PA District Selects Student Information System

Big Spring School District in Pennsylvania has selected Follett’s Aspen student information system (SIS) for the collection, reporting and management of student data and information. The Aspen platform integrates learning management capabilities and connects student information to classroom curricular, educational and communication tools.

“It’s easy to talk about individualized learning plans for every student, but you darn well better have a SIS designed to support that and serve as a communication tool with everyone in your community,” said Richard Fry, superintendent, Big Spring School District. “Aspen, far and above, provides that flexibility and fits the bill.”

The goal of Big Spring’s search committee was to find an SIS that was responsive and adaptive to increasing demands for integrating student information across administrative, curriculum and assessment programs. “Our biggest requirement for a solution was the integration of a learning management system and a student information system,” said Brandie Shatto, Big Spring’s director of educational technology. “With Aspen, we found that, and we were especially impressed with the ability to customize.”

When the Newville, Pa.-based district goes live with Aspen for the 2014-15 school year, officials expect the impact to be significant. “As the process evolved, the folks from Follett were able to show us what it was we were asking for,” saidKevin Roberts, Big Spring’s director of curriculum. “We started to see that our picture for using data in the future included Aspen.”