Tag Archives for " ONLINE REGISTRATION "

Things Teachers Wished Principals Knew

Principals, pull up a chair: Here is what your teachers may or may not be telling you.

1. How much time, effort, and ‘free’ extra work they do for the school.

2. That school scores and standardized testing are not the only measure of a school’s quality.

3. How to provide fun, up-to-date training and professional development learning opportunities for everyone on the staff. And
if you can’t make it fun, then please bring bagels…food takes the edge off.

4. Principals need to have a vision for their building. They need to believe in their vision so all staff are inspired to get on board.

5. Make an effort to lead by showing not telling.

6. Technology is not just one more thing, but can actually support other initiatives you are trying to achieve.

7. The best principles believe in their teachers and have their backs.

8. Trust your teachers. Principals build the banks of the river but should then let the river flow.

9. Your teachers are the experts – build the structures to let teachers utilize their expertise.

10. Be honest and credible. Don’t blame the higher ups for YOUR policies and requirements.

11. Take the time to really get to know your teachers. They possess a wide range of skills, knowledge and experiences that are far beyond the regular curriculum.

12. It is extremely important to a school’s success that parents feel welcomed and comfortable.

13. Teachers NEED to always feel appreciated.

Online Registration – Ten Tips to Improve Registration

Every time one of your students enrolls or does online registration, you save time and money by not having to manually enter the information. In addition to the resources saved, parents enjoy the convenience of registering on their own time.

Many of our K-12 Online schools have been extremely successful in reducing the time, money, and resources they’ve used during returning student registration. We have compiled their knowledge to bring you our top ten tips to improve your back-to-school registration process.

ONLINE REGISTRATION

1. Ensure easy website navigation

— Place the “Register Online??? Web button on your home page and other popular pages to easily link parents to your customized registration form —the fewer clicks to registration, the better.

 

2. Customize your forms

— It’s easy to create your own customized forms. These are forms you may need in addition to District standard forms and the ones created for you by K-12 Online.

— You can start from scratch or use a template from the forms library.

— Create your forms in Firefox Mozilla. It has fewer bugs than Internet Explorer.

 

3. Communicate with parents

— Send a Principal’s welcome back letter. Building mutual trust with parents from the start helps provide students with a strong foundation for learning throughout the year.

— Share with parents and students how easy and convenient it is for them to register online.

— Provide easy-to-follow steps for registration on your Web site.

— Include a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section or page regarding online registration on your Web site.

 

4. Monitor online registration

— A few days prior to “back-to-school??? registration week, monitor the online registration progress and print a report. The report will show you who has completed registration and who has not.

— Send a reminder email to students/parents who have not completed registration and remind students to bring in their signed registration form.

— If you assess fines or fees, reduce long registration lines by sending customized messages to students/parents prior to registration day allowing them to pay in advance.

 

BACK-TO-SCHOOL WEEK (For those schools that have back-to-school registration prior to the first day of class)

 

5. Provide adequate training

— Conduct a “back-to-school??? registration training meeting with staff and volunteers so that they are familiar with your system and know where to find pertinent information.

— If volunteers and sub-admin are checking in students, ensure that they have the correct role privileges. (See SCP HELP)

— Recruit adequate staff and volunteers. Provide staggered time slots and make sure the times overlap to make for an easy transition.

— Make sure your staff is familiar with the student online registration process, how to navigate the system and are comfortable explaining it to parents.

— Take note of the reduced data entry workload and valuable time saved to focus on other priorities.

 

6. Provide good signage

— Have adequate signage so parents know exactly where to go when they arrive.

— Have signs outside with a copy of the registration form pasted to it with instructions of where to go if they do not have the completed Registration form.

 

7. Simplify registration day

— If it is going to be a warm day, set-up in the gym or other inside area rather than outside and make sure you have enough space to accommodate your students and parents.

— Ask your PTA or a service group to host a refreshment station for parents. It provides a place to congregate and helps build a sense of community among parents.

— Have computers with access to the Internet and printers available (computer lab or library) for those who have not completed the registration process. Provide explicit directions on how to log into online registration through the school network.

— Have one computer with a volunteer whose sole job is to print out the Completed Registration Form for those students who completed the registration at home, but forgot to print the form….the express line!

 

8. Utilize your school’s Website

— Provide parents and students with easy, online access to your customized registration forms right from your website.

— Post events, announcements, etc. along with photos to stay connected with students, parents and volunteers throughout the school year.

 

9. Build ongoing awareness

— Whether you send a letter to parents, call them before school starts, or meet them in person, make contact early and plan to follow up with them throughout the year.

–Build general awareness through personalized emails with a clear call to action and/or relevant information.

— Segment your email list to send targeted emails/messages to parents, students or volunteers.

 

10. Start planning for next school year

— Review with staff ideas for improving the registration process for next year.

— Email a short survey to parents asking whether they found online registration convenient and easy to use and what changes could be made.

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.

 

 

Fundraising: How Online Registration Helps

A recent poll showed that 1 in 4 parents are considering switching their child(ren) from a traditional large public school environment to a smaller (independent, private, charter, religious) school. Parents feel that smaller schools have a clear academic focus and vision for high quality successful learning, while in the public school system, there is a greater gap in achievement between socioeconomic classes, more violence and higher dropout rates, and children can easily get lost in the large, impersonal system.

This can become tricky for smaller schools, because unlike the public school system that is required by law to accept all children, smaller schools typically have an admission and acceptance process. This increase in student applicants can be one of the most costly, outdated and environmentally wasteful processes that small schools endure every year. With the help of an online registration system, small schools have the ability to not only save money, but also generate it though fundraising.

A registration system that incorporates fundraising can prove valuable, help make money for the school, and in many cases, even pay for itself. With the economic downturn and flailing economy, it is necessary for smaller schools to identify processes that can be improved or optimized to generate funds through SAVINGS.

K-12 Online offers a complete online student registration software application that transforms the student application & enrollment process by eliminating expensive paper-based methods. Offering online access to customizable forms and reports, K-12 Online™ is an AFFORDABLE system that will help your school with fundraising in addition to saving money, time and resources!

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