FileMaker Pro Design

FileMaker Pro has been a tool for collection and management of data for me since it first came on the market in the 1990's. I used it for yearbook deadline management, grades and keeping track of student use of equipment and supplies. When City Schools needed someone to work on moving a paper based system of managing student literacy data into electronic form I moved into this area of work. From that system called "Purple Cards" or K-6 Literacy Assessment the FileMaker system grew into what is currently called SISy (Student Information System).

SISy takes information from many different sources. From SASIxp it gets student information, grades and schedules. From our own assessment data it gets the Purple Cards and combines that into a standards based Digital Report Card of our own design. SISy also keeps data for Secondary LEAP portfolio writing assessments and CAHSEE which are required for graduation. SISY also keeps data on ELL students importing their CELDT and local data into one location. CST data from the state testing CD is imported as it is released and becomes available for teachers to use in designing class instruction immediately.  Designed for teachers this system gives teachers access to data that is stored in a number of different places in SASI or on paper transcripts. Hosted on a server running FMP Server 7 the system can be viewed anywhere on the Internet.

Once a teacher or administrator logs in they are taken to a personalized screen showing their student list or for admin to a control panel containing buttons like those in red and yellow here that give them report options.

Tabs along the top let a teacher select different views of student data. Selecting a student from the green list and clicking on the yellow page icon or the yellow N icon will let them view detailed data for just that one student. 

Reports showing current student or previous student CST scores are available. Each report will show the teacher details about the test results including sub-content area scores. 

The system also contains links to support systems like curriculum mapping or a data base containing the standards. Each can be searched to look for specific information.

Information presented in list form like the one above can be sorted by any column to let teachers find student that are in need of special assistance quickly. A HELP system is also built into the system that will take the user to a context based help page from the instruction manual. 

This system was designed to meet the needs of Santa Cruz City Schools using my experience with FileMaker Pro. A similar system or a modification of this system can be made for your school or district. Give us a call or drop an email and let us know what you are looking for. A modification of this system to meet current needs in most cases would cost roughly $3000 to $5000 with additional time needed for professional development and set up depending on your district experience with FileMaker Pro. 

Management of data is an important part of education today. Let us help you personalize that process. There are many different system on the market but only a system based on FileMaker Pro gives you the flexibility to quickly make modifications that meet your own needs and not just those of a proprietary product.