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See also...
StIMS & the Support Planner (2006)
StIMS is the Student Information Systems that is currently under development by the DoE - for more DoE information click here. It will replace SACS and is intended for implementation in schools in Term 3, 2007. As one senior officer put it
"It is essential that schools are provided with the tools to proactively and effectively manage a whole range of student interventions."
One of the strengths of the Support Planner is that does just that! The Planner focuses on planning, managing, and monitoring, a wide range of initiatives to support students and those who work with them (staff & families).
The tools in the Planner were developed in close collaboration with a wide range of local users. The tools are now well tested and are making a big difference - many users are achieving profound gains across their Schools. The Planner tools do indeed enable the Schools to be proactive with students, their families and staff.
According to the tender documents, StIMS must be 'web based, centrally hosted and at a mature stage of development, ready for immediate implementation'. However the maturity will depend on the specifications given to the developer.
The design brief for the student behaviour/support component of StIMS is currently (Sept06) being developed by a reference group. I am very keen for the StIMS initiative to take over the role of the Support Planner. To that end I also hope that the proven features of Planner, and lessons learned during its development, might be considered in designing and expediting StIMS.
At this stage the StIMS design brief appears to describe something very similar to SWIS™ with perhaps one or two features from PeaceKeeper™. Click here for a description of these programs and comparisons with the Planner. [Note - see additional developments below 30 October]
Focus on problems or solutions?
Other programs focus on problems: they emphasize the recording and reporting of unacceptable behaviour of the most problematic students. This can be very useful. But what about the students whose behaviour should be of concern but is not causing problems for others? Girls at risk; students with depression...and so on.
As a result the tools focus on largely on tracking incidents (see History 101). Perhaps initially, it will not provide tools to "proactively and effectively manage a whole range of student interventions" although schools have always been able to manage these things themselves by other means and will certainly be much better informed about their problems.
Focusing on problems to identify solutions works best in engineering situations where cause and effect are closely and consistently linked. In social situations, the links between cause and effect are far less certain and rarely consistent. Schools are not factories.
In addition to recording and reporting unacceptable behaviour the Planner is directly useful in
- communicating, e.g., parent information, informing next teachers
- linking to other relevant documentation (document management)
- planning support
- accountability, e.g., give an account of the school's ISP activity in relation to the student
- making commitments
- monitoring the effectiveness of provision
- promoting and monitoring support activity by a wide range of providers including family and student
- monitoring student progress
Other programs such as SWIS™ seem based on an assumption that all these extras can be handled comprehensively elsewhere by the school's Behaviour Management Team. And of course this may be true but is very unlikely to happen to the same extent as with the Planner. For example,
A high proportion of GO recommendations are quickly lost despite their value and everyone's best intentions. With the Planner, GO recommendations are being activated in a matter of minutes (and continually reactivated each week). They are also being continuously monitored for effectiveness and reviewed when appropriate. The detailed history of interventions reduces rework and enables plans to be built on previous successes.
The Planner focuses on solutions by providing the tools to plan, communicate, manage and monitor the best that the staff, students, families and support professionals involved can do to help ensure the success and well-being every student.
Most schools that are already using the Planner will be reluctant to give up its functionality and settle for lesser tools.
30 October 2006 - conversation restarted
After meeting with Mike Willie I am very hopeful that the conversation
between the DoE and me, has also been restarted.
Mike, as the senior officer responsible for the StIMS project, understands
- that the Planner and its users represent a very valuable local resource that can (and should) be used to inform, enhance and expedite the development of StIMS
- how important it is that StIMS includes the kind of functionality enjoyed
by current users of the Planner
that StIMS needs to be understood as a communication system (rather than just a record keeping system or information system)
Mike has also indicated that he will begin making arrangements for me to be
directly involved. The working relationship is likely to begin very shortly,
subject to us reaching agreement on the details of the arrangement.
I look forward to achieving three major goals by late 2007:
- All schools to have access to the functionality of the Planner (and more*)
- StIMS to be a full replacement for the Planner (asap), which will enable me to
- Retire the Planner at end of 2007
Note: * Based on what I am continuing to learn from current users, I have
some additional possibilities in mind that I believe are worth considering for
inclusion in StIMS.
