Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
What is School Loop?
Technical Requirements
Features
Security
How do schools and districts buy School Loop?
What parents can do?
What is School Loop?
School Loop is an integrated communication service that makes it easy to share information and work together in schools. Staff can access each student’s workload and grades. Digital lockers help members store and share files. And every evening, assignments and grades are emailed home. With School Loop, students perform better, parents engage, staffs collaborate, and teachers are freed to do what they do best: Teach. Click here for more details on how School Loop works.
What are the technical requirements?
School Loop is an online application. All that is required is Internet access and a relatively modern browser. School Loop integrates with a district’s Student Information System (SIS), a database used for scheduling and student data management. For School Loop to operate, the district or school must use an SIS. Click here for more information on School Loop’s technology.
What are some of School Loop’s features?
Every night, parents and students get an email listing their homework, grades, school news, discussions and more. All members get a bottomless digital locker, an online hard-drive with 24x7 access. School Loop has an embedded gradebook and web publishing tools, student email and more. These features are integrated in a system that makes it easy for people to work together and share information. Best, School Loop is easy; teachers adopt rapidly with minimal training. Click here for more information on School Loop’s features.
How secure is School Loop?
School Loop is a custom JAVA application written on a Mac. As such, it is not vulnerable to common PC-centric security flaws or off-the-shelf hacking tools. School Loop takes many other precautions that prevent misuse, most notably giving schools the tools they need to enact restrictive membership practices to meet their own security policies. On the data side, School Loop pulls a very limited data set from the SIS – master schedule information. We do not pull behavior, health, address, phone, photographs or other sensitive information. Our integration software is read-only; it copies, encrypts, and uses https to send data securely.
How do schools and districts purchase technology?
Technology purchasing varies from district to district. With a system like School Loop, usually there are multiple decision-makers – the principal and the teachers at the school; and the IT Director, and sometimes the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services or Curriculum and Instruction or the District Superintendent. School Loop is inexpensive, $3 per student per year, and requires no maintenance and limited setup.
What can I do?
If you are interested, try to have your principal or an interested teacher watch the tour movie. It is the best way to help them understand how School Loop can help them do their jobs, save time, and help students. Parent groups often help underwrite the cost of School Loop, and enthusiastic support from parents is something that appeals to most schools.