SchoolStatus is constantly "shipping" new enhancements and features to you, so it can be hard to keep up! Here's your running list of recent updates.
Link Shortening
February 1st, 2023
We have built our own, trusted link shortener for you to use in place of searching online for a non-trusted source. Simply go here and use our free tool to shorten your link. These links can then be used in your messages to your parents. You can find instructions here or by visiting our Help Center.
Communication Compliance
January 2023
Our Technical Team continues to work with our communications partners in order to meet and exceed all compliance regulations. This work ensures your messages and calls are delivered quickly and efficiently without issue (i.e., aren't flagged inaccurately as SPAM). We will continue these efforts on your behalf as we believe communications between you and your parents are paramount to the success of your students.
Broadcast Emails (Enhancements)
December 5th, 2022
You have the option of sending your Broadcast Messages as emails and not just texts. However, now emails will be sent to all contacts with an email address rather than just preferred contacts. *Text messages through Broadcast and Notify will still ONLY be sent to preferred contacts. To learn more about this new functionality, you can click here or visit our help center.
TeachBoost
August 1st, 2022
Replacing Feedbak, TeachBoost is now available to help you manage your entire evaluation and compliance workflow. If you previously had access to Feedbak, you will see TeachBoost now on your left main menu. For additional information, please click here.
Dynamic Groups
June 1st, 2022
A Dynamic Group is a group that will automatically update as data changes in our nightly data syncs. These groups can be built using Searchlight and will stay up-to-date, matching the data in your SIS.
Downloadable Log for Notify Messages
December 14th, 2021
Users with access to Notify can now download a .CSV file log of recipients of Notify messages.
Longer Notify Messages As Links
December 9th, 2021
SchoolStatus will now send non-critical Notify messages over 160 characters as a link to the rest of the message. The link will look similar to the following: https://ss.ly/5jTVB3
vCards For Parents
September 20th, 2021
Now, with every new message, the parent receives a vCard or contact card allowing them to easily save the teacher's information. This makes it easier for the parents to keep up with who's calling them. Also, the parent can reply to a message thread with 'INFO' to receive the card again if missed previously.
Video Chat
September 6th, 2021
SchoolStatus Video Chat is the best way to get face-to-face with a parent without asking the parent to come into school for a conference. Best of all, parents don't need to download a special client or app - they just need a phone with a microphone, speaker, and camera. Click here to learn more about this feature.
Sign in with Microsoft O365
August 27th, 2021
We now give you the option to utilize your MS O365 credentials to log into SchoolStatus. This saves you time and you don't have to remember another password. If you have any issues with this option, please reach out to your district's SPOC to ensure your SchoolStatus username matches your O365 username.
Send out Notify messages to Student Groups
July 6th, 2021
Administrators with access to the Notify Message Center can now send mass messages to student groups. Please know, you must first select the option for a group to be 'Notifiable' before the group will be available within the Message Center. To learn more about this, click here.
Automatically Translate Notify Messages
June 3rd, 2021
Language barriers can be tough but we're here to help. We now allow you the option to automatically translate your Notify messages utilizing your preferred language settings. This should help you reach all of your parents and avoid any language issues. To learn more about Notify, click here.
DIY Communications Reports
June 1st, 2021
You asked for it, and we are here to deliver! We now offer a button that allows you to download a student's communication history -with content- for your important meetings. It's something we know is important to you, and we're happy to finally have it available. Click here to learn more about it.
Emails through Broadcast
May 13th, 2021
Broadcast messaging allows you to send texts to courses, groups, and a selection of individual contacts making it easier for you to keep your parents informed. Now, you can send out emails through the same feature. This allows more flexibility in how you decide to reach your parents. To learn more about sending Broadcasts, you can click here.
Send out Notify messages to Facebook
April 1st, 2021
Administrators with access to Notify will now have the option of posting their Notify messages to Facebook. Hopefully, this better allows you to reach your parents.
Attendance Messages through Notify
March 1st, 2021
Schools now have the opportunity to send out attendance messages (texts) to parents at designated times to let them know their child is absent. This is available for all Notify customers. If you would like to know more or set this up for your school, please email us at help@schoolstatus.com.
