Tag Archives for " school registration "

0 10 Questions to Help you Select an Online School Registration System

Do you currently process student enrollment and registration forms manually or with an outdated software system? Are you (and your employees) working overtime during peak enrollment weeks? Do you want to expand your institution and enroll more students and find that your student information system (SIS) is relying on manual forms for student information updates?

0 Why Catholic Schools are Drawn to K-12 Online

A recent poll showed that 1 in 4 parents are considering switching their child(ren) from a traditional large public school environment to a Catholic school. Many parents feel that smaller schools have a clear academic focus and vision for high quality successful learning, while in a public school, children can easily get lost in the large, impersonal system.

With this change in mindset from parents, comes an increase in student applications for small schools.  Unlike the public school system that is required by law to accept all children, Catholic schools typically have an admission and acceptance process. Traditional procedures for handling applications and enrollment can be one of the most burdensome, costly, outdated and environmentally wasteful processes.  For that reason, many schools and districts are turning to online registration.  Online registration has proven to be extremely valuable, saving time and money, especially for Catholic schools.

Many small schools believe that online registration is just too costly, however, K-12 Online is the first company to offer affordable online solutions that cater to small schools.  Although the web-based application is designed for schools large and small, public and private, the product offers a solution for those districts and schools that otherwise would not be able to afford it.

Catholic schools are drawn to K-12 Online, not only for its affordability, but also for its assistance in increasing school donations.  Most Catholic schools rely heavily on fundraising in order to provide their teachers and students with the best learning environment possible. Therefore, a registration system that incorporates fundraising can prove valuable, help make money for the school, and in many cases, even pay for itself. K-12 Online offers several options for donations to be collected through the school web store or by linking a “Donate Now??? button from the school’s website. Schools that have used K-12 Online as a method of collecting donations have seen an increase in overall donations by 30%!

K-12 Online offers a complete online student registration software application that transforms the student application & enrollment process by eliminating expensive paper-based methods. They even offer payment plan options to small schools, making it an AFFORDABLE option to helping schools save money, time and resources!

0 Handing student residency verfication with K-12 Online

Residency verification seems to be a growing concern for school districts and rightly so.  Schools spend countless resources and hours babysitting this process. On the other hand, parents dread this manual process of filling out proof of identity and proof of residency forms, not to mention faxing or returning the forms back to the school.  K-12 Online to the rescue!

Besides some built-in features that alerts school staff of a change of physical residency when parents update their students’ information, K-12 Online has also incorporated new technologies that may assist schools in this area.

Assumptions:
1. School Districts just wants to make sure that students attending really do belong to the district.
2. Some parents don’t have scanners to upload documents to K-12 Online.
3. Schools want to make this process as painless as possible for parents.

Suggestions:

1. Include the Proof of Residency in the K-12 Online registration forms.
2. Instruct parents that Proof of Residency will be verified at Check-in.
3. List the Residency form on the Completed Registration PDF
4. Proof of Residency form should have verbiage such as ‘I am uploading proof of residency documents “Yes” / “No”‘ (radio buttons). Don’t make uploading documents mandatory.
5. During check-in, if ‘I am uploading proof of residency documents  shows “Yes”‘, the person checking the student in, goes to the student’s individual Residency form in K-12 Online’s Individual form manager, looks at whether the documents are acceptable and if so, checks them in; otherwise don’t.
6. If ‘I am uploading proof of residency documents shows “No”‘, the person checking the student in, receives their photocopied documents and then attaches it to the PDF.  If they don’t bring in the documents, they cannot get “checked-in”.

So once students are checked in, this means that their residency has been verified. Thousands of hours saved by the school and a painless process for  parents.  Hope this helps!

0 Celebrate Earth Day 2013 with classroom tips for going green

Happy Earth Day! We at K-12 Online are celebrating all things green with tips on how schools can become more eco-friendly.

Get Out!
Sending children outside to play can improve his or her concentration and fight climate change. A study published by researchers at the University of Illinois found that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder who took walks outdoors raised their attentiveness scores and that kids who walked in natural settings did better than those who walked city streets.

Encourage your school to offer environment-oriented field trips and activities. Earth Force is a great resource, offering programs to help educators bring environmental stewardship topics, events and activities into the curriculum.

Grow Really Local Food.
Planting a vegetable garden is an inexpensive way to obtain fresh, pesticide-free food that hasn’t traveled hundreds of miles to reach your plate. For novice gardeners, visit your local nursery or gardening store and if your space is limited, consider the Kitchen Garden Planner from Gardener’s Supply Co. to learn how to get 50 pounds of produce from a three-by-six-foot garden. It’s a great project for students and schools can create their very own farmer’s market, helping to generate additional funds.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Together.

From recycling to composting to using less water, eco-friendly activities can start right in the classroom. Help students calculate their environmental footprint using The Conservation Fund’s Carbon Zero Calculator. Let kids type in the numbers, and talk with them about what their footprint means. Then involve the children in steps they can take to make it smaller.

Power Down Your PC.
The reduction of paper usage and consumption by implementing eco-friendly, cost efficient processes leads us to spend more time on our PC’s and electronic devices. However, when not in use, cut electricity costs by unplugging and/or turning them off. U.S. companies waste almost $4 billion annually on nighttime electricity for computers, according to recent studies. Instead of leaving your PC in hibernation at the end of the day, power it down.

Walk or Bike to School.
One-third of all traffic comes from commuters. Encourage your school to host a bike to school/work day for the local community (which can also be done as a fundraiser) or participate in the National Bike to School Day on May 8. Use alternative transportation when possible and if you must drive, go slower with proper tire inflation. It lowers emissions and saves fuel, tires…and lives.