This is where Code House came to the fore! They listened to our needs, considered options, developed and negotiated with us the implementation of a model that was both inclusive of our Departmental System of Information Management (EDSAS) and could be connected to our Timetabling package (Timetabler). We negotiated a range of priorities that we had as a school, and to this day, Code House has responded to each and every one of our requests and adaptations. The system, called S.T.A.T.S, has been operating now for 10 weeks and we are delighted with the system and the follow up support.
We have a range of reports and exception reports that enable Home Group teachers, Year Level Managers and Administration personnel to follow up issues immediately. The system is online and available, with live data, to every teacher computer in the school. What is more, the scanning tool and technology that subject teacher's access to scan lesson absences is quick, efficient and student driven.
In conclusion, I believe that we have the most cost effective program that is delivering high quality, accurate and timely information - all within a very sound set of educational parameters. It is an outstanding tool and one that was designed with teacher's for a school context.
It is with great pleasure that I recommend S.T.A.T.S. and Code House to you.
Jude Leak PSM
Principal
Golden Grove High School
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