Send out Notify messages to Twitter
January 8th, 2021
Administrators now have the option of posting Notify messages to Twitter. We know reaching parents can be difficult, so now you have another avenue to help you do just that.
Group Export
December 8th, 2020
We now offer you the ability to export your User and Student Groups into CSV files for either a members list or an access list.
Broadcast Messages as a Link
October 14, 2020
Previously, sending a Broadcast Message over 160 characters caused the message to be segmented by the phone carriers. This led to messages being delivered to parents' phones out of order. Now, these longer messages will be sent to the parents as a link. This allows you to send messages as long as you'd like without a character cap or the message being segmented.
Learn more about sending a Broadcast Message as a link here!
Quarantine Tracking
September. 8, 2020
Quarantine Tracking allows you to add a notation to the student card concerning a student who has been exposed to Covid-19 or has tested positive.
Learn more about Quarantine Tracking here!
Notify™ District and School-Wide Messaging
June 2 - August 5, 2020
New additions to Notify:
- Full email composition
- Staff audience selection
- Grade-level audience selection
- Method selection (call, text, email, or combination)
- Emergency & non-emergency alerts
- Delivery metrics
- Automated attendance alerts
Learn more about Notify™ here!
Contact Tracing Report
July 27, 2020
Contact tracing in SchoolStatus is just another example of our commitment to providing value to school districts during the unique pandemic circumstances. In the event of a student testing positive for or suspected of having COVID-19, student contact tracing allows any user with school or district administrator rights to generate a single report that lists:
- The infected student's current schedule
- The names of teachers for each course in the section
- The names and ID numbers of any students who are also in the same sections
Designate Preferred Email Addresses
July 7, 2020
We rolled out Preferred Contacts and the Preferred Contacts Management tool a while back, but that only applied to phone numbers. Now you can select a preferred email address for contacts. This is especially helpful when sending emails to a whole class or a group. PLEASE NOTE: You MUST select a preferred email address for each contact before you send a class or group email. Otherwise, your email will not send to anyone. Read more here.
Send Emails to Groups
June 26, 2020
Student Groups are super useful for segmenting student populations. Recently we added the ability to create a Student Group from Searchlight (game changer), and we've had the Broadcast function for Groups for a while. Now you can send an email to parents of students in a particular Student Group. You'll notice a new button...Email. I think you have it from here, but here's a help article!
Designate Contacts' Preferred Language
May 7, 2020
Users have been loving our translation features for years. But for Broadcast messages, it wasn't always easy to send the message in the correct language. You can now designate the preferred language of each contact. The messages either 1:1 or by Broadcast will auto-translate to that language. How awesome is that?!
Infinite Scrolling on Message Boxes
May 7, 2020
This doesn't sound like much, but if you have a lot of messages in your Broadcast or Messages box, it could take a little while to load. So now we only load messages 15 at a time. Keep scrolling down and 15 more will show up. So yeah, it's a good thing!
New Learning Lab Course on 'Groups'
April 24, 2020
Groups are a great tool in SchoolStatus to create either sub-sets for your students or to give teachers access to students outside of their traditional scope. But creating Groups can be a bit tricky if you're not used to using them. So we created a training course so you can become a Groups Guru!
You can find the course by clicking Learning Lab on the top menu of your SchoolStatus account. Then click Dashboard and Catalog to see a listing of all the Learning Lab content.
Create a group using Searchlight
March 17, 2020
Searchlight has always been a great tool for sifting through data to identify populations of students. Now you can actually create groups in SchoolStatus from those Searchlights that you have created. You can use these groups to easily send out Broadcast messages to the parents of these students. Learn more.
Identify phone numbers that can receive texts
January 31, 2020
It's difficult to know if a number is a landline or a cell phone unless they are labeled correctly in your SIS. The label might read (home) but it's really a cell phone. Now, we indicate the type of phone number, whether a cell phone, landline, or VoIP so you know before you try to send a text. Hover your mouse over the icon next to the phone number to display the number type.
