STEMS -
Feedback from Schools
In late 2002, the High
School Transition Management System (HSTMS) was developed and trialed in
45 schools in St George District. Over 30 K-6 schools installed the
system, collected and entered data on their Year 6 students and
automatically transferred that data to the District Office. A week
later, at the end of week 4 of Term 4, the District Office automatically
sorted and distributed electronically the new Year 7 data to all of the
district's High Schools.
From a technical
perspective, the HSTMS has proven itself to be successful in operation and
the concept of electronic data transfer between schools and the District
Office has been shown to be very effective. At the end of Term 4, a
formal evaluation was undertaken of all K-6 schools regarding the HSTMS
process they had recently completed. At the end of Term 1, 2003,
another formal evaluation of the HSTMS system was made of each of the
district's high schools. The responses received were all taken into
account for the redevelopment of HSTMS into the STEMS product that was
released in Term 2, 2003.
STEMS has since been adopted by the NSW DET Sydney Region as the only
method of managing the important issue of high school transition. Several of the comments received have been included on this Feedback page.
What St George Primary Schools said about the HSTMS: |
- This has been a great
innovation which will serve as an excellent communication link
between year 6 and 7 teachers. Development of a model
starting in Kinder and updated each year after that would be
excellent! - Kingsgrove Public School
.................................................................
- We think it's fantastic as
there is consistency of data collection. This streamlines it
all for teachers. We can't wait until the program is extended to
include tracking for all students from K through to 6.-
Mortdale Public School
.................................................................
- Great program - need
something similar for reporting to parents in other years. -
Canterbury South Public School
.................................................................
- The regular updates of what
was happening with the whole process and the strict timeline was
useful. Next year should be even better. - Ashbury
Public School
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- It's fantastic! The
best idea for school administrative use of technology yet. -
Rockdale Public School
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What St George High Schools said about the HSTMS: |
- Better decision-making has
been possible from the commencement of the year. Management
process is more effective with the use of this database.
Children have more chance of doing well in transition to high
school because more informed decisions can be made regarding their
education. - Kogarah High School
.................................................................
- Peakhurst HS draws students
from St George and Bankstown districts. It is a very
time-consuming process collecting data on paper for
out-of-district students and then entering it into the database.
This program when eventually implemented across all districts will
make an incredible difference for our school. - Georges
River College, Peakhurst Campus
.................................................................
- The data filtering option in
the HSTMS was wonderful! Made the whole process of working
with the data easy! We can now grade students to a certain
extent from the beginning, place ESL students together and provide
preparatory information for the Year Adviser and School Counsellor.
The HSTMS is an invaluable tool. - James Cook Boys High
School
.................................................................
- We were able to better select
year 7 classes, ESL groupings and arrange extra support for IM
students. This is a good system. - Moorefield Girls
High School
.................................................................
- While the program is
terrific, it has very limited use in a selective high school.
Of the 150 students we have, only 42 were from St George district
schools. If the HSTMS is adopted statewide (and it should be
because it is great), then it would be of greater use for us. -
Sydney Technical High School
.................................................................
- Initially, the most valuable
information related to academic performance, ESL and support
needs. Student advisers accessed the information and shared
it with Head Teachers and class teachers of year 7 teams. We
also accessed details of special talents such as music and sport.
As our teachers become more familiar with the power of the data
reporting and filtering, they will increase their use of the HSTMS.
Overall, a great innovation! - Georges River College,
Hurstville Boys Campus
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The School Transition Enterprise Management System
is designed and developed by:
Stuart Hasic -
stuart.hasic@det.nsw.edu.au
© 2002-2009 by Stuart Hasic. All rights reserved.
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