web-based gradebook
for K12 school districts
for K12 school districts
When evaluating a gradebook solution for any school district, it's important to note the benefits for all stakeholders. To assist you in this task, here we've outlined just a few of the benefits your district will realize if you select the eSembler gradebook. We think you'll find that the benefits of choosing eSembler are clear.
eSembler for
Education was the first entirely Web-based enterprise-class gradebook and
attendance software. This innovative distinction is important because the
maturity of our product allows your district to select a system that has already
proven itself reliable in districts demanding the most in scalability and
performance. Since our software is built on a wholly Web-based architecture,
eSembler is centrally managed, allowing access across a network or Internet
connection solely through a Web browser interface. The means that eSembler
is hosted within a district’s data center, typically on only on two
servers, an application server and a database server. By operating eSembler
centrally, on fewer server systems, your district can dramatically reduce
maintenance and hardware costs, while increasing reliability, efficiency,
and flexibility. In addition to that benefit, software updates and upgrades
are simultaneously made available to all teachers, administrators, parents,
and students—dramatically reducing administrative management responsibilities
and totally eliminating the need to download, install, push, or maintain specific
gradebook software on each and every computer accessing the system.
eSembler’s Web-based
architecture also offers your district the ability to allow teachers remote
access to their gradebooks from any computer, anywhere in the world, at any
time, as long as Internet access is available. If desired, your district may
also allow parental access to their children’s records via the Internet.
Teachers and parents access eSembler in the same manner, by securely logging
into the software using a unique username and password. Once authenticated,
they are allowed to view their own information; teachers are permitted to
work with records associated with their assigned and shared classes, while
parents or guardians are permitted to access the records of only their own
children. The secure access permission structure for teachers is most often
managed through the use of our industry-leading Active Directory or LDAP validation
protocols. For network administrators, this means that eSembler is able to
authenticate the teacher or parent and grant access and permissions transparently,
based on one network identification.
eSembler also supports industry-standard 128-bit Secure Socket Layer encryption to ensure the security of account information and student data. All information within the gradebook can use the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol for transferring data. SSL is a cryptosystem that creates a secure environment for the information being transferred between each user’s browser and the eSembler gradebook. At a high level, SSL uses public key cryptography to secure transmissions over the Internet. This security model allows district’s to encrypt all data transferred between the user and the eSembler gradebook allowing for greater levels of security.
Cost savings, ease
of access, and improvements to communication aside, one of the most significant
benefits to selecting eSembler is found in its user interface. With clean,
simple graphics that are universally hailed as being impeccably crafted and
ingenious, eSembler receives continuous accolades for the intuitive, efficient,
and aesthetically pleasing way it presents information to teachers, administrators,
parents, and students. Compare our interface to other solutions and eSembler
is clearly the leader in ease of use and user interface design. Since all
aspects of the eSembler software are accessed through a browser, the basic
controls found in the gradebook are already familiar to the vast majority
of users. And unlike some gradebooks that require client side, fat client,
or downloadable plug-ins, eSembler requires only a standard Web browser in
order to function perfectly. Every function within eSembler is accessed through
the same interface, regardless of the user’s location. That means that
teachers only have to learn one system. Our superior interface and previously
acquired user familiarity with Web browser functions dramatically improve
user acceptance, speed of use, and reduces district training time, support,
and related costs.
And unlike many gradebook vendors who promote an interface that mimics paper-based gradebooks, eSembler has leapt outside the boundaries and limitations inherent in that model. Taking advantage of the latest methodologies in usability engineering, Premio has made ground-breaking advances in software interface design. Using both normative and empirical data gathered from years of surveys and user-centered evaluations, eSembler engineers continuously improve the usability of our gradebook using a mature heuristic methodology responsive to the feedback of our end users. This approach has helped Premio develop a gradebook that has no peer.
Performance
and scalability are also important considerations when selecting a gradebook
and attendance solution. eSembler has been built from the ground up as a Web-based
application, designed to run on centralized servers and accessed by thousands
of users simultaneously. “Webinized” client-server applications
simply don’t scale effectively to high numbers of simultaneous users
because their architecture still relies greatly on a client application installed
on each machine accessing the system. When traditional client server applications
are made accessible via the Internet through a Web interface, it is usually
with diminished performance results. eSembler, after many years in production
environments, has now proven itself in the education marketplace. Even the
most complex gradebook tools and reports load quickly, without consuming excessive
bandwidth or processing power. To help ensure those performance standards
consistently meet the high standards of our district clients, all installations
are constantly monitored and remotely managed by eSembler engineers to ensure
optimal operation.
