Let’s Get Digital: How Staff and Families Benefit from PowerSchool Special Programs Digital Signature

School staff and families now have the convenience of digital signatures within PowerSchool Special Programs. With the Special Programs Digital Signature option, families can review and sign IEPs, 504 accommodations, and more—all online. Teachers and case managers can then sign off on special education information system documentation to keep the process of managing students with different needs on target and on time.

Special Programs Digital Signature functionality ensures that all collected signatures are legally valid. The feature can replace other third-party vendors you’re using to capture digital or e-signatures.

Here are the top three ways that Special Programs Digital Signature makes life easier for students, families, and staff with the ability to quickly sign documents digitally, all within one program.

1) Added Convenience

For schools and districts using a paper-based system, administrators and staff have to keep track of multiple forms. Each must be signed, taken to the school or district offices, and then verified by staff. If you’re missing a signature, you’re required to contact the family to come to the school to sign the original document or complete a new one.

“Electronic signatures allow for remote authentication, which makes it a much more convenient solution than the alternative of mailing and/or printing and scanning,” says Larry Alton in Inc.’s “5 Reasons Your Business Should Use Electronic Signatures.”

Built within PowerSchool Special Programs, Digital Signature seamlessly fits right into the signing process. It’s easy to use for families and staff who are already familiar with Special Programs. The Digital Signature option has the same user interface they’re accustomed to, so they can go from filling out documentation to signing without having to switch programs.

It’s convenient for staff since there are no more scanning and uploading paper documents with signatures. Staff can now access and manage signed copies digitally from one easily manageable system. You can manage all documents so you can see who’s signed and who may require follow-up.

Digital Signature is also less expensive for schools already paying for a third-party digital signature tool, which can incur a separate charge per document signed.

2) Quicker to Keep Process on Track

Digital Signature helps you get signatures as soon as they’re needed so you don’t hold up any steps during the special programs management process. Families can access documents to sign right from the parent portal to provide their signature digitally.

“Instead of sending a document to one party, getting them to print, sign, and scan it, sending it to the next party, and repeating the process down the line, everyone can sign off within seconds,” says Alton.>

Whether holding meetings remotely or in person, you can easily include signers who could not be present. This ability frees staff from tracking down signatures and manually uploading signed documents into Special Programs, saving time and frustration.>

“E-signatures harness… efficiency by allowing for remote signatures to be completed in just a few seconds. Additionally, it makes scaling signature collection across an organization or client base easier than ever,” says Piper Thomson in G2.com’s “How E-Signatures Can Make a Surprisingly Big Difference.” >

3) Secure Process to Ensure Data Safety

With a fully electronic process, including both Special Programs and the Digital Signature option, all documents are stored electronically with the benefit of PowerSchool software protection. Digital signatures are protected by way of cryptographically secure single-use tokens. There are audit logs of signature events for added security.

“Believe it or not, electronic signatures are safer and more secure than traditional paper documents,” says Alton. “Not only do they contain a signature, but they also contain traceable information on who signed the document, when they signed it, and where they signed it. That’s much stronger and more enforceable than your average paper-based transaction.”>

Additionally, PowerSchool is an industry leader for protected, private data—helping ensure data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. PowerSchool certifies the application, database, and infrastructure security of all our software solutions, and has signed the national Student Privacy Pledge regarding the collection, maintenance, and use of student personal information. The company is leading the way in edtech security, compliant with IT security standards such as FERPA, HIPAA, SOC 2, and ISO 27001:2013 certification. >

Easing the Burden of Signature Collection

Special Programs Digital Signature helps ease the burden of manually obtaining required signatures from families and staff. Plus, with integrated Digital Signature within Special Programs, you don’t have to juggle multiple programs like you would when using another digital signature tool within PowerSchool. Since it’s available within your existing Special Programs product, there’s no need to contract with third-party vendors to ensure integration between different systems. >

Digital Signature helps make the process of managing special programs quicker, more convenient, and more secure. >