“It puts the onus back on the student to be more accountable,” says North Nova Education Centre Principal Eileen English.  “It allows parents not to have to wait until the five-week report card to see how their child is doing, because by then, it’s sometimes too late.”

“PowerSchool is in real time, so if your student missed second period, as soon as that’s registered you can log on and see that,” says North Nova Education Centre Principal Eileen English.

"Sometimes, we get a transferred student and it takes a while to get that paperwork and realize what the student’s needs are. To have it all online and travel with them on one program is fabulous," says Sackville High teacher Neil Burbridge.

“My colleagues around the building are very excited with the program. So far, thumbs-up from me," says Sackville High teacher Neil Burbridge.

"You can access it anywhere, any time," says Sackville High School’s Taylor Shorny, a Grade 12 student. "Pretty much everything you could ever want to know about school is on (iNSchool)."

"Although there has been a significant learning curve, this program has improved my tracking of individual students and has allowed me to be more up to date with my marking," says Mary Cobb, a teacher at Sackville High School.

"This program has improved communication significantly. I believe this increase in communication will help identify areas of improvement for students and lead to greater student success," says Mary Cobb, a teacher at Sackville High School.

"The student-parent portal opens a new avenue of communication between home and school,”  says Bridgewater Junior Senior High School teacher Kendra Hall.

"It will be a change, but a good one. It's very user-friendly," says Angela Dexter, administrative assistant at Shelburne High.

"Grading will be a lot easier," explains Erick Lee, registrar and teacher at JL Ilsley High School in Halifax, "It's online and web-based, so if I'm at home marking, I can enter marks directly into the system and post them for students and parents to see, all at once."

"I really like the online lessons and supports," says Janice Gough, principal of East Antigonish Education Centre / Academy. "I've played with 'Mastery in Minutes,' and have signed up for online lessons... I find them to be really helpful and easy-to-use."
 

"I'm not a technically savvy person at all, but I think the new system is wonderful. It's a long time coming and we need it," says Nancy MacBain, guidance counselor at sir John A MacDonald High School in Upper Tantallon.

"It's more user-friendly than what we have now," says Annette Lefort, junior high teacher at Ecole NDA. "I attended a session two weeks ago, and haven't seen it since.  I think I could still work through it if you put it in front of me.  And I'm not an expert by any means."

"Once we familiarize ourselves with it, and see how easy it is to use, it will cut back on time significantly," says Nancy MacBain, guidance counsellor at Sir John A MacDonald High School in Upper Tantallon.  "For example, to look up a course for a student for next year… its so slick. You can flip from one year to the next so easily."

"It's powerful.  There's a lot of information at the touch of a button," says Janice Gough, principal at East Antigonish Education Centre / Academy.  "Setting up groups - such as football teams or debating clubs - will be easy-to-do and useful.  With one click of a button, you can mark them all absent."

"It will keep parents more informed.  For example, when they go in to check on marks, they'll see that there's an assignment due in 5 days," says Phil Samson, grade 11 & 12 teacher at Richmond Academy.  "This puts the onus back on the student to be more accountable."

"For every new software, there's a learning curve, that's a given," says Phil Samson, grade 11 & 12 teacher at Richmond Academy.  "Once you get over that, it's very easy.... It's amazingly easy, that's what's so sweet.  My learning curve was 20 minutes."

"I personally enter all of the attendance data for substitute teachers.  With this new system, substitutes will be able to enter their own attendance data," says Erick Lee, registrar and teacher at JL Ilsley High School in Halifax.  "And since the system will be standard, subs won't have to decipher new systems and absence codes at every school."

"Its very powerful... the department will have what they need, instantly," says Annette Lefort, junior high teacher at Ecole NDA. "It will stop the need to produce reports on paper.  It will already be there - marks, absenteeism, enrolment, disciplinary reports, etc."

“We get a lot of calls from parents asking us how their child is doing and can we send them more marks. With this new system, they can check marks anytime," says Phil Samson, grade 11 & 12 teacher at Richmond Academy.  "It will eliminate a lot of these conversations and change the conversations that we do have." 

iNSchool is about leveraging technology to better support student achievement

Through iNSchool, educators will soon have access to real-time information on all of our students, schools and programs.  Whether in the classroom or the boardroom, they’ll be able to see what’s happening right away so they can act right away. 

iNSchool also includes a portal that gives students and parents quick and easy access to their current marks, attendance records, assignment due dates, and school announcements. It gives families a window on the classroom like never before.

Students, parents and teachers who have had a chance to use this web-based portal are excited. Parents like the fact that they can be more in-tune and involved in their children’s education, and teachers like how easy and fast it is to manage their information and communicate with students and parents. 

If you are a student or parent and would like to learn more about the portal, click on STUDENT-PARENT PORTAL to your left. 

 If you are an educator, you may be interested in the many resources available to you under TEACHERS & SCHOOL STAFF.

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