Translate messages in SchoolStatus Mobile
December 10, 2019
Translate outgoing and incoming messages with iPhone or Android version 2.3. Just type your message and hit the language button to translate an outgoing message before you hit send. Learn more about SchoolStatus Mobile.
Then hit the Translate from button to translate the incoming message.
Listen to voicemails and call recordings from SchoolStatus Mobile
December 10, 2019
Also in Version 2.3, you can now you can listen to voicemails AND call recordings from the iPhone and Android apps. Click History from the bottom nav bar and select the voicemail or call recording. Then hit play.
Take photos to send in messages in SchoolStatus Mobile
December 10, 2019
You've been able to insert a picture for a while, but now, in Version 2.3, you can take a photo or insert one directly from SchoolStatus Mobile. Just click the camera icon and take a picture!
Create a new message from the message bar
October 24, 2019
You've always been able to initiate a text from the Student Card on the web platform, but now you can also start a new text message from the message bar at the bottom of your screen. Click Messages, select your student and contact, then text away!
Preview Attachments on the Student Card
October 24, 2019
Save time by previewing an Attachment on the Student Card without having to download it! Not familiar with Attachments in SchoolStatus? Check out this Webinar Recording for pro tips.
Create and edit call comments after the call is completed
October 24, 2019
For a while now, you've been able to leave comments during the call. But now you can create new ones or edit existing ones after the call is completed. Navigate to the call and click Add Comment.
Confirmation box for longer messages
October 24, 2019
When you send long text messages (over 160 characters), the carrier of the recipient may break that message into segments. Sometimes those segments are even delivered out of order. Just to give you a little reminder about this, we've added a confirmation box when you type a message longer than 160 characters.
Notification badges for Notes and Attachments
September 16, 2019
We added a number indicator for Notes and Attachments so you can know if there are Notes or Attachments present on the Student Card without having to click on the menu items.
Redesigned Daily Digest (admin only)
September 3, 2019
For administrators, we send a daily recap email each morning with Attendance and Discipline numbers. That email got a facelift and we added Engagement metrics!
Filter Unread Messages
August 13, 2019
We added color coding to unread messages so you can easily identify which messages are unread a while back. But now we've added a toggle to filter just to your unread messages.
Link to Mobile Apps from the Student Card
August 13, 2019
We added quick links to download our mobile apps. You can find them under the Contacts on the Student Card.
Add or Link Attachments to Notes
August 13, 2019
Sometimes you just need to attach something to the Student Card. And sometimes you need to add an attachment to a Note on the Student Card. So now you can select either an existing attachment or select a new one to associate with the Note.
Incoming Call Return
August 13, 2019
Parents can now call teachers back! That may sound scary, but check out the next feature. Make sure you enable the toggle for Allow Incoming Calls from your Settings menu.
Set Office Hours for Incoming Calls
August 13, 3019
Let parents call you back when you're available to talk. Set your office hours and toggle on Allow Incoming Calls.
Onboarding Portal (admin only)
August 13, 2019
Implementing a new software application can be a difficult process to manage. That's why we built an Onboarding Portal to make the process easier than ever! Access helpful links, watch the introduction video, add key players, schedule Kickoff and DV calls, and securely provision data all in one place.
Show Preferred Contacts Count
August 13, 2019
In order to send Broadcast Messages, we need to know to who to send the message. So you need to mark contacts as preferred that you want to receive broadcasts. You can do that on the Student Card, but the Preferred Contacts Management module is much faster. Now you can quickly toggle and see how many preferred contacts each student has marked.
Audible Alert for New Messages on Web
June 24, 2019
When you have a new message, you'll hear an audible alert on the web. That can be helpful if you aren't looking at your phone and you aren't paying close attention to the badge notification on the web.
Color Code Grades on the Student Card
June 24, 2019
SchoolStatus syncs grades from your Student Information System (SIS). Some SISs don't send over an alpha grade, only a numeric grade. That made it impossible for us to color code the grades, so they all showed up gray. We fixed this by adding a cron job to populate the alpha grade based on a lookup table.
