Edtech Integration Saves NorthPointe Christian Schools Time and Hassle with Accurate, Secure Data

Small private school benefits from integrated SIS, LMS, and enrollment product

Challenges 

• Lack of integration between LMS and SIS kept data siloed  
• Enrollment system didn’t connect with the SIS 
• Needed an LMS that promoted parent engagement 

Solution 

• PowerSchool SIS 
• PowerSchool Enrollment 
• PowerSchool Schoology Learning 

 Results 

• Integrated systems improve data quality and security 
• Simplified enrollment process for families 
• Improved family engagement with access to LMS

Teachers at NorthPointe Christian Schools loved their learning management system (LMS). But the school’s student information system (SIS) wouldn’t integrate with the LMS. That meant critical student data lived in separate systems, workflows were disrupted, and key student insights were difficult to access.

A Smaller, Growing School with Big Success

NorthPointe Christian Schools, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has grown from 800 to 1,100 students within the past two years. The PK-12 school, comprised of a preschool, elementary school, high school, and hybrid school, focuses on individualized instruction and alternative programs.  

• 51% of senior class is also enrolled in college courses 
• 97% college acceptance rate

The school’s technology philosophy is to “enhance learning, without technology being a pain,” meaning its education software needs to be effective without being difficult to learn and use.  

“We’ve tried to keep it streamlined so that any classroom in any building has the same technology set up so it’s easy to use for our staff. Our goal is to have it enhance teaching and the students’ learning without being a pain or being in the way. We’ve worked hard towards that,” says Nicole Crawford, NorthPointe Christian Schools’ Technology Director. 

The private Christian school system switched to PowerSchool SIS because it would integrate with their LMS, PowerSchool Schoology Learning, part of the Personalized Learning Solutions. With a unified set of solutions, staff enjoyed a single user experience and gained access to integrated data for seeing student insights, trends, and performance reports. Since then, they’ve expanded their PowerSchool partnership to include PowerSchool Enrollment, a fully online digital enrollment system that allows parents to enroll students at their convenience with all data flowing directly into PowerSchool SIS. Both PowerSchool Enrollment and PowerSchool SIS are part of the Student Information Solutions. 

The school has successfully implemented a streamlined, secure education ecosystem to save time and stress, which is especially important as a smaller school with staff taking on multiple roles.  

“Now, parents enter the student’s information, and then we’re able to get that directly into PowerSchool SIS, so it keeps that data clean and accurate,” says Crawford. “And then it ends up in Schoology as well in the classroom. It’s all working together seamlessly.”  

Benefits of Moving from a Closed SIS to an Open System

It can be challenging to customize or make changes to your edtech solutions when you’re using a closed, proprietary software product. There may be essential benefits in that system, but in the long term, you need the ability to integrate with other products, create custom pages, and tailor the solution for your needs.  

NorthPointe’s previous SIS was a closed system that would not integrate with other core software systems. “There were no plugins, integration, or ability to customize,” says Crawford. “Because it wouldn’t integrate with Schoology, it was apparent pretty quickly that we needed a different student information system that would work better.” 

Crawford adds that as a closed system, “If we needed something done to the SIS, we would ask the company, and they would tell us, ‘No.’ Or, they might be able to do it, but they weren’t going to work too hard on it because it’s their system.” 

Because NorthPointe had enjoyed using Schoology, it naturally looked at PowerSchool SIS as a replacement for its current SIS. PowerSchool had purchased Schoology in 2018 and integrated it into its suite of education solutions.  

The combination of PowerSchool SIS and Schoology was a perfect fit, especially because of PowerSchool’s willingness to accommodate NorthPointe’s needs.  

“PowerSchool said, ‘Yes, we have plugins, and we have APIs, and we integrate with other products, and we have other things if you need them,” says Crawford. “I’ve never had PowerSchool say, ‘No, we can’t do that.’ They can always figure out how they can do things for us.” 

For smaller schools like NorthPointe, PowerSchool SIS offers a future-ready system with the flexibility to adjust to changing needs. “Switching to PowerSchool SIS seemed like a smart way to go for our future, knowing we would have so many possibilities as we continued to grow. It just ended up being a really smart solution for us.” 

Because of that flexibility, NorthPointe credits Schoology and PowerSchool SIS for helping to keep instruction and learning going during the COVID-19 pandemic. When in-person classes were forced to close in Michigan on Friday, March 13, online learning was up and running the following Tuesday.  

We only took one day off from high school and middle school classes because we had Schoology and PowerSchool SIS already in place. We were able to just jump into remote learning before anyone really knew how they were going to do remote learning,” says Crawford.  

Integrating Enrollment into its Education Ecosystem 

NorthPointe was in the process of staff turnover and growth and needed an enrollment product that was easy to use and integrated with its existing products.  

Crawford says, “The new admission staff said, “Hey, isn’t there a way that enrollment and PowerSchool SIS could work better together?”  

