The Warwick school district is going electronic, adopting a new student information system called Aspen to link students, teachers, administrators and parents. With this new program, all information regarding students will be shared instantly over the Internet through a secure, district-wide database.

Aspen is designed to do things like send an e-mail to a parent when a student receives a troubling grade, or notify a teacher when a child is away on a field trip with another class.

Other districts in the state, including West Warwick, Little Compton, Barrington and Cumberland, have previously chosen Aspen. Most recently, Coventry, Portsmouth and Warwick decided to use the program.

The district, along with many others in the state, originally used Star Base School Suite, a program that they began to find cumbersome and out of date. Star_Base would charge extra to make any changes to the system, and as state requirements shifted, those in the technology department became frustrated with their lack of adaptability. So two years ago, Warwick, along with 13 other districts, began looking for alternative solutions. They discovered Aspen, a student information system by X2 Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Follett Software Company.

“I saw it as a good fit for Warwick,” said Dianne Silvia, manager of Information Systems for Warwick Public Schools.

So in June they submitted a request for proposal and have been working to implement the system ever since.

The Aspen system will expand upon the way student information was shared in the past. Because it is hosted by the company, users can access the system from wherever there is an Internet connection.

Aspen tracks things like students’ grades, attendance, schedules and individualized learning plans. It will even store documents scanned into the system as a part of a student’s portfolio.

With all of the pressure to “go green” these days, Silvia is hoping that Aspen will help the district become more eco-friendly. Because records will be stored in this system, the paper trail formerly used to track such data will become obsolete.

“The goal is for the district to eliminate paper products,” said Silvia.

Teachers, students, parents and administrators will be able to access the information stored in Aspen information.

“Teachers will have data at their fingertips that they didn't before,” said Silvia.

Starting on April 25, teachers will begin using the system, plugging attendance records into Aspen for the first time. From there, grades and other information will be slowly integrated into Aspen. Silvia explains that the transfer of information will have many phases, and the entire process may take three to four years. For now, the main goal is to train those who will be interacting with Aspen on how to best use the system.

“It's a very intuitive system and online help is available,” said Silvia, elaborating that screen shots and tutorials are available on the Aspen site.

Aspen's security is like that of an online banking site, and its ability to securely share information from the district with the state is a big plus.

“Our computers will be able to talk to the state and the state can withdraw information on our students,” explained Bill Sangster, interim assistant to the superintendent. This will help to set goals and to see trends within the student population.

The district hopes to make more progress in the Race to the Top challenge by using the data collected to improve student services. Race to the Top is a U.S. Department of Education program that monetarily awards states that show progress in education reforms. This program directly addresses the use of data systems in its guidelines, urging schools to use them to pinpoint ways in which they can improve student success. Rhode Island finished in the fifth place spot in Race to the Top last year and was awarded $75 million. This money has been divided among the districts, Warwick receiving about $1.1 million.

Although funding for the actual purchase of the Aspen system will come from the department and grants, a portion of the Race to the Top money will cover the cost of training administrators to use Aspen. So far, those who have learned about Aspen like the program.

“It’s been well received,” said Silvia

“It’s a great system,” said Sangster. “It’s enhancing our systems. The final goal is to make sure the students are proficient. [Aspen] will let us know what we need to work harder on.”