Student accountability
is enhanced when parent and student access is enabled within eSembler. Districts
have the ability to allow parents or guardians to log into eSembler to view
their own students' grades--as long as they have a Web browser and Internet
access. Upon logging in, using their unique username and password, parents
and guardians are presented with a list of their own students enrolled in
the district. Only those children associated with the parent or guardian are
displayed. When a student is selected, the parent is presented with a list
of classes associated with the student. Clicking on a class name presents
a report detailing student profile information, parent profile information,
student averages, assignment scores, class averages, category information
and averages, attendance information, and teacher comments.
eSembler for Education
offers flexible connectivity and integration to a wide variety of customized
and packaged Student Information Systems. Some of those systems include Pearson
Digital Learning SASIxp, Pearson School Systems CIMS, SUNGARD Pentamation,
Skyward SMS, Chancery SMS, CrossPointe TERMS, C Innovation Zangle, and Century
Consultants Star Base. For database storage, eSembler uses Microsoft SQL Server
2005, the most popular enterprise-class database on the market today. Because
of the open nature of SQL Server and eSembler's normalized data structures,
a district can use applications like Crystal Reports® or Microsoft Access
to tap into a wide range of real-time information stored within eSembler.
This allows for unlimited variances in district-level reporting as well as
opportunities to integrate customized or out-of-the-box applications with
the gradebook. Finally, since eSembler was developed using Microsoft technologies
including .NET and TSQL, proprietary development issues are never a concern
for districts requiring data exchange with any number of heterogeneous applications;
not just existing Student Information Systems, but also applications that
your district will deploy in the future—applications that will most
likely be Web-based—just like eSembler for Education.
We pride ourselves
on customer service and technical support—support that is heralded as
head and shoulders above what others consider “premier.” As John
Alluisi, the Student Information Systems Manager of Norfolk Public Schools
testifies: “I’ve been a school district technology manager for
more than twenty-five years and can say that Premio’s technical support
far exceeds that of every other vendor I’ve ever worked with!”
And our goal is to provide that level of service to all of our clients.
While some vendors claim rapid call back or response time statistics, Premio prefers to cite rapid solution statistics. If a district has a question and contacts a member of their eSembler support group via phone or e-mail, they can expect an immediate response. Your district will never experience a hold queue since issues are escalated to all members of the support group. That means that any member of the eSembler team may respond to the requests of our district clients. In cases where your district requires assistance modifying system settings or if they wish to report the rare system problem, eSembler support team members are there to answer their call.
To gain an even greater understanding of how we support our district clients, our best recommendation is that you contact any client contact and ask them what they think about our service and support. We are certain that you will hear universal praise.
Premio never stops listening
to what teachers have to say. At least twice a year we survey all of our client
educators and make their responses available to district administrators across
our entire customer community! We use these surveys as a means to prioritize
new features so that our innovations are always in response to our customers’
needs. This unprecedented exposure to our end-user’s thoughts and comments
has led to software enhancements that are unmatched in the industry. And these
surveys have revealed something else—that the overwhelming majority
of teachers agree that eSembler makes it easy to create assignments, store
grades for assignments, and submit grades for student report cards. Premio
understands that no single person or small group could possibly have the depth
of knowledge shared by the collective group and for this reason the survey
was born. In fact, eSembler was the first vendor to offer periodic teacher
surveys for all of our district clients! This survey's ability to tap the
collective wisdom of the teacher communal also provides districts keen insight
into how the gradebook is being received by individual teachers and schools,
often uncovering the need for additional training or proactive support calls.
Premio has established
a simple software pricing model. In addition to offering free updates every
few months, we don’t charge extra monies for system upgrades or optional
modules like attendance or parent access. Unlike other vendors, Premio is
considerate of limited district budgets. Therefore, every new feature added
to eSembler is always immediately available to all of our district clients—at
no additional charge.
