Thank you, Mr. Speaker. By now if your son or daughter hasn’t talked about the new PowerSchool student information system, with report cards already done or coming next week, you’ll soon be seeing what this new technology is all about.
This new school technology has been used all over North America and is now making its debut in NWT school systems. In essence, this multi-faceted data management tool will allow school boards and schools to manage student data and create reports to monitor and plan for student success.
PowerSchool will do the following: attendance, emergency medical data, scheduling, timetables, grading and report cards, just to name a few of its functions. As well, the new PowerTeacher tools will be able to link assignments to grades, track students’ progress, link grades to calculations directly to report cards and monitor on-line attendance. There will also be a parent portal for PowerSchool made available as soon as the pilot is done. I am sure many parents are eagerly awaiting to find out what options will be at their disposal in real time and accessible with their mobile devices. So be careful kids, as mom and dad will now be plugged into your performance.
Training started in May of 2012 with a webinar orientation with only formal training a couple weeks ago for over 900 educators throughout the Northwest Territories. Training was either face to face with a PowerSchool trainer or, in some cases, through web-based options.
Although change is always difficult, these data management systems will ultimately provide a much needed source of information and robust reporting options in the education system, and will no doubt improve student success in academic achievement.
How did we do with getting this new technology into the hands of educators? How was this transition overall? I had the pleasure of speaking to a number of teachers and school board officials and I have to say, for the most part, the Department of ECE did not a bad job. However, there were some common issues that arose and which I will be addressing later today with the Minister of Education.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