The answer was “yes,” in the form of PowerSchool Enrollment, a fully online modern enrollment management system that sends student data directly into PowerSchool SIS. NorthPointe implemented PowerSchool Enrollment, which offers the same flexibility and ability to customize as PowerSchool SIS.

“We’ve loved everything about PowerSchool Enrollment all along. This last school year, having all the re-enrollment come through PowerSchool Enrollment, everyone was aglow because it went well. People did it quickly, it wasn’t complicated, and we had more families than ever before complete their re-enrollment early,” says Crawford. 

Integrated Systems Give NorthPointe Clean, Accurate Data 

With an integrated educational ecosystem, staff at NorthPointe Christian Schools appreciate not having to re-enter data for the same student. Staff saves time, and the school has improved data accuracy.  

“Now, parents enter their student’s information, and you’re able to get that directly into PowerSchool SIS, so it keeps data clean and accurate, and then it ends up in Schoology as well as in the classroom,” says Crawford. “That’s working seamlessly. We know we’re not missing anything and know that we can trust the data all the way through the system. That’s huge.” 

An additional benefit of integrated systems is working within products that flow well together. When you move from the SIS to the LMS, it’s not like you’re switching between unconnected systems. Instead, it’s like you’re working within one seamless product.  

“You know where to go for what you need or what you need to look up. It’s streamlined the process so people know they can go to one or two spots between the systems to get what they need,” says Crawford.  

Crawford says that one integrated system eliminates the bad habits of creating different spreadsheets or other documents to store information. When doing that, you run the risk of forgetting to share vital information with key stakeholders, as well as creating redundant and often outdated data silos.  

“Now, we’re streamlining processes and putting information in one spot for efficiency. It makes it better for people as jobs turnover, positions change, and people move around. It’s in one spot, and it’s secure,” says Crawford.  

 Schoology Learning Improves Family Communication and Engagement 

 Built-in communication tools within Schoology allow NorthPointe teachers and administrators to easily connect with parents, who can also access the LMS to see their student’s progress and activity in real time.  

“Before we chose Schoology, we knew we wanted a real way for parents to observe what was happening with their student, and other options didn’t allow that. Schoology allows for parent interaction, which has made the difference for us,” says Crawford. “We’re a private school and parents are usually involved, so we really liked that part of Schoology.”  

Crawford says that Schoology provides one convenient location to communicate with families, provide a classroom tool for students, and serve as a resource for homework and lessons. Schoology is the one spot parents can visit to see things like their student’s grades, the reasons behind lower or higher grades, upcoming or missing assignments, and test scores.  

“Just having all of that at parents’ fingertips solves a lot of challenges around access and allows parents to keep tabs, know what’s happening, and understand why it’s happening. And now, teachers don’t have to go find everything and report back to parents because the parent can already see a lot of that. It cuts to the chase for a lot of the communication and makes everything more accessible. Parents are even involved in looking at lesson plans and actual class content. Schoology has just been a beautiful solution for us,” says Crawford.  

Hosting Improves Security and Staff Time 

NorthPointe Christian Schools’ PowerSchool SIS product and data are hosted through PowerSchool Hosting, delivered through Microsoft Azure cloud-based technology. By turning over hosting responsibilities to PowerSchool, NorthPointe Christian Schools reduces risk, increases data security, and relieves stress on its small technology team.  

PowerSchool offers 24/7/365 monitoring and 99.9% update and reliability, and cutting-edge security technologies to protect against emerging cybersecurity threats. With PowerSchool maintaining the product and implementing all updates and new versions, NorthPointe can reduce technology costs and optimize staff resources.  

“I would always choose hosted because I know the product and data is there, it’s backed up, secure, always running, and always updated. I don’t have to worry about any of that. It’s a no-brainer,” says Crawford.  

Working More Efficiently, Saving Time and Stress  

By partnering with a proven company in PowerSchool, NorthPointe Christian Schools has reaped the benefits of integrated systems, which include simplified processes, time saved, and accurate, secure data.  

“In the past, we had solutions that were limited, and we had to fit into their mold. PowerSchool’s integration allows us to work more efficiently and to maintain better data, which helps our students and parents have a better overall experience.” 

An integrated platform ensures NorthPointe Christian Schools always has accurate, secure data, which is critical for seeing insights on the whole child. “We’ve got Google Drive and Google Docs, and that’s fine,” explains Crawford, “but it’s not that same level of security, accuracy, and knowing who has access to information we get with PowerSchool. Now, we know that our data’s accurate because we haven’t been importing, exporting, typing, and changing information. PowerSchool is making things more efficient and secure for us. And it ultimately saves time and stress.”

Learn more about NorthPointe Christian Schools’ Story

Read the blog or watch the video to find out more about how the entire district is using data and benefits from PowerSchool solutions.