PCR Educator is software for school administration which primarily sells to the independent school market. It is database software that allows schools to effectively manage all of their data in one place. PCR Educator provides software modules that allow the various constituents to update and maintain school records and allows schools to share this information appropriately. The system is designed as various product modules so schools can choose which components they need much like a cafeteria plan. You may take what you like and may leave off what you do not need. The various components are for 1) admissions, 2)registration, 3) scheduler, 4)teacher for grade books and attendance, 5) health, 6) school development and 7) school finance and finally 8) campus which allows for linking the database to a school website.
This is a very well designed system of networked databases that can be linked together into one comprehensive database for the school. It is very useful for independent schools because it includes components that are important to independent schools such as a finance piece and a school development piece. The content is appropriate for the intended users and the system simplifies many tasks while effectively managing school resources. Also, there are many ways that the sytem can be customized so that it can fit the needs of a variety of users. Faculty and staff find the program generally easy to use and require minimal training. One improvement would be to allow teachers more ways to manage classes specifically whena teacher has more than one section of the same course. Because each class needs to be entered seperately teachers need to often repeat the same data when teaching multiple classes. It is always difficult to balance the need for unifomity in data management in a database with individual user control for entering the data. Student information is readily available to users and allows users to increase productivity. The main advantage to schools using a system like PCR Educator is improved communications among constituents. By improving communications all vested parties can work better towards the goal. In education, student outcomes are ultimately improved when information about the students progress or concerns are being effectively communicated to parents, student support services, other teachers and even the students themselves.
Through my own use of PCR Educator, I have found the system to be very useful in managing my students success because it allows me to track students with greater ease and accuracy than I was able to manage before using PCR Educator. I can analyze test results, see how often a student has missed class, get a student's grade sorted by assessment type, etc. I can also very easily give a student a snapshot of their grade in order for them to see what types of assessments they should focus on to improve. This type of information is very useful to both students and parents. Using PCR Educator has alleviated some of the administrative task burden that falls on teachers which should then ultimately allow for more time to do the real work of teaching. Our school has made leaps and bounds in the area of communication with the PCR Educator system.
This is a very well designed system of networked databases that can be linked together into one comprehensive database for the school. It is very useful for independent schools because it includes components that are important to independent schools such as a finance piece and a school development piece. The content is appropriate for the intended users and the system simplifies many tasks while effectively managing school resources. Also, there are many ways that the sytem can be customized so that it can fit the needs of a variety of users. Faculty and staff find the program generally easy to use and require minimal training. One improvement would be to allow teachers more ways to manage classes specifically whena teacher has more than one section of the same course. Because each class needs to be entered seperately teachers need to often repeat the same data when teaching multiple classes. It is always difficult to balance the need for unifomity in data management in a database with individual user control for entering the data. Student information is readily available to users and allows users to increase productivity. The main advantage to schools using a system like PCR Educator is improved communications among constituents. By improving communications all vested parties can work better towards the goal. In education, student outcomes are ultimately improved when information about the students progress or concerns are being effectively communicated to parents, student support services, other teachers and even the students themselves.
Through my own use of PCR Educator, I have found the system to be very useful in managing my students success because it allows me to track students with greater ease and accuracy than I was able to manage before using PCR Educator. I can analyze test results, see how often a student has missed class, get a student's grade sorted by assessment type, etc. I can also very easily give a student a snapshot of their grade in order for them to see what types of assessments they should focus on to improve. This type of information is very useful to both students and parents. Using PCR Educator has alleviated some of the administrative task burden that falls on teachers which should then ultimately allow for more time to do the real work of teaching. Our school has made leaps and bounds in the area of communication with the PCR Educator system.
We use PCR at my independent school. We find it to be difficult to work with and hard to learn because it is not intuitive. We are looking into new software to replace it.
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