How SchoolStatus Became Prince William County's Educational Game Changer

District Overview

District: Prince William County Schools
Size: Over 92,000 students across 100 schools
Location: Virginia

Facing big communication and data management hurdles, a large school district in Virginia turned to SchoolStatus to boost family engagement and cut down on chronic absenteeism. The results have been remarkable.

Prince William County Schools (PWCS), the second-largest school district in Virginia, serves over 92,000 students across 100 schools and centers. Their leadership team saw the need for a unified solution to tackle communication and data management issues, especially to support their diverse student population, which includes a large number of minority and ESL students.

Navigating Challenges and Seizing Opportunities

Before bringing in SchoolStatus, PWCS faced a lot of challenges. The district dealt with disconnected data systems, unreliable tools, and poor customer service. As their technology leadership team noted, they did not have a strong plan for the use of data within their systems. This disconnection was particularly problematic for their 70% minority student population and 40% ESL students, creating a significant gap between teachers, staff, and families.

In their search for a solution, PWCS wanted a platform partner that could provide reliable tools and excellent customer service. They found SchoolStatus, which offered a comprehensive data and communication platform. Their leadership team liked that the data, IT, and student information were centralized and directly connected to the messaging platform, allowing easy creation of custom data-driven groups and subgroups to target communications and interventions effectively. The auto-translation feature was especially crucial for engaging with non-English-speaking families.

SchoolStatus Connect & Attend:
A Dynamic Duo

PWCS piloted and then fully implemented SchoolStatus Connect and Attend. The benefits were immediately clear and with integrated student data, analytics, two-way communication tools, and an attendance management system, SchoolStatus was a game-changer for PWCS.

With SchoolStatus Connect’s single-screen Student Card, educators can see all the data they need to communicate effectively about student progress. From this screen, they can effortlessly exchange messages with families in their preferred language and through their preferred channel, whether by text, phone, video call, or email, greatly improving their ability to reach every family and support every student. School administrators can see a record of all communication with families and view recordings to monitor and intervene when necessary. The auto-translation feature allowed the district to bridge the language gap, making it easier for teachers and staff to engage with all families.

The implementation of SchoolStatus significantly reduced the administrative burden on schools. “The administrative overhead for the schools to manage the amount of attendance letters they were having to send out, we have taken that off their plate. Which was a big win,” said Director of Information Technology Services, AJ Phillips.

The full adoption of SchoolStatus has led to principals and teachers feeling better equipped to meet student needs. “We’ve been able to tell them, ‘hey you can use it for communication, but look at this cool dashboard,’ and now we are at a stage where we want to use it and do even more,” Ms. Philips explained.

The platform has improved communication and data management, enabling the district to focus on at-risk students, easily provide reports, and make data-driven decisions to support student success. Ms. Philips noted, “In our division, we all need to provide data at our quarterly updates with the superintendent.”

“It’s easy for our principals to go, ‘These are the kids that I’m focusing on, and these are the plans I have in place, and this is why and what the data is telling me.’” AJ Phillips, Director of Information Technology Services, PWCS

Immediate Impact and Achieving Goals

• Improved Family Engagement: The auto-translation feature and targeted communication capabilities of SchoolStatus have significantly enhanced family engagement, particularly among minority and ESL populations, with 87% of families responding positively to engagement and texts.
• Reduced Chronic Absenteeism: With the implementation of SchoolStatus Attend, PWCS saw a leveling off of chronic absenteeism rates within the first quarter after implementation, and in the first year they saw 68% of students that received one attendance letter did not miss additional school to require a second letter.
• Reduced Administrative Burden: The tools have alleviated the administrative workload associated with managing attendance, allowing staff to focus on more impactful activities leading to 96% of PWCS teachers feeling like they are more equipped to meet student needs with the SchoolStatus tools at their disposal.

Partnering for Student Success

PWCS established a goal of a 95% on-time graduation rate for all students by 2025. To help meet this goal, the district partnered with SchoolStatus to develop an integrated dashboard merging data analytics and communication tools for educators.

In June 2024, PWCS and SchoolStatus were awarded a silver-level Learning Impact Award from 1EdTech Consortium (1EdTech), for their innovative collaboration on the “Focused Student Support” dashboard and the positive impact that it has had on PWCS students, educators, and administrators. To date, PWCS has seen double-digit declines in chronic absenteeism. 

“Having all of our students’ information in one place allows us to quickly and easily identify which students need intervention and support,” said Ms. Phillips. “With limited resources, the real-time data insights provided by the dashboard are invaluable, helping us to see how students are performing across various categories.”

“This tool, designed with educators and administrators in mind, has significantly enhanced our ability to support our students effectively.” AJ Philips, Director of Information Technology Services, PWCS

A Bright Future Ahead

PWCS is now better equipped to support its diverse student population and address chronic absenteeism effectively. Ms. Phillips shared, “We’re excited to delve deeper into data functionality, especially our principals.”

With a focus on data-driven decision-making and effective communication, PWCS is poised for a bright future, ensuring that all students have the support they need to succeed.

Continue the Conversation

Discover how SchoolStatus can transform your district’s communication, attendance, and data management. Contact us today to learn more or request a demo.